Chapter 27
twenty-seven
It was silly to feel so giddy for winning a round of a fae game, but I’d lie if I said my mood didn’t improve a little.
Or maybe it was just Rune.
His shoulders weren’t as rigid as in the beginning, and he was smiling that half smile at Lyall more, and even replying to his comments when he teased him, too.
But we walked for a few minutes only, down the clearing and through large oak trees that made me consider that this playground might be endless—and then Round Three began.
We heard the water coursing at first, and I imagined something small—like a pool or spring or something.
Instead, we found ourselves at the edge of a river at least thirty feet wide, the dark water coursing down it so fast like it was angry. Like it was furious for whatever reason.
“I haven’t played this one before,” Lyall said, looking ahead at the trees on the other side, not smiling for the moment as he stood there between Rune and me .
“What do you mean? Do the games change?” I asked.
“Of course. You rarely play the same one twice,” Lyall said. “This playground was built by the best illusion weavers in our realm, and its magic is still unparalleled four hundred years later.”
Well, fuck. “That’s a lot.” To think that this had been here, indeed, for four centuries made me feel so small. And the idea that it changed, that every time you played the games were different?
Yeah, I was definitely a believer that this place had no end.
“It is. I’ve heard of this game, though. It’s…a tricky one.”
I turned to find that Rune was looking at him, too. “Tricky?” he asked.
Lyall actually flinched. “This river slips into your mind when the game begins and tries to play with it. It finds the deepest desires inside you, and puts them within your reach,” he said. “Our job? We have to reject it.”
I shook my head, looking at the dark water of the river with a new light now. “I don’t think I want to play this game,” I muttered.
Lyall smiled a little as he looked at me. “Too late now. The playground chose it for us. May the best of us win.” And he gave me a wink.
“But how…”
The question died on my tongue when suddenly the surface of the river began to turn white.
The color of it didn’t change, though. But the water was slowing down, and mist was curling on the surface, becoming thicker and thicker, rising up toward the sky slowly as we watched.
Lyall moved first, started to walk along the edge of the river, and passed right in front of me. He gave me a smile when he did, though you could tell that he was distracted. You could tell that he was really into this game— excited to be playing it.
Rune was coming toward me, too, walking along the edge, those beautiful, intense eyes on me.
It was the first time since we met that morning that he gave me his full attention, allowed me to see his true thoughts, his desire so perfectly described in all the shades of blue and silver.
My knees grew weak at the idea of leaning closer, touching him, kissing his lips.
Of course, I did no such thing, but the way he devoured me with his eyes left me breathless all the same.
Then he continued down the river, just behind Lyall, watching the growing mist over the surface of the water that stood as still as if it were a lake now.
Lake. Like that lake surrounded by mountains where we were together for the first time.
God, I was so turned on it wasn’t even funny, and to force my body to calm down, I started walking along the other side of the river to put some distance between me and the men.
The fae.
Better yet—the princes.
Muttering to myself, I continued to walk without even looking at the water, until the mist spread in the air everywhere, and I began to smell it, taste it on my tongue.
It wasn’t a particular taste, just…heavy.
And when I looked at the river, I realized I could hardly even see the water from the tendrils of white that continuously slipped from its surface.
Not only that, but it made it impossible to see anything in the distance as well. It had swallowed Rune and Lyall whole.
Reminding myself that this was all part of the game, I continued ahead, slower now, eyes on the river, wondering when the actual game would start for me.
After what must have been minutes, the only thing I could make out was the silhouette of a bridge.
It was a stone bridge, arched in the middle, with vines and flowers wrapped around the thick railings, and it was somehow perfectly visible through the mist when I went closer.
Once more, I turned around to look for Rune or Lyall, but I saw nothing, not even the trees that had been there moments ago. Just the bridge.
“Must be the game,” I thought out loud to give myself some courage.
But it had to be the game if the only thing I could really see was that bridge.
It made sense that I should cross to the other side, I thought.
So, holding the token I’d won tightly in my fist, I walked ahead and right onto the bridge.
