Page 54 of The Other Side of the Mirror

I heard a gasp from the couple’s cell, then a triumphant whoop. But I didn’t allow myself to celebrate yet.

Dragging the guard’s unconscious body toward me by looping his knee over my arm, I moved him close enough to clumsily snatch his keys from his hip with my forearms—trying my best not to breathe through my nose as I did so. Using my teeth, I gingerly picked up the key I had seen the guard use on the blonde’s chains, the taste of iron flooding my mouth. It took me a few fraught seconds before I managed to unlock my chains from the wall, the undertaking painfully slow without the use of my hands. The couple in the side cell whispered muted encouragements, their eyes darting to the iron door.

I needed to find the right key for the shackles blocking the use of my hands, the one I had used for the wall too big for the lock. But the keychain held too many of them—all the same, magic-blocking iron.

Cursing under my breath, I hurried out of my cell as I fiddled clumsily with the keys and found the man in the mask staring at me intently behind the bars of his cell. This close, his familiar hazel and gold eyes were visible through the eyeholes of his mask…though his had always been more hazel. Especially now that he had stepped toward the light.

I forgot to breathe.

“Tobias?”

It couldn’t be. Even though I had hoped against hope he was alive somewhere in this realm, I had refused to allow myself to believe there was a real chance it was more than a deluded fantasy. My twin had died, along with my parents—taking my soul along with them.

Yet somehow, I think a small, squashed-down part of me had always known Tobias hadn’t been truly lost. That even as I had grieved his disappearance, some inane bond between the two of us had whispered that he still breathed, even when I refused to believe it.

Though I definitely hadn’t expected our reunion to take place in a fae dungeon.

“Hurry.” The word was hissed through his teeth, as though it cost him a significant effort. My heart seized at the familiar, albeit slightly deeper voice.

I ran to the bars of his cell, unable to voice more as I demanded, “How?”

The keychain jangled as I tried to force a key into the lock of his cell door. I swore in frustration at the bulbs covering my hands, using my teeth to grab another key right as a second guard walked in.

“What the?—”

The guard rushed toward me, shouting for backup. I fumbled with the keys, refusing to leave my twin, but Tobias yelled, “Go!” There was a strangled note of panic in his voice. Right before the guard reached me, I threw the keys awkwardly at my brother, then twisted around, swinging the iron bulbs toward the guard’s face?—

A blast of water hit me in the chest, streaming from his hands. I ducked under the deluge and lunged, smashing my manacles up into his chin. He crumpled to the floor.

I heard Tobias choke on a warning. Before I could do anything, blistering light slammed into me—forcing me to the ground.

Aviel.

My hopes of escape plunged like a stone in my stomach. A band of pure light tightened underneath the matching metal one around my neck and my lungs seized, stars dancing across my vision. There was a fleeting ripple of darkness at my fingertips as I attempted to reach my magic. Trying to do anything to stop him, to stop anyone from taking my brother from me ever again. But his light was overwhelming, and my magic stayed firmly out of reach.

“So close, darling,” Aviel scoffed. I could hear the twist of a sneer on his lips. “How fortunate I was coming to retrieve you.”

I reached out blindly toward Tobias, but there was a jab in my arm.

The last thing I heard was my brother’s voice screaming my name like it had been torn from his throat.

Then everything went black.

Chapter23

Bash

Istared blankly at my empty palm; my chest unbearably tight. The fingers of my other hand drummed on the kitchen table, one after another. Memories of Eva teased the periphery of my mind as I willed her to write back—even her absence affording me no distractions from her sweet torment.

How could I miss someone I’d last seen two days ago?

Rivan shoved a bowl of porridge in front of me, laden with fruit and nuts. An almost welcome interruption to my increasingly pathetic wallowing.

“Breakfast? How thoughtful,” I said derisively. “If I wasn’t well aware of your preferences, I might start to question your intentions toward me, old friend.”

Rivan threw a spoon at me. I caught it before I could earn an embarrassing bruise on my forehead. He rolled his eyes, muttering what might’ve been an exasperated curse.

“If I thought it might make you stop feeling sorry for yourself and move on, I’d consider it.” Rivan’s voice was gruff, but I could hear the underlying concern in it. He nudged the bowl toward me. “You need to stop moping and eat something. Ever since Eva left, you haven’t been yourself.”

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