Page 64 of The Mirror in the Mountain

Eliav stilled, as if shocked, before quickly recovering. The first crack in that careful mask of his I had seen yet. “Your mother told me something similar once. Perhaps you haven’t been taken over by dark magic after all.”

I tried not to let the longing that overcame me show on my face, even as I knew I had failed by the way his eyes softened, just slightly.

“Happy to hear I’ve passed your test,” I said coolly, still not over the affront to myanima.

Spinning on my heel, I walked back to the table and sat next to Bash, leaning back into the arm he had draped over my chair.

Noam offered me a tiny porcelain cup he filled with coffee from a brass pot. He smiled as I gave him a nod of thanks before taking a sip. “If it makes you feel better, we hoped the son of ourImyrian friends hadn’t become what was claimed.” He turned to Bash. “Especially after you fought so bravely in the last war.”

Bash lifted his own cup in acknowledgement. “I understand that there’s much at stake here. But rest assured that we’re not the ones trying to trick you with false narratives.”

Noam nodded politely, though I doubted we had yet convinced him.

I turned to him. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is your magic?”

“Air and wind and open sky,” Noam replied with an easy smile, a swift breeze whipping around the table. “Though I’m sure you know all about that form of elemental magic,” he added, lifting his chin at Yael in acknowledgement.

Yael was chasing some hummus around on her plate with a piece of grilled carrot, her expression slightly pinched—as it had been since the moment we had arrived. The concern in Marin’s eyes had me wondering what exactly she was sending down their bond.

“How did an Esterran end up in the court of the Southern King, so far from home?” Eliav sat across from me, gesturing with a hummus-covered piece of flatbread. “I always meant to ask you during the war, though it never seemed the right time.”

Yael bristled almost imperceptibly. “I’ve considered myself Imyrian since I was adopted by one.” Her fingers twitched toward her opposite arm—towards the faded scars I knew lay there, the reminder of the monsters that were her Esterran parents. She stabbed another piece of carrot a little too violently. “Esterra is not my home.”

Noam’s eyebrows flew up in surprise, but Eliav merely smiled, if insincerely. “Strange how war can displace so many. I take it you have no family here then?”

Yael scowled slightly as she shook her head, picking up a goblet full of green-tinged wine and taking a large gulp.

“We’re her family,” Marin said a little too sharply, as Rivan let out a low sound of agreement. Bash nodded definitively, even as I saw him shoot them a warning look, as if gently chiding,We’re here to make allies.

I cleared my throat. “In any case…perhaps it’s time to discuss why we’re here.”

“Ah yes,” Eliav said, sitting back in his chair. “Another war.”

Bash mimicked his stance, his voice casual in a way that I knew was calculated. “We wouldn’t be here asking for your assistance if the fate of our realm didn’t hang in the balance.”

My blood heated at seeing this side of him—the king he was, even if he would always be just ‘freckles’ to me. From the ghost of a smirk that crossed his face, I knew he had felt my response.

Eliav sniffed. “And you’re certain the savior prince is indeed the same old enemy that started it all?”

“Very.” Bash’s tone was light, only the thin streak of shadow working its way protectively around my calf under the table betraying his displeasure.

“Then it seems even fate picks its favorites,” Eliav said darkly.

Bash said nothing, though his ire rumbled down our bond.

“I would need some assurances, of course,” Eliav continued. “Something more binding than just your word. A blood oath, perhaps, that what you say is indeed true.”

Rivan lurched forward slightly, a snarl curling his lip. Yael let out a scoff like she should have expected this. I might have thought the quirk of Bash’s lips was teasing if I didn’t know better; his annoyance acerbic down our bond.

“Is that all?” Bash’s voice was dry though I could see his eyes flash, swirling faster.

“Did you expect me to go to war for you on just your word?” Eliav’s tone was more clinical than cruel. “To put my people at risk when they’ve barely put themselves back together from thelast one? To believe the False King is truly behind all of this without assurances?”

Bash simply drew the dagger from his side, slicing it into his palm right below where he would receive a silvery message from me. I pressed my lips together, wanting to argue, to cry out at the very sight of his blood. But I trusted him to know how to respond.

Squeezing his hand into a fist, Bash let three drops spill onto the table in front of him before breaking the palpable silence. “The False King is back. Or, rather, he never left. He manipulated our world to his benefit, including stealing myanimafrom me after posing as the Crown Prince. I swear it on my magic and my life’s blood.”

He raised an eyebrow, as if daring anyone to disagree. I looked over at Eliav’s shocked face. He obviously hadn’t expected Bash to acquiesce to his demand, even if I didn’t understand the meaning of it. But the fact that Bash had seemed to have changed something significant, Eliav’s reserved calm gone in place of grim acceptance.

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