Page 89 of The Eternal Mirror
“Him.” She points a finger at my chest. “That asshole is the reason I’m here.”
Oh fuck. This, I presume, is what’s known as your past catching up with you. Inevitable, I suppose, but not good timing.
I remember her now, though not her face. I did my best not to notice that. She was my last assignment: a mirror mage, probably the last free one, who’d preferred to run than register. I didn’t understand back then and didn’t care enough to try. Now, having seen this place and what has been done to the witches here, what I did was beyond evil. A combination of ignorance, stupidity, and apathy.
I didn’t question. I just followed orders. Like a good little monster.
But I can’t take back the past.
I’m filled with self-loathing. I draw the knife from the sheath at my waist and hand it to the woman. She takes it automatically and stares at it.
Amber gives me a dark look and steps between us. “Sorry. You can’t kill him, Hella. He’s likely got to carry someone out of here.” She takes the knife gently from her but doesn’t give it back to me. “I’ve wanted to stab him a few times myself. Maybe once we’re out of here, we can rethink the whole thing.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s not an excuse, but I didn’t know.”
“No, it’s not an excuse.” But the fight has gone out of her.
“But he knows now,” Amber says. “And he’s trying very hard to do better. Aren’t you, Khaos?” She looks at me with one eyebrow raised.
I sigh. “Yes. Who do you want me to carry?” I just hope it’s not Hella. Though she looks to be in the best shape of all of them. But then, she’s only been here for a few years.
“I’m not sure yet.” She turns to Sheela. “Could we get out the way you brought me when we rescued Khaos?”
“Maybe.”
I know the way she means; it’s a direct route out of the dungeons without going through the main palace. And it might be marginally better than walking out the front door, but only marginally. If Khronus is onto us, then he’ll be guarding that route as well.
“Can you do your invisibility spell on all these?”
“No way. There’s too many. I struggled with just Zayne and Josh. Anyway, we’d make too much noise. And if we split up, we can’t find anyoneand—”
“Okay, that’s a no then.”
“Sorry.” She frowns. “What about the roof? We could fly them down into the city.”
“The archers would get us. And I’m not sure most of these have the strength to hold on. There’s not much point in rescuing them if you’re just going to drop them from a great height. But it might work as a last resort. I think Wrath could take a few arrows.”
“Aw, you’ve given him a name. That’s so cute.”
“It seemed to fit.”
Whatever we’re going to do, we’d better do it soon. “Let’s try the other route first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll head for the roof.”
“Okay. She looks around. “The woman over there—” she points to a woman curled on the floor, “and Killian—you take the one in that cell.” She waves a hand behind her, and Killian disappears. I go to pick up my witch. She’s frail, all bones, and her skin is gray. My father did this. I look up to see Hella watching me, but I don’t say anything. Shame seals my lips.
Amber takes the lead, Sheela behind her supporting her mother. The others fall in behind. Niall hesitates, and I cast him a dark look. “Go.”
He looks after the others. “You should have left them.”
“Fucking go,” I growl, and he goes.
I follow.
My burden weighs so little, she hardly slows me down, but it doesn’t matter. Some of the women can barely stand, never mind run, so our pace is slow. Then, up in front, everyone stops. I gently hand the witch to Niall. “If you leave her behind, I’ll gut you,” Isay and make my way to the front where Amber is whispering to Sheela. She looks up as I get close.
“Soldiers,” she whispers.
“How many?”
