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

56. Eva

Chapter 56

Eva

M y golden dress crisscrossed across my chest, circling around my neck, leaving a diamond of exposed skin under my breasts before wrapping around my waist. The flowing skirt extended to the floor, but there was a long slit up my leg—perfect to stow my dagger within reach. Though the one strapped to my side was now a gift from my brother, an almost exact recreation of the one I had lost minus the stone, its remains melted down far beneath this castle. Delicate golden ribbons extended across my shoulders and interlaced down my arms, matching the gold strands braided into my hair, the golden liner on my eyelids and the dust of gold on my cheeks.

We had spent the evening meeting with the royal families—not that the new King of Soleara and the Queens of Imyr hadn’t been frequent visitors. Tobias had quietly assumed his new role, working to reorient our people in a realm that suddenly remembered them, all while grieving those we had lost in that final battle. Queen Sariyah’s sea-green eyes were still haunted after what had happened on her way to Adronix as she thanked me for taking down the one responsible. I had been happy to see Eliav and Noam again, though they also looked bone weary from their own rebuilding efforts.

Both Mayim and Esterra were still dealing with dissenters. Perhaps I had been foolish to think Aviel’s end would dissuade those who had supported him from rising again. Their outright attacks had dissipated to whispers about my legitimacy as news had spread about the democratic ideologies I had brought with me from the human realm, never mind the fact that the blueprint was almost entirely my mother’s.

The weight of the realm I was responsible for felt just as heavy at peace as it did in war. I wouldn’t rule as a figurehead, and I had no intention of being just another monarch. Yet finding a more democratic solution for a kingdom that had always existed without such representation would take time, even with my mother’s books of notes and learnings. Even if this group of rulers seemed surprisingly receptive to the change.

Though perhaps after seeing how close Aviel had come to stealing this world for himself, they saw the wisdom in dividing that power. With the checks and balances I proposed, it wouldn’t be so easily taken again.

My uncle had pulled me aside to let me know that, despite efforts to locate him, Silvius had disappeared from Morehaven during the post-battle chaos. I knew Rivan had already tasked some of Imyr’s best trackers to hunt him down, but the thought of him free and at large after the retribution I had promised him rankled. He was the mastermind behind the magic blocking bands, the serum they had injected me with, and gods knew what else. It wasn’t safe to leave him to his own devices, never mind my personal vendetta.

Our talks had lasted late into the night, and I had been relieved when we had been able to retire. Bash led me down the newly painted hallways to our rooms, the sage green a welcome change. He had taken it upon himself to bring bedding from Imyr—its citrusy scent alone went a long way in making it feel like home.

I hadn’t needed to refuse to take residence in the room Aviel had once trapped me in, since it was still a pile of fire-scorched rubble. A hole remained visible from the exterior of the castle, where Alette had saved me. But the library down the hall had survived the flames, to my relief. I hadn’t yet decided what to do with the tower when the reconstruction was complete, but I had already made the stoneworkers promise to keep the scorch mark on the floor as a testament to the one who had put it there.

After all, it did look better scorched.

While refurbishing Morehaven had hardly been our top priority, we had found ways to make it our own. Carpet now covered the marble floor I would never forget the cruel coldness of; blues and greens and shadowy grays slowly taking over the endless white. While certain hallways and some specific spots still summoned a flash of residual terror when I passed, those places were becoming fewer and farther between. Apparently, banishing the ghosts of the past was sometimes as simple as a fresh coat of paint.

On the days it wasn’t so easy—old fears shivering down our bond as I imagined a harsh breath on the nape of my neck—Bash would lift me onto Nisa, and we would ride out over the ridge. Breathing in the fresh mountain air as we trotted together through the patches of earth that had once been gray and dead, now slowly being reborn in the early throughs of spring.

While it seemed strange to call Morehaven home, it was slowly becoming it. Though I had a feeling anywhere could be, as long as my anima was with me.

Bash’s voice broke through my reverie. “I probably should’ve given you this before dinner, but I didn’t want to share the look on your face.”

I looked behind me to see Bash holding a familiar dark sword. One I thought had been lost forever in the cave far below this castle. My mouth dropped open, and I felt his amusement, its reflection almost bubbly across our bond. Just as I knew he could feel my shock and joy like it was his own.

When Bash handed Nightshade to me, I nearly wept as I unsheathed it, taking in the blade I was sure had been lost. My darkness wrapped around it lovingly as I closed my eyes, savoring the feel of its handle as my grip tightened.

