Page 82 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Rivan raised an eyebrow. “So I take it you fought back this time?”

I smiled at him. “I would’ve pushed him out completely if Bash hadn’t woken me first.”

“Savedyou,” Bash said with feigned exasperation. “And got hit in the face for my trouble.”

“This doesn’t feel right,” Marin muttered, her fingers featherlight against my skin. “It’s not a bruise. It feels like it was seared into you.” She hummed absently, and I felt her magic wash over me. “There, that should do it.”

I didn’t have to check to know that the mark was gone. Bash pulled his sister to him, kissing her gratefully on the crown of her head.

“Thank you,” I told her, then frowned. “The dreams didn’t happen the whole time I was in Morehaven.”

Yael pursed her lips thoughtfully, then her expression darkened. “Perhaps that’s where he wanted you.”

I couldn’t help my shudder. Bash pulled me back into his arms.

“There can be no doubt he’s in league with his son,” Marin said, her voice unusually grim.

Rivan got to his feet, starting to pace. “That leaves a lot of questions, starting with how he could’ve escaped his frozen prison. Adronix is protected by its own magic. Once in, there’s practically no way out, and even less of a chance an escape could be kept quiet. The fact that no one’s seen him the entire time Prince Aviel’s been in power…”

“Someone would have had to give him Tobias’s blood to reach me in my dreams.” My chest clenched at the reminder of what Aviel had done to my brother. At the least of what I was sure he had suffered. “I assume Bash already filled you all in on what I told him? The true reason behind the curse?”

They all nodded, looking enraged.

Bash turned to Rivan. “Any word of the False Prince?”

The term ricocheted like shrapnel at how easily I was taken in by him, and Bash squeezed my hand.

“Like father, like son,” Yael said dryly.

“Our scouts have confirmed he was revived and sent his soldiers to scour the lands near the castle. We can assume that he knows we were the ones who took you away.” Rivan’s jaw clenched. “He would’ve known you couldn’t have gotten far on your own in the state you were in.”

Bash’s face had turned murderous, his rage a roaring beast across our bond. And I knew he was remembering how I looked, bruised and bloodied, as I ran through the forest. I tightened my grip on his hand, running my thumb back and forth across the back of it soothingly. When he looked at me, his eyes were still ablaze with fury…yet he had never looked more handsome.

Thisanimathing was getting out of hand. But when he took in my reaction, lust surged across our bond, and my body heated. My teeth snagged my lower lip as I tried to get a hold of myself.

Bash’s voice was low in my ear. “Bite your lip again, and I’ll bite it for you.”

I felt my face go scarlet, my thighs pressing together as his teeth nipped my earlobe. Yael cleared her throat loudly, but she was grinning when my eyes met hers.

“Sorry,” Bash said to her, looking anything but. “I didn’t realize how much the bond…”

Yael snorted. “I remember how it was in the beginning.”

The corner of his mouth quirked. “Unfortunately, so do I.”

I shook my head, trying to clear it. “How long until he comes after me then?” Any amusement I felt from Bash disappeared as his face went feral at the thought. “Is Imyr safe?”

Marin smiled at me, clearly delighted for her brother despite the seriousness of the conversation. “We’re prepared for an attack. But so far there’s been nothing amiss.”

“So what’s next?” Yael asked. “Besides rescuing Eva’s brother from the depths of Morehaven, I assume we need to send a clarion call to our allies. Let them know the False King and the crown prince have been in league together all along.”

She gestured flippantly with her hand, as though telling the entire realm they had been lied to by their sovereign was an everyday occurrence.

Bash nodded. “I have a few letters to send before we go on our way. Whether or not we’re successful…It’s time to call our allies back to war.”

“Don’t you love when he uses his ‘Your Majesty’ voice,” Yael said to me in a loud mock whisper, obviously too aware of the side effects of a newly formed bond.

I blushed because she was only too right, an immediate twinge of need going through me at that tone. Bash’s irises swirled dangerously as he turned to me, sensing my arousal. I swallowed hard at the tantalizing heat rippling down our bond, then forced myself to focus. Before I forgot myself entirely and dragged Bash back upstairs.

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