Page 72 of The Eternal Mirror
Sometimes not so much.
“Back to that plan,” Khaos says. “If we can’t kill him, what are we doing?”
“Well, I was hoping to free the witches and Winter’s brother, get them out of here, destroy all the mirrors, and get away ourselves. Go to Valandria or Earth—anywhere but Astrali. Khronus would be stuck here. I thought it was poetic justice. Except...”
“Except?”
“Except...” I sigh. “That was before I met the rebels and the Wolfpack and even some of the people in the palace. They don’t deserve Khronus.”
“I thought you were done with saving people.”
“So did I. But there’s more than that. Khronus has that creepy mirror and he’s siphoning off mirror magic from the witches. So maybe destroying the mirrors will do no good. Maybe he’ll just make more. And then he’ll come after us, wherever we are.” I think for a moment, trying to make sense of all the threads. “Then there’s his plan to find the Eternal Mirror.”
“The mirror that started it all.” I can hear the frown in his voice. “Is it even real?”
“I don’t know.” But in my mind, I see that vision, the silver rings spinning in the void. “But I think it might be. And while I have no clue what it can do, I’m guessing—at least in Khronus’s hands—nothing good. He told me it will give him the power to destroy whole worlds. And he thinks that’s okay because he canjust make a new one full of people who will worship him. What if he’s right?”
I wait for some sort of answer, but he’s quiet. So I offer him an alternative. “Maybe we should just go to Hawaii and lie on the beach, make mad passionate love, and drink piña coladas and forget your father.”
“I’ll take that option.”
“That’s what I was planning as we flew away from Hell. You, me, and a beach.”
“One day,” he murmurs.
I look around at my horrible cell. “Yeah, but not this one.”
He’s silent again, and I give him time to think. “This time it’s different,” he says. “We had no choice but to go to Hell and destroy Lucifer. He was coming after you, and he would never have stopped. It was always going to happen. But this...? This is not your mess. Maybe you should go. Go back to Zayne and Josh and get away from here. Back to Earth. Have a life. I’ll deal with my father.”
I grit my teeth so hard my jaw aches.
I can’t believe he fucking said that.
“What, you think I should go back and find another man to lie on the beach with? To make love with?”Asshole.“You know, I think I might just do that.”
A low growl rumbles through the door. “If you do, I’ll find you, and I’ll rip him to pieces, and then I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk.”
“Then do I get a piña colada?”
“It’s tearing me apart.” His voice is a raw growl, full of pain and frustration. I know how he feels. “I want you safe, but the thought of you anywhere but right beside me rips me to shreds. And the thought of you with another man...”
Okay, I forgive him. I sigh. “So now we wait.” Khronus is punishing me, but hopefully he’ll get bored and come and get me, spill all his secrets, and we’ll—
“We just wait? That’s it? The plan?”
“There is one thing you can do,” I say. “Actually, two things. Can you get a message to Warden Corvus Vahl? Don’t talk to him, don’t let him know you’re here. Just write him a note saying:Tell the Wolfpack that Khaosti is alive and I have proof.”
“I can do that. And the second thing?”
“Get me some goddamn food. I’m hungry.”
Chapter 24
Mirror, Mirror, Get Me the Hell Out of Here
Three fucking days. I am so ready to be out of here.
I might even consider torture a viable alternative.
