Page 125 of The Mirror in the Mountain

There was no way this could work…but this was magic. Just because I hadn't thought of the possibility, especially since every gate I had mirrored through had been enormous, didn't mean itwouldn't.

Hope felt too dangerous. But I was out of time to do anything but believe.

I let out a hysterical laugh, unable to stop it. The thing that had scared me all this time had been perched on my finger all along, its power hidden until I needed it the most.

My mom had saved me one last time.

I didn’t question it, the final gift she had left me. Not as my ears hollowed out, the air turning thin. My breath dragged from my lungs toward the fiery cyclone that was now Alette, her explosion imminent.

Only death lay behind me, the rest of my life waiting on the other side of the mirror. If only I could reach it.

The Seeing Mirror,I thought as I pressed my finger against it, willing this to work with every fiber of my being.Adronix. Bash.

That deadly heat raced toward me, oblivion beckoning as I fell through.

Chapter 54

Bash

Aviel’s remaining soldiers lay dead across the ancient stone before the Seeing Mirror, the few who had surrendered unconscious and bound in a corner. The stench of battle, of fear and sweat and blood, permeated the cavern.

Pari had sent a stained piece of parchment letting us know they had returned after the avalanche, killing or capturing the soldiers that remained now that their numbers had been so greatly reduced. They had been working to burrow their way to the buried doorway, attempting to blow, move, and melt away the snow that had covered the entrance to the mountain far below.

I was having a hard time caring about the rest of the realm. Not when all I could focus on was her.

Trust that if I have any choice in the matter, I’ll come back to you.

My heart crawled further up my throat with each passing second. Beating its way out of my chest, as it had been ever since Eva had followed Aviel through that mirror. As she fought him—the monster who had stalked her for her entire life—alone.

The purgatory was unbearable, my every muscle remaining on high alert. I couldn’t stop my mind from racing through every possible scenario myanimacould be enduring, every single way Aviel might be torturing her while I couldn’t reach her, each more horrifying than the last.

I should have gotten there sooner. And even if I trusted her ability, her courage…she shouldn’t have to face him without me yet again. Not with the unspeakable cost of her backup plan, the one I knew she wouldn’t shy from should all else fail.

She didn’t need to be saved, but I couldn’t help but beg the gods to bring her back to me.

As I traced the dark, cold edges of the mirror, I silently pleaded for it to open. Trying in vain to feel her through our bond, the link between us far too unsubstantial. There was only damning silence, not a hint of what she was going through.

All that was left was the absence of her, the aching nothingness where Eva was supposed to be.

A frenetic energy was building under my skin. My shadows curled against the glass as they tried and failed to break through.

I can’t lose her. I can’t?—

But there was nothing I could do but wait. Wait and breathe in the same four-count Eva had demonstrated so many times it now felt unconscious to slip into it.

If he hurt her, I would never forgive myself.

She had been unstoppable, a force of nature as she raced through the battle—soldiers falling in her wake without her even raising her sword. Inevitable as she had fallen through the mirror that was her destiny.

Had the Choosing known she was the rightful queen despite Aviel’s treachery? Or had she been too late?

Would I even know if she sacrificed herself?

I forced down my sudden nausea, the spiraling weight of my own helplessness. Even after all the ways I had pleaded with herto forget that option, she had still deemed herself expendable—as if the world would keep turning without her in its orbit.

My hand balled into a fist, and I slammed it into the stone wall next to the mirror. Welcoming the pain if only not to wallow in my own powerlessness for one more torturous moment.

There was a low groan. Immediately, I spun to where an unconscious Rivan lay with his head on Yael’s lap. Quinn’s magic flowed into him in a slow trickle, her remaining power all that was tying him to life. She had brought him here after finding him half-dead in the stairwell. From where she said she found him, he must have dragged himself halfway up the mountain, following our path through the dark before his inevitable collapse.

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