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he wraps his fingers around my wrist to draw my arm closer.
    I’m embarrassed by the marks. Now he knows I stopped fighting. That I didn’t resist anymore. “He wanted . . . he—”
    â€œI know what he wanted.” Kiaran’s voice is rough, tinged with anger. He traces my scars with his thumb, as if memorizing the pattern. “I’ll kill him for giving you these.”
    â€œ No ,” I say, a bit forcefully. Kiaran looks at me, surprised. “It’ll be me. It has to be me.”
    I will him to understand. Lonnrach could have broken me. He practically did. All I had left were my memories, my feelings, and once I lost those—I would have been his. It has to be me .
    â€œVery well,” Kiaran says simply.
    That’s not good enough. “Promise.”
    Kiaran strokes my wrist with his thumb—once, twice, three times. Stopping when he reaches the part where several marks overlap. “On one condition.” He holds my gaze. “You let me be the one who supplies the blade.”
    â€œAye,” I whisper.
    He understands. We’ve hunted together. We’ve lost a battle together. That’s a bond that lasts a lifetime.
    Kiaran nods. “Let’s get you out of here.”
    I’d imagined those words a thousand times, picturing myself strong and capable again. In my imagination, I stand without difficulty. The truth is, when Kiaran helps me to my feet, my vision sways from the blood loss and lingering venom of Lonnrach’s bite. My knees almost immediately buckle.
    Kiaran grasps my shoulders—or tries to. His hands go right through me and I just barely manage to catch myself.
    â€œListen to me.” His voice muffles slightly, as though he’s speaking across a great distance. “This mirror”—he indicates the nearest one—“will lead you to my sister. The ward that was preventing you from leaving should be down by now.”
    â€œYou’re not coming?” I try to keep the emotion out of my voice. I just got Kiaran back. I can’t lose him again.
    â€œI can’t keep this form for long.” He’s already fading, his body blurring around the edges.
    â€œWait! Don’t—”
    With his last bit of strength, Kiaran cups my cheek. His fingers are warm, so warm. “I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

CHAPTER 5
    O NCE THROUGH the mirror, I blink hard against the sudden onslaught of natural light. My vision clears and I’m surprised to find myself on the edge of a platform that looks across the Sìth-bhrùth ’s crevasse. The other floating platforms are familiar, and I realize they’re the ones I saw when Lonnrach first brought me here. That seems like so long ago now, from another life entirely.
    I peer up at the building on the platform with me. Its mirrored dome rises high toward the thick rain clouds, glinting in the rays of light that shine through. I recognize the glimmering, star-patterned dome and the opulent structure as the magnificent palace I noticed when I arrived. So it wasn’t a royal residence at all—but a prison.
    I take a moment to close my eyes, to breathe in deep. My lungs fill with winter air, fresh and crisp.
    Later , I tell myself. Once I’m safe .
    I scan the lip of the platform; there’s little space between the wall of the palace and the rim of the rock that descends to the darkness below. Kiaran’s sister is nowhere to be seen.
    Damnation . I edge closer and look over. My stomach drops and I sway on my feet. Instinctively, I crouch closer to the ground, placing my palms to the dirt. No, there’s nothing down there. Not even a platform to leap onto.
    â€œI wouldn’t,” a voice says, only a moment before I’m hit with the taste of power. Rose petals across my tongue, down my throat.
    My head snaps around to see a faery crouched on her own rocky platform a good stone’s throw from the