“The mirror’s the only way to know.” I struck toward the doorway. “If it was here, there’d still be a mirror-way.”
Faun turned after her as I approached the mirror. “A mirror-way? But those are…”
Eury stepped around Faun, appearing at my side. My instinct was to reach out, to stop her, but I paused before touching her. She didn’t want me touching her, and a god had ordained only two occasions when I could—either to save her life, or take it.
She tied her robe off tight. “Explain it to me.”
I stopped in front of the mirror, staring down at it. “It’s a path between two mirrors. Permanent magic.”
Haskel rose with a grunt. “Back in your room, Finch.”
I glimpsed Finch’s peering face before he shut the door to his room with a click. I nodded at Faun. “We need a little magic to activate it.”
Faun crouched in front of her own reflection. Atsome point she’d tied her black hair into a tight ponytail, which slid over her shoulder. She reminded me of a fox, careful and attuned. “What happens if I touch it?”
I crossed my arms. “Just don’t fall in.”
Her fingers reached out, and magic pooled around them. Even here, in the summer court, she could draw a little on her magic. She reached her index finger toward the glass, slow and careful.
Instead of touching a hard surface, her finger passed into the glass like she’d touched the surface of a pond. She withdrew her finger quickly, shook it out with a hiss.
Yes, a mirror-way.
“Break it,” I hissed.
“How?” Eury asked.
“Shatter it,” Haskel grunted. “It may be magicked, but it’s still made of glass.”
Faun didn’t even glance my way. She rose, unsheathed her rapier, and turned it pommel-down. Eury stepped back as Faun jerked the rapier downward.
The shrillness echoed off the ceiling and shards of glass spilled over the wooden sides.
Eury stood barefoot, breathing fast. Her knife sat tight in her grip as she stared down at her sharded visage.
I had to admit, much as Faun irritated the fuck out of me, she and Eury were a perfect pair. Fearless to a fault.
Eury’s gaze flicked up to me. “And how does this mirror-way confirm Gawain is here now?”
“Unseelie magic.” I nodded toward Faun. “The imprint has to be the same on both sides of the mirror.”
Eury turned toward me, knife still out. “What if someone brought the mirror in here after his imprint was on it?”
She was quick. Always so quick.
“It’s possible,” Haskel said. “Either way, Liora allowed for this.”
“So we take it to her,” Eury said. “Tell her what happened. Insist on an investigation.”
Faun snorted. “Over a broken mirror and stabbed bedding? We’ve gotnothing.”
“You’ll look paranoid,” I said.
Haskel turned toward his bedroom door. “Paranoid and weak.”
Mirek’s door opened, and his sleepy-eyed face appeared. “Could you all keep it—oh.” His gaze had found the shards of mirror. “What the fuck kind of debauchery is this?”
“Mirror wraith,” Faun, Haskel, and I said in unison.