Page 61 of The Mirror of Beasts

“This woman is a creature of dangerous beauty?” the girl whispered hopefully.

“No. The beast within devours all,” I said. “So, again, who are you?”

The girl shrank back into the misty shadows of the world behind the glass, until she became darkness itself. Her face lengthened into more of a snout, her eyes glowing as she watched us, unblinking.

“It wasn’t all,” she said, her voice taking on a hissing, if not prim, tone. “I have discerning taste in man flesh, you know.”

“I’m sure you do,” I said.

“Creatures born of magic are always more enticing than mortals,” she said. “It was not my fault there were fewer and fewer of the former, and more and more of the latter. Mortals breed like fleas.”

Her features shifted again, her dark hair lightening to silver, her face rounding, softening, and her eyes assuming a distinct shape and color.

For a moment, it looked as if all our reflections had merged into one.

“Stop that,” Caitriona barked.

“Stop what?” the creature asked innocently. She glanced at Olwen, then placed her hands on her hips in a mirror of her pose.

I sifted through the archives of my memory, through the hundreds of thousands of book pages I’d consumed, searching for a creature who ate flesh and mimicked the forms of others. A pooka, maybe—they were omnivorous, but the few that remained in our world tended to shy away from humans. Those who weren’t sorceress companions kept to forests and cliffside dwellings.

Feeling the creature’s gaze shift onto me, I looked up at her again. Before I could ask about my theory, she had a question for me.

“What is it that your heart desires?” the creature began, the question ending in a hiss. Her gaze flicked over to Olwen before returning to me, pity burning in her eyes. My eyes.

“It must be difficult to travel with one so beautiful as she,” the creature said softly, nodding to Olwen. “To know you will never be desired by another so long as she is near.”

“Oh dear,” I said dryly. “How will I ever survive?”

“It is a wonder,” the creature agreed with a pitying look. “In my time, they would have been quick to shove you into some convent so they wouldn’t have to tolerate looking at you.”

“Hurting someone’s feelings only works when they have feelings,” I told her. “You would have been better off trying to start your negotiation with endless riches or eternal life.”

“If you release me, I can make you into what you wish to be,” the creature said, eyes glinting. “Your hair will no longer look like withered wheat. Your toady face will blossom with beauty.”

“We like our Tamsin the way she is,” Olwen interjected, more annoyed than I’d ever heard her. Something in me warmed at the word our. “And besides, if we’re picking the most objectively beautiful member of our group, it’s Neve.”

Caitriona and I nodded in agreement.

“But you’re very lovely too, Olwen,” I said, “by any standards. And extremely clever and brave.”

The creature sputtered as she looked between us.

“Oh, Cait is by far braver,” Olwen said, her cheeks warming with color.

“You are all—” the creature tried to interject.

“That’s not true,” Caitriona insisted. “You are brave, and better yet, openhearted.”

“Listen to me—” the creature growled.

“And extremely talented with magic, too,” I added.

“Your cunning nature has saved us more than once—” Caitriona said to me.

“Enough!”

The word echoed through the storage facility, drowning out even the distant sounds of the party above.

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