My eyebrows pinch. “What is that?”
“I thought you spent all of your time reading.” He walks over, stopping at my side.
“You know far too much about me for someone who pretends not to care about anything.”
His golden eyes flare. “That’s where you’re wrong, Starfire. I care a great deal when it comes to you.”
Because of my magic.
Because he wants to destroy us.
I wrap my arms around my stomach and cling to those thoughts.
“The mirror of Echme isn’t actually a mirror at all. It’s a pool of holy water, blessed from the lightning fields.” Wilder tucks his hands into his pockets. “Before the Collision, it was believed the lightning storms on Echme’s beaches were blessings from the gods. Infusing magic into Lyrichia.”
“Do you think that’s true?”
He shrugs. “No one knows the intentions of the gods. They only pretend to.”
“That’s a bold statement in a temple.”
“Even Lady Reah will tell you the same.” He looks at me, and I don’t break his stare, even when the intensity is all too much. “The mirror of Echme is water from a unique pool. The lightning that struck it was not gold or white or silver as they usually are. It was blue.”
My fingers move to the tips of my hair, and Wilder’s gaze follows.
“Where the blue lightning struck, the water turned. It was no longer reflective, but an endless abyss that was said to see into the threads the Luminess wove. To step inside the mirror is to see your path, though it can just as easily drive you mad if your magic or your mind is not prepared for what the gods offer.”
“That’s why I might not survive the blessing?”
Wilder glances up at the fire, and his golden eyes dance with the reflection of the flames. “You’ll survive.”
“What makes you so certain? Have you seen a prophecy like the king has?”
“No. You just have too strong a will not to.”
Flames dance in his eyes; his magic stirs just beneath the surface. I can’t look away from the shimmers of gold, pulling me in like a predator luring its prey. The longer I stare at Wilder, I wonder if he’s like the mirror he speaks of. Because what I’m meant to see at the surface isn’t what I find the longer I look into him.
A door creaks across the atrium, and Lady Reah steps out. She’s in a similar lace dress this morning to the one she wore yesterday, although there’s no robe covering her shoulders. A sparkling crystal diadem sits atop her head.
“It’s time.”
Wilder waits for me to walk ahead of him. Father always warned me not to turn my back on predators. But as dangerous as Wilder might be to my realm, I get this strange sense he wouldn’t hurt me.
King Malachi is dressed in all blue today, no gold. It’s simple in comparison to his usual wear, and there’s no crown atop his head.
He stands at the edge of a large pool, which is not nearly as deep as I expected. Ankle high at most.
King Malachi stares down at the water with such focus, I can’t help wondering what he’s thinking. When his gaze flits up to me, he smiles in approval. Goose bumps dot my skin for reasons that have nothing to do with a chill in the room or excitement.
Lady Reah circles to the opposite end of the pool, glancing down at the water, while I stand between the king and Wilder, whose arm brushes mine ever so slightly because I’ve moved closer to him.
“As you prepare to bind with the heart of a realm, you must look inside your own. Your magic will be reflected off the will of the gods to show you your path. What you see in that path is for you and you alone. The temple is not here to judge your fate, but to provide insight. It is here to offer its blessing.” Lady Reah looks up at me. “Are you ready?”
I nod, and Lady Reah stretches out her hands, waving us forward.
The water begins to stir like it did when she ran her finger around the rim of the small bowl in the temple yesterday. Small ripples web out from the center, reaching for us.
I look up at Wilder one final time before taking a step and find his eyes already on me.
