Page 18 of Wicked Prince of Mirrors
Then he dragged me toward the horses.
7
ESMIRA
Iopened my eyes to darkness, the throb of pain in my arm and a soreness in my body. The air smelled warm, damp, and a light wind came from in front of me. I sat up, disoriented, as a curtain of moonlight shone over the entrance of a shallow cave.
My hands went to my face, but the blood had been washed away, the wound on my arm bound. When I touched the tender spot on my head it throbbed, but didn’t bleed. Still, I winced, trying to recall what had happened.
A shrouded figure stood at the entrance of the cave, back to me, staring into the night. My shoulders tensed, then relaxed. It wasn’t the shadow apparition, but Methrin.
He’d found me. How?
Truth burned away hollow lies, for the very people I was supposed to trust had attacked me and threatened me with death. The one person I was trained to fear hadsaved me. The savageness of his ferocious killing spree was terrifying and if he ever turned that fury on me, I’d be dead. But the fact that he’d come for me forced me to examine the facts.
Yes, he was Everminati. The Wicked Prince of Mirrors. I could not excuse his past, nor the claims of his wickedness. But I’d traveled with him for days and he’d never laid a hand on me, nor had he forced me to do anything against my will. Why?
A lingering curiosity overrode my fear.
Methrin spoke a few words, but not to me. A horse nuzzled his shoulder and he pressed his hand against it, speaking in soft tones. His deep voice comforting in the solitary night.
Suddenly, he shifted toward me, the glow of his violet eyes visible in the cave.
We stared at each other for a heartbeat. The air between us was charged with tension and something else unnameable.
He turned away first and sat at the edge of the cave. “Join me. We need to speak.”
As I stood, my hair tumbled down around my shoulders, the faint scent of soap lingering. My ruined dress fell around my legs and I was sure blood stained it. The cloak was gone but the night was warm, pleasant, the moonlight bright. I took note of the horse, the saddle, saddlebags . . . all taken from the Venators.
My legs buckled and I sank down beside Methrin, sure to leave as much space as possible between us. Silence lingered, broken only by the creatures of thenight. Crickets chirped, an owl hooted, the horse swished its tail and nibbled at underbrush.
Methrin did not speak, waiting for me.
I opened my mouth to begin and closed it again, choosing words and discarding them as I fought against my pride, what I knew of legends and the truth of what had happened. Finally, I spit out the bitter words, admitting truth to the one who should be my enemy. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You meant to run away, didn’t you?”
My lips trembled at the accusation. “It’s true. I . . . how did you find me?”
“The same way those men found you. Magic leaves a trace, a trail, and if one knows how to follow it, they can find you. The moment your magic awakened, I knew where to find you.”
The gravity of his words sank in and I swallowed hard. No matter where I went, he’d find me. “Will you teach me? I saw what you did with Mirror Magic, I want to learn how to use it, control it.”
“So that you can vanish, once and for all?”
My hackles rose. “So that I can protect myself from men like the Venators. They were going to . . .” I trailed off, shaking.
“I’m aware of what they would have done, men like that are afraid, and fear makes them ruthless.”
A question pressed in my mind and the face of the Captain rose before me. I could almost feel the press of his fingers against my skin. “Did you kill them all?”
“No. I avoiddeath if I can.”
The statement surprised me. I would have assumed he’d choose blood, death, and violence above all.
“Why did you help me?” I asked. If I were stuck with him I wanted the truth and a reason to trust him.
He angled his body toward me and a shaft of moonlight shone across his face. My heart skipped a beat as my gaze roved over the sculptured perfection of his features, the way his hair ruffled in the breeze. What would it be like to run my fingers through his hair, to trace the lines of his face. A tiny flare of heat went through my body and I banished the inappropriate thought.