I had missed it in my hands.

“It was the only thing I found intact down there, besides the mirror,” Bash murmured. I could feel his satisfied contentment increase as my face broke into a smile.

“You went?—”

“I wanted to be sure,” Bash cut in grimly. “It was one of the first things I did when we moved in. The sword took a bit to repair after the way it melted in the blast.”

“I never thought I’d see it again.”

I sat on the bed, my fingers trailing up and down the flat side of my blade as my darkness latticed around it in overlapping patterns.

Peace or no, I had no doubt I would find the need to use this sword again. The thought didn’t scare me, not with my family at my side. And despite all that still needed to be done, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.

Fleetingly, I wondered where I would be had I never found this realm. Had I never found my anima, our friends, my not-so-deceased brother. If I hadn’t discovered my long-denied magic, so much a part of me now that I didn’t know how I used to breathe without it. I wondered where I would’ve ended up if I hadn’t learned exactly who and what my parents were and the sacrifice they had made for me. Even if I had always known how much they loved me.

I was so lost in my own head that I barely noticed a shadowy wisp wrap around my ankles, jerking my legs out from under me so I fell back upon the bed. A prickle of need I knew he could feel started low in my belly as more wisps trailed up my thighs in lazy strokes, exposing me to him as they pushed my legs open wide.

Teasingly, I pointed my sword at him.

Bash smirked. “I’ve always preferred you with a blade in your hand. Reminds me of how we first met.”

His fingers reached up to toy with the delicate ribbon draping across my collarbone, leaning over me to trail kisses down each golden thread. My sword dropped to my side as I arched against him, needing more .

“This dress is torture, hellion,” he groaned, brushing his lips against the exposed skin between my breasts. “Take it off for me.”

His shadows were already pulling it higher, and I nearly laughed aloud at their urgency. Like we didn’t have all the time in the world now.

“Only if you promise to make me scream,” I acquiesced, watching his eyes darken in a way that had nothing to do with the shadows swirling within them.

Laughing lightly at Bash’s groan of impatience as I started undoing each tie, Bash began to help me in a way that only served to distract us both, his mouth pressing against every new section of exposed skin.

He twirled one of the ribbons around his finger, letting the edge of it brush against my peaked nipple. The light, teasing touch made me moan. “I’m not sure what turned me on more tonight, the way you so effortlessly commanded everyone, or the fact that you were wrapped up like a present. All I wanted to do was bend you over your throne and rip these off one by one.”

I gasped as he sucked my nipple into his mouth, his tongue swirling against it. “It’s not too late to make that a reality.”

His laugh was low and husky. “Oh, I absolutely plan to make that fantasy come true for us both. But not before I get you off first.”

Bash pulled my dress off completely, his shadows having undone the remaining clasps and ties without me realizing, leaving only the silver-star necklace gleaming between my naked breasts. He yanked off his jacket, then his shirt, my mouth going dry as he revealed the defined muscles of his stomach. His hands moved to his pants, and my eyes trailed down the hard, vee-shaped lines leading the way to the uncomfortable-looking bulge tenting them.

I whined deep in my throat as his fingers paused. He smirked, then complied with my wordless plea, his cock thick and wanting as he stood completely nude over me. A bead of come glistened at the tip, and I leaned forward with the intent of licking it off.

Bash’s shadows pushed me back down, pinning my wrists to my sides. I knew I would be able to get free if I wanted to—knew exactly how safe I was with him—but I didn’t so much as try, relishing the heat building inside me as I gave up control.

His fingers caught my chin. “Is this okay?”

My only reply was a loud moan as his shadows slipped between my legs, as eager as I was for this, teasingly sliding into my wetness before moving it around my clit.

Their master didn’t move. “You know the rules, Eva. I need to hear you say it.”

I shivered with desire as I breathed, “ Yes .”

Bash’s smile was feline. “Then it’s my turn first, hellion.”

I made a noise of dissent, wanting to taste him, to feel him inside me. It was quickly swallowed by my moan as his head lowered between my thighs. He groaned, the rumble of it hot against my core, and I gasped his name.

Those dark tendrils trailed slowly up the midline of my stomach, the sensation of him everywhere almost unbearable. They teased against my nipples in time to Bash’s tongue until I finally let go, crying out as Bash kept moving, that talented tongue circling insistently to wring out every second of my pleasure.

