Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,132

reflective silver.

“Navara!” I tried to shake her awake while the guards trampled down the stairs at the sound of my cry. I set my head against her chest to listen for a heartbeat and whimpered at the sound of silence. Her skin was so cold, and her irises glinted like salmon scales.

A breathy chuckle made the hairs on my neck prickle. I looked up at the edifice mirror, standing open on its hinges, and found a shadowy outline of Ambrosine surrounded by a dark glow, like the ring around the moon during an eclipse.

I could have used the same shattering spell I’d used while trying to escape Ambrosine’s illusions in the palace. But I reeled back and drove my first into the glass, roaring with anger.

The mirror burst into shards. The laughter stopped.

Navara heaved a breath like she’d been drowning and finally surfaced. She blinked away the silver from her wide, wild eyes, and one of the guards helped her stand.

“She tricked me,” she gasped. “I thought it was real.”

“Thought what was real?” I demanded.

Navara stumbled forward and clutched my sleeve. “She looked like an old woman who approached my parents and me on the street when I was a child. She offered me a perfect apple, but I was afraid of her because she was bent and covered in warts. I was so young and I didn’t know better. So I said no and ran away. Later, Mother told me that I couldn’t be a true leader if I did not look upon everyone with kindness.” She coughed and massaged her throat. “I always regretted not taking the gift. It used to make me think I would be a terrible queen. I hoped my parents would have a son so I wouldn’t have to be.”

I rubbed her shoulder and thought of the twisted memories Ambrosine had shown me in the mirrors. Myron must have told her this story.

“I didn’t want to make the same mistake again,” Navara said. “So when the old woman offered me the apple, I took it. I had a bad feeling, like before, but I knew my mother would want me to. I took a bite, and then I couldn’t breathe. I was choking. The woman’s face changed to Ambrosine’s. That’s the last thing I remember until you came.”

“You were a child, Navara. That moment didn’t mean anything.” I took her hand in mine. “You have already made a good and valiant leader. Come, let’s go back inside.”

As I stepped over the glass to lead her in, an icy fear pierced my heart. If Ambrosine could find Navara in a mirror, did that mean she had found our army? That she knew of our plans? Or perhaps all she knew was that Navara was hiding in an Edifice of the Fallen. The whole country was full of them. Surely, she wouldn’t be able to tell one apart from the other.

Did Themera, who pursued me so relentlessly, know where I was, or was she reaching out blindly from the darkness to which the Holies had banished her?

If Themera knew where I was, I decided, Nexantius and Ambrosine would have found us by now.

Hopefully, Ambrosine had found Navara in the mirror because she could not find her in person. Hopefully, she had had merely chanced upon her nemesis on some other plane, the shadow universe of reflections that she and Nexantius ruled together. Otherwise, she would be here.

I resolved to finish this, to make sure Navara survived no matter what it took from me.

But it would not be easy. Navara was growing in power and beauty, and Ambrosine’s envious heart would not rest until one or both of them were dead.

THIRTY-NINE

KADRI

I TESTED the draw of the bow from the armory. Compared to the gorgeous bow Rynna had given me, it was lousy. But everything crafted by human hands seemed lousy by comparison.

Despite the early summer rain, the dawn was too warm for the heavy furs, leather gloves, and winter boots we wore. As the squadron gathered around and prepared to move out for the ambush, sweat beaded on my brow and raindrops tickled my scalp.

I stood next to Glisette, a quiver packed with arrows slung over my shoulder. Her brows sketched a rigid line, and there was worry in her eyes.

Our scout had reported that Ambrosine’s army was indeed on the move, marching south on the road from Halithenica.

Sev stood beside Glisette with a crossbow in his gloved grip and several knives strapped to his belt. He