Page 18

18

Reyla

W hen his advisors came knocking on the door, Merrick groaned and quickly refastened his pants.

He strode over to the door and cracked it, listening, before shutting it and turning to face me. “It appears I do need to speak with my advisors, damn them.”

“I can come with you, make this go quickly.”

“They insist we discuss what crops should be planted in the castle fields next spring.”

“Such a stimulating topic.”

He chuckled. “Still want to join us?”

“I will if you want me there with you.”

“Your input is always insightful.” He flitted over to stand in front of me, stroking my hair off my face. “I always want you by my side, but why don’t you return to your room and rest. You still look tired.”

“It was the flow, not a life-threatening illness.”

“Lie down. Sleep a bit.” He gave me a stern look. “I insist.”

“What if I insist on staying with you?”

He sighed. “Do this for me? I’ll handle the crop issue that truly isn’t a crop issue.”

“You’re sure? Because this could be one of those burdens.”

“Save your strength for the big ones.”

“Alright.”

I left to return to my room.

Farris greeted me with his favorite ball, and I tossed it over and over until he dropped it by my feet and flopped on the floor beside it. His tongue lolled, and his tail beat a furious rhythm on the wooden boards.

I settled back on the sofa and hitched my heels up on the edge of the table in front of me. My ladies sat around me in chairs, Faelith crafting lace with magic. She intended to have it worked into her wedding gown. Moira was reading one of the romance novels I’d gotten from the library. And Calista sat primly, studying her nails, periodically huffing. Bored? Yeah, I got it.

I was about to suggest she go to the kitchen and ask the cooks to slow-cook a roast or make a loaf of bread from scratch, not returning until it was done, when someone knocked on the door.

“My queen?” Lord Briscalar called out.

“Yay.” I slid off the sofa and hopped over Farris, racing to the door and swinging it open. Nothing beat Lord Briscalar for a “delightful” distraction.

“I was asked to pass a message on to you from Valera Windhaven, the head librarian.”

“Come on in.” I pivoted and strode over to sit in the chair by the bank of windows, where I took my meals .

He settled across from me. “I cannot stay long, I’m afraid.”

“We’re no longer planning the coronation, the dinner, or the masked ball. Surely you have a few moments to sit and chat.”

“I’m always delighted to chat with you, my queen.” He dimpled a smile. “But today, I plan to start making the arrangements for the upcoming balls. I’m sure your ladies have shared the appointment I made with you to discuss them.”

Not yet, but I was sure they would. “We had a ball. That was enough.”

He chuckled as if he thought I was actually joking. “Now, now. Balls are an Evergorne tradition. When the prior king was alive, we held three or four each week.”

“Truly?”

“Absolutely, and may I say it was a delight to hear about the wondrous events from my father.”

“I’m sure it was.”

My gaze was snagged by someone hurrying across the back lawn, aiming for the wall and the dense woods beyond. Normally, I’d ignore it. It was someone out for a walk—run—and there was nothing too odd about that. But there was something about the way this person moved that caught me and wouldn’t let go.

The lord continued to chatter about this ball or that—some themed with colors, another where everyone would dress like animals. I pressed my nose against the glass, squinting into the late-day sunlight.

As they slipped through a door built into the side of the wall and raced beyond, they stopped before entering the woods, glancing toward the castle. The wind caught the hood of their cloak and flipped it backward, revealing their face.

Erisandra.

It couldn’t be. But, if it was… She was alone, without even one guard or lady in attendance .

What in the fates was she doing?

I stood up fast. “Time for you all to go.”

“What?” Calista barked, rising.

“You’re very right, my queen.” Lord Briscalar beamed as he got up. “Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I promise I’ll arrange for nearly all the details. When we meet in a few days, you’ll merely need to approve my meal choices and the theme for each ball. Seven over the next two weeks, as I suggested, will be perfect.”

“Seven?” I groaned, my eyes wide. “That’s a lot of dancing.”

He tapped my arm. “You do it well. I watched, and it was a delight to see you spinning around the dance floor in the arms of our beloved king.”

“Yes, it was…interesting.” I stared out the window, though Erisandra was gone. Had she entered the woods or returned to the castle? “What was Valera’s message? You didn’t say.” I bustled him toward the door, snagging Moira’s and Faelith’s arms as I passed and tilting my head toward the hall when Calista’s gaze met mine.

