Page 15

“I was talking about my life,” I snapped. “But thank you for reminding me of my intention to fuck myself.”

“To the image of your brother’s murderer?” the mirror asked.

“Yes,” I hissed.

I would have thanked her for it had I not wished to tangle her in my web.

Eero might be my brother, but blood meant nothing unless it was spilled in the Enchanted Forest, and at that point, it was currency.

Good fucking riddance, I thought, though it was not as if he would not be born again as all fae were. He’d likely crawl from the bell of a foxglove, as poisonous as ever.

Thinking of my brother darkened my mood.

“Show me the woman,” I commanded, wishing to rekindle the desire that had inflamed my veins.

The mirror brightened, and now I looked on the vicious creature who had disturbed my night. She lay on her back, her arms splayed. She looked pale, even with the warmth of the fire igniting her limbs, though it did make her blond hair look ablaze.

I clenched my jaw, frustrated at how easily she slumbered, not at all caught in the throes of arousal like me.

Cruel creature.

It made me doubt she could love me at all, doubt that she could end this curse bestowed on me by the Glass Mountains.

“I need her to love me,” I said.

“Love is learned,” said the mirror. “Has it ever occurred to you that is the lesson the Glass Mountains hoped to teach you when they cursed you?”

I knew what the mountains were doing, but it was no lesson.

It was vengeance.

The Glass Mountains were a source of life within the Enchanted Forest, and they called the beings that sprang from their depths theiroffspring. What was born of them was immortal and moral.

I was immortal and immoral, born from the earth, and after I mixed my blood with one of their own, the Mountains cursed me to forget my true name unless it was spoken by myone true love.

That was nine years and three weeks ago.

I had one more week until I forgot my true name forever—until everyone forgot.

And if my name was forgotten,Iwas forgotten.

A name precedes you, and without one, you are nothing.

It was the truth of our world.

“A fool’s errand,” I said even as I stood before the mirror, aching and yearning for this creature in a way I had never before.

“For a foolish prince,” said the mirror.

I might have reacted to his comment had the creature not rolled to her side. I was given a view of the dark bruises blooming across her back, reminding me that she had come to me injured.

My brothers were despicable creatures, but they would not have harmed her…physically at least.

My head became hot with rage.

“Show me who hurt her,” I said, and the mirror rippled. My creature vanished and a man came into view. He was in bed, hovering over a woman, thrusting into her. She writhed beneath him, moaning in false pleasure.

I wondered why he had hurt my creature and if he had thought long it.