41. Chapter 40 #3
“Nothing’s set in stone,” Maeve said, her voice wavering as if she were holding back tears. “But yes, I’ve known all year.” The reflection faded to empty glass, and Maeve turned around, immediately moving to Ivy. “I’m so sorry. I wanted to say something…I was afraid of making things worse.”
Ivy sighed, her body trembling as she shifted out of Ezra’s grasp. “I…I understand why you kept it a secret.”
“You mad about it?” Maeve asked.
“I’m not sure how to feel.” She shrugged. “It’s not like you could’ve said on the train, ‘Hi, I’m Maeve, I saw a vision of you dying,’ right?” She tried to joke, but it fell a little flat.
Maeve smiled briefly and wiped a tear away. “True.” Then she wrapped her arms around Ivy in a tight hug, who returned it just as strongly. “Still. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.”
“Don’t be,” Ivy said, her hand sliding into Maeve’s and squeezing gently. “I understand wanting to protect yourself.”
“Ezra Thaler, stand before the mirror to acknowledge your true self.”
She tore herself back from Maeve and turned to him.
His jaw clenched and brows furrowed, showing the chaos of whatever raced through his mind.
While she might not know the full extent of what his father had made him do, the others probably knew nothing of his past. No doubt it would be something the mirror would bring up, and she wasn’t sure how they would react.
She reached into her magic, sending it toward him to help soothe his anxiety, and his lips twitched upwards as the fear eased slightly.
He took one final breath before moving to the mirror. His reflection appeared, as all the others did. With pitch-black eyes and a stony, domineering expression, it was as if she wasn’t looking at Ezra at all, but rather his brother, Declan.
“Dear oh dear, if it isn’t Father’s little pet,” the reflection said, voice sharp. “Straying from the path, are you?”
“So what if I am?” Ezra said, his shoulders straightening as if he were steeling himself against the onslaught the mirror had in store for him.
The reflection clicked its tongue, pacing around the room between the panes of glass. “He’d be disappointed in you. Again. As always. That should surprise nobody, hmm? You’ve always been a terrible son.”
“A terrible father deserves a terrible son, don’t you think?”
“Deflection. Unsurprising. You’ve always had a difficult time facing the truth.” The reflection stopped its pacing and glared at Ezra. “Let me say it plainly. It eats you up inside, knowing you’ll never be good enough to earn your father’s respect, or to earn his love.”
“I don’t care,” Ezra choked out.
The reflection cackled, the sharp tones clinking against the glass and echoing around the chamber. “You can’t fool me. I know all your deepest, darkest secrets because I am you. It took some time to parse through everything you’ve done. All you’ve thought. All you’ve felt.”
Ezra’s hands clenched into fists, but he stayed silent.
“If you don’t care about your father’s approval, why do his bidding? All these years, you’ve covered up embezzlement, fraud, and even murder. Through all the years of abuse and torture, you still did everything he wanted.”
“For my freedom! To finally get away from him,” Ezra choked out.
Ezra’s stifled sobs tore at her. She took a step toward him. The mirrors turned their soulless gaze upon her and snarled.
“One at a time, Ivy Heartwell. You’ll get your turn soon enough,” the mirror spat before returning its ire at Ezra. “You can say all you wish. But it’s not the only reason. You want the one thing you’ve never gotten from him.”
Ezra shook his head, his hands pressing into his temples. “You’re wrong.”
“LIAR!” the reflection screamed, its palms slapping the glass. Ezra jumped back, and the mirrors above them clinked together as his reflection yelled. “You cannot lie. If you continue to do so, you will never leave this chamber. Now SAY IT.”
“FINE!” Ezra screamed back. Ezra’s head hung low, his shoulders slumped with defeat. “Fine.”
She barely recognized his voice. He was broken. Ivy’s throat tightened, and her magic tried reaching for him, but she was blocked, and it thrashed violently inside her.
“I want my father to love me. Even after everything. Because a part of me still loves him. Or at least the idea of who he could’ve been if I was a better son.”
The reflection faded away with a twisted smile, returning to empty mirrors all around them. “You have faced your true self. Please step away from the mirror.”
He stumbled back from the mirror, and as soon as he turned around, Ivy rushed to him. Before she could say anything, he pulled her into a crushing hug. She wrapped her arms around him as he tucked his face into the crook of her neck.
“You’re okay,” she murmured. “I’m here for you.”
He didn’t cry, though his whole body tensed as if he were trying to hold tears back. A moment later, his grip on her loosened, and his hands brushed gently along her back until he finally pulled back enough for her to see his face. Red and puffy, and his eyes showed the turmoil inside him.
“Ivy Heartwell, stand before the mirror to acknowledge your true self.”