She scowled but lately, there was nothing new about that.

“Oh, yes, of course. I nearly forgot,” he said, coming to a stop. “She asked for you to come to the library. The head librarian of Halendor Court paid her a visit and left something for you.”

“Why me?”

“Why not you?” He drew himself up stiffly. “You’re the queen.”

“Yes, but.” I shook my head. “Is it a book?”

“I don’t know what it is, and, might I say, it’s probably not my place to know. I assume it’s a gift to commemorate your coronation.”

“Is it common for librarians to bestow gifts on a rival court’s queen?”

“I don’t believe any have done so before, but it could be the start of a lovely new tradition, don’t you think? ’

“I’ll visit Valera soon, then.”

“Very well, my queen. I’ll let her know.”

I needed to find out if Erisandra had crept into the woods, and I couldn’t do that while all my staff was hovering around. Taking Lord Briscalar’s hand, I rushed him out into the hall, shooing my ladies along with him. “So nice to visit with you all but I fear…”

Blinking fast, Moira leaned toward me. “Fear?”

“That I need to take a nap. Before I have to work with Lord Lorant. Or visit with the king who said he’d stop by after he was done with his advisors. I also plan to have dinner, which I’ll do here. Bring a tray and leave it in the hall.”

“We cannot do something like that,” Calista huffed. “We will bring the tray into the room. I insist.”

She could insist all she wanted, but I made my own rules. But I wanted her gone, so I gave her a simpering smile.

“Knock when you have it.” I closed the door in her face and raced into my room and dressed quickly in leathers.

One flit, and I stood at the edge of the woods beyond the wall, where I’d seen Erisandra enter. With a blade in my hand, I slunk among the trees, studying the ground for tracks.

When I found them, I followed as they wove through the woods.

The forest was darker here, the trees old and gnarled, their branches clawing at one another as if in battle. My heart skipped one beat. Another. It galloped across my ribs at a furious enough pace it made my breathing go ragged.

I crept around the craggy trees, following Erisandra’s tracks. An uneasy silence closed in around me. No birdsong, no sweep of the wind. Only an oppressive hum that slammed against the back of my skull in the same way static charges the air before the crash of a storm.

She’d traveled far .

I kept my gaze on her fresh trail.

Erisandra's tracks ended at an overgrown clearing with a few even older-appearing trees scattered across it, their spindly branches clawing at the gray sky overhead. I halted at the edge of the meadow, studying the ground around me but not finding any hint of her passage.

My growl ripped up my throat, but I bit it back.

Sweltering air gusted across the clearing, smacking into my face and making my hair stand on end. I held my breath, peering around, seeing nothing but…

Something sparkled ahead, and I frowned, squinting, cocking my head when I found what looked like a tall, cracked mirror, its surface shimmering in the low light, leaning against one of the old, contorted trees.

It was not there a moment ago.

Chills plucked across my skin, needling deep.

Runes scratched along the fractured edges of the frame pulsed a sickly indigo light. I hadn’t studied runes, though these appeared as old as the trees. Shadows writhed on the ground in front of the mirror, drawn toward the glass like bugs to a flame that would only burn them alive.

Tightening my grip on my dagger, I moved to the right, remaining within the sparse woods while slinking closer to the mirror from the side. It seemed to pull everything around it inward. Insects jolted and zapped when they hit the surface. Shadows from the trees whipped back and forth in the harsh, heated wind, also as drawn to the mirror’s lure as me. Even the sweltering air itself seemed to coast in that direction.

Leaving the woods, I picked my way through the deep, cloying grass, finally stepping in front of the mirror, though I remained far enough back to slash out if it attacked.

And why did I think it would do something like that ?

A fissure gouged across the surface in a thick scar, but it appeared otherwise unmarred.

My own hazy reflection swam into view on the surface, and despite the hot air billowing around me, cold scraped its claws down my spine. It was me…except for the eyes. They glowed with an unsettling indigo light that matched the pulsation of the runes.

When a feral grin rose on the face, I gasped in a breath.

I was not grinning.

