Page 6 of The Other Side of the Mirror

“You invited a golem on a date?”

The stranger’s mouth curved in an incredulous smile as he leapt between me and the creature. It paused, taking in the threat he posed with its muddy eyes.

I stepped up next to him, even as he held up a hand to warn me back. “Obviously, he didn’t look like a mud demon when he asked me out.”

“Get behind me,” the stranger said in a tone that brokered no argument.

I merely rolled my eyes and stayed put as the golem lumbered toward us. Armed or not, I could take care of myself.

The stranger pulled a sword out from behind his back, and I gasped. It wasn’t a saber, like my mom had insisted my brother and I learn to wield for fencing, but a true broadsword. The hilt was a swirl of silver and black, and there was writing in an unfamiliar language engraved on the midnight blade itself. He swung forward with what would have been a killing blow to the golem’s chest, but it moved back at the last moment, the sword cutting through its arm. The arm fell to the ground before disintegrating into dirt.

Two can play that game, I thought, and darted forward before the golem could turn, sliding under the kitchen table as it moved slowly toward me. I grabbed my bag, still on a chair from where I hadn’t bothered to unpack it earlier and plucked my dagger from its sheath in one long swoop, the golem now only feet away. The stranger raised his sword?—

With a yell, I threw the blade into the center of the creature’s forehead, slicing through strange letters that suddenly glimmered darkly against the slick mud of its creepily familiar face. Before I could take a closer look at what they said, the golem collapsed from the inside out, leaving only a pile of black dirt on my carpet.

The stranger was watching me with pure astonishment as I took an unsteady step backward, then another. I was panting, not only from the fight but a rising sense of panic now that the danger had passed.

“I’m Bastian,” he said in a somewhat bewildered tone, staring at me with a strange light in his eyes. “But you can call me Bash.”

His sword was dangling uselessly from one hand, and my lips twitched despite myself as I realized I had stolen his killing blow. Bash’s auburn hair fell into his eyes as he tilted his head to the side, as though assessing me. His eyes were wide and filled with an emotion I didn’t entirely understand as something indefinable stretched between us.

A shiver ran through me as he came closer, coupled with a swooping sensation in my gut. His freckles were so close together on the hand he held out to me that they almost melded into one.

He frowned a little as he said the words that tilted my world on its axis.

“I’m here to take you to your betrothed.”

Chapter3

Eva

Something twisted in my chest as those words hit me. Incredulity flashed through me with my next breath, but the seriousness of Bash’s expression told me he meant what he said.

Ignoring his outstretched hand, I snatched my dagger from the floor, raising it in an instinctually defensive pose. “Excuse me?”

Bash clucked his tongue as he wiped the muck off his sword with a dishrag before sheathing it behind his back. “So violent.”

“I wasn’t the one who hacked off that thing’s arm.”

A slow smile. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”

Bash seemed entirely unperturbed about the weapon I was brandishing, which made meactuallywant to stab him. He looked around, his lips pressing together at what he saw. “We need to get out of here before anyone else tries to take you. If the False King’s supporters are looking for you?—”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” I snapped, glaring at him. My voice had gone deadly quiet, and I stepped forward threateningly with my next words. “You’re going to explain what the hell is going on before I evenconsidergoing anywhere with you.”

He crossed his arms, his muscles flexing as he looked at me with flashing eyes. “If I have to throw you over my shoulder and drag you out of here to save you, I will. Though I prefer you come of your own volition, especially considering it’s your life I’m saving…and what’s necessary to save both your realm and mine.”

My jaw dropped in outrage at his arrogance.

“I dare you,” I taunted, lowering the tip of my blade toward him in an overt challenge.

Bash’s eyes widened incredulously then a slow, lazy smile tugged at his lips. With a shrug, he pushed up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal his strong, freckled forearms. Then moved into an obvious fighting stance as I settled further into my own.

He took a deep breath, obviously weighing his options. Then sighed as he let his hands drop to his sides—as if he had hoped he could get me to leave with him without an imminent explanation.

“I realize this may come as a shock to happen so suddenly but surely your parents told you…” Trailing off at the bleak look on my face, Bash gave me a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

“My parents died in a fire when I turned seventeen,” I gritted out, that familiar grief cutting into the words.

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