Page 99 of The Mirror in the Mountain

“Then we’ll stop him first. I’ll do anything to rid him from this world.”

My throat tightened. “Except give me up.”

Bash’s jaw flexed. “Except that.”

It was getting harder to breathe. Carefully, I counted my breath in, then out.

“We’ve been over this, Eva. I won’t lose you,” Bash said firmly. “I’m yours, and you’re mine.”

“Bash…”

“You promised me forever,” he growled. “And I intend to collect.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, trying not to let myself hope.

“And I’ll be right there with you, whatever happens in the end.” His voice faltered. “You don’t have to face him alone. Not again.”

“Then trust me, Bash. Trust me to do what needs to be done. Trust that you’ll be with me, even if you aren’t at my side. Trust that if I have any choice in the matter, I’ll come back to you.”

His lower lip trembled. “I do trust you. But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten?—”

“I know I scared you that night.” My voice wavered as I thought back to the blade of darkness I had come so close to turning upon myself. “But I made you a promise, one that I intent to do my best to keep.”

“Unless there’s no other way,” Bash countered.

“Trust me,” I repeated, more firmly this time. “That I’ll do everything I can to avoid that last resort. That I’ll find a way. That I can handle myself.”

“I know you can,” Bash said hoarsely. “It's me who can't handle it. I can't—Ican’tloseyou. It’s more than I can bear. But that's my problem, not yours. Not when you’ve more than proven how capable you are.”

“Then trust in us.” I leaned my forehead against his as we breathed together in that slow four-count he needed as much as I did. Our exhales melded together, visible in the chilled air, and I saw some of the tightness in his body melt away.

“I will. Ido,” he whispered, those last two words more heartfelt than a wedding vow.

He kissed me then, almost frantically, a strange sort of desperation spreading across our bond. Love and fear and longing all wrapped up in the press of his lips against mine—as if he was trying to fit everything he felt for me into it all at once. As my arms wound behind his head, I was struck by the need to stop time and forever relive this moment. To memorize every part of it should this kiss be our last.

His teeth dragged along my lower lip as we broke apart, his lips hovering there as if reluctant to pull away before his mouth barely brushed mine in a brief echo of before. Like he, too, was committing every nuance to memory before what was to come.

And it was that kiss that almost broke me.

There was a possessive sort of terror in his eyes, like he had finally given in to the fear he could lose me. I wished there was something,anythingI could say to assure him that he wouldn’t…

But I was done lying to him.

He looked at me, seeing entirely too much as usual. His throat bobbed in a telltale swallow that made my heart ache.

I should tell him how much I wanted that future, that happily ever after—for myself, yes, but also forus. But I couldn’t find it in me to offer him false hope, not with so little time left before this final reckoning. Not when he already knew my heart.

And there was a part of me that felt like I might somehow doom us if I let myself acknowledge that future. That, just maybe, if there was something left unsaid, then tomorrow would still come.

So all I did was twine my fingers through his, squeezing far too tightly until it was time to depart. Even then, the feeling of his hand holding mine felt branded on to my palm as surely as my scar.

Chapter 43

Estelle

Ileft Adrian by the enormous castle doors of Soleara, my own blood shining next to his and the two pinpricks of our children’s. It dripped ominously down the gleaming writing that would spell its entrance closed, casting away even the memory of our kingdom until our bloodline’s return—an ancient bit of magic only a ruler of Soleara could wield. As much as I hated using blood magic, it was the only way to ensure the safety of our people in the mountains high above, their existence hidden away as more and more territories fell to the False King’s insurmountable advance across this land.

I tried not to feel the ever-present guilt that I was abandoning my people along with this realm. But the war had escalated to the point that I knew remaining here would put our kingdom in even more danger as the False King searched for my daughter—for all of us. Just as I knew that fleeing was our only hope, trusting the sprite’s words that to stay would mean our doom.

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