Page 56 of Wicked Prince of Mirrors
Forgetting Methrin’s words, I spun around. The carriage had been ripped apart with impossibly large claw marks. My thoughts immediately went to the beasts beyond the Boundary, the large and impossible monsters. Did one livehere?
One of the guards had been torn apart, their body infour pieces. Pressing a hand over my mouth, I turned away, catching Lyra speaking with Methrin. Her skirts were shredded, hair wild, but she gestured adamantly. Lady Velune lay on the ground, holding her side, blood spilling out no matter what she did to stanch the flow.
But it was the oxen who’d been mutilated the worse. Whatever had attacked them had ripped them open down to the bone. My stomach felt sick, and I took deep breaths to calm myself. Was this a glimpse of war? Of the horrors others had endured?
I thought of my father, marching to take back cities, fighting beasts and wild men, forcing those with magic to pour their energy into keeping the Boundary full. It was a terrible life, a death sentence. How many horrors could one’s mind take until they became numb, immune to the suffering around them, the pain. Until they became a shell of themselves, not only that, until they became the very evil they were trying to snuff out. Was that what had happened to Prince Methrin? Was that why he became the Wicked Prince of Mirrors?
“Esmira.” Lyra ran up to me and threw her arms around me, holding me tight. “Go with Prince Methrin, I’m going to stay with the guards and help everyone get to safety. By the time you return we should have a way back down the mountain for you.”
“But Lyra,” I protested, clinging to her. “What if that . . . that monster returns?”
For just a moment, her eyes changed colors. “I’m a Succor, remember, I will calm it. My will is stronger.”
“Is that why it’s gone?”
“I think so, I hope so. Esmira, you have magic, and so does Prince Methrin. Do what you need to do.”
“But Lady Velune knew the rituals to perform.”
Lyra squeezed my arm. “Prince Methrin knows them too, I’ve been studying Lord Pelgrin’s tomes but my knowledge is too new, too fresh to be useful. After all, it’s always been another with Mirror Magic that Prince Methrin needed.”
I nodded. “I’ll see you by the shore?”
“You will, and Esmira, don’t hesitate. I’ve seen you practice your magic, you know what you’re doing.”
I took a deep breath to center myself as she walked away. Prince Methrin needed my magic, why? I’d assumed that he only needed me to take him across the portal back home and I was by his side only because he’d promised to slay the shadow. Lyra’s words hinted at something else.
He only needs your magic. When he’s done with you, he’ll dispose of you.
My thoughts went to the kiss and heat flamed my cheeks. “I’m not listening to your lies,” I whispered.
The weight on my chest lifted.
Methrin joined me, and there was a stillness about him, a silent anger building. I felt his frustration and pain, but underneath it all was an iron determination. I’d never felt his magic before. Not like this.
“I don’t know what’s inside,” he said. “If you wish to wait out here with the others, I understand.”
He was giving me an excuse to flee, and that meant more to me than anything else. This was why I did not see his wickedness, his cold cruelness from a life before,of what had been his past but was no longer his present or his future. Instead of forcing me down a dangerous path, he gave me a choice. Now, looking back, I saw that all along he’d been giving me choices.
“I’m coming with you.”
The unnatural silence was unnerving as we climbed the curved steps, our footsteps jarring. The beauty of the day seemed misplaced, golden rays of sunshine, the clear blue sky, fluffy white clouds so close they could be touched. On any other day I would have enjoyed sitting on the steps, seeing the view of water and sky, watching the ships come to dock and the mermaids dance in the distance.
“What do we need to do while we’re here?” I asked.
“We need to do two things. First, confirm that magic is, indeed, gone. The priestesses of the temple perform a ritual on the rooftop, that is where the moon dust is gathered and distributed out in the air and sea to infuse the land with magic. But based on our greeting, I assume an enemy or foul beast has taken over and must be driven out. We might see things that make you uncomfortable. I am sorry.”
“Don’t worry about shielding me,” I said. “It is not your fault.”
“No, but we should not willingly walk into evil, we should look away and refuse to tarnish our minds with it. It corrupts all.”
“But you’ve beaten it before.”
“If I hadn’t given in, there never would have been a fight, I never would have had to beat it in the first place.”
We reached the doorway where a foul smell drifted. Daylight streamed into the space, somewhat dimmed by the walls of the building.
“We go up first,” Methrin said. “Then we look for the weapon, the Shadow Slayer.”
