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it,” he said, and then whispering as though it were an afterthought. “We need each other.”
    “I don’t want what you can teach me,” she said. But it was a lie and they both knew it. 
     
     
    10
     
    He waited, the snow drifting in a mad dance. Then he saw her slipping towards him, face tucked under the folds of a black hood. 
    “Hello,” she said, shivering.
    “You are late,” he motioned towards their horses. 
    The weather was deteriorating quickly and he feared they would be found in the morning dead and frozen if they didn’t leave now. He hurried towards his own mount only to discover Miranda was standing in the same spot.
    “Come on,” he urged her. 
    “I can’t,” she said quickly. 
    “Miranda, you have to come.”
    “I can’t,” she repeated. 
    Dumbfounded he stared at her, the reins hanging from his hand. 
    “You should go very far, as far as you can,” she said, with an odd calmness. “Never come back. Do you understand?” 
    “Miranda,” he said. “What is this?”
    “A wedding gift. But he will not show you such kindness again. If you are wise, head beyond Kire. Some place where magic is long gone.”
    He shook his head, a small, mute gesture of denial. 
    She slid her arms around him, pressing her lips on to his. Her fingers were digging painfully into his shoulders, but he didn’t protest. He kissed her back instead.
    It didn’t last and she was gone, her retreating footsteps quickly erased by the snow. 
     
    ***
     
    She walked into her room and knelt before the fire, which was burning low. The snow that flecked her hair and clothes melted and puddled at her feet. She turned her head to stare at the mirror, its naked surface reflecting her. 
    He’d been, he was , in her room, sitting upon a chair in a darkened corner, looking bored. 
    “You removed the cover,” she said.
    “Yes.”
    “Aren’t you afraid of it?”
    “That is what charms and talismans are for,” he said, standing behind her.  
    She rose, looking at their reflections. He’d taken off his jacket and his shirt was half open. She could see a word, a mark, imprinted on his chest.  
    “Charms and talismans could fail you one day,” she said.
    “Luckily, my wits never fail me. I do not make false movements.” 
    His face was smug. Her own was guarded.
    “Then I will truly be crowned queen?”
    “Yes.”
    “And you say this, it can be controlled? No need to fear it?”
    “Never again. Touch the glass.”
    Miranda hesitated, biting her lip, and extending her hand. Her fingers pressed against the cool smooth surface. The mirror beat, like the pulse of a great beast.
    “Feel that?” he asked  
    She nodded. His hand grazed her shoulder. 
    “Power.”
    The mirror reflected her tentative smile. Her eyes were of the oddest shade, the color of molten gold. She was very beautiful, might have easily been the princess in a fairy tale. But she was not. She was something entirely different.  
     
     
    KING OF SAND AND STORMY SEAS
     
    He stood at the edge of the beach and leaned forward trying to spy beneath the water a kraken or a two-tailed mermaid. Only there were no mermaids today, no terrible krakens or glimmering serpents. Just Lysander, alone, under a light drizzle.
    He swung his arm in a mighty arc, ready to throw the sword into the water, ready to say goodbye. And then he couldn’t and instead the sword landed against a rock. It fell with a loud clank while the seagulls watched.
    Lysander sat down. Small crabs scuttled by.
    “If you don’t want it, you can give it to me,” someone said behind him. “It’s a waste of a good sword.”
    He turned. It was a young man — barely a man actually — lean and tanned and smiling.
    “I could sell it,” said the young fellow eagerly.
    “What would you buy?”
    “Pair of shoes,” he replied, wriggling his toes.
    “A pair of shoes,” Lysander grumbled. “A pair of shoes for a fine sword.”
    “Well, if you don’t want it, I could use it.