“Oh, you poor, clueless female. You’ve gone and said the cursed name.”
“What, Malice?” I ask. There’s no power in a name, unless you will it so. The other creatures hiss again, shrinking back as if the name physically burns them. Apparently, I’ve hit a nerve.
“You’ve got no idea what’s coming,” the shadow dragon says, scraping its pointed tail across the stone floor. “Let me tell you the tragic tale of Malice.”
Charming groans loudly from his cell. “Oh, great. A lecture from a dungeon pest. What’s next, a puppet show?”
“Shut it, imposter prince,” the creature snaps. “Your station means nothing to us in this realm. The shadows could devour you, and no one would care to look for you.”
I stifle a laugh as Charming mutters something about ungrateful monsters. The shadow dragon focuses back on me, the torchlight making its teeth glint menacingly. “Malice began life as a simple, happy-go-lucky girl,” it begins. “One who danced through her realm seeking adventure and dreaming of the impossible. It was on one sunny diurnal, when she had already played a board game with a rabbit and bested the queen at a sport, when she stumbled upon the most dangerous artifact in existence: the Mirror of Whispers.”
“Catchy name,” I say. “I have to tell you, I hate anything that whispers. I struggle to understand when people speak plainly, never mind adding misinterpretation to the mix.”
The creature glares at me and moves closer. I’d shrink back, but I have nowhere to go. “The Mirror of Whispers grants its holder power over their reflections. It shows you everything you cannot see in yourself, the hidden that lurks beneath your flesh. Malice was seduced by the promise of power it showed her. It whispered secrets to her and drove her to do the unthinkable—controlling Eron, the king of Reflection, through twisting his mind.”
“Metaphorically, or literally twisting?”
“Both,” the creature says. “His head spun three times before settling backward. It was quite the spectacle. She shattered his mirror, the Mirror of Whispers, and stole some of its shards, dooming him to never be whole again. And so he became Eron the Unbalanced.”
Ah, so this is the treachery Eron spoke of.
“When she shattered the mirror,” the shadow dragon continues, “she trapped herself here, unable to return to her world. Over time, people forgot who she was, and her tale became legend.”
“Until me.”
The creature chuckles darkly, its eyes glowing brighter. “Until you. You must have the blood to rewrite the stories.” His tongue flicks out like he’s imagining tasting it.
Charming snorts, but I lean closer. “So Malice is evil? And I’m guessing letting her loose on our realm is a bad idea?”
“Oh, it’s worse than bad. If Malice gets a foothold back into her world while holding the missing shards, she won’t stop at twisting minds. She’ll twist the entire realm. No one will be safe—not you, not the weak prince, not even the mirrors you use to fix your hair.”
Charming gasps. “Not the mirrors!”
I roll my eyes. Charming needs to reevaluate his priorities. Bad hair diurnals are way down the list of issues.
The creature looks smug as he winks at me. “Yes, prince. Even your precious reflection isn’t safe.”
“What about me?” I ask. “If I’m stuck in here, how am I supposed to stop her?”
The shadow dragon cackles, its laugh echoing through the dungeon like a hundred tiny spoons clattering. “You’ll find a way. But you’ll need help—a special kind of help.” The creature inches closer, and I notice a faint shimmer around its neck. Is that… a key? “Lucky for you,” it whispers, “I know a shortcut. But it’ll cost you.”
I gulp. “What is the cost?”
The creature grins, wide and toothy. “Oh, don’t worry. I mostly mean your pride. Some dignity. And if we survive this, well, we’ll just see what else you’re willing to give.”
I sigh, tilt my head back, and squeeze my eyes closed. I don’t really have any dignity or pride, so the joke is on him. However, I am not stupid enough to enter a deal with such loose terms. “Why is it always like this?” I grumble.
“Your friends and loved ones are at risk. Even now, she plots to get rid of them so she can walk the realm unencumbered by the ties of love,” the shadow dragon pushes.
My stomach clenches, and my chest tightens as he plays on the fears whipping through my mind. “I will wait for Eron,” I decide. At some point, I have to stop making stupid decisions. This seems as good a time as any.
“You will regret it,” the shadow dragon drawls.
“I already do, but I still won’t enter into a deal with you.”
The door to the dungeon clangs open, and Erik appears in front of my cell with a frown. He glares at the shadow dragon and makes a shooing motion. “I hope for your sake you weren’t trying to trick the king’s favorite fair maiden into a deal.”
“He was, but I resisted,” I answer as I climb to my feet.