But this was my reflection. Dressed in identical leathers. Gripping the same dagger in her right hand while her other dagger remained secure in its sheath. I lifted my left arm. So did my reflection. Hitched up one leg.

Same.

It moved in perfect symmetry to me, jerking a step forward when I did, shaking its head just so.

As if mocking me.

“Stop it,” I hissed.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. The words skated across the meadow, smacking back at me.

My throat twitched. I took a step backward, my boot crushing dead leaves and sending a jagged, grating sound across the open area.

The thing in the mirror stepped forward along with me.

But while my hands remained at my sides, the other me shoved her hands against the inside of the glass as if testing its limits.

The air stretched taut. I could not take a deep breath.

The sharp electric hum grew louder, stabbing at my eardrums as shadows on the ground around me shifted, jettisoning back and forth, drowning in a turbulent, grassy sea.

The runes flared brighter.

Magic always had a rhythm, a predictable build to its crescendo, but this was erratic, a desperate, coiled energy on the verge of snapping.

Then it did.

With a sound like splintering ice, jagged shards tore away from the mirror’s edges and slashed toward me. I dove, rolling to the side, and the breath of their flight sliced the air close enough above to pinch my skin. The shards burrowed into the side of an enormous ancient tree on the edge of the meadow. Leaping to a crouch, I whirled back toward the mirror and froze.

My reflection remained, but now its hands were shoving through the glass. Its forearms emerged. The rest of its body strained to follow. It wrenched and slithered through the surface and slammed to the ground, rising slowly, creeping upward until it stood as straight as me.

Looking exactly like me.

While I remained motionless, it tilted its head. Its smile stretched wider, even more grotesque now, its glowing indigo eyes narrowing on me.

We circled each other, my boots jerking through the dry, brittle grass. It matched me, step for step, its movements lurching. Unnatural. My guts boiled as fear plunged through me.

The other me lunged.

I parried her swipe with my dagger, the clash of our weapons blazing through the woods. The impact jarred my arm, like I was striking myself. But that couldn’t be. I shook off the horrifying feeling.

When it lashed out again, this time with a fluid spin of its blade, I deflected the blow and gouged my other blade across the attacker's forearm.

Pain seared through me and a quick glance showed blood blooming not only on her arm but my own.

“Fuck,” I hissed .

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I stumbled back, terror bolting up my throat.

Every injury I inflict on her would happen to me . How could I defeat a foe like that?

Before I could think through a strategy, she leaped at me again. I ducked under her blow, spinning left as the glowing runes on the shattered mirror pulsed and throbbed. Sparks of light flared around the clearing, the shards embedded in the tree quivering, trying to wrench themselves free.

As my utterly silent double circled me with a feral smile, I drew in power and sent it to my fingertips.

The creature tilted her head, watching me, and her malicious smile widened.

I shot lightning at the mirror, but it deflected, arcing up, spinning to roar back at me. I flung myself to the side as my own power blasted over me, striking a tree on the edge of the clearing and setting it aflame. I sprang to my feet and raced toward the woods with my double too close behind.

Calling in power again, I lured shadows near, wrapping them around me to mask my movement.

My mirror image did the exact same thing, and now I couldn't see her . She would kill me. I knew this in my bones. Then this spell would slink back to the mirror and await its next victim.

Unless she meandered back to the castle and took my place.

The thought of that shocked through me, making my insides quake. I shored up my strength and tightened my grip on my blades, determined to keep that from happening.

I dropped my shadows—and so did she.

Direct assaults were hurting me as much as her, so I had to defeat her in a different way. I shifted my attention to the mirror again. As I dodged another swipe of my double’s dagger and flipped out of reach, I took in the tall, fractured glass twitching against the gnarled tree. The runes along its edges pulsed like dying embers. The jagged crack in the surface flickered.

My double closed in with a predator's patience, her movements uncanny because they reminded me so much of myself. As I deflected, shifting around to avoid contact, she stalked me. Watched my every move. She’d strike soon, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive her blow.

I studied the shifting shadows drawn to the mirror’s glow. At first, they'd seemed like nothing more than random distortions, but now I could see patterns, movements, and a hint of intent. They weren’t aimless; they were drawn toward the mirror, tethered to it, perhaps, swirling and writhing as though waiting.

Or fueling it.

