“Apologies, Miss Grayson. I consider you to be the second fairest in the land. Your beauty is only surpassed by your blood-bound sister.”
“I’m fine being the runner-up,” she grumbles. “But try to remember I am Gwyneth.”
He squints at the room. “That is what I said. Are you quite well? You seem to have memory issues.”
Hart shakes his head, but his lips twitch. “You said you had news?” he reminds my mirror man.
The mirror man nods and then sneezes. “Apologies. I have sexual diseases.”
How do mirror people do it? Do they even have bodies? And what disease causes them to sneeze?
“That’s unfortunate,” Gwyneth says slowly, like she is trying to make sense of him.
My broom darts forward and promptly starts trying to clean the snot from the inside of the mirror. The mirror man’s eyes track the enchanted broom, around and around.
“What a helpful creature,” he finally says, before sneezing again.
“Oh,” Nash drawls. “He means he’s got perpetual sneezes.”
“That makes far more sense,” Theo says.
I snap my fingers. “Broom, leave my mirror man alone. You cannot clean the inside of the mirror.”
It zooms to my side and brushes against my hand like an eager puppy.
“That thing is not sane,” Gwyneth comments.
“At least my gift does something independently. You got a quill in a fancy box. Mine helps me. Yours gives you more work to do.”
“Frank would like to relay his displeasure at your escape,” the mirror man interjects.
“Frank can kiss my butt. But this is hardly news.”
“Poseidon has commandeered your sword from your abode. His mental state is deteriorating the longer he is parted from the trident. The sword is slowing his descent, but only being reunited will halt it.”
A demented Idol isn’t good news for anyone. “I’m willing to trade,” I tell him. “But I am not returning to the ocean. He will need to come to land to retrieve it.”
“Daphne, what are you doing?” Nash snaps. “Do not invite an Idol to the realm.”
“But he is of the ocean. He cannot leave,” the mirror man adds.
At some point, everyone needs to trust me a little. Research by the biggest brains in the realm is not getting us the answers we need. My gut says this is the way forward. “He’s an Idol. I’m sure he will figure it out.”
A loud rapping at the door makes my broom freeze. My capons hop off my stomach, and everyone else stares at the door.
“He can’t have figured it out that quick, right?” I mutter. I’m not dressed for a showdown with an Idol. I glance at the trident lying on a table by the window. It doesn’t seem extra shiny or excited that its owner is here.
More hammering on the door. “Are you going to answer that?” I ask.
Gwyneth shrugs. “Not my chambers.”
“And everyone we care about is in here,” Hart says, going back to his book.
The genie floats close to the door. “Should I?”
I flick my hand. “Please. While everyone else is apparently engrossed in books, I am bored, and now my mind won’t settle because I need to know who is banging down the door of my knights.” Wait. I glance around. “You guys don’t have girlfriends, right?”
“Only one,” Theo mutters as he turns a page.
