“Or Qaus simply found out about the sale,” I muttered. “But the real question is; why did the Mirror show us this?”
“It can only be one reason; it vants us to kill Narcissus.”
“Better dead than escaped,” I murmured. “We're its backup plan. But if that's true, why try to kill us?”
“Priority must be to gain our magic to sustain itself,” Kirill mused. “And if zat doesn't vork...”
“It will use us to make sure Narcissus never leaves,” I finished.
“Ve have something it vants,” Kirill said with a devious look.
“And it has someone we want.” I nodded. “Give me back Trevor, Mirror. Then we'll see about Narcissus.”
A door appeared in the wall, and I grinned triumphantly at Kirill.
Chapter Eighteen
Never trust a mirror.
Kirill and I strode confidently down the steel corridors, believing the Mirror was leading us to Trevor. But all it had done was open a path; it hadn't really agreed to a bargain. Although, it did lead us to Trevor. Or him to us, rather.
Kirill and I stepped out of the hallway and into a bright, white room. It was so bright that I covered my eyes with my forearm until they adjusted. During my brief blindness, I was grabbed and shoved roughly about as I blinked in disorientation. I thrashed wildly as I heard Kirill growling, but I couldn't free myself. Then steel bands replaced the hands as I was strapped to a hard bed. Correction; an exam table. My feet were set in metal stirrups, my legs spread wide, and my clothes replaced with a baby blue, paper, hospital gown. A man dressed in scrubs with a paper mask covering the lower half of his face crouched between my thighs with a devious-looking device in his hand. The black handle had a long, metal tube attached to it and was hooked up to a large, whirring machine. I flailed about but the metal bands held me securely.
Kirill roared and beat against the bars of a cage nearby. He was on the verge of shifting. I could see the bones rippling beneath his skin, but he couldn't complete the transformation. The damn Mirror had to be holding him back.
“Vervain!” Trevor shouted as he ran forward.
A bunch of orderlies restrained him. He tried to shift too; his body bulging and his face snarling. It wasn't pretty.
“Everyone relax,” the doctor between my legs said. “This is a common procedure. I'll have the little monster out of her in no time.”
“Vero,” I whispered in horror.
“No!” Trevor shouted and managed to fling a few of the men off him.
Trevor only made it two feet before they restrained him again; several more orderlies appearing out of thin air.
“Don't you fucking touch her!” Trevor howled and his eyes glowed golden honey.
The Wolf had returned.
“Calm yourself,” the doctor said. “There's a simple solution.”
The doctor waved his hand and a pit opened in the floor right in front of the Wolf; it was full of steel spikes taller than Kirill.
“Your life for that of your son,” the doctor said. “What will it be, Wolf Prince? Just a few steps forward will save him.”
“Trevor, no!” I shouted. “It can't hurt me so it—”
A gag appeared over my mouth, and I shouted through it. But the Mirror had forgotten about Kirill.
“It's trying to make you kill yourself!” Kirill shouted. “It's not real, Trevor! It can't hurt her! It gets nothing if it kills your child, but vith—”
The Mirror gagged Kirill too, but it was too late. The Wolf was smart enough—devious enough—to figure out the rest for himself. He gave a wild howl and shook off the orderlies.
“I will not play your game!” The Wolf covered his eyes with his hands, blocked his ears, and started humming like a three-year-old.
I laughed my damn ass off.
The illusion vanished, and I was able to laugh more fully, standing on my feet in my old clothes instead of that horrible hospital gown. Kirill rushed over to me, and we hurried to the Wolf to make sure the Mirror couldn't separate us again. I pulled at his ears, but the Wolf held firm. Kirill shook his head and snickered as I tried to shout at the Wolf that it was over. Finally, I wedged my face between his hands and kissed him.
The Wolf inhaled deeply and his hands fell away from his eyes as he returned my kiss. His arms wound around me, and he pulled me closer; his tongue a hot demand in my mouth. I groaned into the pleasure but pulled away before it consumed me. This was not the place or time for that.
“Wolf?” I asked as I searched his eyes. “Is Trevor all right?”
“We're both fine now, Mate.” The Wolf laid his forehead against mine and sighed. “We were lost in a metal maze. Your voice called to us, and then we found you here.”
Kirill was right; the Mirror's priority was to get us to kill ourselves. Killing Narcissus was its last resort.
“It's all illusion. The Mirror can't kill us. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because it wouldn't be able to claim us as sacrifices if it did. It's become like a god; a tricky one. It showed us Narcissus talking to Qaus, and Qaus warned him that I would be coming into the mirror and that if he got me to sacrifice myself, Narcissus would become powerful enough to escape.”
“Qaus? Isn't he one of the rainbow gay gods who was with the bottled water goddess?” the Wolf asked.
I laughed softly. “Yeah; Qaus, Gish, and Disani.”
“Zat's probably vhy Mirror zinks it cannot kill us,” Kirill mused. “Qaus told Narcissus to get Vervain to sacrifice herself, not kill her.”
“Could be something to do with the curse,” the Wolf mused.
“Whatever it is, we've learned that the Mirror can't replicate scents or the feeling of our bonds. If you're in doubt, use your other senses,” I said quickly as I clasped Kirill's hand and tucked him
