Page 87 of The Other Side of the Mirror

“No one will ever take you from me again,” I vowed, even though I knew there was a chance that tomorrow could very well make a liar of me. That even the best laid plans could be foiled.

“You can’t promise that.” Eva said bleakly. “And if he does find me…”

I didn’t think there was any worse ending to that sentence than the brutal truth. But when her face grew haunted, it gutted me. At what I hadn’t saved her from. At the prince who I had no doubt would try to take her again.

Wrath coursed through my veins when I saw her unconsciously rub her wrists like she could still feel the shackles there.

“Focus on what you can control,” I said, tamping down on our bond before my rage could reach her. “We know how to get in and how to avoid the guards on the way. And, thanks to you, we know the way to the dungeon, and the way back out.” I took her hands between mine. “Wewillget your brother out. And, if you’re right about why he’s been silenced, then we’ll use what he knows to stop the prince, and the False King, for good.”

“And what if I’m scared?”

The breathless admission tore into me, igniting a flare of panic for her I knew she could feel before I could shield her from it.

“It’s not too late to…”

But Eva was already shaking her head. I had already known I wouldn’t be able to persuade her to stay behind, even before Rivan suggested it the other night. And the choice was her own.

“I need to be there for him, Bash,” she said determinedly. “I have to get him out.”

She bit her lip, and I knew I hadn’t assuaged her concerns in the least as that blank look returned to her face.

“If he so much as looks at you, I’ll kill him,” I growled, tilting her chin to look at me. “That is, if you don’t beat me to it.”

“You say that like it’s a question of whether I would get there first, instead of a fact.”

I was relieved to see that familiar tenacity paired with that dry wit. Even if her voice was still shaking.

“My apologies, hellion.”

Eva’s mouth quirked up, and for a heartbeat, I let myself bask in the success of coaxing out that hint of a smile for a too brief moment. I could happily spend the rest of my life finding ways to make that perfect, downturned mouth betray its natural positioning.

But my chest tightened at the hesitancy that still flickered across her face. And suddenly I was desperate to take the fear from her eyes.

Before worry could steal her from me again, I kissed her. Instantly, that ferocity was back in the way her mouth met and matched mine. My tongue parted her lips, tasting her thoroughly until we were both tearing at each other’s clothes. She pulled my pants down enough to free my length, already hard and wanting. And I tugged hers down to her knees, pushing her underwear to one side, unable to wait another second.

I shoved inside her wet warmth, covering her mouth with my hand as a moan helplessly left her. Belatedly, I threw up a shield around us in a swirl of shadow.

“Quietly,” I admonished her with a grin, and Eva’s eyes twinkled.

Her tongue licked the underside of my fingers before sucking two into her mouth. I went rigid. Then pulled them out, bringing my fingers to circle against that spot between her legs, catching her soft cry with my lips. As I thrust into her, I tried to memorize the feel of her body against mine—the way I fit inside her like a key to a lock. The way her touch set me ablaze as her nails raked down my back, marking me as hers. And when she shuddered against me, I swallowed my name on her lips as I found my own release.

There was love and hope and eternity flowing across our bond like a current. And as we fell asleep still tangled together, her hand clasped in mine like all those other nights under the stars, I clung to that feeling of forever.

* * *

We left camp before first light, riding hard through the misty rain that lasted through the day. It was twilight when we made it to Morehaven. We moved slowly through the royal forest under the cover of the deepening shadows, waiting until moonlight was streaming through the trees before moving toward the castle.

As we neared, we dismounted, leaving the horses close enough to the perimeter of the forest to make a quick escape if needed, but far enough away that they wouldn’t draw any attention. One of our scouts would return for them should we mirror out as planned.

The pines towered menacingly, silvery in the light of the waxing moon. Our footsteps were muffled by the damp earth and our magics, the only sound the leaves rustling in the breeze. Eva grew paler with each step she took as we retraced the same path she had frantically followed to escape the palace. The foliage had been trampled—branches bowed and leaves broken—like Aviel had sent an entire army after her.

My eyes caught on a small red flower poking up between the mulch. Then another, a few steps away, a third forming a trail. Like drops of blood scattered in the carnage.

When the castle came into sight, a gleaming beacon in the night, I didn’t expect the bolt of irrational panic that shot through me.

The last time I came here, I had nearly lost her.

Eva stopped short in front of me, staring at the palace she had so recently fled. I tensed as I felt her reliving her ordeal, the echo of her terror nearly bringing me to my knees. As though being back here made those memories even more real.

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