The thick stone blocks looked sturdy enough. The bridge didn’t budge under my weight. It was narrow so I could hold onto the railings on both sides as I went, until I was in the very middle, right over the highest point of the arch, and I finally saw.
I saw Rune and Lyall by the edge of the river just a few feet apart, and they weren’t far at all.
They were just there, which made no sense at all because I’d walked for at least a few minutes.
I shouldn’t have been so close to them at all, yet there they were.
Half hidden by the mist, staring at the water of the river like they could actually see something in it .
Taking in a deep breath, I prepared to call for them, to tell them where I was—but I never got the chance.
Suddenly, the mist from the river below blew up all at once, like it was steam coming from a chimney. It took away the view of the river and the men, and even the railing right in front of me. I couldn’t see it, even though I felt the cold stone underneath my hands.
It scared me shitless, but there was no time to scream or jump back before the mist began to gain color and shapes right in front of my eyes.
It quickly began to turn into an image, and it was so real. The very next moment, I was looking at…
“ Rune. ”
The name slipped from my lips, and suddenly everything around me disappeared. The mist and the river and the bridge I stood on—it all disappeared somewhere in the background, and the perfectly clear image that was in front of me was everything.
Rune was standing there, smiling ear to ear, his hair combed back, his eyes vivid—and he saw me, too.
He was standing near a tree in a forest somewhere all by himself, one hand in his pocket, and he was beaming, like nothing at all concerned him, nothing held him back.
He wasn’t afraid or suspicious or anything at all—he was just completely focused on me with his mind and his body and his heart.
He looked… in love as he watched me, like he couldn’t wait to get to me, like this time, when he grabbed me in his arms, it would be forever.
We were never going to be apart again, not for a second.
No more setbacks, no more secrets, no more lies—just us. We wouldn’t hide. We could just…be.
And as if to prove every thought that went through my head—and I knew each one of them with absolute certainty—Rune took a step closer to me and slowly reached out his hand for mine.
My heart jumped. Every instinct in me came alive, and I wanted to jump in his arms already. This was it, all my dreams coming true! This was all I wanted, even if I’d never seen it so clearly before.
This was it for me, and finally, I could be happy. Really, truly happy.
So, I reached out my hand for his without hesitation. There were tears in my eyes and my heart was galloping in my chest, and Rune was right there, and…
Then he was gone.
The colors, the image, the light that had been shining on me disappeared the moment I thought I touched his fingertip with mine. All of it— gone.
I turned, looked to the sides as the panic settled on my shoulders, and those tears, now not happy at all, spilled down my cheeks in a rush.
The colors were gone. Instead, I was surrounded by that mist that dulled everything around me—the mist rising from the river.
The fucking Illusion Game that Lyall had brought us to play!
If the railing of that bridge hadn’t been there to hold my weight, I’d have collapsed. My heart broke so completely it couldn’t possibly be real. Rune had been there, my heart’s true desire, exactly like I yearned to see him, open and carefree and completely mine— and now he was gone.
Because it had never been real, that image. Illusion. Just an illusion.
And I’d lost Round Three of this fucking game.
Wiping my eyes with the hem of the dress, I forced myself to breathe, to straighten my shoulders, to walk down the bridge and away from this fucking place right now. I was right when I said I didn’t want to play this stupid game, and I had no idea just how much.
To put in front of you everything you ever wanted, and then to make it disappear again, just like that? Fuck, what the hell is this place?!
“Not real.”
The words reached me in an echo just as I was about to run back to the edge of the river.
I froze in place again—because they were coming from Rune.
Both he and Lyall were still standing there, looking ahead to something I couldn’t see, but they clearly did.
And I knew that they were seeing their biggest desires come to life as well.
They were so completely focused on what didn’t exist for my eyes, and Lyall’s hand was raised forward, shaking, and Rune had his fists to the sides as he repeated, not real, another three times.
With my heart in my throat, I watched a second longer.
Lyall reached out his hand all the way. Rune said, not real, for the last time.
The Seelie prince closed his eyes and put his hands over his head.