The crater pulsed like an open wound.
Sunrei dragged himself upright, his brand searing against his wrist. Lithriel stood before him, her silver robes untouched by the crimson dust swirling around them. Up close, she was younger than he remembered no, younger than she should be. Her face unlined, her eyes bright with something that wasn't quite madness.
You look terrible, Prince. Her voice was a melody Sunrei's bones remembered.
Kaelis groaned beside him, her fingers twitching toward her knives. Lithriel flicked a glance at her, amused.
Still keeping strays, I see.
Sunrei's dagger was in his hand before he could think. Where's Cael?
Lithriel sighed, as if disappointed. Always so dramatic.She turned, robes whispering against the cracked earth. Come. He's waiting at the mirror.
Sunrei didn't move. What mirror?
Lithriel looked back over her shoulder, her smile sharp enough to draw blood.
The one that's going to eat your memories. Again.
The crater's heart was a lake of glass.
Not water. Not ice. Glass, smooth and black and perfectly reflective. Cael knelt at its edge, his hands pressed against the surface like a man praying. His reflection didn't match it was older, harder, its eyes glowing violet.
Sunrei's steps faltered. Cael?
His brother didn't turn. Don't look at it.
Too late.
Sunrei's gaze dropped to the glass and his reflection moved on its own. It reached up, pressing its palm against his. The moment their skin met, fire lanced through Sunrei's brand.
Memory:
A younger Cael, screaming as Lithriel pressed a brand to his wrist.
Sunrei (but not Sunrei, this version wore silver and cruelty like a second skin) watching, unmoved.
You'll thank me, he said.
Cael's reply, choked with tears:
I'll kill you for this.
Sunrei wrenched back, gasping. His reflection smirked.
Lithriel clapped her hands. Wonderful! You're starting to remember.
Kaelis grabbed Sunrei's arm. What the hell was that?
His reflection answered for him, its voice dripping with amusement:
The truth.
Cael finally turned. His eyes were bloodshot, his missing brand scar pulsing. It shows you what you buried. What you asked to forget.
Sunrei's hands shook. I didn't
You did.Cael's voice broke. You stood there while she marked us. While she changed us. You called it mercy.
Lithriel sighed. Honestly, you're both being tedious. The past is past. What matters is the Eclipse is coming, and we
Kaelis's knife flashed, burying itself in Lithriel's throat.
Black fluid dripped. Lithriel blinked. Then she laughed, pulling the blade free as the wound stitched itself back together.
Oh, healer. Still trying to fix things that aren't broken?
Kaelis paled.
Sunrei stepped between them. What do you want?
Lithriel's smile faded. What I've always wanted. To finish what we started. She gestured to the glass. One last look, Prince. Then we go.
Sunrei didn't move.
His reflection did.
It lunged from the glass, its hands closing around Kaelis's throat.
Kaelis hit the ground, the reflection atop her. Sunrei grabbed for it his hands passed through like mist.
You can't touch me, it whispered, its face pressed against Kaelis's. But she can.
Kaelis's body arched, her mouth opening in a silent scream. Then
Her eyes fluttered open.
Violet.
Sunrei? Her voice was wrong. Deeper. Older.
His blood turned to ice. Kaelis?
She smiled. Oh, Prince. She can't hear you anymore.
The reflection dissolved, leaving only Kaelis no, the thing wearing Kaelis behind. It sat up, rolling her shoulders like a puppet testing its strings.
Cael made a wounded noise. No. Not again.
Lithriel sighed. Really, must you be so sentimental? She's just a vessel.
Sunrei's dagger was in his hand. Get out of her.
The thing wearing Kaelis tilted her head. Make me.
Then it moved.
Faster than Kaelis ever could, it crossed the distance between them, her fist driving into Sunrei's gut. He doubled over, gasping
Cael caught him. The glass, he hissed. It wants you to look again.
Sunrei didn't understand.
Then he did.
His reflection still stood in the glass, waiting.
Smiling.
Holding out its hand.
Cael shoved Sunrei aside as the thing wearing Kaelis lunged again.
Go! he snarled.
Sunrei stumbled toward the glass. His reflection's grin widened.
That's it, it crooned. Come home.
Behind him, Cael screamed.
Sunrei turned just in time to see the thing wearing Kaelis drive a knife into his brother's chest.
Cael gasped, his hands closing around hers. Then
He pulled.
Violet light erupted from the wound, swirling around them like a storm. The thing wearing Kaelis shrieked, trying to wrench free
Cael held on. Now, Sunrei!
Sunrei didn't hesitate.
He turned.
And let his reflection drag him under.
Darkness.
Then
Memory:
Lithriel's hands on his face, her breath sweet with poison.
You'll forget this, she whispered.
You'll forget me.
Sunrei (the real Sunrei, the one before the forgetting) nodded.
Will it hurt?
Lithriel's smile was the last thing he saw:
Only until it doesn't.
Sunrei woke drowning.
Black fluid filled his lungs, his nose, his throat. He thrashed, his hands scraping against smooth glass
The surface shattered.
He erupted from the lake, gasping.
The crater was silent.
No Lithriel.
No Cael.
Just Kaelis, slumped at the water's edge, her eyes closed.
And his own reflection, watching from the broken glass.
Waiting.
Always waiting.