“She has a habit of landing herself in disaster with no one hunting her,” Hart mumbles. “I cannot see this ending any other way than in heartbreak. I will refrain from telling youI told you sowhen that happens.”
My heart squeezes because he’s right. I am a walking disaster. I attract trouble and create chaos. It’s the exact reason I’m trying to find a new life direction to allow Gwyneth the freedom she needs to find a happy and fulfilling life.
“There you are,” another familiar male voice booms in the room. I shoot upright, shocking the bunkum poop out of the Stirlings who believed I was asleep.
“We can discuss your little sex talk and micromanagement of my feelings later,” I snap, jumping off the bed and finding the man in the mirror floating on a small dressing-table mirror. “How are you here?” I ask.
He launches forward and then grimaces as his nose is squashed up against the mirror. “It is quite disorientating not being in your own mirror.”
I grimace as he wiggles his nose. “You can travel between them?”
“Of course, the Land of Reflection has many portals to your realm.”
You learn something new every diurnal. I now know the people in the mirrors can travel between them, and that the Stirlings are asses for discussing my sex life while I was asleep.
“Why are you here?”
“Oh dearest Deardrie, I needed to find you to tell you the news of your fair sister, Geraldine.”
“Gwyneth?” I check.
“Yes, that’s what I said,” the mirror continues with a frown.
“What of her?” Nash asks, coming to stand next to me as he folds his arms.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t manage my mirror,” I mutter.
“The prince has taken your poor sister,” the mirror man tells us. “They have locked her in the Tower of Consideration.”
“The tower of what?” I ask as I clench my fists. Charming won’t see the next diurnal if he’s hurt one hair on her head.
“Consideration,” Nash says as his brows furrow. “It’s where they lock up maidens, damsels, princesses, and so on. They are placed in solitude to consider their actions.”
“What did Gwyneth do to earn that punishment?” I ask.
“From the whispering of the servants in the palace, I believe she showed kindness to another male and Charming took exception to it,” the mirror man divulges.
“They send females to the tower to wear down their resolve. Isolation and loneliness teamed with little food and drink makes people compliant quickly,” Nash says.
They haven’t taken a true measure of my sister if they think that will work on her.
“We need to return and rescue her,” I declare.
Hart pinches the bridge of his nose. “We don’t interfere with other narratives. The Idols won’t approve.”
“The Idols can suck my butt. I am saving my sister, with or without you.”
I throw open the door and run downstairs, almost falling over Hamish who had decided the bottom step was the ideal place to sleep. Damn capons were trying to kill me.
I snatch the lamp and slide it onto my belt loop. The genie appears in a poof of glittery silver magic. I blink at him. “Why the grand entrance?” I ask as the Stirlings hammer down the stairs. I sweep Hamish up into my arms to avoid her becoming a capon pancake.
“I was a little rusty the first time I appeared before you,” the genie declares. “I want to make a good impression.”
“Okay, well, we have to go,” I tell him.
“Ooo, are we on a quest?” he asks. “I’m superb at puzzles.”
I fling open the front door and step outside onto the deserted street. The sun pierces the darkness, sending its warmth radiating across the land and chasing away the lingering chill.
