She stared up at the cloudless blue sky, a little bewildered that it could look so cheerful when things were sodire.
Well, at least one thing is for certain. Things can’t possibly get anyworse.
* * *
“You surpriseme at the oddest of times, LordEnchanter.”
“Hm?” Evariste was pressed against the pane of his mirror, trying to get hisbearings.
He had hoped he’d be able to see Angelique again, but apparently Liliane thought the time for punishment was over—or, more likely, they had arrived at their destination—and had yanked him from the restfulforest.
He had spent the few minutes he was awake trying to recover from the rather brutal yank of magic that had forcibly cut him from Angelique’s smudgyforest.
He was finally strong enough to peer out of his mirror. But it was so dark outside, he couldn’t make out much in the blackness of the night besides confirming they appeared to be in a bedchamber ofsorts.
How charming.He rested his forehead against his mirror, a foul mood snapping at his heels.Three times. I saw Angelique three times, and I got very little useful information to her—unless I want to count the revelation that she finds the idea of kissing me repulsive, which I don’t. And now I’m back in Liliane’sclutches.
“You should have woken up haunted. Perhaps even broken. But you seem as if you’ve been slumbering peacefully.” Liliane spoke in a normal tone as three mages he didn’t recognize tip-toed aroundher.
Evariste owlishly glared at her. “Maybe it is that you overestimate yourpower.”
Not only did I fail to use my chance to speak to Angelique to its fullest extent, I also failed to come up with a way to ruin Liliane’s carefully laid plans. That would have been at least a little more fruitful than wondering if there were anything I could have done to make Angelique feel differently aboutme.
“Unlikely,” Liliane flatly said. “But I suppose whatever secret hold-out you have, your next host will ferret itout.”
“Oh?” Evariste planted his feet as one of the mages moved the mirror, making everything swirl. “You really think after all these years, you black mages will be able to get more out ofme?”
“We won’t.” Liliane held up a flickering torch that cast an eerie light on her smile. “But the mirrorwill.”
Evariste raised an eyebrow. “I’m already in a mirror,” he said in a tone that suggested she was anidiot.
“You’ll see.” Liliane turned around and strode across the room, her torch dimly lighting thechamber.
Evariste saw a canopy bed with a slumbering woman splayed on the mattress. Her face looked vaguely familiar, and going by her lavish furniture and room, she was a royal or at least a member ofnobility.
What are we doing inside the bedroom of a monarch? Are they this powerful that they can strut about withabandon?
The mirror tilted again as someone picked it up, and Evariste craned his neck to look back at the slumbering royal. He briefly saw a mist of gray magic settle over her head—a sleeping charm, if he had to hazard aguess.
Evariste frowned thoughtfully and backed up into the depths of his mirror, then charged forward and kicked out with his leg, creating a crash loud enough to rouse the deepest ofsleepers.
The woman slepton.
Hmm, yes, definitely a sleepingcharm.
The mage carrying the mirror gave Evariste a glare. “Stop that,” hehissed.
“Oh,” Evariste shouted. “I apologize! Did you want me to bequiet?”
Liliane’s minions winced, but Liliane herself merely shrugged. “You can be as loud as you wish—I warded the room from sound before we entered it, andshewon’t rouse until I want her to. Though at the rate she’s degrading, it won’t be long before her country willwishshe wouldn’t wake.” She looked meaningfully at the slumberwoman.
“Your thinly veiled attempt at baiting me isn’t going to draw my interest,” Evariste drawled. “Or distract me from the fact that you—whose ultimate goal is assumedly continent-wide control—find a man stuck in a mirror so burdensome you’re foisting him off on somethingelse.”
“Mentioning her state was not an attempt to tempt your curiosity, Lord Enchanter.” Liliane walked past Evariste’s mirror, briefly leaving his sight before the minion mages swiveled his mirror. “Rather, it was a warning. For she is in that poor of a condition, and she’s only been externally exposed to the mirror. You’ll be livinginit.”
Evariste was only half-listening. He was still mostly occupied trying to figure out where he was—and who the sleeping noblewoman was. (He needed to be ready with his location the next time Angelique reachedhim.)
Lilian paused in front of another mirror set up in the chamber. It was intimidating, as it stretched quite a bit taller than the black mage, though it had a gold frame ornamented with tiny flowers and elaborate swirls that didn’t match the dark feeling the mirror radiated. An egg-sized ruby was fixed to the top of the mirror, and even in the dimness of night, the stone looked like it was wet with freshly spilledblood.
