“Exactly,” Veery pronounced dramatically. “Once she gets to Oxford with us, she’ll join our circus of mad academics, her god the Oxford Don, her prayer the pint at her lips and the pen in her hand.”
Daddy looked alarmed. “He’s joking,” I assured him hastily. “Veery’s still on—a lot of pain medication. From his injury.”
“Am not,” Veery called, swanning into the galley.
“Shut up,” I called. I seized Daddy’s hands. “I’m going to be fine,” I said confidently. “Really.”
I had been accepted to study—to read, I corrected myself—law and literature at Oxford.
I was thrilled.
I was going to university. And someday, we would build one in Potomac.
The tsarytsya had built her empire by keeping families apart, by keeping music and books out of her people’s hands. I was going to do the opposite for my home.
But I was going to have an adventure first.
Being at home with my father well and himself again had reminded me that I was still just nineteen. Though I ached to leave him and Victoria and my godmother again so soon, though I’d think of Potomac every day, I wanted a learn a little more before I set to work, and I wanted to be young for a bit before I had to be old.
Daddy laughed and looked down at our joined hands, nodding at my ring. “Are you going to miss him terribly?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “But we’re visiting Asgard before term starts, so Anya can see her parents, and I’ll see him then. And he’ll come down to visit sometimes. And when I’ve finished school . . .”
When you’ve finished school, Torden had promised me the night before he left for Norge, I’ll come to you.
When your stepmother has had some years to heal, I had agreed with him. When Hodr doesn’t need you so. When Hermódr feels ready.
When you’ve done your duty to your family and your country, you will come to me.
Some rumors said I was stalling—that I had agreed to marry Torden because Alessandra had forced me, and now I wanted to back out.
But no one was forcing me to do anything. And I didn’t care about what anyone thought of me anymore.
But for now, we would give ourselves time.
“Selah!” Cobie called. “Tide’s going out. Time to go.”
I kissed my father and my baby sister, wiping tears from my eyes. I let Godmother Althea say the prayer for travelers over me, and I boarded the ship with my friends. Bound for the old world. Bound for a new world. Bound across the sea, the sun bright before us.
For now, there was the adventure at hand.
Appendix
The following are tales, songs, and religious writings referenced in The Beholder and The Boundless. Their creators and translators are noted, where available.
THE BEHOLDER
Beowulf
translated by Lesslie Hall
“Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper” (Cendrillon; ou, La Petite Pantoufle de Verre)
Charles Perrault, translation from The Temple Classics for Young People edition
“The Fairy of the Dell”
from Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories, edited by P. H. Emerson
“Little Snow-White” (Schneewittchen)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Logan Marshall
The Odyssey
Homer, translated by A. T. Murray
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
translated by Rev. Ernest J. B. Kirtlan
“The Three Little Men in the Wood” (Die drei Männlein im Walde)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Margaret Hunt
THE BOUNDLESS
The Faerie Queene
Edmund Spenser
Gloria Patri
The Lady of Alba’s Lament for King Charles
John O’Tuomy, translated by Edward Walsh
“Little Red Cap” (Rotkäppchen)
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes
“The Parting Glass”
Scottish traditional folk song
Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich
Acknowledgments
Stephanie Stein: Everyone talks about how hard the second book is to write; I was still more or less blindsided. Thank you for sticking with me through this year. Thank you for asking me the right questions and pushing me, all while being such a gentle cheerleader. This book is just about what I hoped it would be, and so much of that is down to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Elana Roth Parker: You respond to every panicked text, every minutiae-laden email. I appreciate you more than I can say. Thank you for coaching me through debut year. Here’s to many more wonderful years of working together.
Laura Dail Literary Agency, especially Laura Dail and Samantha Fabien: You guys are champs. Absolute pros. I’m so grateful to have you all looking out for me.
Team Beholder/Boundless at HarperCollins, including the tireless Louisa Currigan, Jon Howard, Gwen Morton, Erica Ferguson, Kimberly Stella, Vanessa Nuttry, Kadeen Griffiths, Kris Kam, Caitlin Garing, Michael D’Angelo, Jane Lee, and Tyler Breitfeller: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for fixing the details of this book that escaped me. YOU are the reason I can relax when I start panicking in the middle of the night. Thank you for telling readers about this story that means so much to me and writing copy for its cover. Thank you for arranging events and taking photographs and making audiobooks happen. You guys made my dreams come true. I am so thankful.
Chris Kwon, Alison Donalty, and the folks at Vault49: Your talent is such a gift and it absolutely astounds me. Thank you for making The Boundless look as magical and beautiful as it feels in my heart.
Natalia Morozova: Спасибо for answering my endless Russian and Ukrainian language questions and for your translation of the proverb. You have saved me so much frustration, and I am deeply grateful. Tom Thomson and Dr. Seamus Reilly: Many, many thanks for your aid with Irish Gaelic. Sally Anderson, for answering my French language questions: Merci, darling. As always, any errors are entirely my own.
Sasha, Sabrina Egan, and the rest of the Compass Georgetown staff: Thank you for the coffee and daily kind welcomes as I wrote this book. I appreciate you so much.
Brigid Kemmerer: Thank you for talking me out of every panic attack that had me knocking at your door. You are a good friend and a good person, and I’m so thankful to have you for a friend. Lizzy Mason, Katy Loutzenhiser, Sara Faring: It’s been a joy to be a human life raft with you guys. I’m so proud of us. Katie Blair: I didn’t expect the year to bring me you. But I’m so, so grateful it did. I love you, friend.
Anna and Sally, my Jelly Babies; Lei’La’ Bryant, my Soulsie; #TeamElana (and especially Lily Meade, for your endless cheerleading and graphics wizardry); Abbey and Erin; and Eileen, Lelia, Rebecca, Rosie, Amanda, Lauren, Trish, Sally, Taylor, Amber, and Jeremiah, my One More Page family: Thank you for all your support and friendship and for helping me survive this year. I wouldn’t have made it without you.
Grace Downtown’s Georgetown CG: Thank you for being home to me. I love you all so much.
Stephinephrine, Laura, Jensy, Joanna, and Hannah, my Pod: I never feel alone, knowing you guys are there. You are my small, constant joy. I love you all.
Dormineys, Shafers, Gardners, Sernas, Andersons, Simkinses, Burkhalters, Stiglishes, Hayeses, Bischoffs: I am unimaginably lucky to have you, especially my Mamaw, Grandmother and Granddaddy (Washing Machine), Momma and Daddy, Zack, Chelsie, Cohen, and Callan. Y’all are every good thing in my life. Thank you.
Wade: Thank you for never letting go. Thank you for being with me through every magical day, every meltdown, every disappointment and adventure and hard slog. You’re the person I want to do it all with. I love you.
To my Father: All glory to you. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen, alleluia.
About the Author
Photo by Rosalinda Dauval
BRIGHT is an indie bookseller by day and an author by night who still gets in trouble for reading when she’s supposed to be doing other things. When not hiding out among books, she loves concerts, roller coasters, and adventures at home and abroad. Anna lives with her husband and cat in a charming cobblestoned neighborhood in Washington, DC, but you can find her online at www.annabrightbooks.com and on Twitter and Instagram at @brightlyanna.
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Books by Anna Bright
The Beholder
The Boundless
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE BOUNDLESS. Copyright © 2020 by Anna Shafer. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover art © 2020 by Vault49
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020933589
Digital Edition JUNE 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-284547-4
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-284545-0
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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