Page 305 of The Wishing Game

Come on, Luce! Think about it logically!Anami also mentioned that his sword can obliterate a soul. It's not the case with Nikki since he's been by my side all along—from the moment I woke up in the hospital. He's still with me, so Ze can't have killed him...right?

Unless... No. It cannot be. He wouldn't betray me in such a way.

With trembling hands, I turn the mirror toward me once more.

The third question. The one that can confirm or deny everything.

"Show me the identity of the man I was with in my room on the day I arrived in Aperion."

The image changes to my room at Thea's house. The door to the bathroom opens and I come out, naked. Particles of dust materialize in front of me and my heart lurches in my chest.

My breathing intensifies just as the shimmery black smoke takes the form of a man.

A sigh of relief escapes me. It's him. Nikki. It's his ghost.

Anami lied.

I don't know if my heart could have taken it should it havenotbeen my husband.

The scene continues as he caresses me, the sight odd from an outsider's point of view.

But just as I'm about to put the mirror aside, the black smoke changes again. From a mass of chaotic particles, they turn opaque, gaining life-like features.

"No," I whisper.

A fissure appears in my heart the moment I seehisface.

His body.

His touch.

He...

The mirror falls from my hands, a sharp noise penetrating the air as the glass shatters.

It was him. With me. Touching me.Insideme.

My God, I think I'm going to be sick!

I stumble to my feet, numb and disoriented. I sway from side to side, using my hands to prop myself on the wall as I make my way back inside the ballroom.

The image I just saw will be forever burned on my retina.

Ze. My friend. Lying to me and touching me as I have never given him permission to.

He...

A sob racks my body as I trip over one of the refreshment tables. The blunt edge hits me in the stomach, stealing my breath from me. Tears course down my cheeks as I grasp onto the table for support, breathing hard.

Nikki was never real, was he? From the beginning, this was a giant farce.

He's dead.

My husband is dead. He's...

No!

"No!" I cry out. No one hears me, though.

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