Page 41 of The Other Side of the Mirror

“This isn’t goodbye.” My throat closed around the words. “Just goodbye for now.”

Something like devastation was written all over his face.

“Goodbye for now, Eva.” he said hoarsely, staring at me like he could memorize every part of me.

I blinked away the tears forming in my eyes as he walked away, halting in front of the still rippling glass. When he looked back one last time, I wasn’t ready for the blazing of those swirling eyes. Our stare held for a second that felt like eternity as something I didn’t fully understand flashed between us.

I had the peculiar sensation that something lived in this moment that I didn’t want to give up. A feeling that if I let it slip away, it might be lost forever.

But before I could say anything, Bash stepped through the mirror.

I couldn’t stop the tear that slid down my face. Hastily, I wiped it away on the back of my hand.

Please don’t let that be the last time I see him.

My wish seemed to linger in the space where he had just stood before it withered into nothing.

* * *

Aviel was waiting for me. When I opened the door to the balcony, he immediately walked toward me, his ethereal good looks even more dashing up close.

“Evangeline,” he drawled, stretching my name out sinfully. “I hope you realize everything we’re about to accomplish together.”

He offered me his arm gingerly, as if trying not to spook me.

I took it, my bare forearm resting on a white shirt so crisp it made me worry I would somehow smudge it. He walked us to the edge of the white stone balcony, and I gaped at my first look of the glittering castle and the lands beyond.

It was as picturesque a castle as any I had read about as a child—whispering the words of those familiar fairytales to my brother as he held up a flashlight under the covers long after our parents had told us to go to sleep. The exterior walls were a light limestone adorned with intricate carvings that gleamed in the sunlight. Its towers were tall and slender, connected by graceful, gilded arches. Silver spires shone at the top of each tower, and I spotted at least one topped with an open-air balcony. My breath caught at the radiant beauty of it all.

Behind the castle was the capital city of Morehaven enclosed within the same light limestone walls. From this vantage point, I could see its white rooftops stretching far beyond my sight—noting that even the streets were lined with brilliant white stone. Well-dressed fae courtiers and merchants hurried through the main square closest to the castle. Several soldiers dressed in bright silver armor marched past a gleaming cathedral.

I leaned against the balcony rail as I took in the sprawling forest beneath us. The castle had been built on a rocky ledge that reached over a forested gorge with pine trees curving up around it. But there were patches of nothing here too, especially apparent in the lush forest before me, as though something had leached the very essence from the land…as if reminding meexactlywhy I was here.

Aviel was examining me closely, smiling as he watched me take everything in. I took the opportunity to return the perusal, my gaze skimming along his powerful build, that strong jaw, those refined features. When our gazes met, my breath hitched in my chest. His ice-blue eyes were captivating, as deep and clear as an alpine lake. I wondered if they would ever stop reminding me of his father.

He stepped forward, closing the distance between us. I stilled as he put his hands on the balcony on either side of me. Although not yet touching, I felt my breath quicken at how close he stood. How close I was to the person who was supposed to be meant for me.

“Welcome home.”

I tried to remember to breathe, his presence almost overwhelming. Yet I couldn’t shake the unease churning in my stomach. But Aviel was myanima. And despite my skepticism, I had seen how much that bond meant to Yael and Marin, even in our brief time all together.

There was no reason to be this nervous.

“About that…” My voice came out higher than usual. “While I’ve been told that you’re myanima…” The word still felt foreign on my tongue. Inwardly, I winced at the awkwardness of my immediate questioning but pushed forward anyway. “I don’t understand how that bond can stop the curse. There must be more to it than just finding each other, right?”

Aviel gave me a slow smile as a piece of my hair blew across my face. As he reached up to tuck it gently behind my ear, I couldn’t stop my shiver at his touch.

“It’s a fair question. In truth, I’m not entirely sure myself. It all comes from a prophecy Queen Amerie shared with my father before she died at his hands.”

I tensed at the casual mention of his father, the False King who had terrorized me in dreams for so long now. But that wasn’t his son’s fault, especially as Aviel had been the one to finally stop him.

“And do you know what the prophecy said?”

“That our bond is what would end the blight upon our lands, the death and despair, and his reign along with it,” Aviel said gravely. “That’s why he worked so hard to find you and hide me. He was trying to keep us apart lest we ended his rule and very nearly succeeded. But without you by my side, no magic I’ve tried has had any effect on the curse.”

Aviel’s pale eyes were staring at me so intently that I stilled, reliving the memory of the False King watching me with those same eyes in my dream last night. He was the spitting image of his father. Fleetingly, I wondered if the king would be back tonight to give me the chance to try to push him out. Something dropped in my stomach as I realized that, if he did and I failed, Bash wouldn’t be here to wake me from my nightmare.

“But it can take time for a bond like ours to snap into place,” Aviel was saying, his voice disarmingly hesitant. “And I know you weren’t raised to expect such a thing.”

---