Yet there was no mistaking the wonder in her eyes as he led her to the dance floor and the music began. So strange to think that it had felt like it was only them there, but so many eyes had been locked on them. The image blurred once more, and it was Blythe. Her home wasn’t truly her home, but she loved it nonetheless.
There was a banging sound behind her that made the image quiver. Blue sparks shook and trembled as if an urgency were catching the room. The images shifted onto one another too quickly to catch, until Brielle knelt down before her.
Her heart leapt, and Luci fell to her knees before her friend. The image of Brielle, healthy and well, reached out her hand, and Luci did the same, fingers nearly touching. More banging. Brielle’s eyes widened, and a panic pulled at her features as she looked past Luci at something else. When her gaze landed on Luci once more, they shimmered with blue sparks.
“Pay attention, we don’t have much time left,” Brielle said.
Luci nodded even though she had never understood something less in her life. The image of Brielle pulled back, and a mountain top came into view. High at the top was a flower just like the one Brielle had breathed in earlier. Just as quickly, images began to flash as the banging became harder to ignore. A field of poppies, a cave that glowed glittering blue, a lagoon with the same glow. Prince Ira, throwing his head back in laughter, held a torch in his hand. A sky full of stars. A fireplace is cracking. An empty field with a large shadow falling over it like a terrible beast with wings. The ball once again. Prince Ira laughed. Brielle is holding out her hand. The image shifts, and it’s Prince Ira reaching out his own hand. There is a softness to his face that almost seems impossible.
“You are everything.” his voice is a caress, a whisper.
More banging, incessant, and demanding. A clock strikes twelve. A glittering dress of blue. Cups raised in toast. A crown. A diadem. The room shakes with the banging, and the images falter to blackness, while the blue diamond magic- there was no longer any chance to deny what it was. The magic quivered and pulsated before shoving itself into the mirror in front of Luci, and Brielle formed once more, her familiar eyes panicked and wide.
“I’ve shown you everything. It’s all I can do.” The words were rushed, desperate. “Follow the path I have shown for you.”
The pounding was starting to make her head scream, but more than that, she needed time. Needed to understand what Brielle, the magic, was trying to show her.
“I don’t understand.” Luci pleaded, feeling a wetness drip down her cheeks that was not her own.
Brielle shook her head, luminous curls bouncing. “You are enough, Lucinda. You have always been enough.”
Nothing made sense, but something inside her screamed that if she let this version of Brielle go, it would never exist.
“Don’t go,” she begged, chest aching, heart breaking.
Brielle’s smile was soft, knowing. “It’s all up to you now. I’ve done what I was meant to do. Be brave, Lucinda, and you and I will meet again.”
The walls shook, and a tremor went through the room as she had never experienced. Like the earth itself was gasping for air.
“Brielle!” Prince Ira’s voice called.
Light above, it was all coming apart. With all the strength she could muster, Luci desperately half crawled, half pushed herself along the mirror floor and threw herself into a ball, covering her head. A pressure overtook her body as the world shook once more and the sound of exploding glass reverberated in her ears. Pain lanced through her arm, and she gritted her teeth against it. Beneath her, the glass smashed, and her elbow fell into a broken piece, slicing it through.
A grunt of pain that was not her own answered. Unwilling to risk opening her eyes, she waited for the next beat of pain, but it never came. Instead, the world quieted once more, and the pressure lifted from her. Everything inside her said to stay put. If she kept very still, then maybe she would wake up in bed next to Brielle. Maybe this had all been an elaborate fever dream.
“Are you all right?” Dream Prince Ira asked.
At least she had imagined him nice to look at. He was very charming and handsome up until the moment he had locked her in a room with wild magic that shouldn’t have existed.
“Brielle?” he asked.
It would have been nice if her mind had at least had the decency to make her not have to pretend to be her best friend. It was strange to hear him call her that.
Hands, gentle and guiding, lifted her face from the cocoon she had made for herself. Metallic bit against her tongue. Shock ran through her as she realized the hands were bleeding. All thoughts of fever dreams were lost as she raised her torso up andfound herself kneeling across from the crown prince, who was bleeding from multiple wounds.
“You’re hurt,” she said, too calm.
His furrowed brows released, and that annoying dimple made its appearance as he ran his eyes over her, searching. His hand ghosted over her arm, where she knew she had been cut, and over her elbow that dripped crimson.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” he said, raising his eyes to hers.
Either he was a very convincing actor, or he genuinely regretted trapping her in a room of mirrors. Likely could have gone either way, but there was no denying that he had been the pressure that had protected her body when they had broken.
“You were the banging,” she said.
Why was there no emotion in her voice? Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute, and her mind was reeling, but the words that fell from her lips were empty. Devoid of urgency and life.
“I’ve been trying to get in since the moment the doors shut. I didn’t know that would happen, I swear. It’s never happened before, please believe me.”