Smoke and Mirrors (37)

Thirty-Seven

Happily Nopety Never

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The crowd cheered and the music started again, upbeat and happy.

In a way, it almost felt like they were mocking me.

Crowns of silver were then placed on our heads. They were mostly identical, except for the fact that Sterling’s was thicker and came to a sharp point in the front, where mine rounded down over my forehead and was much thinner.

We took our seats in the large thrones at the head of the room, which gave me the opportunity to look over the vastness of the crowd from the height of the stage beneath us.

There had to be hundreds, if not thousands of people there for our wedding. Most of them were obviously from Soryn with their pale, silvery skin and hair, but a good chunk of them were from Aquilai and Pyronoth as well, in support of their princess. I didn’t recognise most groups of people, but I decided I would learn more about them when I had the chance.

If I lived long enough.

The laughter of the people clawed at my nerves. They had no clue, did they? No idea of how scared for my life I was or how much I dreaded becoming Sterling’s wife.

I used to dream of getting married to a prince who would sweep me off to his magical kingdom on a white horse, where we’d live happily ever after. The funny thing was, my reality wasn’t all that different from what I used to dream—and yet, it was so drastically opposite.

A woman suddenly approached and curtsied, fanning out her white dress. “Your Majesties, congratulations on your union.” She fluttered her silver lashes at Sterling. I didn’t care. If she wanted him, she could have him.

But my jaw dropped as I watched Sterling smile and reply, “Thank you, Milady. We’re glad you could be here with us.”

Her smile widened and she curtsied again before disappearing into the crowd.

So he could smile!

I cleared my throat. “Friend of yours?” I asked casually.

He slid a glance towards me. “Never seen her before.” Then he raised a pale eyebrow, which starkly contrasted his hair. “Why? Jealous?”

A laugh bubbled its way out of my mouth, which quickly morphed into a sneeze. It caught me off-guard, but I managed to hold my nose in time and it quickly ballooned my cheeks. Whew.

“Of what?” I added sharply. “If I wanted to start a relationship with a rock, I have tons of options.”

He hummed. “Please. It’s killing you that our marriage is only going to be business.”

I snorted. “Whatever makes you happy.”

“If I was allowed to do what made me happy, you wouldn’t be here.” His voice was quiet compared to the music and dancing around us, but the weight of his words added so much.

My eyes snapped to his. “Well—neither would you. My mother would still have you and Shi stuck in her prison cell if it weren’t for me.”

He blinked slowly and returned his gaze to the dancing crowd. Just then, a man approached us. His skin was an extremely pale silver compared to any of the other mirror people I’d seen, and he held a box in his hands. He bowed once he reached the base of our stage.

Sterling stood immediately—which tugged on the ribbon tying our wrists together—and gave a deep nod of his head to the man. Whoever he was, he must have been important.

“Your Highness, my family offers you our finest mirror. It is my humble desire that you be happy in your marriage.” He bowed again and lifted the gift to Sterling, who took it.

I felt awkward sitting, so I stood and smiled. “Thank you.”

Sterling held the box close. “A gift from you is truly a great honor, Lord Reflection. Thank you.”

The man smiled, gave a brief “Of course”, then walked away.

“Lord Reflection?” I asked after he left. “That’s a real name?”

Sterling sat again. “His family is one of the oldest families in my—our—kingdom. They helped create Soryn. He’s incredibly talented—there’s no telling what he gave us.”

I sat, but braced myself on the edge of my throne and leaned forward to peer at the box. “Really? Open it then!”

“I’m trying! It’s a bit of a challenge with only one hand.” He fought the package for a moment more before opening the lid. Inside was a pale, shimmering mirror. It was gorgeous—full of incredibly detailed handwork that formed small hearts and angels all around the handle. The mirror itself danced faintly, as if light glowed from inside it.

But the most intriguing of all was our reflections.

Sterling’s skin was incredibly smooth in the mirror and his hair was its usual pale silver rather than the dark black it now was. In real life, he had a small scar just below his hairline. That wasn’t there in the mirror.

I looked pretty much normal, but both of us had a glow of excitement and happiness in our eyes that I knew wasn’t truly there. This mirror showed our reflections, but. . . perhaps it was an undamaged image of ourselves as well.

I swallowed. “That’s—interesting.”

Sterling said nothing, but placed the mirror back in the box gently. I sensed that something troubled him.

He sat the small box on the armrest of his throne and stood, which caused my arm to raise with his.

“Everyone, thank you for coming to celebrate this evening with us. My beautiful wife and I”—Here he grabbed my hand and tugged me up beside him—”are excited to begin our reign together as your King and Queen.” He smiled again—the second time in the same night! “To Soryn!”

The crowd chanted back, “To Soryn!” and suddenly people began funneling out of the room.

The musicians began packing up their instruments and the maids helped usher out any stragglers. Soon, the room was empty.

