Chapter 46

W ulfric clawed his way to the mirror, but he couldn't see. Wind roared in his ears and battered his body, stinging his eyes and pressing him to the cold floor. By feel alone, his claws closed on the mirror's edge. With three claws digging into the marble, he felt along the edges of the mirror.

A bite of heat shot up his arm, and he jerked his hand away with a howl of pain. He lifted it to slam down a fist, but the wind almost twisted his arm in the socket.

Pain made him howl, and desperation drove him feral. All he could think was the need to destroy the mirror before it was too late. If they were sucked into the mirror, all would be lost. Snarling, he hurled himself at the shimmering surface, ignoring the searing agony that shot through his body with each movement. His claws scrabbled frantically against the glass, leaving deep gouges but failing to shatter it completely.

Bella screamed, but he couldn't make out the words as he summoned all his strength to rain blows onto the gilded frame.

He paid her no heed, consumed by primal instinct. The mirror's surface rippled ominously, tendrils of darkness seeping out and grasping at their ankles. Wulfric redoubled his efforts, his powerful muscles straining as he slammed his bulk against the frame again and again.

Just as he felt his strength beginning to fail, a resounding crack split the air. Hairline fissures spiderwebbed across the glass.

Wulfric! Move! It's about to come down!

Scarlet's voice in his mind made his jaw vibrate, and he slammed his fist down onto the mirror's edge once more. Then he retracted his claws.

The wind flung him up and away in a wide arc around the room, and his stomach flipped. He kept his eyes closed and his body loose, and prayed to the goddess for safety for his mate and his daughter.

Bella screamed, helpless to do anything as debris swirled around her. Her body shuddered with each chandelier that went through her incorporeal body. The pieces of glass—still magically lit up—sliced her like hot knives.

Scarlet swung from the ceiling, and Da clawed his way to the mirror. And still she screamed. All the heartache and anguish she'd felt these past few weeks, months, years… it all released in a bellow of rage. The walls shook, and the knights were sucked into the vortex with a clatter of metal.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Scarlet reach the central chandelier. There were so many things she wished she could've done differently. From her treatment of Scarlet when Gastone died to taking that blasted potion made of his heart, she wished she could change the past and make all this go away.

She prayed to Borga, Fisica, to all the old gods and new. All except Asmo. Her rage narrowed to a point. He was the root of all of this. The wizard had said as much. She just needed to survive this and destroy the wizard before he could deal more destruction with Asmo.

Surely the gods would hear her pleas. Surely they'd wish to know what Asmo had planned. Her screams turned to prayers shouted so loud the walls cracked.

Then the central chandelier fell straight down to the mirror below, so heavy the tornado didn't make it move at all. She twisted in the air, her heart racing in worry as she tried to find her father. The wind ripped Da from the edge of the mirror, tossing him straight at her.

He flew toward her, his face determined as he bellowed. She couldn't hear him over the rush of wind, but he held out his arms as he neared. She knew she was crying, knew he would just go through her, but she held her arms wide.

He passed through her, and her throat seized on a sob. She just wanted to be held, to have someone tell her it was all going to be alright, even though her head told her it wasn't. She wanted to work side by side with someone, anyone , to fix this mess so she wouldn't feel so desperately alone.

The chandelier crashed into the mirror, shattering it and the spell, the wind stopping abruptly. The frame lodged into the marble, and it remained mostly upright in the middle of the ballroom. Da slammed into the floor, but Bella floated as if on a gentle breeze.

Scarlet swung along a different beam on the smaller chandeliers until she reached the wall, then scrambled down. Bella pushed down her resentment. She'd never be as competent as Scarlet at anything but pouring a beer and creating a chair army to throw out a drunkard.

When the dust settled, Scarlet ran over to her father and gently turned him onto his side. Long, cylindrical pieces of glass were lodged into his fur all over, but the deepest one made Bella grow cold. Over an inch of it was stuck in his side, and he didn't wake when Scarlet shook his shoulder.

Dread and fear choked her, but she couldn't let her father die. She'd been trained by the priests and then Lailant as a healer. Maybe she was good for something other than serving beer. She rushed through the doorway of the ballroom.

"Damn it, wolfie, don't you dare die on me," Scarlet murmured, her hands shaking from emotion and exhaustion. She couldn't bear the thought of losing him, not after everything they had been through.

Please , she thought. Please don't leave me.

"I take it back. I said I might not want to live with the Growlers, but there's no other choice, really. Where you go, I go, remember?" She gasped, her voice shaking with fear and desperation. A surge of panic flowed through her at the thought of losing him, of not being with him every day for the rest of their lives.

She ran her hands through his hair, feeling the knot on his head. His arm was twisted awkwardly behind him, and she moved it, feeling the grinding of his broken bones. Thank the gods he wasn't awake for it to feel the pain. There were dozens of cuts, some deep and some shallow, but all bleeding. A pool formed underneath him, and her nose twitched at the coppery scent, making her panic multiply.

"No, stay with me, Wulfric. I'm here, see? I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. You said you wouldn't leave again, remember? If you die, then you'll be leaving me. You swore you wouldn't lie again, and you said you wouldn't leave."

Her hands settled on his chest, and she froze. He didn't move. She leaned forward, pressing her ear to his chest and closing her eyes. Silently, she prayed and pleaded as the blood spread beneath him. It seeped into her pants, but still she waited, afraid to hope.

