Page 17 of The Mirror in the Mountain

The click of the door opening made me flinch.

Aviel stood there, dressed in gold and white, the vision of every fairytale prince except for the sadistic glee in his eyes. Despite my plan, my heart thundered like it was attempting to escape at the sight of him—at the way his gaze trailed down my body as if he owned it.

I forced myself to meet his eyes, trying not to betray the fear that threatened to consume me.

He was obsessed with me in the sort of way the worst sort of monster felt they had a right to another. But Aviel only loved what I could be for him; he was incapable of wanting me in a way that wasn’t intrinsically linked with what my magic and birthright could do for him. Still,hethought he loved me, and that delusion was one of the few defenses at my disposal, albeit a fragile form of power.

The door closed behind him with a bang that made me jump. His lips curled into a smirk, that slight movement somehow sucking all the air from my lungs, his pale eyes devouring me as I focused on holding myself together.

“Eva, darling. I hope you slept well. You look lovely waiting for me.”

I hated that his voice sent a shiver of fear down my spine. My nails bit into the rose on my palm as I clenched my fists against the shaking of my hands, not wanting to give away just how much he scared me. While I debated remaining silent, I wouldn’t let him think me cowed, even if a part of me desperately wanted to shrink away; wanted to scream aloud at being forced into this situation yet again.

I wasn’t used to not being able to defend myself. To lay in wait, desperation mixing with my panic yet again. Weaponless beyond my own defiance…and the dagger I had hidden just out of reach. I was looking forward to using it to inflict even a fraction of the pain and terror he had caused me.

“I think the box was better company.”

He laughed, cold and cruel. I tried to act as though his very presence wasn’t causing my lungs to falter in my chest.

Breathe.

“That can be arranged.” Aviel smirked as he unhooked the dagger from his belt, laying it on a dresser across the room. My mouth twitched—at least he knew better than to practically handme a weapon to use against him. “But we have some unfinished business first.”

He walked toward the bed as though savoring the time it took to get to me—a predator stalking its prey. And I knew the bastard knew exactly how terrified I was beneath the bravado. My heart beat in terrified anticipation as he reached me.

When he pulled himself over me, it was all I could do not to struggle too hard. To keep my hands in place so as not to give the game away. To wait for the right moment, even as nausea simmered in my stomach.

Stout heart,I reminded myself as I tried not to tremble.

I remembered telling a drunk guard in a dungeon not too long ago about the sort of worthless, dickless type of bastard it took to force someone against their will. And I knew I needed to keep this monster talking—too distracted to notice the crack in the iron around my wrists hinting at my freedom. Too caught up in his fixation of me to notice the trap I was laying for him.

It felt strangely fitting using a trick I had already used to escape. If he hadn’t been so arrogant, so assured of his own victory, then maybe he would have learned to double check my bindings.

He would learn not to underestimate me.

“I can see you waiting to strike, darling,” Aviel purred, his hands roving my body as his leg shoved between my thighs. I jerked back into the bed but couldn’t wriggle away enough to do anything other than encourage him, based on the feral gleam in his pale eyes. “Don’t think that I’m fooled into thinking you’ll keep the promises you made to me to save your little friends. Besides…what, precisely, do you think you can do to stop me, when all of you put together failed to keep me from getting exactly what I wanted?”

I refused to think about how he had forced them down, bleeding and prone and suffering. But he hadn’t killed Rivan,hadn’t prevented us from freeing Tobias. And I wouldn’t let him win.

“If you think I’m going to stop fighting you, you’ll be sorely mistaken.”

Aviel laughed coldly. “And where would be the fun in that?”

My chest constricted to the point of pain as his fingers played with the collar, his thumb dipping into the hollow of my throat.

“I told you already that you’ve always been mine,” Aviel said softly. “Even if it takes another century, I will own you, body and soul. And you will learn to stay willingly at my side.”

The only way out is through, I repeated in my head, willing my mother’s strength to be with me now.

“And what makes you think I will ever be willing?” I lifted my chin as I stared him down. “I know exactly who you are. My brother told meeverything. And now he’s going to expose you.”

Aviel waved a dismissive hand. “It doesn’t matter now. Once I go through the Choosing with your power, I will finally become High King, and there won’t be anything anyone can do to stop me then. Even if your brother tells the whole realm exactly who I am, and what my powers really are, Iwantthem all to know exactly whom they bow to.” He stroked my cheek, and I suppressed a shudder. “All my life I’ve had to take what I wanted. You, my darling, are no different.”

His eyes darkened as his hand flattened at the base of my neck. I jerked away from the possessive touch, but there was nowhere to go.

“I almost kept youranimato force your obedience. But I far prefer to break you to my will myself.” Aviel’s fingers tightened savagely, and I couldn’t help my hiss of pain. “And when I break you, when you learn you are mine, we will remake this world together.” He smiled cruelly. “It’s almost time now.”

“You’re insane.”

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