Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,35
skin.
“Who’s there?” I asked. “Myron, are you toying with me?” I looked over my shoulder at the stairwell but couldn’t see anything. The idea of playing games in the dark frightened and exhilarated me. Though he had a sense of humor, Myron always struck me as the tame, rule-following type. I smirked thinking of him prowling in the dark, pretending to devour me like a fallen god claiming his wicked worshipper.
Aren’t you a magnificent creature?
The voice hummed in my head, deep, glossy, and most certainly not Myron’s. The latent magic in my blood stirred slowly, like a cat stretching awake from a nap. The cool glow of my elicrin stone, to which my eyes were still adjusting in the absence of golden torchlight, swirled and writhed.
I faced the mirror again. The reflection of the edifice had vanished. A nebulous, starry night stretched out around me and my eyes glowed an otherworldly shade of silver. The ash marks on my skin sparkled like diamond powder. A nearly translucent figure in a reflective mask imposed over mine.
“Who are you?” I asked, rocking a step closer. “Are you…?”
I am, the being answered, and again the words poured through my mind, more thought than sound.
I laughed. Someone was trying to deceive me with illusions of noise and light. “Myron didn’t mention that the Edifice of the Fallen housed a real, live Fallen deity. Do you visit every acolyte who ventures down here?”
I’ve not visited a mortal in centuries.
“And that remains true,” I replied. “I’m not a mortal.”
Of course you’re not. I sense the power you hold. A beat passed. Where is your husband, the king?
“Oh, peeking through a hole in the wall somewhere, ready to tease me the moment I believe this is real.”
The silver figure laughed a knowing laugh. I didn’t like it.
Come closer, Ambrosine, and inspect the mirror. There are no clever deceptions here.
I took a tentative step forward. The figure pressed his hand against the other side of the glass. The tip of my forefinger stretched toward him, and his image grew more substantial the closer I drew, while mine faded away. His eyes sharpened behind the holes of his mask. The irises glowed silver, the space around them a fathomless black.
Our fingertips touched, and before I could squeal in shock, he snatched my hand and twisted me around, drawing my back flush against his cool, solid form. The glass, the only barrier between us, had ceased to exist. His icy hands trapped me like bars of a cage, one loosely gripping my throat while the other spread flat over my middle, thumb caressing my navel, fingers splaying dangerously close to the powerful knot of nerves at the base of my belly.
I didn’t want to defy my probation. I imagined myself in chains before Glisette and Valory again, explaining to them that I had tried to use my power against an apparition in a mirror—when manipulating mirrors was my gift. It would be downright embarrassing.
“What do you want?” I asked. “Who are you?”
You know my name. Even though I still sensed more than heard the words, the whisper of his cool breath brushed over my ear. The finger that rested at my throat moved down to stroke my elicrin stone. My gaze shot to the mural, to the Fallen of Vainglory.
This was no ruse; I could feel the diamond-dusted darkness of this being’s power. Whether fallen deity, ancient specter, or distant cousin of my own kind, he was mighty.
Why do you detest the king’s daughter?
“I don’t.” The lie trembled out of me.
I’m here to give you everything you desire. You don’t have to lie to me. You can let me inside. There’s nothing you can say that will drive me away. Do you hate her because she is soon to be lovelier than you, the loveliest of all? Or is it her piety?
I scoffed. “Don’t try to burrow under my skin.”
But that’s what I’m asking for: a way under your skin, an anchor to the mortal world, a home to inhabit, one that can hold the breadth and power of all that I am. No creature like you has ever stepped into my temple. I only need you to say yes.
“Why would I?”
Because I will help you. What do you want? I can obtain it if you let me. If you want to subjugate the king and his guards so you can kill the princess, I can give you that. I can give you far more, but it’s a beginning.