The Mirror in the Mountain (The Mirrored Trilogy #2)

21. Eva

Chapter 21

Eva

T he cool night air settled against my skin like it was waiting for me. A crisp wind whispered secrets through the branches of the towering pines above, casting swaying shadows as we wandered aimlessly through the mountain woods. I was thankful for the thick navy cloak Quinn had procured for me before we left as I wrapped it more tightly around myself.

Rivan had explained that we would know what we were looking for when we saw it—a fairy mound. The usually circular pile of earth where the Little Folk came to revel in the moonlight, and grant an audience to those seeking their council, should they find them worthy of their time. Quinn’s jubilation at the prospect of meeting such a creature almost made me forget the stakes if we failed.

We split up, ambling through the moon bright forest, though my brother followed the same path as mine. The awkward silence between us seemed to deepen with every rustle of leaves. As we passed a desiccated section of earth, I winced at the thought of the curse so close to what was once again my home. Now that I understood the reason behind it, it was almost as though I could feel the absence of magic; the nothingness in its place making a shiver go down my spine.

When I looked Tobias’s way, his shoulders were hunched, looking as though he was struggling to find his words. Like that iron mask was once again blocking what he wanted to say.

I had already forgiven him. I shouldn’t have lashed out like I had in the first place. Not when we had been granted the chance to be together again, for gods knew how long. That ever-present anxious feeling in the back of my mind seemed to hum louder at that thought—knowing that our time together was as uncertain as whether we would survive what came next.

Quietly, I sat down on a moss-covered log, a curve in the wood serving as a seat. Beckoning my brother to join me with a jerk of my head, I took my canteen from my pack, taking a long sip as he did the same.

Night had deepened around us, though dappled moonlight still found a way in through the thick canopy above, the faint glow of fireflies lighting up the underbrush. On instinct, I sent a scattered wave of darkness up to meet it, letting it swirl around my twin and I like a dark current. I never wanted to know the feeling of not having my magic ever again.

Tobias looked up with awe, and I realized he had never had the chance to see what I could do beyond that final fateful battle with Aviel.

“I can’t believe we went so long without knowing about this,” I whispered into the beautiful, fractured darkness.

Tobias reached up a hand, and my magic swirled around it in response. A rare smile flitted across his mouth—then he sent a stream of sparks into the air, melding into my darkness like stars in the night sky. Together they left the somewhat startling impression that the sky had fallen down around us.

“You’re right, you know,” Tobias said, his voice scratchy. “I should have come back for you sooner.”

“Toby—” I started, but he shook his head.

“Once I made it to Soleara and learned how to mirror back…I should have come back for you right away.” Tobias hung his head, his chestnut hair falling around his face. “But I knew you were safer there. He was hunting for you and had been for so long, and everything I learned about him made keeping you in the dark sound like the only option.” He blew out a long breath before looking me in the eyes. “Maybe it was hubris. Maybe it was the grief of watching what happened to our parents and not wanting it to happen to you too. But I thought I could stop him…fix it, somehow, before you even found out about this realm and what awaited you here.”

I leaned against his shoulder, watching his stars flicker above us.

“I wish you had too,” I said simply. “But we can’t rewrite the past. I’m just sorry I didn’t know sooner so I could’ve been there to save you. ” I took a shuddering breath. “I don’t know how you endured it. I was only trapped there for a few days, and I was going out of my mind being chained and magicless. And you endured years of that torture.”

His eyes flickered, something cold and dark flashing across his face at whatever memory I had conjured.

“If you need to talk about it, I’m here,” I said gently, remembering the look in Bash’s eyes when he told me the same. “When you’re ready. But I am sorry I didn’t save you from him sooner, no matter the circumstances.”

My fingers rested on his arm, lightly running up his forearm in an ascending arpeggio. An old habit, one he had once made fun of me for, of playing piano even when there wasn’t one.

You know no one can hear it, right? he had once asked me as I ran scales along my desk, his tone full of wry amusement.

I had merely shrugged. I can.

His eyes flared in recognition, followed by a shadow of that familiar smile. “I guess we both need to work on our savior complexes.”

I choked out a laugh. “After what happened in Morehaven, Bash would agree with you.”

“I think we would all feel better if you listened to him,” Tobias grumbled. “Your anima …who’s growing on me despite my best efforts.”

I couldn’t help my smile. “I’m glad to hear you two are getting along. I knew you would like him.”

Tobias’s mouth twitched. “There’s no need to look so smug about it.”

I wrapped my arm around his waist, then leaned against him. His arm snaked around my shoulders, his breathing shaky as we sat and stared at the stars—those of our own creation fading into the ones far away.

