I notice a blunt bronze weapon impales the heart as the white light narrows over it, revealing it in a grandiose display. In atauntingdisplay.
“Is that… a knife?”
Zephyra raises a hand to her mouth. No longer pale, butgreen. Ill. She breathes hard through her lips. “That’s… it’s…” She can’t finish the sentence. She looks as if she’s going to pass out.
“Not Mortem’s?” I ask for confirmation.
She shakes her head wildly, unable to tear her gaze away from the organ. “We need to go back. Please.Please, Arion.” She’s begging now, and Zephyra never begs in situations like these. I react quickly. Stalking forward, I pull her into my arms, wings wrapping around us.
“You’re okay,” I tell her.
But she thrashes against me. “Please, I need toleave. He’s torturing me. This is… this is all a game, and he’s winning. Healwayswins. I’m lost in his labyrinth again. No matter what I do, I always end up here. Fuckinghere. Right where he wants me.”
Rage boils through my veins, magic rolling in my gut from herwords. Her panic. Her pain. “He’s not here,” I say, leading her out of the alcove. “He’s not here, and you’re okay. We’re close, Zephyra. I canfeel it. Just keep breathing, and hold on to me—”
Before we can exit—before I can move into the endless hall—the magic in my chest seizes. One agonizing pulse that roots my feet to the floor. In that moment, the walls in front of us slam together.
The hall implodes out of existence.
I spin us toward the alcove to protect Zephyra, and her gaze snags on the room. Because now, it’s empty.
The heart is gone.
“Something is wrong.” She breathes hard and fast. “The corridors should be shifting every fifteen minutes, not every fifteenseconds—”
As if in response, the floor beneath us gives way, and the alcove plunges downward.
Zephyra screams, clutching me, clawing at me, trying toclimbme as my wings spread to ease our fall. We land gently after several minutes, whole minutes of plummeting into blackness, and a new corridor awaits us when the walls finally settle. My heart races, but magic pulses steady in response. Something in my bonesscreamsthat this is the right way.
We step out, tentatively, into a corridor of mirrors.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask Zephyra. Her head is buried in my arm. She hasn’t looked up since she noticed the heart was gone. “Do you want us to try to find the others?”
Her legs wrap tighter around my hips. “N-no. We won’t be able to. They’re probably lost too.”
“We aren’t lost.”
“We almost just fell to ourdeath—”
“But we didn’t die, did we? We’re still here.” I inhale deeply, peeling her limbs from mine to set her softly on the floor. “Tell me what you need. If continuing is going to make you feel worse—”
“Don’t be fucking stupid.” She looks up sharply, glaring at me now, and I almost collapse upon seeing that fire in her eyes, upon hearing it in her voice too. She sounds more alive than she has inhours. “We continue.”
“But—”
“We. Continue.” She brushes a fallen tendril of hair from her face and drags her braid over her shoulder. “I refuse to die here, warlock. And the only wayoutisthrough.”
I smile at that, despite this situation and despite the pain I know she still feels. At least she’s fighting again. “Okay, mermaid.”
The tension in her body eases until she moves out from under my arm and glances at the newest corridor. Her gaze darts quickly toward the ceiling, and she sighs.“Of course.”Planting a hand on her hip, she pivots on her heel, stepping backward over a black lacquer floor. Behind her, rows and rows androwsof lavish, gilded mirrors sparkle with crystalline glass. So smooth, they could each be made of water. Zephyra snags my chin with her finger, pulling my gaze toward hers. “First of all, I was right. The sorcerer is fucking with us. Whether he’s here or not, he’s making us wish we were dead.” She brings me one step deeper into the corridor, not bothering to turn around and face the mirrors herself. “Second of all, no matter what you do, donotlook at the mirrors. They’re here to entrap us, and they won’t be kind about it.”
“You’ve been here before?” I ask quietly, following her, forcing my gaze to remain on her face.
“About a thousand times. The hall of mirrorsalwaysleads to a stairwell, and since I was so kindly gifted the highest tower in the castle, I had to access a stairwell to go just about anywhere. When he allowed me to leave my room, that is. Which wasn’t often.”
More anger. More rage. They beat in my chest until I amsickwith them.
She settles her finger on my lips now. “Relax, warlock. Keep moving. Don’t look back.”
