Page 80 of The Book of Legends
“Understand what?” I whisper. “That I’m here by the gods?”
“No.” His voice hardens. “By blood.”
The mirror pulses.
The Hall of Mirrors is nothing like I imagined.
It’s not opulent. It’s quiet. Sacred. Rows of silver-glass archways stretch into shadow, their frames humming with an ancient pulse that makes the air feel alive. Like the mirrors are watching. Listening.
Newt said the mirrors show what’s needed—not what’s wanted.
I hesitate before the tallest one, a mirror cracked at the edges but still whole in the center. My reflection stares back at me, eyes shadowed, heart heavy.
Then the glass ripples.
And pulls me in.
The cold hits first. Then the light. I blink into a memory not mine.
Two boys—one dark-haired, fierce-eyed, laughing as they chase fireflies through a moonlit glade. Kainen and… Therion.
But not as they are now. Kainen is unscarred. No tattoos over his golden brown skin. They wear simple tunics, not armor, and there’s no crown between them yet. Only bond. By blood.
“I’ll always have your back,” Therion says, his hand clasping Kainen’s shoulder. “Even when you hate me for it.”
Kainen grins. “You couldn’t handle me hating you.”
Time lurches forward.
Now they're older—near the age they are now. Standing in a war chamber, voices sharp, eyes tired. Kainen’s armor is scorched. Therion’s is gleaming.
“You promised I’d rule and you would be by my side together,” Kainen snarls. “And now you wear the crown alone.”
Therion’s voice is ice. “Because you're not a true Valtori. You're my father's bastared son. He betrayed both of us.”
“I would have letyou rule with me once I married,” Kainen spits.
“You think I would sit back and let you,” Therion snarls.
The room burns away.
I stumble backward, gasping, as the mirror’s hold loosens. My knees hit the floor. They were brothers in more than blood. They were fire and ice, bonded and broken by love—and betrayal.
And she was between them.
Who was she?
Why do I feel like I already know?
The mirror doesn't answer.
But the fire in my chest flickers like it remembers.
Malachi roars outside.
“They’re coming,” Kainen says.
I take his hand. “We have to leave.”
