Chapter 15
fifteen
My memories were blurred together. One moment they insisted that I was home, in bed, or downstairs in front of the TV with Dad and Fi, and the next, I was in front of those trees that held the Aetherway between them.
In another, I was with Arez in the train tunnel, looking down at the hole beneath the railway, at the iridescent ribbons of light that flowed like a river both ways at the same time.
And then I remembered I was among wolves.
My eyes opened and I sat up, even more surprised to find that my body wasn’t in pieces.
I was whole—and I wasn’t on the ground in an open field surrounded by wolves at all.
Instead I was in a room, bigger than my own back home.
The sheets of the bed I lay on smelled citrusy, and there were two others on the sides, both empty.
Three windows near the ceiling, the blinds drawn, but through the holes in them I could just see the light. Sunlight.
The night must have already passed. It was daylight outside.
And I was most definitely in Verenthia.
Pushing the cover off me, I jumped to my feet without bothering to make sure that my legs would hold me—they would.
I was still dressed in jeans and my torn white shirt, but my sneakers were there by the bed’s wooden leg, and I didn’t even bother putting them on properly.
I just stuck my feet in as far as they’d go and shot for the only door in the room.
A hallway outside, wide and with lanterns on the pale grey walls. No windows that I could see, but there were a few in the room to my right. There were people there, too—most wearing white, others old. Really old, like the seers.
I moved like I was in a dream, eyes wide open, searching for a familiar face, hoping nobody would see me until I found one or disappeared from whatever place I was in.
But people did see me.
Women and men who were coming and going through the many corridors saw me, and they all watched me, but none of them stopped me when I made for the doors. None of them called my name or asked me for it when I slipped outside.
Sunlight fell on my face. Trees surrounded me as I went down the pathway that led to the fence and looked back at the building I’d come out of—wooden, one story, white exterior. Very…ordinary.
And then there was the street ahead.
There were the people, the werewolves moving about the cobbled street.
When they noticed me there, they stopped. When they noticed me there, they nudged their companions and nodded my way, watched me curiously, sniffed the air from a distance, and some even came closer slowly, like they were hoping I wouldn’t notice.
My magic reacted, wild and cold under my skin. My heart pounded in my chest because I had no idea what happened next, how I’d gotten here, what the hell to expect, when—
“Nilah.”
A voice I knew well.
A voice that had imprinted itself in my memories the very first time I heard her speak.
I turned to the left to find a group of people who’d just turned the corner, and among them was Maera—with that face and those eyes and that smile, exactly as I remembered it.
The stars must have gifted themselves to me—that’s what it felt like to see her.
I ran, with no thoughts in my head, no magic, no fear.
I ran and I hugged the shit out of her like I’d only ever done my family and Rune. Not a very touchy person, but this was a a special fucking occasion. I was alive and I’d made it to Verenthia and I wasn’t going to die at the hands—or teeth—of hungry werewolves anytime soon.
“Welcome to The Vale,” Maera said, smiling ear to ear when I finally let go of her.
I almost felt right at home.
The Vale was a vast territory, almost the same in size as Blackwater.
It had rivers and hills and mountains—and a lot of forests.
I had never seen a more colorful place in the entire realm even though I’d been in Cloakwood, the fomorian territory that bordered The Vale.
Here, the towns were smaller, clusters of houses and buildings built between trees, not too many in one place but spread out across the fields, each establishment almost identical in size.
I could see it because I was standing with Maera on the rooftop terrace of her house.
A wide round space just as big as the freestanding gazebo attached to my room at the Queen’s Palace in the Seelie Court.
I’d come such a long way from there, in such a short time, yet I’d never felt as comfortable there as I did here.
Even surrounded by werewolves, people who didn’t exactly look at me in a friendly way, and who sniffed the air and flinched when I passed them by—I felt safe here.
Because of Maera.
“You did it,” I said, hands around the wooden railing of her terrace as we both looked down at the fields full of werewolves, some in their human form, some wolves.
Some moving, some sitting or lying under shades.
The wind was the only sound we heard up here, but down there it had been quiet, too.
Not at all like in the fae courts, or even the maze market in the Neutral Lands.
Like even the movement of these people was soundless.
