I fought him the whole way, but it did no good. The best I could do was to keep my head above water, and my consciousness from being fully subsumed. I hadn’t sunk entirely into Arsen yet, but it wouldn’t be long. I could feel the undertow dragging me down, but what I couldn’t feel was Rhea’s hand gripping mine. I couldn’t hear the spell she cast, holding off two more fey. I couldn’t—

Do anything but stare at my reflection in a mirror.

It was hanging on a wall in Arsen’s bedchamber. A moment before, it had been reflecting back a heavily bruised shoulder, which had been revealed after he removed the breastplate and the armor on his arms, and pulled aside the underlying gambeson to take a look. But that wasn’t what was showing now. Instead, I met my own blue eyes, wide and shocked and staring out of a dirt-streaked face.

There was spell fire behind me, and attacking trees and running fey. There were probably going to be a lot more fey, very soon, because the camp wasn’t far and we were making a hell of a clamor. But I couldn’t hear it.

All I could hear was the sound of Arsen’s blood in his veins, beating faster and faster as he stared back at me. All I could feel were the soft tendrils of his hair, sliding against our neck. All I could taste was the remains of the wine on our lips, as our tongue flickered out nervously to wet them.

“What sorcery is this?” he whispered, his fingers coming up to touch the mirror.

I couldn’t seem to speak, maybe because he was already using our vocal cords. But I could feel the glass, slick and cool under my touch as I raised my hand. And then warm skin, when his fingers met mine.

The shock sent a ripple through me that I couldn’t name. And it looked like he felt the same, jerking slightly. Yet he didn’t draw his hand back, even when my fingers slid into the spaces between his, when they gripped his hand, when they clenched.

And the next moment, a fey general sat on the dirt beside me, every bit as real as I was.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three

I stared at Arsen and he stared at me. And then his hands went for my throat, because of course they did, I thought, as my back hit the dirt. Of course, they damned well did!

But he didn’t succeed in choking the life out of me, because Rhea hexed him the next second, and then Guinn was shouting at us. “Here! Up here!”