“Come on,” Tobias said in a low murmur, helping me to my feet. “We do have a job to do.”

It felt like we had been circling the same spot in the forest for hours when we finally heard Rivan yell excitedly, “Found it!”

By the time we reached him, the others had already gathered. In the middle of an eerily perfect circle of trees stood a large mound of earth, covered in a thick layer of moss and glistening with dew in the moonlight. It was encircled by a ring of white mushrooms unlike any I had seen before, some as wide as dinner plates, each gleaming with an otherworldly light.

It felt unnervingly alive , pulsing with a strange energy I could feel in my bones.

Tobias and I swapped a glance, and I knew we were both thinking of the same bedtime story our father had read to us long ago. The one where the faeries had stolen the children away the second they were foolish enough to enter the circle. He frowned; his trepidation obvious.

Obviously, it was going to be me. I was the one the sprite had found once before when they led me through that forest. The one meant to rule this realm—and maybe the Little Folk knew that too.

I took a step forward, but Tobias grabbed my hand. I twisted back toward him, giving him an irritated look that he returned in kind.

His eyes narrowed, and I knew what he was thinking. Like hell you will.

My mouth pursed. We both know I’m going to be the one to do this.

The look he gave me was pure challenge. Try it and see what happens.

I rolled my eyes. If he was so afraid of what would happen when I stepped on the mound, he could go first, before my inevitable turn.

Crossing my arms, I said, “Go ahead, if you feel so strongly about it.”

“ What? ” Rivan asked, and I realized we hadn’t been speaking aloud. Yael looked faintly amused.

“Twins,” Bash grumbled. “There couldn’t be anything more fae.”

Quinn looked curious. “What does that mean?”

Yael laughed; the soft sound quickly swallowed by the dense woods. “He means that twins, doppelgangers, spirit doubles…in our realm, they tend to be known for trouble and tricks.”

“Well, that tracks,” I said with a wicked grin.

Tobias merely rolled his eyes, the gesture so quintessentially like the old him, I couldn’t help my small sigh of relief. Maybe Aviel hadn’t stolen that from him entirely. With time, he might be able to regain some of what he had lost during those years, even if I knew that neither of us would ever be those carefree children again.

Muttering under his breath, he stepped over the ring of mushrooms, leaping gracefully into the middle of the mound. I held my breath for a long moment, waiting for something—anything—to happen. Despite the sudden, ominous hush of the forest creatures the moment he stepped foot into the faerie circle, no sprite appeared.

Tobias turned in a slow, expectant circle. Nothing happened.

“Told you,” I said dryly.

Rivan threw up his hands in exasperation.

“At least we know it’s not some form of gate,” Tobias exclaimed as he jumped down.

“How kind of you to make sure,” I said, walking past him. “But the children in those stories always seemed to find what they were looking for on the other side, didn’t they?”

“Except for the ones who never returned,” Tobias said darkly.

“What stories?” Quinn asked, her gaze amused as she looked between us.

I stopped at the edge of the mushrooms, the large lid of one nearly up to my knees. “A book my dad used to read to us about faerie circles and the children they stole away. Seems more accurate to the mirrors here, unless I’m about to fall through the veil to elsewhere and find my deepest desire, only to realize it was back where I started all along…”

Taking a large step over the mushrooms, I made it to the top of the mound feeling vaguely foolish. I stood there, looking at them all looking at me, for what felt like forever in the chilled night before I let out a loud huff of impatience.

Bash chuckled softly, though I knew he had already felt the emotion down our bond. Rivan gave us both an annoyed look.

“They’re not going to come if you aren’t quiet,” Rivan muttered.

Quinn turned to him. “Did you also have a bedtime story about faerie mounds and sprites that has you so knowledgeable?”

Bash smirked. “I feel vaguely left out.”

“They’re not going to come at all with a crowd,” I said, exasperated. “Just go wait back at the horses and give me some time on my own.”

Bash looked like he wanted to argue but nodded. “We’ll return in an hour to make sure everything’s okay.”

“Two,” I replied pointedly.

“The woods here aren’t necessarily safe,” Bash said warily. “There’s no telling what creatures reside here, and even if we’re close by?—”

“ Two ,” I insisted. “I can take care of myself. You’ll feel it if anything goes wrong, and I can hold my own long enough for you to return. With all the circling we did, we’re not that far from where we started. Not to mention I can easily reach you.”

Pointedly, I tapped my finger against my palm, the iridescent quill on my other hand shimmering as I wrote two words.

Stop worrying.

Bash shot me a baleful look as he read the message on his hand, before scribbling one back.

Don’t count on it.

I could sense his anxiety at the thought of leaving me here, the bad memories it stirred. But he didn’t argue as they all acquiesced to my demand.

