Page 82 of Gilded Wicked Mirrors
There was something about the mirror that made Quinn forget it was all fake. The visions were so real and so consuming.
It was unclear how long she spent repeating injury after injury. It felt like forever, but eventually she sucked in a breath. Yes, a career-ending injury would destroy her heart, but it wouldn’t destroy her. She’dsurvive.
On the thought, she gathered her strength and hopped to the door, leaving the first chamber behind.
In the second she was attacked by her ongoing Looking Glass Nightmare.
Vampires.
Fangs sliced into her neck and ripped out her throat. She didn’t even have the chance to scream. Just like the first scene, once she died, the vision repeated.
And repeated.
And repeated.
And repeated.
. . . Until she was able to fight the fear just long enough to reach the next room.
Panting, Quinn stepped into the third chamber, and she turned into a vampire, her fangs and claws bursting out.
Fear gripped her soul, and time spilled.
She didn’t know how long it took to reach the next door.
It felt like an eternity and just moments.
In the fourth room, Quinn simply cried, showing her emotions to an entire newsroom filled with cameras. Everyone saw her vulnerability. It was unbearable.
She lost all control over her life, situation, and emotions.
It was pure torture, having no control.
But it was the fifth room that gutted her.
A vision of Jane appeared and said, “The Queen’s Royalle Ballet Director has made his final decisions, and the list of new apprentices is posted on the wall.”
A volcano of bad luck erupted in her blood, and she knew without even checking the list that she hadn’t made the cut. It was her instinct, and it was never wrong.
With steady feet, she trekked to the crowd gathering around the board.
Only three names glimmered like glorious comets.
Arthur Florence
Scarlet Jones
Constance DeWinter
Quinn’s name was not there.
Devastation rattled her bones, piercing its fangs into her core. She wasn’t special. She wasn’t great. She wasn’t worthy. She wouldn’t get fame or glory or a better life.
She’d have no control and no prospects.
Quinnevere Ashelle was useless and pathetic, just like Countess Teagan and the police always said.
She couldn’t read.
