Page 147 of The Eternal Mirror
I don’t answer, as I haven’t the time to come up with anything, and I don’t think he’ll like the truth. He raises a brow, so I give a nonchalant shrug. “I hadn’t decided.”
His eyes narrow as he studies me. “You were committing suicide. You and the asshole.”
I wince. I wouldn’t have put it quite like that. “Of course we weren’t.”
I can almost see the cogs spinning in his mind. “You couldn’t destroy the world—I knew you wouldn’t be able to, by the way—and you thought that if you were dead, then there was a chance Khronus would lose interest and not come after us,” Zayne says.
He’s such a bright boy under all that attitude. “What a load of crap.”
He steps closer and pokes me in the chest with his finger. I would chop it off if I had the energy. “I can’t believe you would be such a coward as to kill yourself. To give up. What were you thinking?”
I open my mouth to...lie. Then I close it again. We’ve been through so much; he deserves the truth. “I was thinking that I couldn’t beat him. That I couldn’t face watching him destroy everyone I love. And that I’m tired. I’m just nineteen, and I’m so tired of all the pain and the killing and the...” I trail off, wrap myarms around myself, and try to hold myself together. Because it doesn’t look like anything has changed.
He looks horrified at my answer. “I’m sorry, Amber,” he says.
“Yeah. Me too.” Something occurs to me, and I turn to Selene. “What happens when we die?” I mean, it might not be so bad after all.
She frowns. “Is that a trick question?”
I roll my eyes. “I mean, is there a heaven, or do we just die dead, or get reincarnated or...” I run out of options and just look at her questioningly.
“How would I know?” she says. “I’ve never died.”
Luckily, Khaos comes back at that point, or I might have shifted and stabbed her with through the heart.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“He’s just loitering by the Mirror.”
“He waits for you,” Selene says. “He knows you will come.”
“He does?” Am I so predictable?
“The mirror is drawn to you. Khronus knows it will never be his to control until he controls you or he kills you. You need to stop him, Amber. And you can. I can see now--this has always been your destiny.”
Fucking destiny.
“Redemption comes on wings of darkness,” Thanouq says quietly. I glance at him, remembering when he first spoke those words. When his people first saw Frenzy and went down on their knees. Apparently there’s a prophecy.
I’d thought it was all about me killing Lucifer. But it turns out Lucifer was never the real problem. Just a symptom.
But the prophecy thing had totally freaked me out. Now, I really try to see it as a positive thing. Redemption is good, right?
“But how do I do it? I’ve tried so hard, and nothing works.”
“I do not know,” Selene replies. “But I hope.”
Shehopes? I need more than that.
“You have to dig deep inside yourself,” she says. “And you will find what you need.”
She sounds so much like Hecate. My aunt used to say something similar. Over and over again. It got really boring. But with that thought, a memory flashes through my mind.
Oh, shit no.
Chapter 57
Better Dark than Dead?
