Page 133 of The Eternal Mirror
I loved her before the bond.
And I think Selene is suggesting that Amber loved me.
For a moment, a wild sense of elation fills me.
And then it’s gone.
Because it’s too late. It doesn’t matter. She has closed off her mind to me. She believes love makes her weak when in fact, it’s everything that makes us strong.
But maybe it will give her a sense of peace that she has given me the chance to survive.
“Sever the bond,” I say.
She nods slowly. “I’m sorry it came to this. But since you both ask, then it will be done.”
A strange calm settles over me. I thought it would break me. But all I feel is...emptiness.
I hope that’s what freedom feels like.
Chapter 51
When I Get What I Want
I’m truly alone now.
Just me and the ghosts. I still sometimes hear the echo of my mother’s laughter. She was happy here.
I lie on my bed and wait for sleep to come. And nope—not happening.
Are Zayne and Josh and the others okay? Has Thanouq made them welcome? What’s happening on Valandria? Has Thanouq been crowned? I will probably never know.
Thanouq once asked me to be his queen. That’s two chances of being a queen I’ve turned down now.
I doubt I’ll get another.
Thanouq deserves a great queen. And I’m sure he’llfind one.
Go to sleep!
I’m doing my best to avoid thinking about Khaosti because it hurts too much. But he keeps creeping in when I’m not paying attention. I see his face as he calls me a coward. That hurt. Maybe because he’s right. He looked at me as though I was betraying him. But I’m not betraying him. I’m saving him.
And our feelings were never real anyway; we were just formed by someone else. They probably took one look at me lying in my cradle and then said—that girl deserves an asshole. And so, they hunted for the biggest one they could find. And hey presto, I’m tied to Khaosti for eternity.
Or not.
Selene, where are you?
But the visions of Selene usually come in my sleep—or occasionally when I’m just about to die—and sleep is eluding me.
I slide out of bed, grabbing the sheet as I go. Barefoot, I leave the room, pad down the stairs, along the hallway, and push open the big front door. Wrapping the sheet around my shoulders like a superhero cape, I stand at the top of the wide stone steps and stare up at the night sky. There were no stars in Hell; they left them behind here. The sky above me is a writhing mass of constellations, except for a patch of darkness at the center, darkness surrounding spinning rings of silver.
The mirror is not supposed to be of this world. It’s supposed to be outside all worlds. I read that, in a book I pinched from a library in Zandar Aurion. But it’s coming for us all. Or more likely, it’s coming for its missing part. Khronus, by using the magic of the splinter has sent out a message, and it’s searching for the source.
But I know it’s not all Khronus. He used the splinter for thousands of years and the Mirror stayed away. It was only when I showed up that the Eternal Mirror stirred. Khronus called me a catalyst, and I think he’s right. When I stared into the splinter, the Mirror saw me, maybe recognized something in the unique mix of my magic, and it came.
I drop my gaze, as though it won’t see me if I don’t look up. Instead, I stare at the spot where Wrath disappeared.
Where are you, Khaosti?
