Page 30 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“You have nothing to apologize for, my friend,” I whispered. “I’m only glad I found you again.”

“And I’m glad you came back to me,” she hiccupped.

I held her close, waiting until her tremors had stopped before asking, “Your parents?”

“They were captured before they reached Soleara, betrayed by one of the False King’s supporters.” Her expression shuttered. “They were taken to Morehaven, and never heard from again.”

I shuddered, remembering all too clearly that dank dungeon, and what Tobias had told me Aviel did to the prisoners there. The stealing of their power and magic to fuel his own youth. I closed my eyes, hoping Quinn had at least been spared that detail of their deaths.

Her hands found mine, her words choked as she asked, “Always forward?”

My gaze met hers. “Never back.”

I took a quick shower to remove the blood and sweat before filling Quinn in on everything that had happened since we last saw each other. It was strange sharing my misadventures aloud. Quinn gasped on cue at each new reveal as I patted my hair dry with a towel. Her amber eyes filled as I stammered through theworst of Aviel’s treatment—the magic-blocking collar, Tobias’s imprisonment, and what he had done and almost done to me. As I explained that Bash was myanima—“Obviously,” Quinn remarked—I shrugged on the long-sleeved gray dress and cozy woolen socks she had laid out for me. It felt strangely like old times as we sat on her bed, trading stories, Quinn braiding my hair to pull the still damp strands away from my face.

Until she gestured at a crate of leather-bound journals in the corner of the room.

My mouth went dry as Quinn carefully untwined the braided leather belt from around one, and the familiar writing stopped me in my tracks.

“Your mother’s,” Quinn whispered. “She has some interesting ideas on incorporating a more democratic form of rule on this realm. Many have already been implemented in Soleara, but she obviously had hopes to extend her plans further. Pari delivered them here for you. They’re normally on display in the Solearan senate.”

My fingers flew through the pages, greedily drinking in the words that felt like a lifeline—no, a roadmap—for the future my mother must have once thought would be hers, that, I realized with no small sense of awe, now would be mine. At least, if we succeeded in stopping Aviel.

I had just picked up the second journal when the air went static. My pulse quickened, my blood seemed to heat…and I abruptly lunged to my feet, nearly dropping the priceless book in my hands. I thrust it at Quinn, who opened her mouth to say something before stopping at the look on my face.

My heart leapt as frantic anticipation flooded down our bond, matching mine. I was halfway down the stairs before I heard a chorus of familiar, concerned voices, my heart hammering madly in my ears. Distantly, I heard Quinn callingmy name as I practically flew down the remaining stairs, letting the tug in my chest lead me.

I didn’t even try to slow down before I reached him, just launched myself into his waiting arms. Bash’s name was a sigh of relief, a prayer answered as he hauled me tightly against him without hesitation, his shadows circling around me like they had missed me too. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist, my arms locking behind his head as I clung to him as tightly as possible. Breathing in the scent of petrichor—relishing that feeling ofhome. I could feel Bash shaking as he bent his head down to mine, holding me like any space left between us was unbearable.

When the tears started, I couldn’t make them stop. A sob left me as I burrowed my face into his neck, feeling his pulse frantically beating through my trembling lips.

“Eva.” My name was a broken whisper.

“You’re here,” I croaked. “You’rehere.”

“I’ve got you,” Bash breathed into my hair, his hand rubbing small circles on my back.

I pulled away, sucking in a shallow lungful of air as I stared at him for an endless moment, taking in the worry lining his face, the stubbled shadow of his auburn beard, the tears gleaming in his eyes. The crushing weight of his heartbreak across our bond as he wiped my tears away. Those turbulent two-toned eyes searched my face, and I knew I could forever fall into that stormy sea and willingly drown.

“Once again, you’re just a hair too late to save me yourself,” I said, my attempt at teasing lost to the hiccup in my voice.

Bash’s mouth twitched like he almost wanted to smile. “I willalwayscome for you. Even if you keep beating me to it.”

But I could see the guilt in his gaze, multiplied across our bond, feel how much he blamed himself for not being able tosave me back in Morehaven. How much it killed him that he hadn’t.

“Hellion,” Bash rasped, the rough caress of his voice making my heart skip a beat. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Quinn healed the worst of it before you got here.”

His gaze raked over me almost desperately, like he had to check for himself. Fury flashed across our bond, brackish and burning, as he caught sight of the ring of bruises I knew were still around my throat, dark against the white of the scars that circled around my neck.

“When I realized that I wouldn’t get to you in time to stop him…” Bash swallowed, his eyes stormy. “I—I should have had faith that you would…that you will always have the strength to save yourself.”

Vaguely, I was aware of Tobias standing beside me, Yael and Rivan grinning madly next to him, as Quinn looked on from the stairwell. My eyes met my twin’s, colder than I remembered—the man standing in front of me startling in comparison to the jovial, gangly teenager that lived in my memory. “You’re free.”

His head dipped slightly. “Thanks to you. Though I’d like a word later about your methods.”

Bash lowered me to the ground, his hand reaching to twine our fingers together as if unwilling to let me go entirely. I turned to Tobias and threw my other arm around him. He tensed slightly before relaxing into the hug. Then Rivan and Yael’s arms were around me, and I smiled through my quickly blurring vision—no longer sure whose hands were whose as we held each other, almost giddy with the relief of being reunited.

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