Page 60 of The Eternal Mirror (Lucifer’s Mirror #3)

One Last Choice

K hronus stands at the base of the Mirror, as if he’s posing for a painting. Still. Composed. Power ripples off him like heat waves. He doesn’t lift a finger. He doesn’t need to.

I push harder. More fire. Then I reach deeper—into the pain and drag out a flame I didn’t know I had. My fingertips crackle. My vision swims.

I aim straight for him.

And slam into that fucking invisible wall.

My magic rebounds, knocking me on my ass and scorching the grass.

He turns slowly and looks at me. Raises his hand.

But at that moment, I’m plucked from the ground, and the bolt of magic hits harmlessly into the grass where I stood.

My shoulder screams as Wrath flies us away from the fire and the shrieks of the dying .

And Khronus watches me. Unblinking. Like a god observing insects.

Wrath lowers me to the ground, and I fall to my knees. We’re distant enough from the clearing that the screams are muted. A moment later, Wrath sets down, and Khaos is back.

He closes the space between us, cups my face between his hands, and kisses me. There’s a desperation in his touch. He knows this is the end. As do I.

Khronus’s wards are too strong.

I throw back my head and scream in frustration.

Then I take a deep breath and blink the blood out of my eyes. I must have hit my head at some point, but all the aches and pains are blurring into one.

“Shift,” he says. “It will heal the wounds.”

But I don’t dare, not this close to Khronus in case he can snatch control of Frenzy. My fingers twitch. I try to stand, but the world won't hold still.

I stagger and fall to my knees.

My magic is almost gone. If I use more—even to heal myself, then I’ll have nothing left. Nothing to use for my last act of destruction.

I look at Khaos, and he nods.

I force myself to my feet. Khaos wraps an arm around me, and together we stagger back toward the clearing and the Eternal Mirror. My final destiny.

Bodies lie everywhere. Some of them are still moving. Most of them are not. So much death .

Smoke is rolling across the glade. It tastes like blood and ash and magic gone sour.

We’re losing. Hell, we’ve lost.

I press a hand to my shoulder. It comes away red. I’m out of fire. My limbs are shaking. My mind keeps slipping sideways.

Through the trees, I can see Khronus, standing beneath the mirror. Arms raised, murmuring some incantations. He’s glowing with power.

I’ll never get close enough to kill him.

I’ve tried everything. Fire. Blade. Spells. Rage.

I’ve failed.

I sink to my knees. My sword’s too heavy now. My arms shake when I try to lift them. My breath wheezes through bruised ribs. Everything aches—inside and out.

Khronus is glowing with power. Not metaphorically but actually fucking glowing. The Mirror pulses behind him like it belongs to him now. Like it’s already decided.

I’m too far gone. Too broken. Too slow.

But I still have one card left. The final spell. The last one.

I reach for it.

It answers like a whisper. Cold. Waiting. Hungry.

And I know I can end it. Right now. Just speak the words, and boom—lights out. No more Khronus. No more Mirror. No more anyone. No more pain. The idea is seductive.

I just need one last effort. I dig Nightfall into the ground and use her to lever myself to my feet. I steady my legs and raise my sword .

Khaos rests a hand on my shoulder. Grounding me. Silent. Solid. His touch says everything—I’ll follow you. Even to the end.

And I almost do it. Almost.

I open my mouth. The spell—the unmaking—balances on the edge of my tongue.

Then—

A scream. Small. Raw. Young.

It cuts through me like a blade, and I turn.

A girl—barely more than a child—kneels in the dirt beside a dying man. Her mouth trembles. Her fingers are coated in blood. She wears Khronus’s armor, but it swamps her, her shoulders too narrow, her helmet too big. She was never meant to be a soldier.

She lifts her eyes. And she sees me. Her expression is filled not with hate. Not even fear. Just hope, raw and naked. A silent plea: help me .

My magic stutters. My grip loosens.

And in her I see myself. A girl who never had a choice. A pawn in someone else's war. And I see Sheela. Josh. Winter. Zayne. All of us—twisted by someone else's story. Fighting for scraps of love and light in the dark.

My throat locks and the spell dies in my mouth. Nightfall clatters to the ground.

They're not all monsters. They’re just caught . Twisted. Lied to. Like I was. And the truth hits me. They have no choice. But I do.

“But if I don’t do this...then he wins,” I whisper.

Khaos’s voice is low and steady, curling into the hollow spaces inside me. “It’s not about winning or losing,” he murmurs. “It’s about doing what’s right.” He pauses. “Search your heart, Amber. You already know what that is.”

And I do.

I don’t want to destroy the Mirror. I don’t want to kill them. I don’t want to burn the world just to keep it out of his reach.

What I want— is a future. For Zayne and Josh. For Khaos. For the little girl with the oversized armor and the trembling hands.

I drop to my knees, dragging him down with me. Resting my forehead against Khaos’s chest. “I can’t do it,” I say.

His arms come around me. Fierce. Certain. “I know.”

“I mean I can . But I won’t.” I pull back, looking up into his eyes. “I thought I would. I told myself I had to.”

“You don’t have to do anything.” He brushes the hair from my face. “You decide. This is your story.”

“What a novel idea.” But in my heart, I know it’s true. I do have a choice. I just have to accept the consequences. In this case—that’s me dead. And Khaos too, because he won’t let me die alone. I manage a crooked smile. “I kind of liked the idea of being remembered as Amber, Destroyer of Worlds.”

“There’d be no one left here to remember you.”

“Fair point.” I blow out my breath. “Let’s get away from him, just for a little while. While I clear my head.”

He nods, and I grab Nightfall and stagger to my feet. Together we walk through the trees to where the sounds are hushed.

My whole body is trembling. But I’m not done. Not yet. There’s only one way I can maybe stop Khronus from going after Zayne and Josh. At least give them a chance. And that is if I am gone .

Anyway, I’m tired.

Tired of fighting battles I didn’t choose. Of trying to fix a world that never made space for me.

Maybe it was never my world to save. Maybe I’ve always been something other. Not of here. Not of anywhere. Until now. At the end.

It will be good to rest. With Khaos by my side.

I look at him, and he nods, and I see the understanding in his eyes. “I love you.”

“I know.”

“One more try at killing him?” I say.

“Yeah. Let’s go out swinging.”

I rest my hand on his arm. “He can’t take me alive.”

“He won’t.”

There’s such a sad finality in his voice that for a moment, I just want to stop. And cry. But there’s no time for that. I raise Nightfall again. The blade’s scorched. Dented. Still deadly.

He offers his hand. I take it.

“On three?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“One, two—”

“Amber. Wait.”

He tugs my hand. For a moment I resist. I’ve set myself on this course. I’ve accepted that this is the end. It’s hard to draw back. He squeezes my fingers, and I turn—

Behind us, in the shadows, a light glows. A new mirror is forming.

It shines like moonlight. Clean. Pure.

And through it—

She steps.

Wrapped in starlight. Skin lustrous like pearls. Hair like night clouds.

Selene.

It’s about fucking time.