“Agreed.”
Chapter Seventeen
The mirrors around us shimmered and then a scene unfolded. It moved around the room, sliding across the mirrors as if trying to get our attention until it finally settled on the wall to our left. Kirill and I warily turned to watch.
Narcissus stood before the Mirror's frame, staring out of the glass portal. The Mirror zoomed in on his face; shocked but also eager. It panned out to show a man standing on the other side of the mirror; the real side. Swarthy and exotically handsome, the man looked as if he belonged on a white stallion; riding across the Sahara with his ebony hair covered in a trailing turban that left nothing but his keen stare visible. A stunning man, to be sure, but it was his sparkling, rainbow eyes that jolted me. The Mirror focused in on those eyes as if it had noticed my response.
“Who is zat?” Kirill asked. “You recognize him, don't you?”
“Remember when I went forward into Re's memories and experienced that future that wasn't meant to be?” I asked him.
“Da.”
“When I was there, I fought three gods.”
“You killed zem.” Kirill nodded. “You vanted to kill zem again; preemptive strike.”
“Re and the Four Horsemen actually killed them,” I corrected him. “But yes, I was going to kill them in this timeline except Silenus made that prophecy that made me reconsider.”
“Da; at our vedding.”
“That's right.” I looked back at the image in the mirror; it had zoomed out to show both of the men again. “And that's one of those gods. It's Qaus, the Arabian God of Rainbows.”
“Vhat is going on?” Kirill whispered as he drew me forward with him.
We stood in front of the image and watched as Qaus held a pad of paper up to the glass. The words were backward. Narcissus frowned and shook his head at Qaus as he made a twirling motion with his fingers.
“Damn it; I can't read that,” Narcissus said even though Qaus couldn't hear him. “And I can't manifest a mirror down here either.”
Qaus scowled, looked at the paper, and then seemed to realize the problem. He left, and Narcissus started pacing anxiously, but Qaus shortly returned with a mirror. Setting the mirror to face Narcissus, he held up the paper facing in and tried again. The words came into focus.
“That's how Narcissus knew to warn us about the words being backwards,” I murmured. Then I read Qaus' words and cursed, “Strawberry Shortcake!”
“He vas varned,” Kirill said softly. Then he frowned and grabbed my arm. “Ve can't trust zis, Vervain. Mirror could be misleading us as it tried to do to Trevor and me.”
“What did it show you exactly?” I asked softly.
Kirill's frown deepened. “You mean; scene vith Narcissus?”
“Yes; what did it look like?”
“Vhy are you asking?” Kirill growled as his grip tightened.
“Because Narcissus came onto me at the pool,” I admitted. “Nothing happened. Well, nothing for you to be mad about. He came onto me, I refused, he was confused because no woman has ever done that to him before, and so he tried again, and I threatened to tear off his dick.”
Kirill choked out a laugh. “You vhat?”
“He pulled it out of his shorts and started stroking it.” I rolled my eyes. “I think he thought it would seduce me. So, I told him that if he didn't put it away, I'd remove it.”
Kirill's jaw clenched before he spoke. “And you don't zink zat's something I should be mad about?”
“Narcissus has been here a long time.” I shrugged. “He apologized and told me he was lonely and truly thought that a woman with two husbands would be open to some side action. I let it go, and I didn't want to upset you and Trevor so I kept it to myself.”
“You should have told us.” Kirill shook his head. “The Mirror showed us you and Narcissus lying beside each other in the grass while he rubbed his dick. Trevor and I vere convinced it vas a trick but it sounds as if it really happened, just not exactly as it appeared. If you had told us, ve vould have been varned, and ve vould have known sooner to be careful of it.”
“You're right; I'm sorry.” I grimaced. “I thought it would cause more trouble than it was worth.”
Kirill nodded and kissed my forehead to let me know I was forgiven.
“But my point is; if it showed you the truth before, this could be it again.”
“It showed us truth but in a vay to make us believe a lie,” Kirill argued. “It's tricky; ve cannot trust it.”
“But this makes sense,” I waved a hand at the image that had paused, focused on Qaus. “I don't think we should ignore it.”
“Ve vere already suspicious of Narcissus,” he reminded me.
“Now, we'll be even more wary,” I said grimly.
I looked back at the words written on Qaus' pad; The Godhunter will be pulled into the mirror soon. Get her to sacrifice herself, and you will gain her magic and be strong enough to escape.
Kirill pointed at the message. “It says to get you to sacrifice yourself, not kill you. Narcissus knew zat he'd have to trick you into taking your own life.”
“But how did Qaus know that?” I narrowed my stare at the Arab.
Kirill shrugged. “Research? Perhaps another god told him? Doesn't matter; Narcissus knew.”
“But he wasn't expecting all of us,” I said with soft menace. “Whoever set this up intended for me to get pulled in alone.”
“You said Re killed Qaus in zat future?”
“Yeah.” I stared at the Arabian God as his image finally faded away. “But Qaus wouldn't know that.”
“Maybe he senses something. He could feel it as instinct,” Kirill said. “You may have averted zat future but it left echoes of itself. Re if proof of zat.”
“Do you think Qaus could be the god who manipulated the Argentinian Gods into hunting me?”
“Could be.” Kirill nodded. “Somehow, he managed to
