Page 5 of A Taste of Silver
The pet name hit me like gust of the blizzard’s icy wind outside. No one had ever called me that. No one could have called me that. But the words felt worn smooth, shaped by years of repetition, comfortable as old leather.
The silver petals fell faster now, accumulating on the floor in drifts that shouldn't be possible. They clung to my hair, melted against my skin, leaving traces of light that faded slowly. The room smelled of winter roses and starlight, scents that couldn't exist but did.
I wanted to run. I wanted to press my palm to the glass and let whatever would happen happen. I wanted?—
The serpent moved, a full body undulation that revealed its true size. Massive didn't cover it. The creature had to be a hundred feet long at least, yet somehow it fit perfectly within the mirror's bounds, space bending to accommodate impossibility.
I've been calling for you for so long. Through every reflection, every still water, every polished surface. But you learned not to look.
"Because looking is madness." I forced the words past numb lips. "Mirrors are forbidden for a reason."
Something like laughter rippled through my mind, warm despite the falling snow.
Madness. Yes. That's what they call it when someone sees too much truth.
The serpent pressed harder. The mirror's surface stretched, bulging into the room like a soap bubble about to burst. A low groan, like stressed ice, vibrated through the floorboards.
Instead, it held. Barely.
Your blood remembers. The silver in your veins sings my name. You can't un-swear an oath, Aurea.
My gloves were burning now, actually burning with cold fire that didn't consume. The silver threading glowed like molten metal, yet the fabric remained intact. Pain and pleasure tangled until I couldn't separate them.
"What are you?"
I am what remains. I am what waits. I am?—
The serpent's eyes flared brighter, constellations spinning in those depths.
I am yours, as you are mine. As we swore beneath stars that no longer shine.
The longing in those words broke something inside me. Not my fear. That remained, sharp and present. But my certainty that this was wrong cracked like ice under spring sun.
I took a step back. Then another. Fighting every instinct that screamed at me to move closer, to touch, to remember.
"Miss Aurea!" Valtier's voice cracked through my fog. "Your eyes?—"
I spun toward the door, silver petals scattering from my hair. My boots skidded on the mixture of spilled elixir and impossible snow. Behind me, the serpent's presence pressed against my consciousness, a weight that had nothing to do with the physical world.
You can't run from yourself forever.
I yanked the study door open and stumbled into the hallway. The servant girl from before stood frozen against the wall, facepale as parchment, staring at something behind me. No, just staring at me.
The covered mirrors along the corridor trembled beneath their black shrouds. The fabric rippled as if something beneath tested the barriers, seeking release. A low hum filled the air, almost below hearing, a resonance and a melody that made my teeth ache.
I ran.
Through the entrance hall where the fire had died to embers. Past the paintings whose eyes seemed to track my movement. Out the massive oak door that stood open to the blizzard beyond, as if the house itself wanted me gone.
The cold was a physical shock. Real, harsh, and blessedly mundane. It stung my cheeks, a pain I could understand. I stumbled down the path, my breath coming in gasps that the wind stole immediately.
At the gate, I turned back.
Every window in the manor blazed with silver light, as if stars had taken up residence behind the glass. The light pulsed in rhythm with my heartbeat, or perhaps my heartbeat matched its cadence. Even from here, I could feel the serpent's attention, a weight between my shoulder blades.
Movement caught my eye, my own reflection in a frost-covered window post. For just an instant, before I could look away, I saw my eyes.
They burned silver, bright as the creature's scales, bright as the threading in my gloves. Then I blinked, and they were grey again. Ordinary grey with maybe a hint of violet.
