Pain seared through me and a quick glance showed blood blooming not only on her arm but my own.
“Fuck,” I hissed.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I stumbled back, terror bolting up my throat.
Every injury I inflict on her would happen tome. How could I defeat a foe like that?
Before I could think through a strategy, she leaped at me again. I ducked under her blow, spinning left as the glowing runes on the shattered mirror pulsed and throbbed. Sparks of light flared around the clearing, the shards embedded in the tree quivering, trying to wrench themselves free.
As my utterly silent double circled me with a feral smile, I drew in power and sent it to my fingertips.
The creature tilted her head, watching me, and her malicious smile widened.
I shot lightning at the mirror, but it deflected, arcing up, spinning to roar back at me. I flung myself to the side as my own power blasted over me, striking a tree on the edge of the clearing and setting it aflame. I sprang to my feet and raced toward the woods with my double too close behind.
Calling in power again, I lured shadows near, wrapping them around me to mask my movement.
My mirror image did the exact same thing, and now I couldn't seeher. She would kill me. I knew this in my bones. Then this spell would slink back to the mirror and await its next victim.
Unless she meandered back to the castle and took my place.
The thought of that shocked through me, making my insides quake. I shored up my strength and tightened my grip on my blades, determined to keep that from happening.
I dropped my shadows—and so did she.
Direct assaults were hurting me as much as her, so I had to defeat her in a different way. I shifted my attention to the mirror again. As I dodged another swipe of my double’s dagger and flipped out of reach, I took in the tall, fractured glass twitchingagainst the gnarled tree. The runes along its edges pulsed like dying embers. The jagged crack in the surface flickered.
My double closed in with a predator's patience, her movements uncanny because they reminded me so much of myself. As I deflected, shifting around to avoid contact, she stalked me. Watched my every move. She’d strike soon, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive her blow.
I studied the shifting shadows drawn to the mirror’s glow. At first, they'd seemed like nothing more than random distortions, but now I could see patterns, movements, and a hint of intent. They weren’t aimless; they were drawn toward the mirror, tethered to it, perhaps, swirling and writhing as though waiting.
Or fueling it.
A memory bubbled to the surface of my mind.Magic always has balance,my brother once said.If it takes, it must also give.
The mirror could be taking to give toher.
My double flitted to me and struck out with her blade. I flitted myself, narrowly missing having my head severed from my body.
With a bellow, I flung a dagger at the cracked surface of the mirror.
The blade spun through the air, its edge glinting once before slamming into the tear in the glass. A true hit, thank the fates.
Time seemed to stutter. The glow surrounding the runes dimmed, the crack on the surface deepening, and for a moment, the air went utterly still.
My double froze. For the first time, her glowing eyes widened. The flicker of alarm I saw there made heat surge through me.
The stillness shattered as the mirror warped, rippling like water broken by a stone's throw. My dagger vanished into its surface, swallowed whole, before the mirror spat it back out. A bolt of searing, brilliant light streaked toward me. I flung myself sideways, the blast of my own blade grazing my shoulder. Heatscorched through leather. And my skin. Agony shot white-hot spikes up my neck. Teeth clenched, I staggered but stayed upright.
The crack widened, a tortured smile dissecting the surface. The runes throbbed, flickering like candles in a stiff wind.
I swung around to face my double. Her expression had changed. No more jagged smile. No more feral gaze. She leaped toward me, her blade lashing out in a ferocious arc.
Gritting my teeth, I summoned a bolt of lightning to my fingertip, the current coursing through me with a rhythmIcontrolled. I aimed for the fracture in the mirror again and blazed the lightning at it.
It rippled through the air and struck the fissure dead center.
