Chapter 23 #2
Rune didn’t move. Maera didn’t move. The sorcerers didn’t back off until we barely saw them anymore.
Over. It was over.
Suddenly Rune turned around, sword in one hand and shadows in the other, his arms around me, eyes on the sorcerers still watching us in silence. I resisted the urge to grab his arms and fall against his chest for a moment longer until we were sure that nobody was going to attack again.
Nobody did.
Instead, a sharp intake of breath had us all looking at the sorceress who’d been knocked out cold by my magic before.
She’d been on the ground still, behind Maera and the wolves.
When they stepped aside, we saw her struggling to sit up, breathing heavily, loudly, a hand to her chest as she blinked her eyes and looked around, completely disoriented.
Nobody rushed to her aid. Nobody spoke at all while she caught her breath, and finally turned toward us.
Her eyes locked on mine. We both froze for a good moment, as if we were suddenly one. Connected.
Her thin lips moved, and barely any voice left her, but I heard the words as if they’d popped right into my head: “Your time is running out.”
Rune was there.
My back was to his chest, and his arm was across my torso because he still hadn’t let go of his sword.
He was there, his face next to mine, his lips right over my ear.
“I’m sorry, Wildcat. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to you sooner,” he whispered under his breath, barely moving his lips, over and over again—until the woman stopped coughing, struggling for air.
Until two sorcerers brought her a bottle of water to drink, then helped her to her feet.
She was on the skinny side, her dress black, her silver hair tied behind her head in a braid that reached her elbows. Pale skin, and her eyes could have been silver. She was looking from me to Maera every few seconds.
“It’s okay,” I whispered to Rune. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” Nobody looked like they were planning to attack. We were safe, at least for now. We were safe.
“We do not trust the Midnights,” said a sorceress—the same woman who’d towered over me earlier.
“He’s a king, not a common fae,” Maera said before I could, and she was looking at the woman, too, and so were the wolves.
The other two must have shifted as well when I wasn’t looking because four of them were around her now, heads low and ears sharp, yellow eyes focused.
Their teeth were showing, and fuck, they were even more terrifying than I remembered.
“We do not care for royals who’ve spilled sorcerer blood,” the woman standing next to the first said.
I stepped forward, and Rune took his arm off me. “He hasn’t spilled sorcerer blood. He’s here for me. We had an agreement, didn’t we?”
My magic was at the ready, my hands burning with the cold that wanted out.
There were so many of them—too many, and the sorcerers were not afraid.
They hadn’t even hesitated to attack two fae kings, and I knew there was a reason for that.
They were strong, even though Rune and Maera and the wolves were here. Chances were that we wouldn’t make it.
But…
“That’s enough,” said a sorceress—the sorceress, the one who’d choked on my magic before it had disappeared right inside her. “The fae royals will be safe in Mysthaven—and in all of Verenthia—while they search. That is the will of the stars.”
Whispers erupted among the crowd of sorcerers. Maera started to back away from them and come toward me, and the wolves waited for her to jump over the crack on the ground before they did the same.
Rune was right behind me, and his hand closed around the side of my waist, making my heart skip a beat.
“They’ve spoken to you, Neria,” said one sorceress or another.
The woman said, “They have. I’ve been chosen as the Seer of the Frozen Court from this day and until my dying breath.” Every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps, especially when she bowed her head to us. “Until then, I am at your service, Your Majesty.”
She’s not talking to me, I told myself. Not to me specifically—no way.
Because people didn’t just become seers, did they?
How the fuck would the stars even choose a seer in a scenario such as this, just like that?!
“Have you made your first reading?” Rune asked, his voice loud. Clear.
“She has,” Maera said. “We were all witness.”
And she was looking at the sorcerer without fear or even suspicion—just wonder. Respect.
“Maera, how…” I shook my head, stepped forward. “How does that work? How could you simply be chosen to become a seer—how…”
Words escaped me. Thoughts escaped me.
“The stars decide whom to give the sight to,” the woman said. “It is they who choose, not us.”
“What was it?” Rune stepped to my side, eyes on her. “What was your first reading?”
The sorceress didn’t hesitate. “Where the moon’s eye watches and the bridge stands alone, the lost crown awaits in the court with no throne—that is what the stars have showed me,” she said. “And I’m afraid your time is running out. You must be on your way at once.”
I shook my head again and again, looked at her and Rune and Maera, all the sorcerers who had stepped farther back. They were just curious about the woman now. They didn’t seem the least bit interested in attacking anyone, king or no king.
Meanwhile, I was so fucking confused I didn’t recognize any of the thoughts in my head.
“The lost crown? Do you mean the Unseelie crown?” Rune asked—again, like he was already on board with this.
“I believe so,” the sorceress said with a nod.
“Where? Where is the moon’s eye and the bridge that stands alone?” Maera asked—because yes, she, too, believed the sorceress. This wasn’t unusual to them. It wasn’t confusing—it was normal.
And I felt exactly like the outsider that I was—which, to be honest, came with a tiny bit of relief.
“That, I do not know. It will be a while until my sight becomes clear. I must get to my new home now and begin my preparations. And you must find the lost crown,” the woman said.
“Alive,” Rune whispered, staring at the ground now, lost in thought. “An Unseelie heir is alive.”
“Yes. The Council of the Vale has heard of it, too. We’ve spoken to them,” Maera said. “All hope isn’t lost yet.”
A pause—the sorceress who claimed to have been chosen to be a seer now was surrounded by her people. They touched her like they were trying to make sure she was real, spoke to her in whispers, and she responded.
“You must be Maera Thornevale,” Rune said, throwing me off for a moment—I’d completely forgotten that he and Maera had never met before.
He offered his hand and she shook it. “I’ve heard great things, Your Highness. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Your Highness, she said.
“Likewise. And please—Rune is fine,” Rune immediately said and stepped back, sheathed his sword, put his hand over my shoulder. “Wildcat, let me look at you.”
I was too shocked to say anything, do anything at all but let him pull me to the side, look at me—really look at me—and I looked at him.
Shaved cheeks. Hair as messy as always. No crown on his head, and he wore black, same as always, except his black shirt was made of thick silk, not like the shirts he used to wear before.
The boots on his feet looked brand new, too, and the spark in his eyes was dim, the silver that shone in them faded.
I could hear my heart breaking in my chest, especially when he wrapped his arms around me and came closer, pulled me to his chest and held me there, whispered I’m sorry a thousand times in my ear.
Tears came out of my eyes though I didn’t even feel like I was crying. I felt…emptied out. Like I was a shell all of the sudden. Skin and bones, and nothing more.
It didn’t take long to remember the pain and the guilt and the torture I had gone through to get to this moment, to be in his arms. And for the relief that he was okay, that he was standing, he was still king, and we were not in danger for now.
Not sure how long we stayed there for or what we looked like, if anybody was watching us. But Rune let go of me eventually, moved away and pushed back my hair, wiped my tears with his thumbs. Planted a kiss on my forehead.
“We’ll be okay, Wildcat,” he whispered against my lips, and the spark in his eyes was there again. I saw it, though not as bright. Those silver maps were shining like a beacon for me.
We’ll be okay. The thought echoed in my head.
Then Maera cleared her throat like she wanted to get our attention. We both turned to see the woman—Neria—not five feet away from us, those strange, pale eyes on me still.
“A word before I leave?”
How in the world could I say no?