Page 29 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Quinn lifted her hand to my face, her fingers hovering over my bruised cheek. “How hurt are you?”

“I’m—”

I let out a sharp gasp and then burst into tears, my eyes filling so alarmingly fast that my rapid blinking to clear them only caused more tears to roll down my cheeks.

Quinn pulled me against her, her hand rubbing my back in careful circles. Everything I had bottled up since the last time I had seen her seemed to burst out of me as I sunk into her familiar embrace, clinging to her so tightly my arms hurt. She nodded over my shoulder, and I heard the front door open and close as the others left us.

When my sobbing faded to wet-sounding hiccups, I pulled away, noting the matching tears staining Quinn’s face. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands, wincing as I pressed against a bruise there.

“Quinn—”

A blueish glow radiated from her outstretched fingertips as she reached for my cheek, gently smoothing my hair away before she rested her hand lightly above the wound.

I gaped at her, still too shocked at seeing her here to think clearly. While I had suspected she was fae, to see the proof of her here, pointed ears and all was staggering. And she washealingme. Though I had known what she was from her amulet alone, it was another thing entirely to watch her use magic.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. After her parents died,someonehad built the wards around my apartment.

I should’ve realized she would be a healer. In college, Quinn had been pre-med, though she had moved into research after we graduated. For her to have this ability was fitting in a way that anything else would have been unimaginable.

“First, you need to sit down and let me heal the worst of your injuries,” Quinn said in a concerned yet no-nonsense tone so typical of her that it made me want to cry. “And then I owe you alongoverdue explanation.”

She ushered me into a well-appointed kitchen, the space warm and inviting. Pulling out a chair at a long, wooden dining table, she gestured for me to take a seat before bringing me a glass of water that I gulped down. She sat down next tome, her hands immediately coming to hover over my stomach, unerringly finding the spot where my side ached with each breath. Her magic ran over me like a cooling stream of water.

“You’ll need to be careful with your ribs,” Quinn murmured. Her brow furrowed as she placed her hands on my wrists, the torn skin fading into reddened lines, before moving to the matching marks on my ankles. “And you’ll still have some bruising.”

“Thank you,” I said softly. But there was an edge to the words, despite their sincerity. As happy as I was to see her, I hadn’t forgotten the fact that she had lied to me, at least by omission. Even if I hoped there was more to it—that her actions had been driven by some necessity rather than another betrayal.

Quinn took a deep breath, hesitating as though working up to the explanation I knew was coming.

I grabbed her still-glowing hand from where it had reached for the bite mark on my neck, suddenly impatient. “How long have you known? And why on earth didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Those amber eyes flicked up to mine, their usual warmth tinged with guilt. “When did you guess that I knew?”

I snorted. “About two minutes after I realized what the amulets were for. Add that to how your parents were equally crazy about training you as mine were, plus the fact that there were wards on my new apartmentafterthey died.” I gave her a sympathetic look. “Not a plane crash, huh.”

It wasn’t a question.

Quinn let out a long breath, shaking her head. “When your family was killed, my parents told me everything.” She spoke slowly, carefully, as if not wanting to miss anything important. “Who you were…well,are. They told me to stay with you, to keep you hidden and safe as they journeyed to Soleara to determine if it was finally time to bring us back.” She swallowed hard. “But they never came back.” Our gazes met and held, her eyesflickering with a mix of sadness and sincerity. “So I waited, wondering every day how to find a way to tell you. But they used the amulet to stop me from doing so—bound by my oath and my blood. Binding it so that the protection remained even if they died, unless you were in danger. So I practiced what magic I could figure out on my own—sparingly and carefully so as not to leave a trackable trace—and yes, created the wards on your apartment after you wouldn’t move back in with me from the instructions I’d been left.”

I didn’t want to interrupt the explanation I had been waiting for, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Bound by your blood?”

Quinn grimaced. “Blood magic is powerful and can be very dangerous, especially when used for the wrong reason.”

I nodded with a wince, thinking of the way Tobias’s blood had been used to infiltrate my dreams. The thought of Quinn’s parents using it on her, even if it was to keep us safe, made my stomach turn.

“I hated the position they put me in, but my parents were just trying to protect us. So I waited and scoured the books they left behind to learn about this realm, trying to find a way to tell you even as I wondered if it was better if you never knew…so you never had to return to this secret world still stuck in a secret war.”

She gave another weary sigh, and I gripped her hand tightly, silently reassuring her that I didn’t blame her, for which I was rewarded with a grateful smile, even as her eyes glimmered with unshed tears.

“I left one of the books out once, by accident. You sat down right next to it, and it felt like my tongue had stopped working. But you were too lost in your grief to notice, and the second you left, I felt that compulsion to hide it again. It made me realize there was a way around my bloodoath. But after my parentsnever returned, I knew it wouldn’t be safe to bring you back. And you were finally starting toliveagain, and I told myself it could wait just a little longer. That it would give me more time to find a way to tell you besides blindsiding you and putting your life at risk should the crossing alert those looking for you. And to see if I could communicate with the Solearans here to determine when to bring you back. I didn’t realize my attempts were being sent to an empty castle. But you were where I knew you’d be…safe.” She let out a choked laugh. “So I practiced my magic in secret—though there was only so much I could learn on my own from the few books my parents left behind, especially when I was worried any large display might bring about the very danger I was trying to avoid. I was about to give in and take you through the mirror after your birthday, consequences be damned. I figured taking you to Agadot would put you in enough danger that I’d finally be able to tell you everything on our journey to Soleara.”

She had been so close. Just as my parents had been the night of our Seventeenth. The stark reality of what might have been seemed to curdle with the bitter aftertaste ofalmost. If I had entered this realm more prepared…And yet, despite all that had happened, it was hard to fully regret the path that had brought me to Bash, and to the friends that felt like family.

But I couldn’t change what had happened. Only forge a new path forward.

“When I realized the wards I’d placed to protect you had fallen, I knew someone must have found you,” Quinn continued. “I came for you, but I was too late. When I saw your missive, I didn’t realize that Icouldrespond in kind after all my failed attempts to reach Soleara. So I traveled alone through the mirror to the Faewilds and made my way north as quickly as I could. I was able to buy some supplies and a horse in Imyr with the assets my parents left for me. But I didn’t dare try to mirror here, nor could I risk asking too many questions on my journey.I spent the whole time hoping that it had been our own people who had taken you and not the False King’s.” Her eyes filled with tears, her lower lip trembling. “I’m sorry I didn’t find a way to tell you. To keep you safe from him in the end. I’m so sorry, Eva.”

I was already shaking my head, pulling my chosen sister into a long hug, my tears matching the ones now streaming down her cheeks.

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