Page 72 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“Weneed to,” I affirmed, reaching out my hand. Her hand slid reflexively into mine. “But…you had news?”

Estelle’s bright eyes met mine just as the clouds broke. One raindrop, then another fell around us, mingling with the tears on her cheeks. She looked up, staring into the storm as the world wept with her, unmoving even as lightning streaked across the sky.

A glimmer of joy flashed across our bond before her grief swallowed it. “I’m pregnant.”

Chapter 32

Eva

Ibarely had the energy to bathe the battle from my skin before collapsing into bed, unable to muster the strength to even find a nightgown. My magic was almost entirely spent, the little that remained curling up inside me like a cat. We had stumbled through the mirror back to my Solearan childhood home, though Bash had immediately mirrored down to the bronze castle below, checking in on his people now setting up camp inside it despite the late hour. From the message that appeared on my palm, a steady surge of them was still passing through its towering, rose-adorned mirror, readying to leave come morning.

Rivan had assured me before he left that there was still no word of movement from Morehaven. That Aviel was still gathering his forces, just as we were—even as the thought of him beating us to that ancient mountain made my blood run cold. We were still closer, despite today’s delay, though his words did little to abate the anxiety thrumming in my veins.

But despite the voice inside me that whispered there was no time to waste, my display of power had weakened me far more than I realized. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

I awoke to Bash’s hands roving my naked body, his lips working their way up between my breasts, his teeth nipping at my neck to wake me. One hand palmed my ass, the evidence of his arousal pressing into my thigh as he yanked the bedding completely off me. I arched into him with a sigh.

My voice was still clogged with sleep as I asked, “Is it time to wake up already?”

I arduously forced my eyes open. It was still dark. Too dark to be morning, the room lit only by the hazy light of the full moon. My brain felt sluggish, my body heavy and sore in the aftermath of battle.

Bash didn’t answer beyond a low growl—instead kissing me firmly, his tongue plunging inside my mouth with forceful purpose. I wrapped my arms around his waist, trailing my nails down his naked back. One hand found my nipple, pinching it so hard it made me gasp. His knee slid between my legs, pushing them apart as he positioned himself between them. Then his weight pressed me into the bed as his hand tightened almost painfully on my hip.

Something made me pause. Something in his touch that had me jerking my head back against the pillow to break our kiss. Something muted across our bond that felt faintly like terror.

“Bash?”

His husky laughter floated through our bedroom. An involuntary shiver skittered up my spine, goosebumps rising on my flesh.

There was somethingwrong.

Suddenly, I was fully awake, fully alert, detecting a threat I couldn’t make sense of yet. Tensing even as I reached for him, my hands splaying across his cheeks to make him look me in the eyes. “Are you?—”

Bash gripped my wrists so suddenly I cried out, forcing them above my head with one hand. The other found my throatpossessively, his thumb pressing into a pulse point on my neck where a band had lived, not long ago. Where another’s hand had wrapped around it.

And Iknew.

My voice cracked as I whispered, “Aviel.”

Terror froze the blood in my veins. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think straight as I stared into the glacial depths of those pale blue eyes, startlingly still in place of Bash’s ever-moving gaze. Like that magic, too, had been silenced.

His head tilted questioningly, a slow, sinister smile spreading across his face as he asked, “How did you know, darling?”

I flinched at the smug malice in Bash’s voice, the tone one I had never once heard from him, each syllable warped with that aristocratic intonation. And at the pet nameI couldn’t help but cringe away from despite myself.

The upward curve of his lips told me he had seen it.

A memory flared—a pale-eyed coyote staring at me from the tree line. Butthis.How was this even possible?

“Your beloved left plenty of blood behind the last time I saw him,” Aviel said, laughing quietly at my shock as Bash’s face twisted cruelly. “A simple sort of blood tie, albeit fleeting. But enough to remind you to whom you belong.”

No.

I struggled, bucking against him—but he had me pinned, myanima’s facesmiling at my panic. Stolen shadows blocked the door, and I knew my screams would go unanswered even if I could be heard over the muffled din of the preparations below. My darkness sputtered at my fingertips, a few weak tendrils trying desperately to come to my aid, before disappearing entirely.

“Push him out,” I pleaded over the sound of my own thundering heart. Remembering Rivan’s words and how I hadfought Aviel in my dreams. “It’s your mind, your body. Don’t let him win.”

I saw the storm. The slight, familiar swirl of his eyes that told me he was still in there, still fighting. The loosening of the hand at my throat raised my hopes as I redoubled my efforts to get free?—

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