Page 5 of The Mirror in the Mountain

My shadows wrapped protectively around my arms, painting them like a living tattoo as I stared down at the broken collar. I prayed I would never know the agony of being separated from my magic as he had been for so long. My shadows had always been with me, as much a part of me as breathing. I could barelyimagine not having access to that intrinsic part of me, let alone the pain of having them repeatedly stolen and used against those I loved.

Tobias’s eyes were haunted as he stared down at his hands, stretching his fingers out and then curling them into a fist before he deliberately turned his palm upward

Slowly, one fingertip began to glow, then another. The light spread through his body, as if stretching after a long slumber, carefully getting reacquainted before bursting out of his hands in a dazzling display. The shower of white embers faded quickly. I knew he would need more time to rebuild his strength, along with his well of power.

There were tears in his eyes as he looked at each of my friends in turn. “Thank you.”

I noted that he skipped me in his gratitude. And I knew it would take a long time, if ever, before myanima’s brother fully forgave me for my role in his imprisonment. For being part, however unknowingly, of what had taken his magic from him in the first place.

Wouldsheforgive me?

There was a stabbing sensation in my chest as I recalled how horrified Eva had been when she realized I had unwittingly helped in her brother’s capture, just as he had been on the way to find her. It had shattered me to feel the moment her trust in me had cracked, her stunned hurt slicing like shards of glass through our bond.

But her forgiveness wasn’t what was important right now. I had felt her love for me across our bond before it had been muted, mingling with her utter resolve to save everyone but herself. And once I got her back, I would do everything I could to make it up to her. To both of them. Preferably by killing the bastard who was to blame for their torment in the first place.

“So about that plan,” Tobias whispered hoarsely. “We need to get Aviel away from Morehaven. We don’t have a chance of succeeding with him there.”

Everyone looked at Tobias expectantly. I stilled as I remembered his bold declaration that he knew how to stop Aviel. With Eva’s capture playing in a loop in my mind, I had nearly forgotten. Rivan obviously hadn’t, nodding impatiently from where he had been gingerly sipping on some tea. The red lines on his cheeks, where Marin had healed the slices where Aviel’s light had gagged him, had faded slightly but still looked painful. He had refused to go upstairs to rest, despite Marin’s urging, but his brush with death was obvious in the way he held himself. Even my sister’s magic wasn’t enough to fully heal that level of trauma immediately.

Tobias’s face was grim. “There’s a lake deep under Morehaven…it’s where he’s drawing his power. The reason why he’s so powerful.”

Yael cocked her head. “I thought the Source was a myth.”

“I was told the same,” I added.

Tobias’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me, his grievance with me apparent despite our casual truce. “That’s exactly what they want you to think. But it’s not.” He cleared his throat, his voice gruff from disuse. “It’s a secret passed from one ruler to the next. Or tortured out of, in Aviel’s case, from the former High Queen.That’sthe reason behind the so-called curse, not whatever nonsense he made up. He’s sucking the magic from the realm itself, deep beneath the earth, from the very Source. That’sthe true reason behind the depth of his power.”

There was a silence so deep, I could hear the wind whistling through the streets before battering in vain against the gray stone wall protecting my city.

“So, to stop him and save her, we just have to cut him off from that magic?” Rivan leaned forward, his lavender gaze resolute. “Or…”

“He was ready for you when you came for me,” Tobias said matter-of-factly. “Fully powered up from the magic of the land and practically unstoppable. But the magic he steals drains quickly with each use.” He started pacing, a heartbreakingly familiar gleam of determination in those two-toned eyes. “We need to cut Aviel off from the Source. Take the inevitable battle away from Morehaven and the seat of his power. If we can lure him away for long enough to take the castle and drain his stolen magic, he’ll be helpless except for what he can take from others. Without the Source to draw from, he’ll be stoppable.”

Rivan frowned. “We’ll have to wear him down enough to pull that off.”

“And he’ll be expecting us to attempt to rescue her,” Yael added grimly. “For us to try to lure him away.”

I closed my eyes, trying in vain to feel a spark of anything across our silent bond. Trying and failing to keep my growing desperation under control. “Then he’ll be right. I’m not waiting to save her any longer. As soon as our rangers are ready?—”

“I understand what each second could cost her, Bash,” Rivan said quietly. “But if we go against him without a plan to separate him from the Source, we entirely ignore what Eva did for us. He’ll be ready for us this time, just as he was the last.”

He was right. But I didn’t care. Not if it meant waiting when she needed me.

“I’mnotleaving her to face him alone.”

Yael let out an exasperated breath. “The only thing that could make this situation worse is if you get captured right alongside her.”

My shadows dug into my arms, and for a second, I saw the shackles that bound her in their place. “There has to besomething we haven’t thought of, some way to rescue her before?—”

A message appeared in front of Yael in a flash of green light. She snagged it from midair and unfolded it, sucking in a sharp breath as she read. “There’s been an explosion at Morehaven.”

The air seemed to solidify in my lungs. With our bond blocked, she could be hurt, and I would have no idea. All I could see was the fear in her eyes, the fire surrounding her just as it had all those years ago as she fought to free herself…

“Breathe,” Marin commanded. But her gaze wasn’t on me. Tobias sucked in a measured breath in a familiar four-count I attempted to copy to slow the frenetic beat of my heart.

“I can’t write back,” Yael whispered into the blaring silence. “It could blow their cover.”

I knew the explanation was for Tobias’s benefit. Rivan, Marin, and I all knew and had used the codewords intermingled in a message that let its receiver know whether the coast was clear to respond or not. My pulse thundered as I stared at the spot in the air the message had appeared like I could will another update into existence.

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