From somewhere across the chamber, a soft glow catches my attention. I lift my head, snarling.
It came from the mirror.
It’s glowing, fucking rippling.
“The fuck is that?” Callum growls.
“That’s my magic mirror,” Hilda replies quietly, tension creeping into her voice. “It’s how I… it’s what told me to…”
She trails off, but she doesn’t need to finish. That’s the thing that made our omega think she needed to kill. The thing that fed her poison. Kept her lonely and bitter.
I pull out of her carefully, stand, and stalk toward the mirror.
“Baylin…” Hilda starts.
Its surface ripples, and a smooth, unnatural voice emerges: “My queen, you called the huntsman to deal with Snow White. When will he complete his task?”
The room goes silent.
The mirror continues, oblivious: “Snow White is still the fairest. She must be eliminated for you to reclaim your place as…”
“Yeah, you don’t need this shit,” I growl. Then I put my fist through it.
Glass shatters. Magic screams. The mirror explodes into a thousand glittering pieces.
Then Hilda makes a sound…half sob, half laugh.
“You broke it,” she whispers, eyes wide, hands covering her mouth.
“It was poisoning you,” I say simply, shaking glass from my bloodied hand.
Arkan moves to her side, pulling her against his chest. “It lied to you, Hilda. Made you think you needed to destroy to be happy.”
I return to the hide, settle beside her. “No more dark magic. No more poison. Just us.”
Hilda is crying now, tears streaming down her face. “It told me that foryears. That I wasn’t enough. That I needed to be the fairest, the most powerful, the most feared.”
“You are everything,” I tell her, pulling her into my arms. “More than enough. You’re ours.”
“Are you alright?” she asks, delicately brushing my scratched knuckles.
I smile and lean to press a kiss on the crown of her hair. “I’m fine.”
She studies my face, then nods. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Arkan asks, nuzzling her face.
“Okay.” She takes a shaky breath. “No more being the Evil Queen. No more listening to lying mirrors, or witchcraft. Just… this. Us.”
Seven
Hilda
I wake slowly, surrounded by heat.
For a moment, I can’t remember where I am. Can’t remember why my body aches in the best possible way, why I’m naked, why I’m…
Then it all comes rushing back.