“Remember,” Rivan said, turning back to me at the edge of the clearing, “don’t make any promises. Don’t make any threats. And don’t piss it off.”

Bash paused, his eyes darting back to mine before he turned to leave, his shadows mixing with the dusk as they lingered behind him like they didn’t want to go either. As the soft sounds of their footsteps were swallowed by the woods, I tried not to feel uneasy, even as I heard the rustle of wings from somewhere above me.

Perhaps it was just a bat. Perhaps it was something far more dangerous.

Carefully, I tightened my hold on my bond with Bash, unwilling to have him ruin my stakeout should some small creature surprise me.

I started to pace, then stopped, afraid I might trample upon something sacred. With a sigh, I sank into a seat, folding my legs beneath me as my hands balled nervously into fists. My fingers rubbed against my palm, tracing the rose whose ridges I had long since memorized. Struggling not to jump at each rustle of leaves or the occasional crack of branches as I tried not to worry this had all been for nothing.

“Hello friend,” I whispered under my breath, trying not to feel silly for talking to the empty air. “I owe you a debt, one I’d like to thank you for in person. And I have a question or two…if you don’t mind.”

My nails bit into my palm as the forest didn’t deign to answer. Closing my eyes, I thought back to the frantic terror of that night. Had I done anything inadvertent to summon it? I hadn’t used my magic, not with that collar around my neck. Hadn’t said anything of note, at least not that I could remember in my delirium. Only pure adrenaline and fear had kept me moving, the forest floor slicing my feet so badly I had left behind a trail of…

Blood .

Carefully, I removed my dagger from its sheath, the accompanying sound far too loud as the air seemed to thicken. Clenching my jaw, I sliced it against my opposite palm, wincing as I squeezed my fist so that my blood dripped upon the center of the circle. Wiping the remaining smear on my blade onto the moss, I returned it to my side as the dark drops sank into the mound.

The woods stayed silent, the night deepening as a cloud went over the moon. My breath caught as I realized the glow of the fireflies had disappeared, the sudden blackness reminding me far too much of a cold, iron box closing in around me, that once comforting darkness bent on smothering any last semblance of hope.

A blue light flickered through the leaves of one of the surrounding trees—one that I recognized immediately from that horrible night. That shimmer of sapphire that had led me straight to safety. To my friends.

Then the sprite was there before me, perched on a low branch so we were nearly eye to eye. She was barely the size of my hand, with elflike features and shimmering blue wings so oblong they reminded me of a dragonfly. And she was entirely nude, her skin so dark she almost blended into the night. Only the blue sheen on her skin allowed me to see the outline of her large, unblinking eyes, her deep blue lips, and the voluptuous curves of her body. Her hair was a wild, electric azure that matched her dragonfly wings, somehow still despite her continuous fluttering.

I didn’t dare move an inch or take too deep a breath. She cocked her head, as if waiting for me to make the first move. Then she sunk into a deep bow, her wings tilting forward with a slow flap before she rose.

Hastily, I bowed back, though the hair on the back of my neck rose at leaving myself so exposed. While her features were human, they also weren’t , in a beautiful yet terrible way I couldn’t entirely comprehend.

“I remember you,” I croaked, my throat suddenly dry. “It was you in the forest that night who led me to them…wasn’t it?”

“And I remember you, girl,” the sprite’s voice was everywhere at once and louder than I expected, each word reverberating through the brisk night air. “Night with a soul of iron, forged in fire. The lost queen. Yes, I know who you are…and who you will be. Or I wouldn’t have come.”

I swallowed hard against my parched throat. “Thank you, for what you did that night. For saving me.” The sprite nodded slightly in acknowledgement, her dark eyes never leaving mine. “But if you know all that, then you know why I’m here…and who I’m trying to stop. Can you help me?”

She nodded slowly, then flashed her sharp, black teeth in what I wasn’t sure was a threatening look or a smile. Rivan’s words echoed in my head. Don’t make any promises. Don’t make any threats. And don’t piss it off.

“Seeing what lies ahead is a strange business,” she mused. “We can see intent, and how it will shape what comes to pass. And we have seen the False One’s attempt to circumvent the rules of this realm.”

“I want to stop him for the good of the realm,” I said firmly, hoping my sincerity showed. “But with the nature of his magic, he’s too powerful for me to stop. I need to know where the Choosing takes place so I can get there first. And if he has a weakness that we can exploit to stop him if we don’t. Something we’ve overlooked or can use to drain his stolen power or keep him from gaining more long enough to end him for good.” I paused, belatedly adding, “Please.”

