Page 30 of The Other Side of the Mirror

He turned his head to me, keeping his body angled at the creature as it charged at us. “It can displace itself, so it might not be exactly where you think it is. Listen to your magic, not your sight.” His instructions were terse yet calm, as though this were just another lesson.

Rivan cried out, the shadowbeast’s claws finding their mark as he spun away too slowly. Yael leapt toward it, but its golden eyes were fixed on me as it bound forward. I saw the beast shimmer and reached out with my magic—trying to sense past what I could see. Bash’s shadows shot forward, just as my darkness did, flying toward an empty spot in the glen. The shadowbeast appeared exactly where I felt it would be, just as Bash and my magic coiled around it in a hurricane of grays and blacks. My darkness wove through the gaps in his shadows, his shadows doing the same to my darkness, tightening around the creature in solidifying bonds.

The shadowbeast struggled against the magic holding it, then surged forward. Darkness flowed through me as I slowly closed my open hand, fighting to keep the creature from slipping through my hold.

It reared up, yanking fiercely against the shades of darkness binding it?—

An arrow went clean through its skull. Yael’s bow still quivered from where she knelt by Rivan. Another arrow followed before I even tracked the movement of her releasing her bow, finding its spot directly next to the other even as the creature toppled. With my darkness still wrapped around it, I could feel it slump as its life left it.

“Rivan!” Bash shouted, but the warrior was already making his way unsteadily to his feet.

“Looks worse than it is,” Rivan gasped, his face pale as he pressed a hand to his bloody side. His magic wrapped around it in a greenish glow, binding the wound. “I’ll have your sister look at it when we reach Imyr. But I can do enough to ride for now.”

Bash nodded, mollified if obviously still worried. He tensed as I walked past him, my heart still pounding out of my chest as I came to a stop in front of the dead shadowbeast. But even dead I didn’t dare get too close. There were clumps of a familiar foamy white substance matted to its ears and the fur of its muscled back. Suddenly, I knew why it was so far from its usual haunts. The curse had infected this creature’s home.

“Why…”

“They’re horrible creatures,” Yael said emphatically. “Though usually they attack unprepared travelers at night, and never this close to home…”

“The curse must be driving them further from their usual hunting grounds,” Bash muttered, uncannily echoing my thoughts as his eyes searched the fallen beast.

“It went straight for me though,” I breathed. “Even when Rivan went down.”

Bash walked toward me, reaching his hand up as though to cup my cheek, then lowered it as if he thought better of the motion. “I wish I had answers for you, hellion.”

Those shadow-filled eyes watched me intently, tracking down my body as if searching me for injury.

I’m fine,I mouthed. I would be sore tomorrow but, thankfully, only felt bruised.

Bash didn’t look convinced, but he knelt to help Rivan to his feet. Rivan swung one arm over Yael’s shoulders, the other around Bash as we walked back to the horses. I was surprised to see they hadn’t fled during the melee. Then again, they had likely been trained for war, and survived battles worse than this one.

“No stopping,” Bash ordered as he lifted me effortlessly onto Smoke’s back. “I want to be home before nightfall.”

Then we were galloping through the trees, his arms holding me much more tightly than before.

Chapter15

Eva

We arrived at Imyr just before sunset, crossing a massive stone bridge over a deep moat. It led to an imposing castle towering over a gigantic gray stone wall where sentinels signaled at our approach—to which Bash sent up a flare of his power and Yael gave a lazy salute. I gaped at the gleaming spires and battlements piercing the sky, catching the golden light like they were made from shadow and glass. As we got closer, I counted four main towers connected by enclosed passageways high above the ground with large oval windows decorating the sides.

At the end of the bridge was a thick iron door with words in a language I didn’t understand carved into it. Perhaps a charm of protection, or a prayer for those who entered.

Before I could ask, the door swung open, and a massive black dog with hair going in every direction ran at us. The dog yelped happily, nearly barreling Bash over in his rush to get to his master. He reared back onto his hind legs to lick Bash’s cheeks, his enormous paws resting on Bash’s wide shoulders.

“This is Phantom,” Bash said with a laugh, though I already recognized the creature from his description. I opened my hand and let him sniff me before scratching behind his ears. Phantom immediately rolled over to show his belly. I laughed and acquiesced to the less than subtle demand.

When I looked up, I knew it was Bash’s sister who was running toward us. Marin looked like her brother, right down to the freckles on her cheeks. Her thick auburn hair was braided intricately into a crown, and she wore an emerald-green gown that hugged her lithe figure. Dual daggers rested at her hips, attached to her leather waist belt—Bash obviously not the only fighter in their family.

“Marin is a healer,” Yael said with such a tone of reverence my heart ached. “A princess. A goddess. And the love of my life.”

She caught Marin around the waist, pulling her closer by tugging sharply at her skirt, then kissed her thoroughly. I smiled at the sight of the two entwined. By the time they pulled away, they were both breathless.

“I missed you,” Yael whispered, staring into her lover’s eyes. “Every second.”

“I gathered that,” Marin said wryly, her quick wit already reminding me of her brother. She turned to Bash and hugged him, then Rivan, before looking at me expectantly.

“I’m—”

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