“No. There was—” My chest tightens around the memory. “A woman. Dark hair, green eyes. Scars everywhere.”
His whole body goes rigid.
“Is that her name?” I ask before he can speak, chest tightening. “Bree?” I press my hand over my heart, where the hum still pulses. “The woman…” My voice drops to something almost reverent. “She’s beautiful. Even fading, even scared. The scars just make her more…” I trail off, not sure how to finish. “More.”
“Yes.” His voice cracks on the word, and something shifts in his expression—the dangerous edge softening. “It’s Bree.” He pauses, and when he speaks again there’s something raw in his voice. Afraid. “She’s alive? Gods, tell me she’s still alive.”
“Yes,” I say quickly. “But she’s fading. There’s someone with her. Ethos. He’s—feeding on her, I think. This chamber, black stone, silver fire.”
Something shutters across his face—not relief. Horror.
“How bad?” His voice goes flat, cold. Dangerous.
“Bad.” My throat tightens. “She’s scared. Trapped. And whatever he’s doing to her—” I press my hand to my chest, feeling the hum there. “I could feel it. Like she was being drained.”
“Describe the scars,” he says suddenly, voice urgent.
I blink, thrown by the shift. “Everywhere. Arms, shoulders, legs. Some old, some newer. She’s—” My voice catches. “Beautiful. Fragile. Fading.”
He closes his eyes briefly, and I realize he’s confirming something.
“There’s someone upstairs,” he says carefully. “Claims to be Bree. Black Ether threaded with silver. No scars. And wrong.”
The world tilts.
“We’ve known something was off,” he continues, voice low. “But we couldn’t prove it. If you were in the Void with the real one—”
He stops, staring at my wrist. “That creature. I saw it before. The day you… the man we thought was Seth, died. When her power exploded, shadow creatures came through. That’s one of hers.”
“I don’t understand.” My voice sounds hollow. “She’s trapped in the Void, and there’s someone here pretending to be her—”
“Then we have proof.” His eyes are sharp now, calculating. “Someone switched places with Bree somehow.”
The snake hums against my wrist.
A voice echoes faintly in my head:Welcome home.
“Yes.” He studies the snake on my wrist. “And you’re connected to her somehow.”
“Something happened between us, when our fingers touched.” I admit. “It felt like it locked into place. I don’t know what it was, but—”
“A bond.” His voice is quiet. “You bonded with her in the Void.”
The word settles in my chest like an anchor.
Bree.
Hope flares in his expression, sharp and sudden. “If you came through a mirror from the Void, then there’s a way. We just need to figure out how to get her back.”
I look at the mirror behind me, still and dark now.
“The creatures led me here,” I say. “They knew the way.”
“Then they can lead us back.” He’s already moving, pacing, thinking.
“What if they won’t?”
His smile is cold. Sharp.
