Page 136 of Oath of Revenge

His stomach twisted, and he choked on bile. “You—“

A scream reverberated through the castle, making the walls shake. His hands trembled as claws grew, and the scent of fear filled the air.

“Bella,” Scarlet whispered. His heart in his throat, he lunged for the door, shifting mid-step.

Bella flew down the stairs, the knights rattling and stepping behind her as she raced through the hallway, following the glowing light to the ballroom. Lists of spells flew through her mind of possible ways to defeat him, but the problem was none of the books in the library covered necromancy. She was just blindly praying to the gods at this point.

The animals still on the walls shook as she neared, and she focused on her magic and emotions. She slowed to a halt outside the ballroom doors, controlling her vibrating body with deep, even breaths. The magic threatened to burst, but she had to control it. It was the only weapon she could use against the wizard, weak and untrained though it was against him.

She’d long ago had the servants keep all the doors open, not liking the feeling of going through them as a ghost because it was too cold. She took a deep breath and stepped through the doors, the army of knights clanking loudly behind her as she looked around.

A layer of dust filled the empty room, but the magically lit chandeliers still glowed overhead. Cobwebs filled the corners and some of the lights, casting strange shadows on the tiled marble floor. Golden pillars were evenly spaced around the room, some forming doorways to other rooms.

Across the ballroom, the man in the mirror walked away from the open terrace doors. She swallowed and looked up and down. Her body was hideous. Scales covered her hands and face. Tiny horns stuck through her brown hair. Pulled into a low ponytail, the end hung over the shoulder on her deep blue finely embroidered dinner jacket.

Horror filled her to see her body this way, so foreign to what she’d been before. Her stomach clenched, threatening to be violently ill as she watched her own body move without her control, inhabited by this vile creature.

The smile was toothy and cruel when the man said, “Ah, there you are.” Even her voice was lower than it should’ve been, hoarse and scratchy.

She shivered and fisted her skirts to hide the reaction. Questions filled her mind, and she tilted her chin up. “Are you here to kill me, then?”

The mirror—she couldn’t keep calling it her body, that was ridiculous—chuckled. “Unfortunately I can’t kill you outright. But I’m curious. How did you defeat the shadow daemon outside the castle walls?”

She’d had lots of practice schooling her features with Gastone and customers, so she didn’t even flinch at the question. She’d known the shadows appeared when they shouldn’t have, but a daemon? They were the stuff of nightmares, the things parents warned their children of when they wanted obedience. That thing that had kept Ignot and Sharlo in here with her had been a daemon?

She blinked and countered, “Why do you want to know?”

He glared. “It was my shadow daemon. Do you know how much energy and magic it takes to summon just one of those slimy things? Ugh.“ He shivered and strode closer to the mantle. The portrait of Gastone sat above it, covered in dust. He flicked a wrist, and the portrait slashed as if from invisible claws.

“No matter. I have a new plan,” he said, turning to her, removing a bracelet, and tossing it to the ground. A small portal opened on the floor, growing out from the bracelet.

He knelt, leaned inside, and pulled a large mirror through, laying it face up on the ground before doing some complicated hand movement. The portal closed with a flash of purple light, leaving the bracelet behind. He grabbed it and put it on his wrist.

“What do you mean, a new plan?” Her voice wavered, but she didn’t move or back down. Dread filled her stomach, making her want to vomit.

He turned to the mirror, not looking up as he answered. “Since you got rid of my babysitter, I’ll just have to confine you to something else so you won’t cause trouble.”

“What trouble can I cause when I’m trapped here by a plant?” Her voice rose with incredulity. Panic crept up her spine, making her fingers and toes tingle at the idea of what he meant.

He chuckled. “I didn’t think you could cause trouble like this, but then my shadow was dispatched. So into the mirror you go.”

She imagined her reflection staring back at her for eternity, slowly going mad as the world moved on without her. Bella’s mind raced, searching for a way out. There had to be something she could use against him, some weakness she could exploit. Her gaze darted around the room, looking for anything that might help.

He pushed a sequence of runes on the sides of the mirror, and she jerked back at a sound behind her. She twisted her hands, and the knights stepped in front of her, making a circular line of defense around her as she shook her head.

“Into the mirror like you? No,” she said, her stomach twisting and the wall of windows rattling. She couldn’t be trapped in a mirror. She’d felt trapped at the tavern and then this damn castle, but a mirror? It was too small. It would choke her, smother her. She grasped her throat, feeling the air cut off as she thought more about it. Her vision blurred, but the clank of a knight behind her brought her back to the moment.

She clenched her fists, anger burning away the fear. Who did this creep think he was? She’d been through too much, fought too hard to let some wizard tear her life apart.

He smiled but didn’t look up from the preparations. “Oh yes. Sadly, you won’t be trapped inside for hundreds of years like I was.”

“Hundreds of years? Who are you? Why are you doing this?” she demanded, her voice trembling with fear and anger.

“Just a disgruntled wizard tired of his lot in life who made a deal with the devil himself,” he replied casually.

She gasped, falling into a knight behind her. It didn’t budge, and she stood upright, stepping toward the man in the mirror.

“Are you mad? No one but the god Asmo wins in those deals. Everyone knows that, both from the old religions and the new,” she whispered furiously.

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