Page 67 of Wicked Prince of Mirrors
“Will you?” I gasped for breath; it hurt so much to speak.
“Don’t worry, I will finish what we started. I will take the sword, go back through the portal, and slay the shadow.”
Tears leaked out of my eyes.
Methrin squeezed my hand. “I’m here, Esmira. Don’t worry about the past or the future. Just be here with me in the present.”
Another wave of pain took me but there was something I needed to tell him before it all ended.
“I—”
Sometime later I opened my eyes to sunlight. I was still in the garden but a shelter had been built around me, shielding me from the light. Methrin reclined in a chair at my bedside, asleep. He lay back, head tilted to one side, long lashes sweeping his sculpted cheeks. The hard lines of his face had softened and the intensity was gone leaving his raw and vulnerable. Desire rose within me, soft and yearning, momentarily suspending the agonizing pain.
“I want to live,” I whispered, a hope, a prayer. “Don’t let me die, not yet.”
“You’re not going to die.” Lyra appeared, a halo of light surrounded her as she ducked under the covering. “Not if I have anything to do with it. Esmira, permission to use my magic on you?”
I nodded, the sensation of moving just as jarring as breathing.
Lyra placed her palm on my forehead and heat pulsed from it. A burning sensation went down my body, replaced with a numb feeling. My body a deadweight I could not control and my eyelids fluttered soft. Faintly I heard words coming from her mouth.
The tension in my body faded, the tightness around my chest and throat released and bit by bit the sensation of freedom came over me. A calm like I’d never felt before filled my body and I took a deep breath, relishing being able to do something as simple as breathe without pain.
“Sleep,” Lyra whispered.
I closed my eyes and slept, a long dreamless sleep.
When I woke, she was still there, and so was Methrin. His concerned gaze on me as my eyelids fluttered open. His arm was no longer in a sling but he still lounged back, relaxed. A small table was now beside him with a tray of food and a carafe of amber liquid. He held a glass in his hand and took a sip, watching me.
A shyness came over me and I shifted my gaze to Lyra who sat cross legged on the foot of the bed, her lean body curled around a book. As she flipped a page her gaze met mine and a smile lit up her features. She sat up straight. “How do you feel?”
Gingerly I sat up, relaxing when pain didn’t sear through my body. “Better.” I eyed the tray of food. “Hungry.”
A rare chuckle rumbled in Methrin’s throat as he lifted the tray and placed it in my lap. “Eat. Drink,” he encouraged.
“Yes, eat,” Lyra encouraged.
“How did you heal me?” I asked around a mouthful of food.
Sticking a finger in the book to mark her place, Lyrabegan. “Esmira, I found my father’s tower, his old study.” She paused, a wistful look coming over her face. She glanced at Methrin before continuing. “I always wondered why he left, and I found some answers, especially concerning his magic. As you know, tales claim my father was a great sorcerer, and he was, but I rarely saw him use magic. Now I understand why. When someone with Mirror Magic splits themselves from their shadow self, it requires a great deal of magic to heal them. My father healed Prince Methrin and I assume he must have used too much of his magic in a short span of time, healing Prince Methrin, locking the mirrorverse, and building the Boundary. After that, his magic was never the same again, or so I assume.”
I swallowed hard. “What did healing me do to your magic?”
Lyra tapped her chin. “I’m not sure of the effects yet, but I felt buoyed by the light. It might be because I’m in this realm which is full of magic, I’m . . . home.” She lowered her voice. “This is where everything changes Esmira. I’m going to go to the next two temples and use my magic to free them from the Destroyers. You and Prince Methrin need to go back to the human realm.”
“Be we need the sword?—”
“I found it,” Lyra interrupted. “It’s hidden while the elders discuss what needs to happen. They weren’t very appreciative of you and Prince Methrin breaking the dark power that held the temple intact, but when the moonlight came so did glimmers of magic. The darkness is losing its hold.”
I chewed thoughtfully. “I thought only one whohadn’t been corrupted by the darkness could take the sword.”
Lyra gave a shy smile. “It’s true, and that someone was me.”
Eyes wide I looked from her to Methrin. “How do we know it will work to kill the shadows?”
“It will work,” Methrin confirmed, refilling his glass. “There’s even more news. The moon drakes are returning.”
“What are moon drakes?” I asked.
