Lilyanna stared into the water mirror, frozen in place. Her fingers rose on their own and brushed the darkened skin along her cheek. The touch was careful, testing, as if she expected it to spread beneath her hand. The surface felt the same. Smooth and warm. It was her skin still for certain, the blight seeming to be purely cosmetic in nature.
"I contained it," she murmured to herself. Her fingertips traced the warped lines where the glow no longer flowed cleanly. "It was but a weak fragment. I crushed it down to a speck!"
Her breathing picked up. She leaned closer to the mirror, eyes tracking every uneven break in the pattern, every place where the light failed to behave the way it always had. Her hand slid up into her hair and drew a lock forward. Pale strands caught between her fingers, dull where vibrant color should have been.
Her shoulders tightened. "So why is it still here?!"
