Page 151 of Boundless
“You try to attack me, and you get sent to your kingdom bleeding.” The rage in him fired up, and I saw it in the way his eyes darkened. “Or…” I let my voice trail off for a second on purpose. “You can choose to leave now, and nobody will stop you.”
Because killing Lyall would have meant thatallof this would have been for nothing. His death would be the death of Verenthia.
Unfortunately, he got to live one way or the other.
The next time I smiled at him, the fear seemed to lift, at least a little bit. Because today, under all that sunlight, I could really see him for what he was without all the filters that circumstances always put between us—he was just a small man misguided by his ego. A fucking child who looked like a man.
“I think he’ll leave,” Rune said from behind me and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “His Highness is a smart man. And he also hates the sight of blood. Don’t you, Lyall?”
The look on his face was one I was going to take to my grave. One of my favorite memories until the end of time.
My body still didn’t quite feel like my own when I turned to the other side, to the soldiers, the ones around us with their silver swords drawn, and the ones on horseback still.
I said, “Please make way for the Seelie King to leave. He’s no longer welcome here today.”
All those words and my voice didn’t falter. I felt stronger, more grounded where I stood by the second.
The soldiers moved.
How is this not a movie?I wondered for a brief second, because I was still just a girl from Earth, and they were grown men, fae, soldiers who were moving because I said so, without argument.
Not just them, but the people, too. They were all parting to make enough room for Lyall to walk all the way to the gates, surrounded by the soldiers on their horses still.
I don’t know what went on in Lyall’s head, but he only needed a moment to get himself together from the initial shock that had spread all over his face.
“Youwillregret this. I will make sure of it,” he hissed, barely moving his lips. Then he smiled like the fucking snake that he was and added with more venom than I’d ever heard him speak before, “Your Highness.”
With a dramatic wave of his red cloak, he moved all around the edge of the crowd and the horses, and he went for the gates with his chin raised. God, it almost looked funny. Ialmostburst out laughing at the sight.
Two dozen Seelie soldiers with their swords still drawn and their hands lit up with magic followed. The sound of their footballs and their armors clanking as they went was something I would never forget, either. I would forever remember it as the sound of victory.
Lyall had finally admitted defeat, even if it was only for now.
He left without a fight—and Rune was in front of me.
“What…what…what are you doing? What are you…”
A finger over my lips, and I forgot to speak. He was looking down at me with those eyes and smiling that crooked smile. “We can speak later, My Queen.”
Queen—what a heavy, complicated, terrifying word.
“Rune, what the hell is happening? Is it true? Did you…did you…” I couldn’t even say the words, and the noise from the crowd and the soldiers was getting louder, and Hessa was still laughing her heart out.
Rune said, “Yes. I gave the crown to Jasewine. She’s way more qualified to rule a kingdom, and everybody knows it.”
I shook my head again and again. “Why? Why the hell would you do that?!”
“Because my place is where you are,” Rune said. “How can I serve you from a kingdom away?” He meant every single word.
My poor heart.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Hessa muttered from our side, sticking a hand between us, pushing my shoulders back. “Back off, bastard. The queen needs to address the people now. I’m about ready to wrap this up, so chop-chop.”
I moved back, almost stepped on Maera’s paws as she looked up at me, no longer angry. No longer growling.
I thoughtImight start, though, when Hessa’s words actually registered in my head. Until I noticed that she and Rune and Maera and the soldiers had all stepped back and I was now somehow facing the crowd, and they were all looking at me. All those sets of eyes, blue and bright and wide.
Confused. Curious. Suspicious. Some even smiling, most relieved.
