Page 43 of Blood of the Fairest

Reaching around the ornate mirror, I search for the latch for the secret passage.

That process presses me against the glass. I know Eris can't feel me, nor can I feel him, but he startles a little.

"What are you doing?" he asks, sounding almost nervous.

"Frisking a mirror ghost," I grumble, snarky because I'm so fucking thirsty. "What do you think?"

Once it clicks open, I slip through and descend the stairs. All the sconces are still lit. I'm assuming it's thanks to the same magic that supposedly keeps anyone else from entering this passage that smells so strangely floral.

Stopping in front of the blue door, I tentatively twist the handle.

If this were a horror movie, I'm sure this is the exact moment the audience would be screaming at me for being too stupid to live.

Luckily, once the door swings open, I'm more than pleasantly surprised.

"Holy shit," I marvel, stepping into the space.

A few yards away, rough-hewn steps drop down into a massive, secluded thermal pool of sparkling blue water. Steam rises lazily from it, dancing in the soft glow of more magic sconces surrounding the room.

The mineral spring takes up most of this natural black stone cavern. There's also a lounging chair and a giant freestanding mirror beside yet another vanity covered in soaps, creams, and folded towels.

The only hot spring I've ever been to in my world stank like rotten eggs, but it smells like nothing in here. It's balmy and private, far away from the rest of this strange world.

In other words, it's heaven.

"I love you," I whisper ardently.

"All because I told you of something you could have easily discovered for yourself?" Eris points out, appearing in the freestanding mirror. "You're certainly easy to please."

"I was talking to the enchanted hot spring. I might marry it. I'll definitely have its little hot spring puddle babies," I declare, already moving toward it.

I start to strip, but I pause. Moving to the freestanding mirror instead, I grip its edges. No matter how I try to turn it, though, it doesn't budge.

Eris watches me curiously the entire time.

"Is there even a way to tilt this thing?" I ask, walking behind it.

"What are you doing back there?"

"Trying to turn you around. I'm sure Rhinestone has forced you to watch her flounce around naked plenty of times, so I want to spare your pretty magic mirror eyeballs."

I try pushing on the mirror's back, but it may as well be part of the cavern.

"You'll just have to wander off to another mirror for a while," I sigh.

"You've said it yourself, I've seen the queen naked plenty of times," Eris grumbles. "I saw you naked in that body, as well, when you first turned up covered in blood."

"Don't remind me. You probably loved that, considering your fetish for filthy women."

He sighs heavily as I come back around the mirror.

"That joke can't be over with soon enough. My point is, I've seen everything already, so why worry about modesty now? I didn't take you for the self-conscious sort."

"I just thought since I'm a woman and you're a…"

Come to think of it, is he a man?

He seems irritated by the jokes I keep making about him looking at women, and he's not making a thing out of me stripping. Maybe he's into men. Or maybe he just looks like an ethereally beautiful human, but he's a totally platonic mirror being with no sexual interests in anyone.