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I understand now, I think to myself as I’m pulled into the endless white.

It’s the cry of heartbreak.

Because only love can hurt like this.

* * *

Riven

Adelaide’s cape is blowing in the wind created by the magical swirl she’s being pulled into. Luther has a grip on her waist, dragging from behind as he leans down low into her ear, his lips brushing the skin as he tells her more lies.

I. See. Red. My mind swims in it. I rush to free her, but before I can, they are falling through. Without thinking twice, I jump to follow them. And when the four of us tumble through to the other side, we’re in the Hall of Mirrors, and he’s lost his hold on Adelaide.

She shoves him away, sliding back until she bumps into her reflection on the wall, betrayal shimmering in her hazel eyes.

I charge him, and he tries to fight me. As if he could. He claws and reaches for my neck. But Luther’s strength is no match for the anger that has taken over. My body trembles with it. Rage pumps through me like crimson lava.

He put his hands on her.

It all happens too fast, but time is now moving slowly, like the taunting click of winding a clock. Pain radiates in my hand and up my arm as my fist strikes Luther’s face over and over. Bones crunch, and the sound makes my stomach roll, but I don’t stop. I make him pay for touching what is mine.

“Riven!” Shouting gets louder as I see the brothers rushing in with swords drawn.

“Birdy?” I panic.

“Safe.” Bash yells, and I release the breath I was holding.

“The mirrors! Shatter them all!” I instruct, and in an instant, Lucien and Bash move with the practiced ease of the trained assassins they were bred to be.

When Luther finally stops struggling beneath me, my arms fall to my sides as if they had lead weights tied to them. Drawing in a few ragged breaths, I focus my blurry vision on the man lying still beneath me. As Gus jumps me from behind, screaming pulls me from the haze, and my eyes find Adelaide sprawled out on the stone floor, littered with shards of glass.

I wish my bow didn’t get left in the cave, but I grab my dagger from its sheath, rolling the bear of a man over and off me as I drive my dagger between his ribs and right into his black heart.

Warm blood flows over my hands, and I slide in it as I try to get out from under him and to the princess.

Just as I’m on my feet, the queen’s voice stops me in my tracks.

“Fools! You’re all fools to think you could defeat me!”

Stepping forward, with Lucien and Bash behind me, I prepare to face off with the queen while the men continue to shatter the mirrors with the hilts of their swords.

“Every last one!” I command. “We must find the mirror that can’t be broken.”

“You’ll never find it.” She cackles, dragging Adelaide by her hair.

“Don’t be so sure,” I bluff. “You can learn a lot about a person during pillow talk.”

I need her to hesitate, to make her doubt what it is she could have revealed without knowing.

But she doesn’t balk; she’s mad with anger and desperation, and her hand moves to grab the princess by the throat.

Adelaide struggles to get to her feet, clawing at the queen’s metal-adorned hand still wrapped around her delicate neck. Her hazel eyes are wide, and her strangled scream pierces my heart.

“Was I not enough for you?” The queen’s screams shatter more glass as her grip tightens on Adelaide’s neck. “You could have ruled by my side. We could have had everything. But you’re just like him.”

It takes me a second to figure out that she’s talking about King Philip.

“I took away his happiness—his beloved wife,” she spits. “And his only child… born of Fairest Blood.” She mocks the prophecy. “But his broken heart was of no use to me. It was hers I needed. So, I took his kingdom and his crown, and then I hunted his heir. And broke her heart… with your help,” she adds.