I should have felt satiated. Instead, it somehow made me feel even more desperate for him. When I had control of my limbs once again, I lunged at him, the shadows holding me back gone in an instant. Bash chuckled roughly against my lips as I pushed him off the bed with one hand to his chest, forcing him to his feet. That laugh died abruptly as I went to my knees before him.

My fingers trailed lightly down over the lines of muscle carving his abdomen…then lower. He let out a full body groan as I took him into my mouth. My eyelids fluttered closed as I flattened my tongue against him, humming with satisfaction.

“Eyes on me,” Bash ordered, his low voice curling down my spine.

I obeyed, watching him from beneath my lashes. Those shadow-filled eyes went half-lidded as I sucked him deep into my throat, my cheeks hollowing with each shallow thrust of his hips. My fingers dug into his thighs, urging him deeper. The way I wanted him…it felt like it would never be satisfied.

Darkness flared from me in an echo of his teasing tendrils, one wrapping tightly around his thick base, each stroke timed to the suction of my lips.

“ Fuck. ”

Bash tensed, shuddering. Then he yanked me to my feet, wrapping my legs around his waist as he backed me against the wall. His hands ran down my body, lingering on my backside. I arched against the cool stone, savoring the moment before we were joined—that delicious grind of his shaft against that growing ache between my legs.

“I was promised a throne,” I objected even as I pressed myself against him, unable to wait another moment. I gasped as the head of his cock aligned with my entrance.

Bash held me there, panting against my lips as he leaned his forehead against mine. “We have all night. And all the ones after that, my queen.”

His mouth crashed into mine, then he pushed into me with one slow roll of his hips. I let out a mangled moan at the stretch, writhing against him. One hand tangled in my hair, the other digging into my thigh as he thrust into me, over and over. Rasping my name into the hollow of my neck as he rocked deeper, a shiver of bliss pulsing through me.

I gasped his name in return as he took me unrelentingly, like he couldn’t hold himself back. And I didn’t want him to, my hips meeting and matching his every thrust—each one adding to the building pressure until I thought I might break.

“Be a good girl and scream for me like you promised,” Bash said raggedly. “I want the whole castle to hear you come.”

“I seem to remember it was you who—” I sucked in a short gasp as his shadows slipped between my thighs. “…who promised.”

He gave me that crooked half-grin that made something swoop low in my stomach. “Semantics.”

I canted my hips against him, needing more of him—needing all of him. He angled himself so deep inside me I thought I might come apart.

When I did, I couldn’t hold back my scream of pleasure. My body shuddered in a violent spasm as I unraveled, Bash holding me up as I sagged against him.

I barely realized he had flipped me around until my cheek pressed against the stone. He buried himself back inside me, the evidence of my orgasm dampening my inner thighs. When I whimpered against the new, deeper angle, he let out a satisfied growl that sent a shiver of pleasure down my spine.

It felt almost strange that my desperation for him no longer had anything to do with the threat against our lives. Not when we had the rest of them to be together. And yet I was utterly desperate for him, like my need for him would never be entirely sated.

One arm wrapped around my hips, my ass slapping against Bash’s thighs as I arched into his thrusts, that aching pressure building yet again. My darkness whirled around us uncontrollably, turning the stone in front of me black as night though I found myself unable to think about anything but the building heat prickling beneath my skin. His fingers found my clit, and my eyes rolled back, my legs already trembling.

“That’s right, hellion,” Bash groaned. “Come for me.”

I came apart at his command with a cry, his body pinning me to the wall the only thing keeping me upright. I could feel him shudder as he emptied himself inside me, my name falling from his lips.

“Gods, Bash. I…” My words jumbled on my tongue as he slipped from inside me. I was saved by his mouth pressing against mine as he gathered me into his arms, lifting me up like he knew my legs weren’t able to support me yet.

He sat me on the bathroom counter, carefully cleaning me. “Throne next, or should we leave something to look forward to?”

My heart felt like it might burst as I added yet another addition to my list of things I wanted to experience with him now that I was assured of the time to do so. Its growing length was a far cry from the empty dreams I had stopped letting myself hope for not so long ago. “I want everything with you, but I suppose I can wait one more day for this particular adventure.”

Bash smirked at me. “Who says we’re only doing it once?”

He carried me back to the bed, holding me tight against him as his shadows tucked the sheets in around us. I relaxed into him, feeling the rise and fall of his chest as we breathed together. Savoring the happiness I could feel across our bond, multiplying endlessly from both of us.

And I realized that I had found everything I hadn’t let myself want, for fear of it being taken away from me again—that home, that safety, the love I had never let myself dream of. That I finally believed in forever.