Chapter 23 Name
"Where is it!?" I hiss impatiently, moving book after book from my table. Jade can only watch me from afar while I continue to rummage through the books on my desk and try to look for a specific title.
There are servant fairies outside of my door looking at me with concern while I make a mess. To them, I might look like a crazy person. To their credit, they have every right to think of me in such a way.
After I fell into the pond and gazed upon Klovis's reflection on the water, I started screaming and calling for his name.
I was even digging the earth beneath the pond when his reflection started to vanish.
If one of the palace guards did not pull me back and escort me back to my room, I would have probably ruined the garden.
Now that I am in my room, I am throwing books here and there. I did not even change out of my clothes yet, even though they were dripping wet.
"Where the hell did I place that boo—"
"Livia!"
I pause from my rummaging and let out an exasperated breath. Great. Just the person that I want to see right now.
When I turn to face the entrance, Zhier is coming my way after shutting the door behind him. His eyebrows are almost touching, and he's not even trying to hide his displeasure from me.
"What?" I stop what I am doing and counter his glare with my own while crossing my arms. "I know that you are a prince, but can't you knock?"
"The door was open when I came in." He says, which isn't a lie.
When I was escorted to my room, I did not even bother to close it.
Zhier's gaze falls on my hair before landing on my wet dress.
His blue skin darkens before he returns his eyes to my face.
"I heard you fell in the pond. Why didn't you bother to change?
!" He sounds angry when he heads into the bathroom before returning with a towel, which he hands to me.
"You're human. You could get sick." When I did not take the towel, he tosses it over my face.
"I was busy!" I start wrapping the towel around my body after removing it from my face. It's funny that I wasn't even cold before he handed me the towel. "Besides, even if I am human, I am not that fragile."
I notice that Zhier is still looking at me without even saying anything. I realized then that he was waiting for me to answer his previous question, about which I am debating whether I should tell him or not.
Zhier has been very distant to me lately, and it was just recently that I figured out why he was acting in such a way. Of course, it is none of my business if he is having romantic affairs since we are just pretend lovers anyway.
Still, there are numerous other reasons why I cannot find myself trusting him anymore. Not only does it seem like he is neglecting our priority of finding Klovis, but it is also the fact that he has never talked about his mother after our little talk with Faragon.
Can I still trust him?
When I did not answer him, Zhier breathed through his nose and massaged his temple.
"Livia, are you doing this to get my attention? You know that you can just—"
"Woah!" I extend a hand towards him, stopping him from continuing his sentence. "We literally just had that conversation earlier."
"And yet you are still acting like someone who got a screw loose." There's not even a hint of embarrassment on his face when he assumes that. "If that's not the reason, then why exactly are you acting like this?"
I shake my head, feeling sick about this conversation. "I just told you earlier!" I burst out. "If you were listening to me earlier, that is." When Zhier maintains a blank look on his face, it kind of feels like I am beginning to loose it. "Get out."
"What?" And now an expression crosses his face just because I asked him to leave.
"I really can't talk with you right now, Zhier." I shake my head while letting out an exasperated breath. "Please, leave."
"Livia—"
"I no longer care if you visit or not. You can do your thing while I will do my best to find Prince Klovis on my own."
An expression crosses Zhier's face, one that I wasn't able to read because it comes and passes too quickly for me to get a good look at it.
"And what are you going to do when you do find him?"
"I'll leave and go back to the human realm, just like our agreement." I thought that it would motivate him to help me with my search in order for him to be free and help send me back. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. Instead of looking motivated, Zhier just looks angry.
"It seems like all you care about is leaving."
I could not understand his hostility, which is why it takes me a little more time to respond to him. "Isn't that the whole point of why you brought me here?!" I can't help but burst out.
"You really—!" Zhier breathes out, trying to control his temper.
He takes a few more breaths before he starts to speak to me again.
"You know what? Go do whatever you want!
" He waves his hand at me before turning back and taking long strides towards the door.
I can only look at him in utter confusion as he leaves and slams the door shut.
He is aware that if he breaks the door, he is going to pay for it, right?
I shake my head, feeling drained at our exchange.
Jade starts to make a noise, making me turn in his direction. I see him flipping a book and turning it towards me.
I discarded the towel around me and quickly grabbed the book on the floor. I set it on the table, flipping through the pages until I managed to arrive at the page that I wanted—mirrors.
According to what's written in the book, there's a specific lore about mirrors. It is said that it is a portal to another dimension, but how it works is very limited considering that the rest is torn up.
"Mirror....mirror!" I know that I should feel a little frustrated that the page is torn out, but somehow, it just reminded me about the piece of shard that I have kept in my drawer. The piece of broken mirror that I found in the queen's study the first time that we met Faragon.
I almost cut my finger when I brought it out.
After taking it, I never looked at it again, so I have almost forgotten all about the time I thought I saw someone looking at me from the other side. For a while, I brushed it off as if I saw my own reflection at that time, but it is impossible because I don't have purple eyes.
"Klovis?" I utter the Unseelie Prince's name while looking at the broken shard of mirror. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was really hoping that I would get to see something in the mirror other than my reflection.
"PRINCE Klovis?" I try to say his name with a title, but again, nothing happened. Dread begins to consume me. I thought that I was making a breakthrough.
I thought that I would get to see him again, but it appears that I was wrong.
I feel lost. I don't know where to start again.
I want to see him. I want to see...
"...Steve." I mumble absentmindedly. Though Klovis might be a prince in this realm, he will always be Steve, my best friend, in my dreams.
I feel a ripple from the shard, making me turn my attention to it.
I can no longer see my reflection in it, but it appears that it wasn't even reflecting anything at all.
I stare at it, thinking what I must have done to the mirror.
I don't remember doing anything specific.
I was just calling out to him, but why did he take so long to respond when I called his name?
Is it because...
"Steve?" I feel silly calling the Unseelie Prince by the name that I have given him in my dream, but that name somehow feels right. Compared to the name Klovis, I feel a stronger connection with him through the name Steve.
Light seems to be absorbed by the mirror, causing it to glow. A ripple of colors swirl rapidly, momentarily making me look away as it burn brightly.
"Livia."
When the light dies down, I turn back to the mirror with a combination of joy and relief when I find that I am no longer staring at my reflection.
When I look into the shard of mirror, I see a handsome fae with bluish-grey skin, long dark hair, and two ram horns protruding from his head.
The life in his purple eyes has clearly been drained by his weakening state, but he still managed a smile when our eyes locked.
"Finally, I get to see you." He says.