Page 105 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Rivan grinned, pressing his hands against the solid stone wall. “Now for the fun part.”

The ground split in front of him, and I frowned, knowing how much effort it must be taking for this level of precision. It was necessary, yes, but the drain on his magic so early in the battle…

His eyes met mine as if he could sense the worry behind them. “It’s not far.”

A series of explosions went off, sounding distant from underground.

Yael smirked. “And I take it they’re too distracted up there to notice us bursting from the ground.”

“They’d better be,” Rivan muttered. “The magic is different inside the castle walls. This leads right up to it…but not in. So we’d better get the doors to the mountain shut fast, or we’ll have a whole army to contend with.”

Quinn’s brow furrowed. “And once they’re shut?”

Rivan and I exchanged a look.

“We’ll assess when we get there…” Rivan said slowly.

“But we need to find a way to keep that door closed,” I finished.

“If it’s metal, Rivan can warp it to the stone,” Yael murmured. “If it’s pure iron…”

Then one of us would likely need to stay behind to hold the door as long as they could, while the others sought out Aviel.

“It all depends on what we find inside,” I said firmly, unwilling to entertain the consequences of the alternative just yet, even if I was already planning for either outcome. “Maybe we can just block the right passageway off. Find a way to delay them long enough to get to the Seeing Mirror.”

“You say this like we have any idea where the mirror is,” Yael said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Eva cleared her throat, her voice hoarse as she said, “The top of the mountain.”

Five sets of eyes all snapped to her in surprise.

She audibly cleared her throat. “You can’t all feel that?”

“There’s a power emanating from the mountain,” I said carefully. “But no, hellion. Nothing that specific.”

I could feel her buzz of apprehension, though it lacked any real surprise.

She grimaced. “Lucky you then. My headache gets worse the closer we get.”

Quinn reached out a hand, already alight with her magic. She set two fingers on Eva’s temples, who let out a small sigh of relief.

Then Eva’s lips tightened. “Hopefully he doesn’t know the mirror’s location either.”

I hated the way she once again skirted around saying Aviel’s name—like to do so would give him power.

“Or already through it,” Tobias grumbled.

That fear of losing her was getting worse by the second, but I had given my fears enough of myself. They couldn’t have her too.

I stepped forward, taking Eva’s face between my palms. “We can still stop him. Wewill?—”

She surged forward, kissing me so deeply it caught me by surprise—kissing me like it might be the last time—before breaking away far too soon.

Rivan cleared his throat as a cloud of dust appeared from the newly formed hole in front of him. “Shall we?”

He ducked into the self-made tunnel, and I saw the rock form into handholds in his wake. I followed closely behind, lacing my fingers through Eva’s as I led her onward. My shadows moved from my forearm to hers. If we were together, somehow, it felt like everything would be okay. I was determined to keep her close to me for as long as I could, like holding her hand could possibly stop the worst from happening. That if I could only keep her from being taken from me this time, we could win this.

The makeshift tunnel narrowed. I ducked my head against the falling silt, each far off explosion and the thunderous stampede of booted feet now above us shaking it loose. The smell of earth and metal hung in the air as the tunnel tilted sharply upward, our destination evidently approaching. Reluctantly, I let go of Eva’s hand to find Rivan’s handholds, copying his path as we climbed higher.

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