Page 4 of The Eternal Mirror
My lungs tighten. I used to long to find my family, for somewhere to belong, for someone to love me. Now I have people I love,and they feel like iron chains dragging me down. My knees almost buckle. I lock them straight.
But I’m scared I won’t survive losing anyone else, and right now, it seems inevitable.
Khaosti’s last words echo in my mind.“Just stay alive. Whatever you have to do, stay alive, and I will come for you.”
I can still feel his breath on my skin. His fingers brushing mine before I turned away. A sob claws up my throat. I crush it down.
I’ll stay alive. But I’m not relying on anyone else, including Khaos, to rescue me. I’ll do it myself.
Taking a deep breath, I look around me. I might have been impetuous, but I’m not stupid. Khronus will be expecting me in the Chamber of Mirrors. I’m pretty sure he isn’t aware that I’m a mirror mage; that information is only known by a few people. So he will presume I have to use one of the existing mirrors, all of which go through the Chamber.
But I don’t. So I created a mirror that has—hopefully—deposited me somewhere outside the city of Aurion, the capital of Astrali, where Khronus has his palace and where he will no doubt be holding Zayne and Josh, my foster brothers. Zayne’s nineteen like me, Josh is only eight. I can’t let them die. So here I am.
Did I mention I was pissed? Total understatement.
I have to calm down before I face Khronus. Getting out of this alive—with all of us in one piece—is going to be a challenge. I need to think straight. Right now, my thoughts are pretty much one-track: rip fucking Khronus’s head off and feed it to a dragon.While I would still very much like that to happen at some point, I think it’s going to take some planning.
I breathe slowly and force down the rage that’s burning in my mind. It will never go away; it’s part of me. But at least I can think clearly again.
I’m weak right now, still not fully recovered from that final spell in Hell. It drained me of my power. And I used up most of what was left when I created the mirror to bring me here. So, right now, I have virtually nothing. Which means I’m going to have to rely on my wits to keep us all alive until my magic is back.
God help us all.
Khronus is a beastmaster. He can force shifters to change into their animal form, and then he can control them. He almost did it to me once, and that was quite enough—never again.
Anyway, things have changed since my first meeting with Khronus. I’ve changed. I’ve come into my powers, including the powers that the goddess, Selene, bestowed on me to help me fulfil my destiny. I’m far more powerful than he could ever suspect. I’m betting he doesn’t know I can make a spell that will make me impervious to his beastmaster powers.
But do I have enough magic left to make it work?
“My beast is mine, you hold no chain,
your voice will call, but call in vain.”
It takes the last of my reserves, but I feel the spell settle over me like a cloak. It also means that I can’t shift into my alicorn, but I’ll have to live with that.
I glance down at myself. I’m dressed in the remnants of my armor; black pants, a black shirt, and black boots. I’ve lost Nightfall, my beautiful sword. She was left in Hell when we escaped in somewhat of a hurry. The place was disintegrating around us.
Time to go find my boyfriend’s dad and rescue Zayne and Josh. It’s becoming clear to me that love’s a bitch. It makes you weak. Just look at me: I pushed Zayne and Josh away for years, chasing a “real” family. Big mistake. And now, just when I finally admit they are family, that I love them, then wham—they’re used against me.
As for Khaos, just thinking his name makes the mate bond between us pulse. It’s like I’m no longer “me”. I’m “us.”
Yeah, love is a total bitch.
I look around; I’m at the edge of the shanty town that’s grown up outside the walls of the city. It’s populated by people displaced by the civil war raging on Astrali. Khronus likes to pretend Astrali is a paradise. It’s not.
It’s twilight, and the stars are just starting to come out in the purple-tinged sky. It’s beautiful, and a sense of purpose fills me. I can do this. I have to.
I start walking, heading around the city walls to where I know the main gate is situated. The shanty town seems empty of people, and I pass areas where the buildings have been burned, razed to the ground. Khronus’s doing, I guess. He probably didn’t like them messing up his pristine city.
The wall is about fifty feet high, towering over my head, built of gleaming white stone. I finally see the gates up ahead. There are no guards, and through them, I can see people on the widethoroughfares. I turn to look toward where I know the Chamber of Mirrors is situated. I can see the building clearly from here.
It’s about five hundred feet from where I stand—a stone building, made up of a series of rooms open to the sky. A well-tended path leads from the Chamber to the gateway. The land between is a mix of lawns and gardens with flowers that glow in the dim light.
As I turn back to the gate, I freeze in place as a movement catches my eye.
Soldiers.
And they are heading this way.
