Page 111 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Tobias’s reply was cold, his tone laced with a bitter malice I had never once heard from him. “We’ll rest when he pays for it.”

The light went out again, and I flinched. Tobias swore under his breath as if in realization, coming to a stop. Then his light flared from his fingertips, floating upwards like tiny stars.

Yael let out an appreciative sound. Quinn’s concerned look melted into a smile.

Tobias let out a rough laugh. “Sometimes, I still forget I can.”

I squeezed his hand, my heartbeat slowing slightly as we continued onward. Tobias’s magic hovered closely around us, lighting the way.

The crooked stone steps seemed never ending, our footsteps and panting the only sounds as we travelled upward. Quinn came up beside me as the tunnels widened slightly, her sword glinting in Tobias’s light. Our eyes met as we heard the clamor of metal and hushed voices in the same instant, raising our swords in unison.

The staircase led to an arched, open hallway. We turned the corner to find a horde of Aviel’s soldiers. The one in front opened his mouth to shout the alarm when one of Yael’s arrows appeared through his head as if by magic, more clutching at their throats as she stole the air from their lungs. Light leapt from my brother’s outstretched hand, and I flinched as I watched it wrap itself around his opponent’s neck, pulling him onto Tobias’s sword.

Banishing my nausea as I remembered the feeling of that same light reaching around my own throat, I raised a hand to summon my darkness. Before I could, Quinn dragged my arm back down.

“It won’t help if we win this battle only to lose the war.”

Letting my darkness dissipate, I nodded. Then I jumped into the fray, almost grateful for the opportunity to shove the thought of what we were heading for aside as I focused on the next right move—the deadly dance of steel against steel.

Quinn fought by my side. The way we moved together felt effortless after a lifetime of learning to cover each other’s backs. We made short work of the rest of them, running past their bodies to reach a narrow flight of ancient, worn stairs carved into the stone. Each sloped in the center, a testament to the number of feet that had treaded this path before us.

Blood trickled down the black steel of my sword. I didn’t bother wiping it away.

My thighs burned as we raced up the steps, the buzzing in my head growing louder. When we reached a crossroads, I didn’t question how I knew the passage to the right would bring us where we needed to go.

“This way,” I gasped, unable to spare the breath for an explanation I didn’t have after so many steps uphill.

Not down to the prison where the False King had never been held, but up to the very top of the mountain. To where I knew the Seeing Mirror waited, likely rippling in anticipation.

I could feel it drawing me ever closer. Like the power inside this mountain was calling to me, its melody just out of reach. Its pull was no longer painful, but a beckoning now that I was heeding its call—taking me toward my destiny. I couldn’t resist even if I wanted to, my urgency impeding my fear.

The rock around me now gleamed with a familiar, faint blue light. One that momentarily took me back to another night, running in the other direction in a stone stairwell. But at least I no longer felt trapped as we ran up the illuminated steps two at a time.

The tunnel was widening, and Quinn hooked her arm through mine as I stumbled on another age-worn, slanted step.

“We’re close,” I panted. “I can feel it.”

I nearly fell when the next step wasn’t there, the flat landing strange beneath my feet after so long running upward. My throat closed as we turned a corner to find two massive doors builtinto the stone on the opposite side of a cavernous hallway. They looked like they were made of the same silver quill embedded into my palm—its iridescence as beautiful as it was ominous.

“They’ll be ready for us,” Yael added grimly. “And if Aviel has already found a way into that mirror…” She cursed under her breath. “I should have stayed with Rivan, not Bash.”

I shook my head, even as I reached for the faint feeling that was Bash through our bond. Alive at least, but after the way the mountain had shaken when we left them…

But I couldn’t stop to think about that now.

“I’ll go with her through the gate,” Tobias assured her. “Eva won’t be alone, even if they don’t follow us here in time. I’ll hold Aviel off while Eva does what she needs to do.”

“And if he finished the Choosing, we’d know,” Quinn said stoutly, as if reading the apprehension on my face. “Which means we can still win.”

Yael’s chin dipped. “We’ll hold off whoever’s with him.” She looked to Quinn, who gave an answering nod—far too coolly with the odds currently stacked against us—before turning to Tobias and me. “You two focus on stopping Aviel from getting through that mirror or getting into it if he has already. Divide and conquer.”

Quinn smiled. “That easy, huh?”

Yael’s lips curved. “Let’s hope so.”

“Yael—” My voice cracked, and I saw her turquoise eyes soften in understanding. “If anything happens, tell Bash…Tell him that I—” I cleared my throat, shaking my head. “Never mind. I imagine he knows by now.”

“He’ll never forgive himself for this,” Yael said, her mouth quirking in a sad sort of smile, “if you go through that mirror without him. So do me a favor and don’t you dare die on my watch.”

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