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Adelaide’s sad eyes hold mine in accusation as the mad queen continues her rant, and I shake my head at her, pleading for her to see through the illusion of lies while I look for a way to end this once and for all.
Smash.
Smash.
Smash.
It rains down glass around us. With each mirror that is broken, the light fades, and the darkness grows.
“Adelaide!” a voice I know all too well calls out. “Here.”
“Birdy! Noooooooo!”
The queen’s head turns to look at my sister running toward harm, and I’m at the other end of the hall, the princess and the queen between us.
My eyes find Lucien, who’s as shocked as I am. “I thought you said she was secure?” he yells at Bash.
“She was,” he defends, never missing a beat swinging his sword.
“Get her now!” I tell him because he’s the closest.
“Birdy, please go!” Adelaide yells, and in that moment, I love her more than I already do.
I love her.
“Here.” Birdy drops something from her hand onto the floor and kicks it toward Adelaide.
“Your heart! Adelaide, use your heart,” she cries out as Bash wraps his arms around her and drags her out, kicking and screaming. I don’t understand what she means. Her small hands gesture around her neck as she kicks. “Your heart!” Her voice fades, and my heart starts beating again now that she’s safe. But there is another woman I love here, and even if she thinks I’m the villain, I’m still going to rescue her.
Everything happens so fast.
I follow Adelaide’s gaze to the ground and see what looks like… a mirror.
A small, simple silver hand mirror.
The queen has to choose between letting go of Adelaide or reaching for the mirror.
She releases her, and they both dive for it at the same time.
The queen’s claws grab it, snatching it away from the princess before straddling over her, looking into the mirror.
“The Fairest Blood, the beautiful raven-haired girl with snowy white skin and rose-red lips. But beauty fades the way that summer flowers rot.” She addresses Adelaide with venom in her voice before holding up the only mirror in the hall not shattered.
“Enchanted mirror… in my hand—”
The queen never finishes.
Time stands still as Adelaide reaches up and rips her locket from her neck and drives the glass heart into the enchanted mirror.
The first crack rings out like lightning.
“A winter rose never loses its beauty… or its thorns,” Adelaide’s voice whispers with a deadly calm.
The queen’s piercing scream echoes as the sound of a million shards of glass splintering and raining down like an ice storm fills the hall, now pitched in darkness.
Lucien runs back in with a candle, and we wade through glass and blood.
But no queen.
