Page 88 of The Other Side of the Mirror

Her pain-filled gaze the last time we had been in this forest flickered across my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut as I remembered the moment she had crumpled in Rivan’s arms, bloodied but not broken. Drawing in a deep breath, I tried not to think about how badly I had failed her by bringing her here the first time and prayed I was doing the right thing by bringing her back.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled Eva’s back against my front then kissed the crown of her head, her cheek, that spot behind her ear. She sucked in a breath, then let it out in a familiar cadence as I gently kissed the scar where Aviel had bitten her, then the white line above it. My lips skimmed her jaw before finally making it to her mouth.

A faint smile danced across her lips despite the horrors she had escaped here.

I murmured against the curve of her ear. “Are you ready?”

“Not even a little bit. Are you?”

“Nope. But we’ll get him out.”

With a sigh, Eva melted into me, grabbing my hands to pull me around her more tightly, her head tucking under my chin. But when I made myself let go, her gaze remained haunted.

Carefully, I wove a shield of shadows around the four of us, blocking us from sight. They lingered around Eva, wrapping around her waist, down her arms, and tangling in her hair like they wanted to touch her as much as I did.

We reached the edge of the forest, waiting for a pair of guards to finish their route past the bright stone walls. As they did, I wondered which part of the wall before us contained the fake magic stones Eva had escaped through…

Even with our knowledge of the secret passage, we had unanimously decided showing up in the prince’s bedchamber wasn’t our best option, especially as Eva hadn’t been sure the stones worked both ways. Instead, we planned to climb the lower wall by the portcullis, which my rangers had confirmed remained relatively unguarded at the shift change. And would lead us most directly to the dungeons.

The guards disappeared around a corner, and we hurried through the manicured gardens, its fragrance almost sickeningly sweet. We would have only minutes until they made their next rounds.

Rivan sauntered over to the wall, my shadows undulating around him in wispy waves. His magic created handholds as he elongated the stones beneath his fingertips. Then he began to climb, the stones of his path barely jutting from the wall. But that appeared to be enough, for he ascended swiftly up the side, no more than a rising shadow.

I released a slow breath when I sensed him hauling himself onto an outer passageway, the curve of it almost imperceptible from the ground. Then a rope fell down, dangling against the wall. A necessary precaution. I wasn’t taking any chances where Eva was concerned. Quickly, I hid it from sight, along with the strange shadow it cast upon the stone.

Then I grabbed the rope, handing it to Eva. But her eyes were far away as her fears whispered to her…an insidious tug down our bond. My hand brushed her cheek to bring her back.

When she looked up at me, I was momentarily mesmerized by her bottomless eyes. Dark like pools of night from her magic yet still ringed by flecked crowns of gold.

“Bash…”

I moved my thumb against her lips to gently quiet her. But she spoke again in barely a whisper, her breath warm against my skin.

“I love you. No matter what happens, you have to know, you’ll always have my heart.”

My throat locked up at the finality in her tone—as though she needed to say those three words aloud one last time.

“I love you,” I breathed as I looped the rope around her waist.

Before she could start her ascent, I tugged her back against me. My lips caught hers in a whisper of a kiss. Then her fingers laced into my hair, pulling my head back down as she crushed her mouth to mine. When she broke the kiss, that downward mouth curved up slightly before I boosted her up the wall.

When she looked down, there was only staunch determination in her remarkable eyes before she disappeared almost entirely from sight, her power creating a dark shield around her.

That darkness rose steadily up the wall, making me yet again marvel about her childhood training in the mortal world. Swiftly, I followed. I saw a flash at the top as Rivan lifted her over the edge, even as I felt Yael begin her climb below me, wrapped in my shadows. When I pulled myself over the ledge, I leaned back over, keeping an eye out in case any intrepid guards thought to look up and notice Yael’s ascending shadow.

Rivan held up a hand and we all immediately ducked down. There were footsteps approaching from a lower walkway. Counting the steps, I held up two fingers. Rivan nodded, reaching for his blade.

Before either of us could move, Eva dropped over the edge, soundlessly landing on the lower walkway—the sword I had given her in one hand, her brother’s dagger in the other. Rivan raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I shrugged.

While I had to curb the urge to jump down after her, I knew that Eva didn’t need my help, or anyone else’s. I had known exactly how skilled she was from the moment she took down that golem, reinforced with every training session since. And obviously, so did Rivan as he simply grinned at me and waited.

Some part of me knew that Eva needed to do this on her own. Both a release for her nerves and a reminder that she could save herself from her own demons.

A moment later, there was a grunt and two muffled thuds. When I looked over, both guards were unmoving on the ground. Yael gave Eva a lazy salute from where she had watched the end of her takedown over my shoulder.

Eva mouthed from below, “You coming?” The gold of her eyes gleamed in the night like some sort of mythical creature.

There was heat in my gaze when I met hers. I saw Eva swallow, a pulse of desire burning across our bond in a way that told me she knew exactly where that would lead when we returned home.

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