Page 61 of Wicked Prince of Mirrors
“It was talking about me, because I have Mirror Magic.”
“Oh, Esmira.” Methrin murmured.
But he didn’t disagree so I let silent tears fall down my cheeks. His arms around me tightened, barely a relief from the fact that I’d clearly heard a voice. Early conversations with Lyra about magic floated to the surface of my thoughts. Magic was madness. Was I going insane?
“There’s more,” I added, the weight of my secrets making it difficult to breathe. “The shadow has been speaking to me, but I know the difference between its voice and mine. I see it sometimes on the edges of my vision, but when I look at it, it disappears. Up there at the temple, when the beast attacked the carriage, the shadow attacked me. Ribbons of blackness squeezing. What should I do?”
Methrin propped himself up with one arm and pressed me flat on my back so I could see his face. One candle was lit, but the rest of the room was shrouded in darkness. He hovered so closely I could lift my head and kiss him.
Suddenly, the uptick of my heartbeat shifted to desire, not fear. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair, feel the roughness of his skin and the warmth of his lips against mine, kissing me into oblivion. I wantedhim, all of his goodness, his glory, his immortality to cover me, hide me, let me sink into the bliss of him and him alone.
“Keeping fighting, Esmira, don’t give up. It makes our quest to find the Shadow Slayer even more urgent. It will fight you, it will drag you down with it. It is darkness, evil, the opposite of everything you long for, everything you stand for. It will fill your mind with negative thoughts, with evil, but I am here. I’ve been through it all. I can help you, lend you my strength, encourage you. Esmira, I need you to win.”
The fear wasn’t gone, only muted under the power of his words. A boldness filled me and I touched his cheek, drawing his face closer mine. “You see me,” I whispered.
“I have a confession.” His voice was rough, raw with emotion. “When I asked you to marry me, I lied.”
My breath caught. “Lied?”
“About why I asked. Yes, it would give you protection here, because as my bride no one would question me, especially after I’d been absolved of my wrongdoings. You only ran away after you discovered I am Everminati, but I expected you to run sooner. But you also saved me from the mirrorverse and even though you were afraid, you did not blame me, you did not try to kill me, or shout at me for stealing you, or make impossible demands. I felt your quiet fury, but the way you showed it to me wasn’t in the way I expected a spoiled, selfish princess to behave. Perhaps it was because you have Mirror Magic and you already knew you had everything to lose. But it had been a long time since I’d beentreated decently, and you, even in your anger, even in your fear, you did not show me the darker side of you, the ugliness. You didn’t even complain when we walked for days and your slippers were in ribbons. What kind of strength is that? And so I knew, just by your actions, by the words you choose, that you were strong. You surprised me. And I thought, if you were coming all the way here, across realms, that you’d make the ideal partner, that I wanted you at my side, because if you respected me, what more could we grow to become. That’s why I asked you to marry me.”
What was I to say in the face of such beauty, such words?
“What about now?” I asked, breathless. “Do you feel differently knowing who I am,whatI am?”
His lips trailed down my neck to my collarbone until I wasn’t able to think any more, much less breathe. When he pulled back his eyes smoldered with heat. “There. I’ve always been better with actions, not words. As I understand it, mortals prefer wild confessions of love and promises that drip with lies. I’m not like that. I can promise you that I care about you, I respect you and love will come. But I will not promise you the moon without delivering it. So what do you say? Marry me?”
He kissed me again until I was breathless, and I only managed to squeak out. “You didn’t ask me how I felt about you?”
“Do I need to ask?” he whispered, his thumb brushing my lips. “I see it in the depths of your eyes, I taste your yearning when you kiss me. Do I need wordswhen I feel it in the core of my being, when I’ve felt it for a long time?”
I pressed my lips together, wondering if I should be embarrassed by the transparency of my reaction to him. “What about the shadow, the madness? What if it consumes me?”
“Then I will be here.”
“And what of my mortality?”
His soft laughter was like velvet, sending ripples of desire across bare skin. “I’ve lived many lifetimes in pursuit of nothingness, achievements that became meaningless, magic and wealth, all temporary. What matters are the relationships we keep, the people whose lives we can change. Being a prince or a princess, a child of a king, comes with a weight. We are responsible for the lives of those around us whether we wish for the responsibility or not. We were born with a gift many would trade their lives for, yet they don’t see the dark side of it, the way it can corrupt us. You see that now, you understand that royalty, magic, and wealth are meaningless without a purpose, without someone to share it with. It is a lonely life and living it helped me see clearly. I know exactly what I desire, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s a day, a week, or the lifetime of a human, I intend to relish every moment.”
My lips parted. “Then let me show you my answer.”
22
ESMIRA
In the morning, the events of last night felt like a dream. Aside from a white glimmer at the hilltop there were no physical signs of magic. A larger ship waited for us at the harbor, one with multiple decks, a larger crew, and more guards. We left the shores of the blessed village and sailed north, buoyed by a cool wind.
Lyra and a few of the guards joined us and Methrin cautioned us that we were not going to a remote, mountainous village this time around, but to the king’s city.
Each day I learned the histories and customs of the Everminati with Lyra, and each evening, Methrin and I practiced Mirror Magic. As my skill grew, so did the voice of the shadow, a constant reminder that all was not well. Evil was part of me. It wanted to kill me and other dark forces surrounded us. Magic had not stretched its wings as far as the king’s city. Despite my engagement to Methrin, I could not shake the sense of impending doom.
“There it lies,” Methrin pointed. “Astrahal.”
Lyra leaned into the wind, which snatched loose hairs from her tight braid. “This is what I always imagined when I envisioned the great cities of the Everminati.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I added, a sensation of awe rolling over me.
“This is one of the largest cities, the wealthiest, most illustrious. It is typically where the king lives but due to the loss of magic he is in hiding on the Isle of Portals.”
