Page 3 of Wicked Prince of Mirrors
“What happened?” I begged, letting her lead me deeper into her tent, the noise of the Night Market muffled by thick layers of velvet.
The woman hummed deep in herthroat, then pushed me down on a stool. Bringing over a washbasin, she took my injured hand and gently wiped off the blood and tiny shards of glass. Her touch was firm but gentle, yet I didn’t notice the pain because of my surging fear.
I’d looked in the mirror, touched it, and it exploded.
Mirror Magic.
It had never manifested within me before, so why now? Unless it was a trick brought on at the Night Market.
“There.” The woman finished bandaging my hand. “If anyone asks, say you got too close to the fire and burned your hand. It will be better in a few days, but don’t let anyone look at it closely, lest they ask too many questions.”
“I have coin,” I offered, reaching for my coin purse to thank her.
She shook her dark head, sending the silver earrings that dangled from her earlobes dancing. She was older than I thought, eyes aged with wisdom. She spoke softly but her voice carried an undercurrent of power and confidence. “I have no need of coin from you.” She studied me, mouth tight. “If you are who I think you are, it’s best to keep quiet. This never happened.”
A chill went down my spine, I wanted to snatch at her sleeve, beg her for answers. “What did you see?” I urged.
“Magic,” she whispered, her voice almost a hiss. “Mirror Magic. It is forbidden as you well know. It’s best to suppress it, hide it.”
I held her gaze, againstruck by her lack of fear. She wasn’t calling the guards or threatening to turn me in. Did it mean she was a friend? Or a worshiper of the Wicked Prince? “You sell mirrors, which are illegal, but you aren’t afraid. You know how to recognize Mirror Magic—who are you?”
A faint smile crossed her lips. “I am a seer, a seeker of truth. You saw what you wanted to see in my booth, but understand this truth. Nothing I sell is illegal, but what I do sell speaks to the magic that is already within you. I come at the time of change, and when I set up my booth, I felt a shift in the air, the knowledge that someone needed my help. I didn’t expect it to beyou.”
I eyed her, contemplating my next words carefully, aware that this could all be a trick, a trap. My father would never fall for such nonsense. “Will you help me?”
She touched her neck as though wiping away the ghost of a noose. “I can’t help you.”
I narrowed my eyes, frustrated at her contradiction. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Even if we met in secret, even if I told you what I know, we’d both be slain. It’s better to run, to live your life in hiding.”
My jaw clenched.
The seer held up a finger, stopping my next words. “It is rumored that there are tunnels underneath the palace.”
“How do you know about the palace?” I asked.
The seer held my gaze. “If you wish to keep your life, escape through the tunnels and go where they are afraid to go. For the closer you are to danger, the further youare from death. Keep moving, that is my only advice for you, I will say no more for you are a stranger.”
The words she didn’t say rang much louder in my ears. My fingers shook as I stood, aware that she had no reason to keep my secret. If the Venators appeared, she could call for my arrest, they’d force me to perform magic, and even my father could not save me.
I moved to leave but hesitated. “Can it be controlled?”
She gave a slight shake of her head. “Those who knew how to control it, to wield it, have been slain.”
I slipped away, doubts rising in my mind as I stepped back into the crowd. When I glanced back at the seer’s booth, it wasn’t there, only a table with cheap baubles and trinkets.
Doubts crowded my mind. The market was a place of illusions and tricks. I’d touched a mirror, and it had exploded, but was it truly something within me, or a trick the seer had played, to tempt me, to trick me, to make me run, to weaken the kingdom? Father often said that spies and usurpers lurked everywhere and would use any means to steal the kingdom, to take what he’d built and bask in the glory of it. Still, I couldn’t help glancing back one last time, standing on my toes, but the seer and her tent of tricks had vanished as though it had never been.
“There you are, Esmira!” Rhea whispered low. She grabbed my arm, fingers grazing the bandage.
“What happened?”
“I got too close to the fire dancers and got burned.”The lie slipped easily from my lips. “A kind woman at a nearby booth bandaged it for me.”
“You’re shaking.” Concern laced her tone. “Should we go back?”
I pulled my arm out of her grip. “Don’t be silly, we’ve come all this way. Let’s enjoy the night. I don’t even feel it anymore.”
