Page 14 of Immortal Alliance

I’m not surprised. Theren is petrified of Variant, thus these protection runes make sense—as overdone as they are.

Theren opens the door and instantly dismisses the servant. The Unseelie beside me hesitates, but only for a moment. I glare at my brother, unable to fathom how the same blood runs within our veins and yet, we’re as distant to each other as strangers.

Theren pulls me into the room, slamming the door so hard, the framed maps on the wall shake. He approaches a chair that sits in front of a man-sized mirror. It’s a mirror I know well—one that Theren has feared since we were children.

The image in the mirror is that of Theren—his reflection. As he’s facing the mirror, I meet his reflection in its glass. I catch his gaze and I can’t explain the expression in his eyes.

“Cambion,” his reflection says. As I approach him, I notice his physical body stands staring into the enchanted glass as though he’s bewitched. But the facial expression on his face is placid. He merely stares straight ahead as though he sees and registers nothing, like he’s in some sort of trance. Yet, the Theren reflected in the mirror is anything but placid.

“You’re trapped in the mirror,” I say, my own voice and words shocking me.

But the truth is obvious. The reflection in the mirror isn’t the reflection of Theren’s body at all—itisTheren!

“I’ve tried to reach out to you, brother,” the reflection says. “But I’ve been unsuccessful until… I faced the angel on the battlefield.”

“Eilish.”

He nods. “Something in her power cracked the spells in my mind.” The desperation and sincerity in Theren’s voice wars with the memory burned into my mind—a memory of Theren standing on the hilltop outside Pyre’s cottage. Standing there with a legion of Unseelie soldiers behind him.

“How do you expect me to trust this isn’t another one of your ploys?” I demand.

“I can only hope you know me, brother,” Theren replies with urgency in his tone and eyes. “It’s been so long since I’ve been myself , even I struggle to understand what’s real and what’s artifice.”

I lean against the chair before the mirror because I’m still exhausted and I can’t keep myself upright. “Your loyalty is still in question until I learn the truth for myself. I can’t be certain your tongue isn’t forked.” It suddenly feels like so much time has passed between us—memories of our shared boyhood don’t even feel real anymore. Instead, they seem like a distant dream.

My brother presses his hand against the glass. “I never betrayed you, Cambion.”

“What of the Great War?” I demand, my eyes narrowing as I glare at him. “Before you were ever imprisoned in this mirror, you made the decision to fight alongside Morrigan and Variant.”

“I’m not imprisoned in this mirror,” he responds. “It’s just the easiest way for me to appear to you. For now.” He takes a deep breath and expels it. “As to the Great War, yes, Morrigan came to me before the advent of the war, but I tried to resist her as soon as I learned her intentions.”

“And Variant?”

He sighs heavily. “Variant was already under her spell by then.”

“How convenient,” I respond although there’s a part of me that wants to believe Theren’s story. It’s the child within me who still wants to put faith in the bonds of blood.

“I never turned my back on you.” Theren stops talking abruptly, seeming to fight with himself. “I don’t have much time.”

“For what?”

“We must find Silvanus, Cambion. He holds the key to dissolving Morrigan’s plans.”

Theren’s reflection begins to fade and fairly soon, I see the placidity of expression belonging to the imposter Theren reflecting back at me.

“Wait!” I try to touch the mirror, to restore my true brother, but the false Theren turns around and suddenly grips me in a spell.

“Guard!” he calls out and the door to his chamber immediately opens. A manservant steps forward.

“Why is he in here?” Theren demands.

The servant appears confused and Theren orders him to remove me. All the while, he seems strangely unaware of the conversation with my true brother.

The servant drags me back to the bedchamber, where I stop him before he closes the door. “Where is Aima?”

“Aima is a traitor to the crown,” the guard responds.

“What does that mean?”

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