When they spoke, they did so quietly. Too quietly.
“I did,” Maera said, smiling at me still, her beautiful eyes bright as she took me in. “I came back with my pack mates, challenged the werewolves who’d taken my throne, and I won. I’ve been the head of my pack since the day I returned.”
I nodded, pushing back a wave of tears that suddenly snuck up on me. Fucking hell, I was so proud of her it wasn’t even funny.
“I knew you’d make it,” I said instead, and I had.
“I heard your prayers,” Maera said, and my cheeks about melted off my face.
“How in the world do you hear prayers?” I’d prayed like crazy, true, but I thought I was doing so in the privacy of my own mind.
“I’m your alpha, Nilah. I hear when I want to hear. We’re connected like that.” She pushed her thick waves behind her shoulder, and I was thrown back to a different time, a different place, though I was staring at the same eyes made of yellow shimmer.
She looked softer, Maera. Her features hadn’t changed a bit.
Her jawline remained just as sharp, her brows dark and thick straight lines that went up toward her temples, and her hair was runway worthy just like before—blonde around her face, then a darker brown on the rest of her head, so long it touched her hips.
Even so, she looked…fuller. Had gained some weight, if I had to guess, and her shoulders were more open. Her chin a little higher. Her smile a little easier. She radiated power.
“Here I thought my prayers were private,” I said with a smile. “You look good, Maera. You really do.”
She laughed. “Thank you, Nilah. You don’t, though.” She reached out a hand and touched my cheek with the back of her fingers. “Tell me what happened. You used a ley line—that’s against every law we’ve ever had. What happened?”
Ah, hell. I closed my eyes, breathed in deeply, and reminded myself again that I was safe.
Not just because I believed that Maera would never hurt me, but because of me as well.
Rune was right all along—I had magic. And after using it every single day now for over a week, I had much more confidence in my ability to protect myself.
At least to call forth magic at a moment’s notice.
So, I told her. I didn’t hold anything back from Maera—couldn’t if I tried. Something about the look in her eyes, the way she smiled, the way every emotion flashing on her face reflected all that I’d felt when I felt it. The pain and the fear and the disappointment.
I could have sworn that I told her the whole story much faster than I should have, like I’d needed fewer words. I didn’t have to explain much to her like I did to Betty and Arez, though, so that was probably why.
At the thought of them, my heart shook. I hoped they were okay. I hoped Arez had made it through, too. I hadn’t exactly considered pulling her in with me—it had been too much, and most of it not in my control at all, the way the ley lines had sucked me in.
But I would make sure that she made it one way or the other—just as soon as I found Rune. He was the Midnight King. He could send word to Bloomsridge. He could make it right, bring Arez back home. I had no doubt about it.
“Let’s sit and have some tea,” said Maera, waving behind us near the other end of the balcony where the stairs were, as well as a set of three chairs around a low, round table.
My mouth was dry as a desert, so I didn’t complain.
I thought the tea would be cold by now since the cups and the blue jug had been there since we arrived, but it was steaming hot when Maera poured it for me.
Steaming hot and it smelled delicious, too—peppermint and honey and oranges.
“It does make sense that you are the heir to the Frozen throne,” Maera eventually said, and the delicious taste of the tea was lost on me just like that.
“I’m not an heir—I’m human,” I said, but I’d told her the truth, hadn’t I? The whole truth like even Rune didn’t know it yet. Only Betty and Arez.
“The throne presented itself to you, Nilah. It would only do so for the legitimate ruler of a court, I’m afraid,” Maera said, the yellow of her eyes even brighter as she sipped her tea and looked out at the blue sky while the sun slowly descended beyond the horizon to our side.
And I was here, and Rune was here, and I wanted to be on my way to him already—but at the same time I was not in a rush. Whatever this place was doing to me, I was not in a rush to leave. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t anxious. I was just…thinking.
“Maybe I can give it away,” I said, my voice small, weak. “Maybe I can take whatever part of the true queen I have out of me and give it to someone who truly deserves it. Who is meant to rule a kingdom.” Which was most definitely not me.
Silence for a heartbeat. I felt the weight of her eyes on the side of my face just fine but didn’t dare turn.