Page 16 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“So your plan is to come to Soleara and…” She cut herself off, looking upset at herself.

And suddenly I realized what this was. The reason she was pushing me away.

“I’m not planning on usurping your throne,” I said in a low, urgent voice. “Though I think the best partnerships are the ones that learn to share the load—who work together. And while I’d like to rule by your side, it’s your people. Your kingdom. Even though I hope they might one day be ours.”

She gave me such a startled look I was certain I had guessed right.

“I thought…”

“Are Solearans so puritanical that a female in charge is such a strange thing, even with a High Queen as the leader of our realm?” I smirked at her. “Because Esterrans have no such idiocy. Or if they did, my grandmother sorted it out long before I was born.”

“My parents have always been…protective. The High Queen told them at my birth that…” Estelle trailed off, shaking her head. “We lost my mother before she could produce another heir.”

I frowned. With heirs determined by power, not birth order, was her magic not…strong enough? Somehow, I couldn’t imagine that. Especially not when our every touch seemed to spark with whatever lay beneath her skin, like her magic was trying to reach out to mine. But if that wasn’t it, what had the High Queen told her parents that had scared them so?

“My father has been committed to finding me a strong match, a strong alliance ever since,” Estelle continued softly. “Someone he felt could lead.”

That careful admission, and what it implied, set my throat on fire. “I’m very well aware you can rule Soleara all by yourself, Princess, and I barely know you.” Though I tried to keep the anger on her behalf out of my voice, I only somewhat succeeded. “How your father can’t see that is beyond me. Or perhaps he’s afraid. I knew how strong you were even before you bested me with your sword. And even if I didn’t, I have no desire to control you, now or ever.” I held out a hand, pleading with her silently to take it this time. “But maybe you can find some use for me, anyway.”

Her eyes fixed on my outstretched hand for an endless moment, like she could see the heart I held out to her in offering.

Something swooped low in my stomach as she took it.

Chapter 9

Eva

Atear trickled down my cheek as I kept my eyes squeezed shut, trying in vain to prolong my dream—that stolen moment with myanima.But when I heard someone moving nearby, my eyes flew open, my muscles tensing for a fight.

There was a servant tending to the fire in the hearth, but she wasn’t looking my way, nor was the new guard at the door. My neck stung, and when I gently pressed against it, my fingertips came back bloody. Aviel must have been here…must have bitten me sometime after I had been knocked out, when my drugged sleep was so deep, I hadn’t woken.

I couldn’t stop the shudder going through me at the thought of how helpless I had been, unconscious and chained to his bed as he left that mark behind. I was still clothed, but he had undoubtedly put his hands on me. Could have…I cut off the thought with a harsh exhale. There was nothing I could do about what had already happened. Only fight now that I could.

With a jolt, I realized that my shackles were still only locked around my wrists, with nothing covering my hands. Aviel was apparently confident that my collar was enough to suppress my magic.

Or maybe he didn’t want me to hide a syringe in the bulb this time, I thought with grim satisfaction.

I was still in the same blue dressing gown as—from what I gleaned from the daylight streaming in—last night. Chained to the headboard by the shackles on my wrists, a chain securely looped around a hardwood spire at the top of it, though with enough slack to comfortably move around, at least for now. My ankles were still shackled together but weren’t attached to anything but each other. There was a chamber pot next to the bed, and I smirked, knowing it was a warning not to try the same thing twice or face the consequences.

Having no desire to face the indignity of being scrubbed down again, I relieved myself, my chains going taut as I sat down. As I hoped would happen, the servant turned her back to give me privacy, and the new guard uncomfortably averted his gaze. Carefully, I extracted the key to my shackles from under my arm, wincing as they pulled against my bloodied wrists even as I thanked my lucky stars it hadn’t fallen or been found when Aviel visited me. I closed my hand around it just as another guard walked into the room and came toward me.

He looked bored, like whatever he was about to do was just another chore on his to do list. I wanted to scream at him, demand to know why his first thought wasn’t to help me, but I clenched my teeth, knowing it would only be wasted breath. He gestured for me to move back, the flash of flame from the guard behind him a silent threat if I disobeyed. Without breaking eye contact, I crawled backwards onto the bed as a servant scurried forward to retrieve the chamber pot.

I tensed as the guard reached the edge of the bed. A tight smile curved his lips, then he grabbed the chain that attached to my wrist shackles, pulling it taut. I yelped as my hands were painfully yanked above my head. But I kept my hand clenched as he refastened the end of the chain to the side of the headboard,the key digging into my palm as I twisted my wrist to keep it hidden.

The guard finished fastening my chains as I glared at him, silently vowing vengeance. Even as my panicked, stuttering breaths gave my fear away.

I knew what it meant.

I’m running out of time.

A wave of fear swelled inside me, threatening to turn into a flood. I didn’t dare give in to it, forcing myself to quell the rising panic in my chest, the powerlessness clawing up my throat. My nails dug into the scar on my palm as I sucked in a slow breath, then let it out in a careful cadence.

Waiting until my guards turned away to do a sweep of the room, I slowly opened my hand, moving the key from where I could feel its shallow indent on my palm to between my trembling fingers. I rattled my chains, but the guards didn’t so much as turn around before they left the room, the servant following quickly behind them.

Aviel was coming. I only had seconds.

Each turn of the lock felt like it echoed in the silent chamber as I swiftly unlocked one of the shackles around my wrist, then the other. Before I could attempt to free my ankles, I heard footsteps approaching outside the door. Quickly, I made sure the shackles on my wrists appeared closed, praying Aviel wouldn’t be looking for the same deception a second time.

---