“I can do it,” he says, tired eyes framed in desperation. Without waiting for me to respond, he steps up to the side of the table. Max and I join him, Daje and Elora across from us as Nox calls out, “King Kai Vaea of the Shifter Kingdom.” My heart pounds against my ribs at Kai’s name.
There is always a moment while in the thrall of experimentation when time seems to halt. It happens when I’m peering down the scope of the magnifier, clarifying the image to discover what lies beyond what can be seen with the naked eye. It happens when my mind latches on to a new theory orhypothesis, and all I can think about is how I might test it and prove it true. And it happens now, as I watch the Mirror begin to ripple, Nox’s command a pebble tossed into an otherwise calm lake. Breath halts in my chest, and blood slips past my ears in time to the thrum of my heartbeat. I don’t dare blink, don’t dare take my focus off of the Mirror as those tiny ripples travel down the length of it. And then disappear. Leaving the Mirror as it was before Nox spoke.
All at once, the sounds of the room return, and with it, so does the heaving of my frustrated breath. “Damn it.”
“Did it not work?” Max asks, leaning over to look at his reflection in the Mirror.
“No,” Nox sighs as he braces his hands on the table. “I’ll try again—”
“Tomorrow,” I interrupt, arching a brow at Nox’s scowl.
“I’mfine—”
“And you’re due back at the palace.” A muscle flexes in my brother’s jaw. “This battle is multifaceted, Nox. I promised we would figure this out, and we will. But we can donothingif you’re not well enough to help.”
He looks to Daje and then Elora for help, but when he only meets their pleading gazes, he reluctantly yields. Together, we sneak back to the palace, but I don’t see Nox for the rest of the day, the duties forced upon him by Kallin and the council keeping him behind closed doors. I spend time sifting through the journals taken from the archives, but the Mirror and Nox’s failed attempt keep my attention muddled, and when I meet my brother the next morning as we sneak back out under the cover of dawn, the anxiousness at trying again is an incessant hum beneath my skin.
We enter the forge to find Daje and Elora already there, sharing a pot of tea between them.
“No Max?” Elora asks, her hair pulled back into a ponytail that sits high on her head. She still wears a sling, but her color looks better, as if she actually got a good night of rest. Daje is faring better too, but I see the cautious way he watches my brother, concern tugging his mouth into a straight line.
“I figured I’d give him the day off from holding more of our secrets,” Nox says, running a hand through his hair. My lips quirk, but the moment is sobered quickly when Nox approaches where the Mirror still lies on the table. “It’s still holding my magic.”
“Cass’s is in there too,” Elora says, and Nox stiffens. Her cheeks grow pink as she swallows, Daje reaching over to rest his hand at her back. “We had to test that it would hold magic before collecting the pieces. Cass volunteered.”
My throat prickles with sadness, but it’s the way Nox seems to brush Elora’s comment off that makes it tighten further. “Let’s try again,” he says, voice uncharacteristically cold. “And I think I should give my blood and a drop of Bahira’s as well.”
In the stilted silence that follows, Daje finds a clean blade and pricks my finger and Nox’s, both of us giving a drop of blood that the Mirror seems toabsorb. Once it’s back to that same purple and black smoky state, Nox feeds even more magic into it, this time pulling back before he collapses. The glass darkens and then ripples when Nox calls out for Kai again. For a moment, I think that it’s going to work. That Kai’s face will appear on the other side. But, like it hits a wall or runs out of magic, the rippling stops.
Nox and I return to the palace, and when I try to speak with him, he waves me off, citing more meetings.
On the morning of the third day, I meet my brother in his sitting room, his hair disheveled and eyes wild, as if he’s been up all night pacing. The frazzled energy fills the room, and I lay ahand on his shoulder to stop him when he tries to walk towards the balcony.
“Let’s forget the forge today,” I say, squeezing my fingers to keep him in my hold when he tries to walk forward again.
“Bahira, wecan’t—”
“We can,” I interrupt, guiding him towards the door that will lead out into the hall.
His brows draw together in confusion as he looks at me from over his shoulder. “What about the guards?”
“I told you, we aren’t going to the forge today.” Pulling the door open, we step past the guards posted outside his room, their gray eyes watching us with curiosity. I let go of Nox to walk to my own door.
“Then where are we going?”
“I’m going to beat your ass at the training grounds.”
Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Bahira
WatchingNoxfighthasalways been a worthy spectacle. For as tall and broad as he is, he moves with the same grace and ease that I do. I hadn’t realized just how much I’ve missed sparring with him until we get to the training grounds and begin to warm up, Nox ordering the guards who followed back to the edge of the field.
“The Mage Kingdom’s most fierce warrior is with me,” he had said, rotating the long sword we swiped from the palace in his hand. “I do not think anyone will be dumb enough to attack.” Though I rolled my eyes at the compliment, pride had bloomed in my chest.
We take our time warming up, our movements slower than usual as our muscles fight against the cold temperature. Eventually, we slide into a rhythm, one that is nearly what it was like before I had left for the Shifter Kingdom. Before Nox’s body had become somehow trapped within itself. For all I thought that he was the one who needed the distraction of physical movement, I find it’s my steps that are lighter,myspirits that are lifted by the time we’re half an hour in.
I spin my spear over my head as Nox and I circle each other, the training grounds fairly empty because of the chilly early hour. No one save the two of us and a handful of other mages that are likely preparing for their first fighting test under Dilan’s tutelage, their magic volleying back and forth from the obstacle course in the distance that they train on.
His chest heaves and sweat already stains the back of his tunic, but I forgo teasing him about it. He’ll return to his full strength again. He has to. I decide to move first, arcing my spear through the air and straight towards him, my arms reverberating with the clash of metal. He counters quickly, pushing his sword against the body of my staff as he charges. I jerk my spear away, spinning to the right and swinging it out towards his torso. He lifts his sword just a fraction of a second too late, his weakened state making him slower than usual. I pull back my hit at the last minute but still cringe at the grunt he lets out when the body of my spear collides with his ribs.
