Page 33 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Bash winced. “I wish you’d been able to return here under happier circumstances.”

I nodded, sucking in my lips. Trying to find the words for what had happened next.

Bash seemed to sense my trepidation. “If you’re not ready to talk about what happened, you don’t have to.”

“No, it’s…cathartic to talk about.” I took a deep inhale, breathing him in, that familiar scent grounding.

“Good,” he said softly. “Then keep going.”

In a broken whisper, I told him how I fought Aviel off, and why he had removed the band. What he had hoped Bash would feel through the very bond he sought to break.

Bash’s mouth had set in a thin line. “Sensing your terror in that moment, knowing I couldn’t do anything to stop it, was…” He swallowed, like he couldn’t put words to it. “But I also felt your resolve. Your unimaginable bravery. And even if you hadn’t been able to stop him, I’m glad I would’ve been able to be with you in at least that way. To be there through our bond when I should’ve been there to stop him from touching you in the first place.”

My heart lurched painfully, the memory of his helplessness mixing with my own. “He didn’t rape me.” My voice broke as I envisioned what hehaddone, my hand reaching up to unthinkingly touch the bite mark on my shoulder.

“He did enough.” Bash’s eyes darkened with shadows as they formed a shield around us. His fingers trailed down the bruises marring my skin as if making note of each one to seek vengeance for, his icy rage seeping down our bond at what he hadn’t been able to stop.

“I should’ve killed him,” I said, my voice shaking. “Once again, if I’d only been faster, I could’ve stopped him, and this would all be over. I should’ve?—”

“We’ll stop him together, hellion,” Bash murmured. “That’s not your burden alone.”

Shaking my head, I took his hand. A small tendril of darkness trailed between his fingers, looping around mine like they could bind him to me forever.

“I missed you,” I said, my voice splintering. “Every second, I missed you.”

His lips parted. Then he gently pressed them to mine, the kiss so heartfelt it stole my breath away.

“I’ve never felt more helpless.” Bash’s eyes grew haunted, a line forming between his brows. “Every second you were away from me, I just kept seeing my father’s face when the False King killed him...whenAvielkilled him. And then my mother, who I couldn’t save either. I couldn’t save either of them. And when it comes to you, Eva—” He sucked in a ragged breath. “If something happened to you too…”

His latent grief nearly cracked my heart in two.

Bash shook his head, the shadows in his eyes having nothing to do with his magic. “But this isn’t about me. Not after what you went through.”

“No, this goes both ways,” I said firmly. “My ordeal doesn’t diminish yours, nor are your feelings any less valid.” My lips brushed his in a too brief kiss as the catching sensation in my chest faded away. “But I’m okay. I’m safe. And all I need is you.”

His eyes guttered, swirling darkly as he stared at the bruises around my throat. “I wish I could swear to you that he would never take you from me again, but I’ve already failed you in that particular promise. And I won’t make you another that I can’t keep.” He touched my cheek, then lowered his hand to my neck, hovering over the bite mark there. “You saved us—our friends,our family—and endured everything after that with unflinching courage.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen me in that iron?—”

Bash was already shaking his head. “Especially then. Because even when you lost hope, you found a way back to it again. Then managed to survive him despite your lack of reinforcement…plus some rather impressive pickpocketing.” He bent his head in the slightest of bows. “I am so very unworthy of you, but I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to be.”

“You are worthy, Bash,” I said fiercely. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. That’s on him, and only him.”

He pulled me closer, as if reminding himself I was still there. I could feel his guilt like acid as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. How much he blamed himself for not being able to protect me. How much it killed him that he hadn’t.

“I hate that I couldn’t save you,” Bash said, his voice guttural. “I hate that I left you with him again.”

Taking his face in my hands to make him look at me, I found his irises once again a slate gray. His shadows had trickled around us like they had also needed to hold me, their wispy strands twisting around me. With an exhale, I let my darkness join them, swirling together in dusky shades across our skin.

“You never left me.” I brushed my lips against his, feeling a hint of his tension melting away. “Besides,” I added with a grim smile, “you can be right alongside me when we finally end him.”

Bash leaned back, tracing the dimple that had appeared on my cheek with his thumb. Stopping only as my smile faded at the undercurrent of self-reproach still coursing down our bond.

“Tell me something true,” I said in a half-teasing whisper, determined to erase the bleakness from his face.

A hint of a smile curved his lips. “Something no one else knows? I have no more secrets from you. And I plan to keep it that way.”

Slowly, I kissed a trail along his stubbled jaw, snaking my arms around his neck as I reached the corner of his mouth. His lips met mine far too fleetingly, his kiss both promise and apology.

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