Chapter 7 The Mirror
What in the hell just happened?
I sank down onto the edge of the bed and stared at the walls of the guest room without really seeing them. My mind was a frantic loop of Kael’s face, the heat of his touch, and the terrifyingly calm way he’d accepted a life-binding proposal from a total stranger.
There was no doubt about it: I was in serious trouble. And it wasn’t just the lingering buzz of the booze, either.
I’d felt a momentary connection with Kael earlier something deep and magnetic that defied every ounce of logic I possessed and I knew he had felt it too. I didn’t know how I knew that, but the certainty was rooted in my chest like a physical weight.
I hadn’t planned for this. I was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb, the "void" witch making a desperate play to save her coven. I hadn't planned for the man himself.
The Kael I had encountered so far wasn’t matching up with the version of him I’d built in my head. I had expected a ruthless, cold-hearted vampire king who was fine with letting my people die as long as his hold on power remained firm. I expected a monster I could easily trick into being my shield.
But our conversation in the kitchen had shattered that image. He wasn’t "getting off" on being king; he didn't seem to care about the crown at all. He was doing it because he cared about his people and creating a place that could be different. He actually cared about peace.
The Kael I had actually seen thus far, the surprisingly considerate guy who wanted to create a sanctuary and who had tried to hold my hand was a massive problem.
The version of him I had invented for my plan would have been fine with using me as bait. But this Kael? This man was probably going to have a much bigger problem with placing me in mortal danger.
And that was going to ruin absolutely everything.
The whole point of marrying Kael in the first place was that I needed to use myself as bait. If the vampire king inexplicably caught feelings for me, there was no way he’d let me do what needed to be done. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that I’d need to shut that sort of thing down. But I did. Stat.
I stood up and paced the small room, my boots clicking against the polished floor. The murders had been going on for months, and no one not the coven, not the vampires had been able to catch the responsible party. The killer was somehow able to conceal themselves from even the most advanced magical detection.
My own attempts to learn the killer’s identity using the magic mirror had shown me only a weak vision of a shadowy figure. The mirror was my only edge, but it was a temperamental, alien thing.
I reached into the hidden pouch in my dress and pulled out the four-inch obsidian disc. The instant I touched it, a strange buzzing sensation vibrated through my palms, like a hive of bees living within the stone.
The surface began to glow with a dim, greenish inner light. A shadowy, featureless face appeared within the black glass.
“Ask your questions, Aria,” the voice said. It was flat and monotone, sounding utterly alien and indifferent to the futures it saw, no matter how gruesome they were.
My first order of business was to make sure my plan was still on track.
“Will any major acts of violence take place between the witches and vampires of this city within the next month?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
“Yes.”
My jaw dropped. I almost threw the mirror across the room in disgust. “What do you mean, yes? I’m doing the thing! I married the vampire king!”
“It is not enough,” the mirror replied.
Suddenly, the green light flared, and face after face began to flood through the mirror in a dizzying blur. They moved so fast I shouldn't have been able to keep up, but I recognized them all. My mother. Lydia. Julian. Dozens of other witches I knew, some friends, some merely faces from the market.
All of them were shown with dead, vacant eyes that stared without seeing.
“No,” I choked out, clutching the obsidian tight.
The mirror went dark, the buzzing fading into a cold, dead silence. I was back in the guest room, surrounded by Kael’s expensive taste and the scent of expensive bourbon, but the vision of my dead friends was burned into my retinas.
The marriage hadn't fixed it. It had only changed the timeline.
I looked at the door. Kael was out there, probably brooding over his "king business" or whatever vampires did at midnight. He wanted to bring me to his council meeting later tonight to "bring me up to speed."
He thought we were allies. He thought he was protecting me.
But if I was going to stop those faces from becoming reality, I couldn't let him be a husband. I couldn't let him be a protector. I had to be the bait, and I had to make sure he was willing to let me walk into the trap.
I needed to be colder. I needed to be the "void" everyone said I was.
Because if Kael kept looking at me with that strange, longing tenderness, I wouldn't just be the bait. I’d be the reason the city burned.
I shoved the mirror back into its pouch and headed for the door. It was time to see just how much "king stuff" Kael was willing to share with his fake bride.