Page 75 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Bash must have sensed my warring thoughts since he didn’t try to placate me. And, suddenly, I knew he was about to tell me what I already knew. What Aviel had thrown in my face before locking me up.

“I didn’t want to keep anything from you,” Bash said hoarsely, something like hope flitting across his face. “But after what happened, I didn’t want to rush into telling you. Eva…I’myouranima.”

My dagger was at his throat before he finished his sentence, spurred on by the pain in my chest. “And why, exactly, should that word mean anything to me anymore?”

Bash looked like I had struck him, but he didn’t move away from my blade.

I didn’t recognize the silken menace in my voice. “First the prince, now you? Why should I even believe you after Aviel—” The vile name stuck in my throat.

Deep down, I knew Bash was nothing like Aviel. But I was too angry to care. Even about the heartbreak written all over his face.

Bash reached out, grabbing the hand that wasn’t holding a dagger to his throat.

My blade pressed into his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

“Don’ttouchme,” I hissed, my whole body tensing at the shiver that touch always left on my skin.

He immediately let go, a flicker of devastation crossing his face.

“Eva…” My heart stumbled at his rough, halting tone. Bash’s eyes were wild, the deepening gray swirling faster and faster. “Please. Just let me explain?—”

I dropped my dagger to my side, unable to look away from that line on his neck where I had hurt him. I was shaking so hard it felt like I might fly out of my skin.

And I didn’t want him to see me fall to pieces.

“I—Ican’t—” I whispered so my voice didn’t break, even though I knew he deserved more.

Tears stung my eyes. I was running before they began to fall. I could hear him following me, but I made it to my room before he did and locked the door behind me.

Leaning back against it, I slowly sank to the ground. Tears slid silently down my cheeks, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. The shaking was getting worse. When I tried to breathe, the inhale turned into a jagged sob.

I was going to break apart. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.

There was a small thud on the other side of the door. Then the sound of Bash sliding down it to sit back-to-back with me—only the door between us.

“Open the door, hellion.”

I didn’t answer. A sob shuddered out of me, and I covered my mouth with both hands. I couldn’t seem to stop crying lately, as if the pain from losing my family, my imprisonment, and Aviel’s treachery had turned into an endless well of sorrow. Like everything I had suppressed while trying to hold myself together was now leaking through the cracks in my heart.

“Open the door, or I’ll break it down,” Bash repeated, his voice velvety soft.

“Don’t.” I tried in vain to catch my breath as a hint of panic blossomed in my chest. “Please.”

Silence. Then I heard his head fall back against the door.

“Eva…”

“Leave me alone.”

“…I’ll do anything you want except that.”

The anguish in his voice disarmed me, the lies I told myself withering away. And suddenly I felt the fight leave me as my resolve to deal with this on my own quickly fell apart. I reached up—suddenly too overwhelmingly tired to attempt to get to my feet—turning the knob above my head with a slight push.

The door opened a crack. Then Bash had me in his arms before I even realized he had lifted me from the floor. I made a sound that might have been a sigh of relief.

He lowered his head, his heart a wild drum against palm. I pressed my face into his chest before he made eye contact, terrified that if I gave in, he would be able to break the few whole pieces of my heart I had left.

“You don’t understand,” Bash said, sounding hopeless. He sat us on my bed, me on his lap, just like he had last night. “It was never him, and I should have known far sooner.” His pained expression deepened, making my heart twist. “I think I did, in a way. But I was so focused on doing my duty for the good of the realm that I let that blind me to exactly what was between us.”

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