There! Her eyes flew open. The heartbeat was faint, but still his chest didn't rise. She leaned back and beat on his chest.

"Fuck, you better wake up, Wulfric. Breathe, damn it, breathe !" She screamed in his face, her hands sore from climbing and scraped up, pain lancing her with each furious blow.

She lifted both her hands, holding them in one fist to come down with all her weight, but an icy chill made her pause. Her eyes widened as his chest moved the smallest amount. Her hands dropped, settling on the soft fur.

"Fuck yes!" she hissed, a small amount of relief making her take a shuddering breath. The icy chill grew stronger, and Scarlet looked up.

Bella ran through the ballroom toward them. The worry on Bella's face reminded her so much of Wulfric, Scarlet felt tears prick her eyes.

"Here," Bella said, thrusting a small pouch out.

It fell to the dirty broken marble, and the strings waved in the air like hands when it... stood up? The strings opened the top of the pouch, and a potion rolled toward them, followed by a jar and some gauze bandages and wraps. Then the strings dusted the ends together like hands saying there, my job is done.

The bag walked—the two corners acting as feet—toward the door, but Bella paid it no mind. "Take it. It's a healing potion. Lailant approved too. I've had it in my things that were moved from the tavern when I married, so I know it hasn't been tampered with."

Scarlet blinked. She hadn't even thought about that, but she was desperate to save him. His chest rose, but much too shallowly. She couldn't lose him, not when they'd just found each other. She—dear gods, she loved him.

She loved him like her parents had loved each other. Wholly, unconditionally, without boundaries. It consumed her, this need to live and work beside him, the need to love him all day and night. They were a team, somehow fated by the gods themselves.

"Pop the cork and pour it down his throat. Gently, don't choke him," Bella coaxed.

Scarlet's movements were jerky, but she pushed his chin down and slowly poured the liquid inside. She closed his mouth, and saw magic glow down his throat and spread through his torso. His chest rose deeper than before. She held a hand on him, feeling pieces of glass and slowly picking each one out as she came to it.

"Thank you for removing the glass," Bella said softly.

"It's not the first time I've patched him up."

"How long have you been together? How did you meet?" Bella asked, sinking to the floor and wrapping her arms around her legs.

As she worked, Scarlet told her how they'd met and everything that led them to this point. Wulfric didn't move when she took out the biggest piece and blood gushed from the open wound. The glow in his torso spread to the hole, blazing brighter before fading away.

Bella hissed. "I didn't pack a needle to sew that up."

Scarlet shook her head. "He won't need it sewn. He'll self-heal once it's wrapped." She reached for the gauze and unrolled it.

"I—I didn't know Growlers could do that, but it makes sense. And to think, he's been alive this whole time, and I didn't know. How different things might've turned out if I'd known…" Bella's voice trailed off as Scarlet worked.

She monitored Wulfric's chest and breathed easier to see him grow stronger.

"What happened here? Why was a mirror trying to suck you in?" She waved a hand to the destruction all around them.

Bella sat back on her haunches. "The wizard showed up and wanted to trap me in the mirror instead of waiting for me to die with the rose. He said the mirror would keep me from making trouble."

Bella's voice shook, but Scarlet couldn't tell if it was anger or fear. Scarlet's own hands had steadied the more she worked on the task. The silence settled between them, a gentle breeze from outside the broken windows lifting the hairs off the nape.

Finally, Scarlet sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her bloodied hand, all the glass she could see or feel removed from his body. If she was going to make a real life with Wulfric, that meant making her peace with his daughter.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," Scarlet said, not making eye contact with Bella.

There was a heavy pause, then Bella replied, "It's alright. I don't blame you at all. For snapping or for any of the rest of it. It's my fault. Mine and Gastone's and the wizard's…"

Bella tensed and looked around. "The wizard set the mirror trap. He might come back, if he can sense it broke like he sensed the shadow daemon's death. You need to leave."

Scarlet nodded, not moving from Wulfric's side. "We have two horses somewhere, but you know he's not going to just leave you here."

Bella frowned and looked down at her father. The longing on her face twisted Scarlet's stomach and made her ache for her own father.

Scarlet's voice was small, barely a whisper. "If I had a chance to spend more time with my Pa, I would take it, no questions asked."

Bella bit her lip and nodded. "I know, but I'm tied to the rose. I haven't been able to leave the castle walls because of it and the shadow monster."

Scarlet waved a hand. "We already dealt with that thing, and the rose is in a pot, isn't it? Easy enough to take with us."

For the first time, Bella's eyes brightened in hope and slowly, she nodded.

"I need to pack some books too," Bella said as she stood and brushed out her skirts, her body almost vibrating at the idea of leaving.

"You go, and I'll watch him. And Bella? Yell if the wizard comes back. You knew he'd returned earlier, didn't you."

It wasn't a question. Scarlet had seen the way she'd tensed at the window, the way she'd dismissed them. She'd originally thought Bella had just needed some time away from telling the story and reliving the memories, but instead, she'd opted to try fighting the wizard on her own.

Bella nodded, glancing away from guilt. "Yes, I knew, just like I knew he'd hurt you both. He can't kill me outright, not in this form. But he can you two, and I wouldn't risk that."

Scarlet felt a knot in her stomach ease as Bella walked through the door. Perhaps the queen wasn't so evil after all.