Page 58 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Aviel glared at the interruption, calling loudly, “This had better be life or death.”

I didn’t bother shouting for help. No one in this cursed castle was going to save me but myself.

“My liege, it’s the prisoner…”

Tobias?

“Enough.” A twisted smile graced Aviel’s mouth as he reached up and grabbed my chin. I recoiled as far as I could, which wasn’t nearly far enough. “Alette?”

The wraith was already standing in the doorway, her eyes unseeing. A syringe was ready in her hands, waiting for orders.

“Knock her out, but not too much.” A saccharine smile. “I want her ready for me later.”

He bent his head to mine, that hand forcing my face to the side as he licked the blood from my cheek. I could feel the cruel possessiveness in the movement, and I wanted toscream. To throw up. To bite his tongue off the next time it got near my mouth.

I wanted my dagger. I wanted to tear him apart. But if I could only reach my finger to my palm…

Aviel adjusted himself before walking from the room, the movement making me gag. Alette skipped forward the second he was gone, syringe in hand. I glared at her with accusation even as tremors ripped through me at what had happened.

At what would have happened had we not been interrupted.

“Do you think you’re better than me?” Alette asked darkly, standing at the side of my bed. Then, in her sing-song voice, she added, “But you didn’t want this either…no. Justhim.”

She crawled under the covers next to me and stroked my hair, the touch making my skin crawl.

Hatred ripped through me—at him, at her, at the utter helplessness of the situation. But I choked back my revulsion. If I attacked her, I would lose any chance of getting her to help me, however unlikely. And I needed her on my side if I wanted to have a chance.

I looked at the scars on her wrists, the light circles on her fae skin telling me exactly how long she had been his prisoner. When she saw what I was looking at, her face turned dark.

“You didn’t have a choice either,” I breathed, praying silently to find the words to sway her. “And now you’re helping him. Why?Whywould you feel indebted to the prince who did this to you?”

Alette bristled. “I’ve been here a long time. And you have no idea?—”

“But I’m about to, aren’t I?” I didn’t try to hold back my terror at those words, at what had just happened. I would fight him, but, chained and magicless, I knew what would happen the next time I was left to his mercy. “You saw what he was about to do. He tricked me into thinking I was hisanimato lure me here. While my real soulmate doesn’t even know who I am to him.” I balked slightly at that admission, forcing myself to keep going. “And if Aviel gets his way, he never will.”

She flinched at his name, and I pressed my advantage. “Are you going to help me? Or are you going to continue to serve the person who did the same thing to you?” I paused, trying to find the right words to persuade her. “You get to come back from this, Alette. Whatever he did to you. Whatever he took from you. Your fate is your own.”

She turned toward me, her face a cold mask.

“Please. We can’t let him win.”

The silence lengthened as I anxiously waited for her response, feeling her start to shake next to me. Knowing exactly how much rested on her next words.

I stilled as she pressed her lips to my ear, her voice a low whisper. “When you wake up, you’ll have the means to your freedom.”

“How?” I demanded breathlessly, my heart leaping out of my chest. “Please, Alette. I need to get out of here before he gets back.”

Alette continued almost as if she hadn’t heard me. “I won’t ruin the surprise. But I…I won’t let it happen to someone else. I thought I could…I thought I couldn’t, but I guess I was wrong.” She grabbed my chin, like Aviel had, and lifted herself over me, her face so close that my eyes started to cross. For a split second, her eyes flashed a deep red—so quickly, I thought I imagined it. “It’ll be under this pillow,” she added, patting the one next to my head.

Before I could react, she kissed me softly on the lips, then plunged the needle into my arm.

The world shifted as I looked down at the now empty syringe. My inner arm was covered in tiny prick marks, still not healed despite my fae propensity for quick healing—that ability seemingly blocked along with the rest of my magic. So many tiny wounds dotted their way up my veins.

How many times had she drugged me?

Alette started humming to herself, her eyes crazed as she watched me slip away.

“But the shackles…” My voice echoed strangely, like it wasn’t coming from my mouth. “I need the key…”

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