Page 91 of The Other Side of the Mirror

“And that’s how he got into your dreams,” Tobias continued, his voice cracking from disuse, even as it filled with revulsion. “That bastard likes to gloat, especially since I couldn’t talk back. He told me everything. How he took my blood, using it to find your mind through an old, dark magic. The wards guarding you couldn’t keep him out of your dreams. Not when he could use our bloodlink.”

I closed my eyes. While I had been living my life in the human realm, desperately trying to move on from his death, Tobias had been enduring all manner of torment. The unfairness of it all made me want to scream. But all I could focus on was the growing lump in my throat as his words resounded hollowly in my head.

“But why did he want Eva when she had nothing to do with stopping the curse?” Yael’s voice shook as she whispered from her lookout point at the entrance, as if afraid to disturb the tomb-like silence of the prison.

The gold in Tobias’s eyes seemed to spark as he stared right into me. “Aviel has knownexactlywho you were since he killed the High Queen and stole her power. The old queen had the gift of sight. And she saw us, our powers, the light he could steal from me, and everything you could be for him. Aviel forced it all out of her. After that, he coveted you to the point of obsession—and Soleara’s network of spies learned of it before he got to us.”

Obsession.The word shuddered through me, summoning the look in those cold, blue eyes. But why just me when my brother shared our Celestial gifts?

Tobias’s voice shook with strain. “Our parents knew he was after you, after our power. It’s why they left Agadot and took us to the mortal realm. To be hidden and protected until our Seventeenth, when we could be trained in our magic and return to fight the usurper.” His voice broke. “But he killed them on our birthday before they could tell us anything at all.”

Rivan broke through the iron of one of Tobias’s wrist shackles, a chunk of metal falling from where it had been fastened. Fluid stone caught the loose piece before it could clang against the floor. Tobias shot him a grateful look as he twisted his wrist around. Rivan gave him a small nod in return, before starting on the other side.

“I’m sorry,” Bash said, looking at my brother, before glancing at me. I refused to look back at him, still numb with betrayal, though the hair on my arms rose from his penetrating stare. “I should’ve…I’m sorry. I was blind to his treachery, but it’s no excuse for the pain I’ve caused you.” He took a shuddering breath. “But I don’t understand. Why did the False King become so obsessed with Eva in the first place? He didn’t need her darkness when he had light magic from others. And she was a child at the time, yet he wanted her for his…queen?”

Tobias nodded his head stiffly at the apology in begrudging acceptance. I wasn’t ready to offer my own forgiveness so easily.

“It all leads back to Aviel anyway,” Tobias said grimly. “The False King who stole our destinies when we were too young to remember.” He turned to me, and I was surprised to see pity in his hazel eyes. “Because, dear sister, he found out who was ultimately meant to rule Agadot, as foretold by Queen Amerie herself. Aviel needed you because while I have the Celestial power he needed to steal,I’mnot the High Queen’s true heir…you are.”

The silence in the cell was absolute, though stunned awe traveled down our bond in waves.

But my brother continued, looking sickened. “Aviel’s obsession with you has only grown over the years. I watched it get worse as he stalked you in your dreams, coveting what he couldn’t have. It’s more than just wanting you. He wants toclaimyou. Because only by using you can he trick the Choosing into making him the High King of this realm.”

And there it was. The reason behind everything that happened to us. The truth that might have destroyed me. Time itself seemed to freeze as Tobias’s words replayed in my mind, as the puzzle pieces finally finished falling into place. Why Aviel had targeted us. Why our parents had fled to the human realm.

They had been murdered because Aviel was trying to get tome.

But I couldn’t let myself think about what that meant right now. Not when I needed to focus on getting Tobias out of here first.

“You’resureit’s me?” I asked weakly. I ignored the stares from the others as I looked up into my twin’s grim face. “I’ll flip you for it.”

I tilted my head at him and raised a jaunty eyebrow, even as my insides trembled.

For the first time in too many long years, I saw my brother smile, albeit incredulously, as he recognized the phrase from our teens, usually wielded to determine who could claim the car on a Friday night. It took a second for his lips to curve upwards in a slanting smile, as if his face had forgotten how.

Tobias let out a harsh grunt as the last of his chains fell off, Bash’s shadows catching them before they hit the ground. He rubbed his raw wrists with a look of astonishment before I grabbed him around the neck in a tight hug. When we pulled back, he touched the metal band around his neck, identical to the one that had stolen my magic, but Rivan shook his head.

“It takes some time for the stone to restore its magic,” Rivan said apologetically. “And we need to hurry. We’ll make it a priority once we get out.”

“Let’s go,” I said, grabbing Tobias’s hand and pulling him free of his cell.

We hastened to the iron doors. Bash and Rivan pushed them aside as a burst of air rushed past us. Then Yael signaled the all clear.

Ignoring the stab of hurt through our bond as I brushed past Bash, I kept walking. I could feel his gaze boring into my back; the persistent ache of his guilt battling the twisting sense of betrayal I knew I must be sending down our bond. However unintended, the thought of his role in my brother’s capture wasn’t something I could let go of yet, even if, logically, I knew I would. And even if Tobias had reached a tenuous peace with him. Not when his actions had forced my brother into years of imprisonment.

Tobias’s voice was barely over a whisper as he added, “But perhaps most importantly, I think I know how to stop him.”

The effect of his words was almost comical. Yael gasped out loud, clasping a hand over her mouth as it faintly echoed down the long white hall, and Rivan swore under his breath, both looking similarly thunderstruck. I refused to look at Bash, though I could feel the sharpness of his shock mixed with fervent resolve.

“I knew it,” I whispered smugly. I almost smiled at the fact that our twin intuition still worked after all this time, but the roiling in my stomach wouldn’t let me.

We reached the end of the hallway, about to break for the stairwell as Tobias eagerly whispered, “There’s a?—”

But whatever there was, we wouldn’t find out yet. Tobias fell silent as the large double doors on the far side of the hallway swung open with a crash. The antechamber beyond them flared with light, brightness assaulting us even as it illuminated the dozens of guards within.

A trick of the light,I realized, knowing exactly who was responsible. That this rescue had been a ploy all along.

My stomach plummeted.

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