Page 23 of The Eternal Mirror (Lucifer’s Mirror #3)

What Took You So Long?

T he second I step through the mirror, I come to a complete halt.

I feel it.

Or rather, I feel him—like someone just yanked a thread in the center of my chest. Sharp. Sudden. Alive.

Khaosti is close by.

I know it.

I don't say anything. Not to Zayne. Not to Josh. But I feel it in my bones, like a vibration only I can hear. The bond is awake, and it's burning. So I do what I always do when my emotions try to hijack me: I shut them down.

Taking a deep breath, I peer around.

Up ahead, maybe a mile away, I can see the lights from the rebel camp.

It sprawls across the valley like a beast crouched for battle.

Tents. Barricades. Lots of fires sprinkled around the place, smoke drifting in the air.

And people. So many people. I think there must be thousands.

The rebellion is far bigger than I expected.

It's not just a few people moaning about wanting to make a change. It’s an army.

And somewhere inside this storm of activity is Khaosti.

And my heart won’t settle.

“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go see if they’re friendly.”

It’s about a fifteen-minute walk to the camp. As I get closer, I spot the sentries, and I raise my hands. Beside me Zayne and Josh do the same. Nobody shoots us, but they do raise their weapons and by the time we’re inside the camp, we’re surrounded.

I’m scanning the group, looking for whoever is in charge, when something slams into my legs. I look down and grin.

It’s Grimlet.

I stagger back as the gargoyle wraps himself around my knees, like a gremlin with separation anxiety.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I ask.

“Grimlet missed his pretty witch,” he sings, his voice muffled against my leg. “Grimlet was bored, and Killian tried to make me do gargoyle magic.”

“Killian’s here?” That’s good news. So Khaosti did follow my advice after all. Wonders never cease.

“Yes, Killian is here,” he says. “He is locked up and guarded. But they didn’t shut Grimlet in. Maybe they think Grimlet is not dangerous. ”

“Well, they’d be wrong, wouldn’t they? They haven’t been on the receiving end of some of your fabulously aimed lumps of rock.”

I glance up to find Zayne and Josh looking at the two of us as though we’re crazy. Not to mention our reception committee.

“What is that thing?” Zayne asks.

Grimlet stiffens, and a little growl rumbles in his chest. He turns to Zayne, and I see his little fingers reaching out, clearly looking for a projectile to send my brother’s way.

I cough. “These are my brothers,” I say to Grimlet. “This is Zayne and Josh. And this,” I say to the two who are still staring in disbelief, “is Grimlet.”

I realize how much I’d left out of the story of my visit to Hell, with Grimlet being one of those things—perhaps the only good thing to come out of that visit.

The rest was all death, destruction, and pretty much misery.

I extend my hand, and Grimlet scrambles onto my shoulder and clutches my hair. He’s a comfort.

“I met Grimlet in Hell,” I say. “He was a friend of my mother’s. In fact, he was my mother’s only friend. He looked after her for a long time, and he came back with me and Khaosti when we left.”

“The witch destroyed Hell and the Dark Lord,” Grimlet says.

Zayne shakes his head. “But what is it?”

Grimlet stiffens again. “Grimlet is a gargoyle.”

Zayne scratches his head. “Well, that explains everything.”

“I like him,” Josh says.

Grimlet sniffs. “Grimlet is supremely indifferent to whether you like him or not. ”

I smirk. “Grimlet likes me,” I say. “Okay, the introductions are over.” I look at the circle of men surrounding us. They’re all pointing sharp things in our direction.

There are hatchets on one side, men with swords on the other. Maybe we look dangerous. I search for someone who can tell me where Sheela is.

I’m ignoring the elephant in the room for now because I also need to see Khaosti.

I’m guessing he must know I’m here. Like me, he must feel the bond.

I can’t believe he hasn’t come to join us.

Then it occurs to me that if Killian and his friends have been locked up, then likely so has Khaosti.

Are they aware that trying to cage a dragon is not a sensible thing to do?

There’s a man standing in front of the guys with the swords. I think he must be in charge. I waggle my fingers at him. “Hi,” I call out. “I’m Amber. I’m looking for Sheela. I’m a friend, honest.”

His eyes narrow. “You’re the witch,” he says. “The one we’ve been waiting for.”

“Really. That’s...nice.” Of course it isn’t nice. It’s terrible. I don’t like people waiting for me. They have all these expectations that there’s a good chance I won’t be able to fulfill.

“Sheela?” I ask again.

“She’s not here.”

Well, that’s not good news. But maybe not so surprising. She would have had to make the journey on horseback. “When is she expected back?”

“Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow. ”

Very helpful. I sigh. It’s got to be done. “OK, next question. What have you done with Khaosti?”

Shock flares in his eyes. “You know the prince?”

“Yeah, I know him quite well,” I say.

Zayne sniggers, and I shoot him a dark look.

“The prince is under arrest.”

“Why? What’s he done?” I mean, I wouldn’t put it past Khaosti to do something to get himself locked up. He needs me to look after him. Pity I’ve got far more urgent things to do. “What did he do?” I ask again.

“He didn’t do anything. It’s who he is. The son of Khronus. The commander of his armies. What else would we do but lock him up? We were just trying to decide how many pieces to send him back to his father in.”

If this guy has harmed a hair on Khaosti’s head, I’ll stick his on the end of a pole. I feel the celestial fire flicker to life. I could burn them all.

“Take me to him,” I growl.

At that moment, he looks like he’s not going to answer. Then he nods.

“Grimlet,” I say, “will you stay with Josh? Look after him? He could use a friend. He’s had a tough time.”

Grimlet thinks for a moment and nods. He launches himself off my shoulder, spreads his wings, and lands right in front of Josh.

Josh grins, holds out his hand like I did, and Grimlet scrambles onto his shoulder.

Wow. That’s one thing sorted .

I nod to the man, and he turns and walks away. I jog to catch up. “What’s your name?” I ask.

He peers sideways at me, as though considering whether or not to answer. “Thorben.”

“Great name. And you are?” It’s like getting blood out of a stone.

“I am the commander of the army here. These people are my responsibility.”

“That’s a big responsibility,” I say. “There are a lot of people. But I promise you—Khaosti is not a threat. He’s on your side. You know he’s Sheela’s cousin, right? Not to mention, the last time his father met him, he tried to kill him. Slowly, admittedly. But he did try to kill him.”

The man halts and turns to look at me.

He’s tall, broad-shouldered, and scruffy. His dark eyes look tired, and beneath all that, he’s afraid. Afraid they can’t win this fight. I reach out a hand and pat his arm. He flinches.

“We’re going to win. We’re going to annihilate that fucker, Khronus. And Khaos is going to help. Once they know he’s here, the Wolfpack will join you. They are loyal to Khaosti, not his father.”

He frowns. “Who are you?”

Good question. And one with quite a few possible responses. I go with, “I’m Khaosti’s bonded mate. We were brought together by the gods for the express purpose of disposing of my father and his.” Actually, I don’t think Khronus was part of the original plan, but it’s evolving .

The frown deepens. “And who is your father?”

I smile. “Lucifer. And before you ask—he’s dead. Gone. And so is Hell and all the shadowguard.”

He thinks for a moment. “That means Khronus has one less enemy to worry about, and he can concentrate on us.”

“Do you know, you’re a definite glass-half-empty person—you need to work on that. I suspect Lucifer planned to destroy the Astral plane and everyone in it. So I did you a fucking favor.” Some people are so ungrateful.

He looks a little bewildered, opens his mouth, thinks better of whatever he was going to say, and walks on. I fall into step beside him. Finally, we come to a halt in front of a tent, guarded by two men who seem a little agitated.

“The prisoner is not happy, sir,” one of the guards says.

“I didn’t order you to make him happy,” Thorben replies. “I ordered you to guard him.”

“The prisoner said, 'let him the fuck out of here or he’ll burn the whole camp to the ground, starting with us two.'”

I grin. That’s the Khaos that I know and love. “Just to warn you—he’s quite capable of doing it.”

“That’s what we were afraid of. There was smoke coming out of his nostrils.”

I can feel the emotions boiling over inside the tent. “Let me go talk to him,” I say.

For a minute, I think they’re going to argue. But then Thorben nods .

As I peer through the tent flap, a hand reaches out, clasps my arm, and drags me inside.

I blink in the dim light, but don’t get a chance to say anything as I’m hauled into his arms and his mouth is on mine, hard and angry and oh, so good.

His tongue pushes inside, and I’m drowning in his emotions.

Need and want and lust all intermingle. His hands slide down my body and burn through my clothing, branding my skin.

I press myself closer, rubbing my hips against his hardening erection as he bites my lips and his fingers dig into my ass.

God, I’ve missed him so.

Finally, we both pull back, gasping. He doesn’t let me go; he just stares into my face as if he can’t believe I’m real.

“What took you so fucking long?” he growls.

“I only got here five minutes ago.”

“As I said—what took you so long?”

I grin, then glance around the tent. “You could have gotten out of here.”

He shrugs. “I needed to talk to Sheela, find out what was happening. This seemed as good a place as any to wait. Until you turned up.”