Page 1 of The Eternal Mirror
Prologue: Selene
A long time ago...
One heartbeat, and he’s gone.
And I am alone.
I sit bolt upright, a scream forming in my throat.
What have you done?
But I know.
He’s been there since the dawn of creation, woven through my blood, wrapped around my heart. And now...nothing.
And in that moment, I know. Vortex has severed the bond.
I throw back my head and scream. Never in my wildest nightmares did I thinkthis would happen.
My thoughts spiral. We’ve been connected since the beginning of time. Before this world even existed. The bond forged in the celestial fires of the Eternal Mirror.
And he’s cut it. Without telling me.
We argued. Of course we did. He wanted us to go back through the Eternal Mirror, to start over, to build a new world. He said this one was fraying, too old and rotten to save. He was out of his mind. Everything we built would be destroyed. All our children, gone, as though they never existed. I told him he was wrong.
I was reasonable.
But he was bored. Bored with the worlds we created. Bored with me.
And he asked me again.
I said no.
He said he’d wait.
Liar.
But in the deepest corners of my mind, I know why; his love for me has faded while mine holds strong. But the mate bond is supposed to last forever.
The air around me tightens. Magic crackles across my skin. My power surges upward—sharp, cold, untethered. I breathe once—just once. Trying to grasp control of my turbulent feelings.
I know what he plans and where he will be. Does he really think I’ll let him go?
I open a portal and step through it into the Void where the Mirror resides, always and forever. This is a place of stars and mist, beautiful, ethereal.
And before me, the Eternal Mirror hovers above the world like a wound that never heals. Maybe that’s the problem. Unseen by the rest of the worlds, for the two of us, it’s a constant presence—like a siren calling him back to rewrite everything, no matter what the cost. A whisper of how much better things could be in a new world.
With a different woman?
Silver rings spiral slowly, its center pulsing like a star being born. Light flickers differently here—bent, expectant. The ground hums beneath my feet, as if it remembers too much.
And there he is. Vortex stands at the threshold, his back to me.
My hands fist at my sides, but at the same time, my heart bleeds, the scars where he ripped us apart raw and seeping.
As if sensing my presence, he turns from his contemplation of the mirror. Even after all this time, I’m captivated by his beauty. But as his eyes meet mine, I see that he has shed me, like a dream he stopped believing in.
He doesn’t flinch when he sees me. Doesn’t look surprised.