Her head tilted from side to side, the motion almost birdlike. “It’s not a matter of what to take from him. It’s a matter of what he took from you.” She stared at me with those wide, unblinking eyes, wholly black and entirely disconcerting.

“He took my magic,” I said, haltingly. “But that’s?—”

“And your blood,” the sprite said, so matter-of-factly that my skin crawled.

“My…” I trailed off as I remembered the puncture marks down my arms after my initial imprisonment. I had assumed they were all from Aviel drugging me, or him making Alette do so. But in my unconsciousness, it would have been only too easy to take my blood as well. My insides twisted at yet another invasion.

“He would have to steal both from you to be crowned,” she continued, those luminescent wings fluttering in mesmerizing rhythm. “Your magic at his command, and your blood in his veins, in order to complete the Choosing. But he took it one step further, creating a bloodbond not so easily broken.” Those black teeth glinted in the moonlight in a vicious smile, her head tilting at an unnatural angle. “And so, you have the way to stop him.”

“I’m sorry,” I stammered, ignoring the sinking sensation in my stomach. “But I don’t understand.”

“He bound you to him, girl,” she said, her voice harsh and all-encompassing. “Your blood binds your life to his…and his to yours. What happens to one will happen to the other.”

The world seemed to narrow in on me as I finally made sense of what she meant. “You’re saying…we’re linked. That if I’m injured, it will slow him down?—”

“He didn’t link your bodies,” the sprite sneered. “He bonded your lives . There is only one way to be certain. To stop him for good.”

There was a dull, tearing sensation in my chest. A roaring in my ears as I realized what, exactly, her words implied. “The only way to stop him is to…kill myself?” The two words seemed to echo faintly in the thickening dark. I shook my head. “Absolutely not. There has to be another way.”

“There is always another way,” the sprite said placatingly. “And there is always another choice. But will you be able to make it?” Her laugh was high and shrill, echoing strangely in the night like it was coming from all around me. “Or will it be made for you?”

“Please,” I begged, nausea roiling in my gut. “There must be something else you can tell me. Something to help me stop him before the curse, and the effects of his rule, destroys your home too. If you can tell me how to reach the Choosing first, if I can just stop him before he attempts to thwart it, then maybe I won’t have to resort to that.”

Those sharp black teeth flashed as she leered at me as though disappointed. “Changing destiny’s a weighty business. Though there is something…strange. Perhaps it is not yet set in stone.”

The sprite dipped her head down in consideration, her hypnotizing wings slowing. I realized I was holding my breath only when I was forced to take another.

“There is a mirror,” she said deliberately. “The Seeing Mirror, deep in the heart of Adronix. It is there that you seek, there you must reach before the False One, for it is the gateway to the Choosing. Only those meant to rule may pass through.” She darted forward, her wings a blur as she hovered only inches from my face. “Once he claims the crown with your power and your blood, you will lose your chance to stop him.”

Adronix . I remembered the name—the frozen northern mountain the False King had supposedly been imprisoned beneath, though he had been safe in Morehaven posing as the savior prince. My heart beat unsteadily in my ears, hope forming against all probability. “And if I get there before he does…if I become High Queen. Will I be able to stop him?”

The sprite stared at me in a way that sent a shiver down my spine. “I met your mother once in these same woods. The Queen Who Might Have Been. I told her of the False One, and of the danger he would pose to her progeny. She was not afraid of her destiny. Of what would happen in the end.”

She studied me, and for a second, I thought she almost looked sad. “My gift to you is the one left by her to my safekeeping. If only for her sacrifice, I hope you get to make another choice. Remember…the only way out is through.”

An unbearable heaviness settled in my chest at the words that could have only come from my mother’s lips. I opened my mouth, desperate to know more about their last meeting. About how much, exactly, my mother had known about her fate, and what awaited her?—

But the sprite was already gone.

Something glinted on the moss of the mound below me, exactly where I had spilled my blood. I knelt down, feeling numb even as the word for what lay before me hazily surfaced from that long-forgotten fairytale.

A boon.

The silver ring’s thin band split in four to hold an oval-shaped gray diamond the exact color of Bash’s shadows. I pulled it onto my shaking finger, utterly unsurprised to find it a perfect fit. The diamond seemed to ripple in the moonlight as the clouds finally parted.

Gingerly, I stepped over the mushrooms now swaying mockingly in the breeze. Stumbling backwards the second I was free of the circle, I fell to my knees, struggling to breathe.

The night flickered strangely as a gust of icy wind tore through the trees. But it wasn’t the source of my shivering as I slowly got to my feet, my steps far heavier than when I came here. I managed one, shuddering inhale, my exhale cut off in a sharp gasp that was quickly carried away with the wind.