A memory bubbled to the surface of my mind. Magic always has balance, my brother once said. If it takes, it must also give.

The mirror could be taking to give to her .

My double flitted to me and struck out with her blade. I flitted myself, narrowly missing having my head severed from my body.

With a bellow, I flung a dagger at the cracked surface of the mirror.

The blade spun through the air, its edge glinting once before slamming into the tear in the glass. A true hit, thank the fates.

Time seemed to stutter. The glow surrounding the runes dimmed, the crack on the surface deepening, and for a moment, the air went utterly still.

My double froze. For the first time, her glowing eyes widened. The flicker of alarm I saw there made heat surge through me.

The stillness shattered as the mirror warped, rippling like water broken by a stone's throw. My dagger vanished into its surface, swallowed whole, before the mirror spat it back out. A bolt of searing, brilliant light streaked toward me. I flung myself sideways, the blast of my own blade grazing my shoulder. Heat scorched through leather. And my skin. Agony shot white-hot spikes up my neck. Teeth clenched, I staggered but stayed upright.

The crack widened, a tortured smile dissecting the surface. The runes throbbed, flickering like candles in a stiff wind.

I swung around to face my double. Her expression had changed. No more jagged smile. No more feral gaze. She leaped toward me, her blade lashing out in a ferocious arc.

Gritting my teeth, I summoned a bolt of lightning to my fingertip, the current coursing through me with a rhythm I controlled. I aimed for the fracture in the mirror again and blazed the lightning at it.

It rippled through the air and struck the fissure dead center.

The ground shook. Shadows leaped and coiled across the front of the mirror, as if trying to shield it from further harm. The runes flared, burning bright enough to sting my eyes, but my lightning bolt hammered into the fracture. At my command, it drove deeper. Splinters shuttered loose from the surface, gouging into the meadow in front of the mirror like shards of ice.

The other Reyla roared and launched herself at me. I ducked under her swipe.

And shot more lightning at the mirror, hitting it hard again.

With an unearthly groan, the fissure widened, jerking outward before snapping back in as if even that part of the mirror was alive. Light bled from the runes, and after one last flicker, they went dark.

The mirror shattered, jagged shards of it shooting across the clearing. I fell to the ground and lay flat, covering my head while the shockwave slammed over me, a force stronger than any gale. Tortured wails filled the air, distorted, otherworldly, a twist of a melody that abruptly cut out.

A quick look up told me the mirror image of me was gone. As was the mirror. Only the hint of foul smoke remained behind .

Pain flared across my shoulder and forearm, but I remained buried in the grass, giving my heart a chance to settle.

Finally, when bird song lilted through the woods, I rolled and sat up, studying the area but finding nothing of concern—for now.

Rising, I snatched up my other dagger where it lay half-buried in the churned grass, and sheathed it, the motion automatic, even as my body wavered.

A gust of cool wind pried at my hair, carrying the sharp, acrid scent of charred wood. The tree that had caught fire earlier still smoldered, its branches black claws stretching toward the sky, its bark curling away in thin plumes of smoke.

At least the fire had gone out. I couldn’t leave the forest to burn.

On deadened feet, I staggered around the perimeter of the clearing, but I found no trace of Erisandra. I couldn’t even find the tracks I’d followed to this meadow, though I suspected why.

I’d been lured. Almost trapped.

After a last look around, I flitted back to my suite and staggered over to the bank of windows.

It didn’t take long.

I watched as Erisandra slunk out of the woods and hurried along the path, entering the castle through a door directly below.

If I wasn’t so shaken, I’d find her. Confront her. It wasn’t a stretch to think she’d magicked the mirror for me in the woods.

Farris came over and sat beside me, looking up with his head tilting this way and that. I slunk past him and into the bathing area where I filled the tub and sank down into the welcome warmth.

I remained there until the water grew cold before climbing out and drying myself, dressing in a fresh tunic and pants.

Back in the sitting area, I loaded wood onto the fire until it roared. I sat, curling up on the sofa with Farris snoozing beside me, his head resting on my thigh .

Merrick didn’t come to my suite. My ladies brought my meal tray and insisted they sit with me while I ate it. After, I kicked them out and puttered around the room with Farris watching me from the cushions. His gaze kept slanting toward the windows.

I did not get up to look.