Page 129 of The Mirror in the Mountain

I smiled back, unable to find words for how relieved, how grateful, how utterly in awe I was of her. Questions could wait for later. For now, I could only be happy she was alive.

There was a collective gasp from the doorway, and I dimly recognized the murmur of voices as our own forces rushed toward us, a battle-worn Marin in the lead. Our soldiers, my rangers among them, ran in, crowding into the room.

But I could only focus on her.

Rivan’s hand flew to his fully healed side, his mouth working soundlessly. Then he laboriously pulled himself up to one knee before bowing his head.

Eva’s mouth parted in surprise. “There’s no need for?—”

Then she stilled, looking around with wide eyes.

And that was when I realized the entire room was kneeling for their High Queen.

Chapter 55

Eva

Despite the fact that I had fully healed myself, Bash seemed content to keep me in bed for the foreseeable future—if not forever. We had returned to Soleara to recuperate, though I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay hidden away for long. Not when the end of the war left so much to be done. And especially not with the growing list of things I needed to do as High Queen. The rebuilding efforts were already underway in multiple kingdoms, aided by the fact that the curse was finally over.

Phantom whined as I stopped petting him to pick up my water glass from the bedside table, but Bash beat me to it, lifting it to my lips. Firmly, I took it from him lest he have any ideas about holding it while I drank.

“Are you hungry?” Bash was already writing a quick note on a piece of paper, then another—both vanishing in a wisp of shadow. He frowned, then wrote one more. “I’ll have something brought up…”

“Bash.”

His head swung toward me, ready to do whatever I asked of him.

“If you’re not going to let me out of this bed, can you at least join me?” I waggled a suggestive eyebrow. “You’re fussing.”

Phantom nudged his nose into my palm, and I scratched him behind the ear. He had barely left my side since we had brought him here, his attentiveness only eclipsed by his master.

Bash gave me an exasperated look. “No matter how well healed you are, it doesn’t mean you don’t need rest after what happened.” He swallowed. “Your injuries…the blood loss. What he—” His voice darkened, matching the swirling shadows in his eyes. “What he did to you.”

For a heartbeat, I was back there—blood seeping from my stomach, my magic torn away. Bash’s shadows reached for me, trailing up my bare legs. One curled around the exact spot where that whip of fire had nearly dragged me back to Aviel, but I didn’t feel so much as an inkling of distress.

“I’m okay,” I whispered, wondering if I was telling him or myself.

Bash sat on the bed next to me, wrapping his arms around me. His scent enfolded me, that mix of earthy woods and rain and something that made me feel utterly safe.

“I didn’t know if I’d lost you again.” Bash’s voice was raw, shaking like he, too, was back in that mountain. “And then you nearly died. Youweredying.” He let out a low, pained sound in the back of his throat as he pulled me closer, shadows swirling in his eyes. “And I almost lost you forever.”

“But we won, freckles,” I said softly, taking his hand to break him away from the memory he was lost in. He smiled slightly at the nickname. “And I got a cool new party trick.”

Closing my eyes to focus, I grinned as I felt the solid weight of my crown appear on my head. As High Queen, it was mine to summon, along with the magic of the land. I pushed away the thought that claiming it sooner may have saved Alette from giving herself up in my stead—though whether it was fate orcircumstance, I doubted there was anything I could have done differently. The only thing I could do now was respect her sacrifice and honor the lifetime she had given me in return by making this realm better for it.

I blinked, and the crown was gone, my darkness trailing around my fingertips as if in outrage I hadn’t called for it first. Bash’s shadows darted forward, the two swirling together in a mesmerizing vortex.

“I do like that we match,” Bash said, staring into my now ever-changing eyes. The flecks of gold within my irises moved in an endless, continuous circuit from my pupils, mirroring the gold specks flying like embers from my crown. Like Bash, it was easy to tell my relative agitation or calm from the rate at which they did so.

I shot him a playful smirk. “I’ve known that was your kink since the matching tattoos.”

He scowled at me even as a hint of wry amusement filled our bond, light and lively.

I’d been so close to losing him. Losing everything.

Bash’s expression sobered as he managed to see too much, like always. I could practically feel his questions along with his concern, the ones he had put off while insisting I convalesce. I had told him the barest of details along with everyone else—how my blood had summoned the crown from the Source itself, how Aviel had defeated me, how Alette had saved us all. But I knew he could sense the ache in my heart. Knew he was waiting for me to open up in my own time, even as he quieted my screams from the new nightmares that woke me, where Aviel dragged me back into a fiery death from which there was no escape.

Bash’s gaze was so full of worry and kindness that something pricked behind my eyes.

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