Page 63 of The Eternal Mirror (Lucifer’s Mirror #3)

Together We Rise

W e sit in the ashes of what used to be a war.

The clearing is quiet now. Smoke curls upward in soft spirals. The Mirror hums in the background—low, pulsing, not quite at rest.

I should be dancing. Laughing. Buzzing with victory. But I’m bone-tired. The kind of tired that lives in your soul.

Selene is seated beneath the mirror. She looks like she’s praying. Josh is sitting cross-legged in the scorched grass, throwing pine cones at Grimlet, who yelps and dodges them with dramatic flair.

Zayne is pacing.

Thanouq is organizing what’s left of the army to clear up the bodies. He keeps casting me furtive glances, as if he’s figuring out how to write the next page of his prophecy .

Khaos hasn’t left my side. His hand is clasped in mine, holding tight, as though he can’t quite accept that we’re both still here and alive and together. I think the trouble is that neither of us knows what to do next. How to be happy.

“So,” Zayne says, finally breaking the silence, “Are you king now that you just killed your dad?”

Khaos snorts. “Hard pass.”

“They would follow you,” Thanouq says. “They need a strong leader.” He doesn’t actually say it’s Khaosti’s duty, but the implication is there.

“Fuck that,” Khaos says. “The Council will take over. There’s no need for a king.” He casts Thanouq an amused glance. “Anyway, kings are outdated and immoral.”

Zayne chuckles. Maybe he’s starting to warm to my asshole boyfriend. He turns to me. “What do you want to do? Go back to Earth? Maybe you could finally go to college like you planned. You always said you wanted to be normal.”

Normal.

Right.

Another ship that’s well and truly sunk. “I don’t think so.”

I look around and see Josh, alive if a little changed. He has a chance to grow up now. Zayne, still sarcastic, and no doubt heading for trouble. Thanouq with a kingdom to run.

I’m sure they all have plans, now that they have a future.

Me? I don’t know what I want to do. All I know for certain is I want to do it with Khaos.

“The position as my queen is still open,” Thanouq says .

I hear a low growl from beside me. Khaosti.

I grin. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m honored, but I’d make a totally crap queen. What about you?” I ask Zayne. “What do you and Josh want to do?” I’m guessing they must have talked about it.

He hesitates. “He’s not going back to Lissa and Pete’s, that’s for sure. Otherwise, I suppose it depends on you.”

“But we really want to go to Valandria,” Josh says. “With Thanouq. Help him rebuild.”

I nod. “That makes sense.”

And it does. It really does.

But...

The ache in my chest doesn’t ease. I saved the world. But it doesn’t feel like mine. It never really did.

This world burned me. Broke me. Gave me power and pain in equal measure. It also gave me love. But it took a lot more, so I feel like there are pieces of me missing, and that I’ll never be whole here.

I close my eyes and breathe.

I want to be happy for them. I am. But I feel so...hollow. Khaos, sensing my mood, moves closer and wraps an arm around me. He hugs me tight, and I lay my head on his shoulder.

Then the Mirror begins to stir.

A soft glow. A ripple across its surface. The spiral rings start to turn again—slowly, like waking from sleep.

Selene opens her eyes and looks straight at me.

“Your heart and mind are filled with sadness,” she says quietly.

I don’t try to deny it. “Yeah. ”

“You saved this world,” she says.

I nod. “But maybe not for me.”

A long silence stretches between us. Then she says, “You don’t have to stay.”

I glance at her. Is she thinking I should kill myself after all?

“The Eternal Mirror is whole again,” she says. “It is grateful and has offered you a gift.”

“What sort of gift?” I’m a little wary of gifts from the Mirror.

“You can pass through. Become as true gods, begin something new. A world of your own making.”

My breath catches.

Start over.

From scratch.

Not escape. Just...a different kind of beginning.

A feeling of rightness wraps around me, soft and strange. Like something sliding into place after a lifetime of being slightly out of step.

Because the truth is—I’ve never fit here . Not in Earth’s grey reality. Not in Astrali’s glittering palaces. Not even in this fight I threw myself into with bloodied fists and borrowed fire. I was always half-in, half-out. Always becoming and never being .

And I’m so tired of pretending that’s enough.

Some of the weight lifts from my mind.

I turn to Khaos.

He’s already looking at me. Already nodding.

I slowly push myself to my feet. “You sure?” I whisper .

He stands beside me. “I’d follow you anywhere. But it’s more than that. This world no longer feels like home to me, either.”

I stare up at the Mirror. It hums louder now, the light inside it pulsing in time with my heartbeat.

“I don’t want to rule a kingdom,” I say. “Or fix a broken world. Or be anyone’s prophecy.”

“Then don’t,” Khaos says. “Just...be.”

For a while there, I truly believed I was born to end a world.

But maybe...I’m meant to begin one.

Amber, Creator of Worlds.

Yeah. I like the sound of that.

“But there is one thing you need to understand,” Selene says. “You can never return. And only two can pass through the mirror.”

I look around at Zayne and Josh. If I do this, I’ll never see them again. I’ll never know what happens to them. But if I stay, I’ll never be happy, and I’ll drag them down with me. I see the dawning understanding in Zayne’s eyes. Disbelief. Then acceptance.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

He shakes his head. “Don’t be,” he replies fiercely. “I’ll never be sorry you came into our lives. Not for anything. It was all worth it. But part of me always knew you were never really ours to keep.”

Beside him, Josh jumps up and runs to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I hug him close.

“You’re the best sister ever, Amber,” he says.

Then he looks up at me with that strange silver glint in his eyes and whispers.

“I think we will meet again one day, when our stars come together.” Then he lets me go .

His words are weirdly comforting and I’m smiling as I turn to Khaos. He holds out his hand.

I take one step forward.

And then another.

The Mirror brightens.

We stop in front of it—just the two of us. Me and the man who became my future.

“Are you ready?” I ask.

He grins. “Let’s make a world.”

I shift first. Black fire rips through me—wings, hooves, stars in my mane.

Khaos shifts beside me, his dragon form gleaming with gold and shadow.

Together, we rise.

And we fly straight into the light.