“That was quick,” I mumbled.

He turned and untied the bow around our wrists. “And it’s a good thing it was. This ribbon is cutting off my blood flow.”

I widened my eyes. “You mean you actually have blood? You’re really not just a robot?”

His eyebrows drew together. “What is a robot?”

I dropped my shoulders and huffed. “Nothing.” I rubbed my wrist and let my side of the ribbon fall to the ground.

He shook his head, picked up the mirror gift, and started to walk away. Suddenly he paused. Without turning he said, “We’re required to share my room tonight. After this you will return to your own room, understood?”

My face warmed and I rubbed my cheeks to hide my embarrassment. “Uh—I beg your pardon?

“Then beg, but it won’t do you any good. It’s expected of us.” He turned to face me and crossed his arms. “This changes nothing. The moment we get that horn, you and I have to get as far away from each other as possible. I can’t help that we had to go on some blasted journey because your crazy aunt stole the unicorn horn.”

“She is not crazy!” I replied. Normally, I would have agreed whole-heartedly. But Sterling saying she was crazy made me defensive.

He shook his head and walked away. “If you get lost, ask a guard to help you.”

I felt lost in more ways than one, but unfortunately, most guards didn’t give out therapy.

***

“Thanks,” I said quietly to the guard.

He bowed and walked away, leaving me standing before Sterling’s door, which was watched by two other guards on both sides.

They wordlessly opened the door, which was almost as tall as the giant ceiling. Moonlight shone from a nearby window, which looked out over the sea. I noticed that everything remotely reflective had a transparent sheen over it, as if it had been painted over. Even the glass of the window had a matte sheen. I guessed it was so other mirror Talents couldn’t peer through the reflections.

I numbly walked past the guards and entered the room. No, numbly wasn’t the word. Every sense seemed heightened as I walked past those doors, swallowing the nerves in my throat. My heart raced in broken rhythms and the hairs on my arms stood.

The room was nice, but poorly lit. One small, round window was flooded with moonlight, which poured onto the carpet and bled into white sheer curtains, draped elegantly around a large bed in the center of the floor. The shadows were a dark blue-grey that dressed the corners of the room in gossamer, creeping in to fill the space between moonlight and furniture pieces.

A giant wardrobe that took up an entire wall. I bet if I opened the wardrobe, it would be full of the same tunic suit jackets Sterling always wore with the silver piping on them.

My gaze danced from one object to the next. The bed was empty and I didn’t see Sterling anywhere else, so where was he?

I felt drawn to a stack of papers on the dresser near the bed and lifted the first one. Nothing really caught my eye, so I placed it back on top. Then I noticed that the drawer directly under those was slightly open.

I quickly glanced around the room. Still empty. With bated breath, I eased the drawer open and slipped my hand inside. I could almost hear everything in that room—from the vases to the black-and-white abstract paintings—begging me not to look. Or perhaps that was just my own gut. Either way, I was surprised to see a bundle of rolled-up kid drawings, secured by an old, stained, red ribbon.

Curiosity furrowed my eyebrows as I peeked through the hollow of rolled-up drawings. It was too dark to tell what they were, and the only picture I could see was the very first one, just beneath the ribbon. There were pictures of stickmen and mermaids, but I couldn’t see beyond that.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me back from the dresser, causing me to drop the roll of pictures.

“You have no right to go through my things,” Sterling said sharply.

I inhaled a sharp breath and jerked away from him. The back of my legs bumped into the bed.

“I’m sorry–-I just–”

“No right,” he repeated, clenching and unclenching his fist as he scooped up the roll of drawings and slammed it inside the drawer.

I swallowed as a nervous chill shot through me. “But I was just—”

He faced me and stepped closer. I was all but trapped there, pinned between him and the bedpost. “In the Outside, isn’t it frowned upon if a person goes through someone else's things without permission?” His screaming, silver eyes bored into my own. We were nearly touching now and static seemed to pull every hair on my arms and neck upwards.

I wanted so desperately to move away, but I didn’t. I stood my ground and narrowed my gaze at him, then lifted my chin. “Yes. Of course it is.”

His voice was low. “Then don’t go through my things.”

“Is that a threat?” I raised my eyebrows, daring him to move forward.

“It’s a warning. You are here for one night. Tomorrow you will have your room, but tonight, I would prefer things go as smoothly as possible.”

I stared into his eyes for what felt like eternity. They somehow seemed to go on forever, scattered with shades of grey, silver, and hues of white. They were so purely silver that I could see my own reflection if I looked hard enough. They flicked to my lips.

—Then I sneezed. My forehead knocked into his, water poured out from my mouth and hands, and fire shot up from the ground for a moment before fizzling out because of all the water.

He cursed under his breath and turned away. “You can have the blasted bed, I’m sleeping in the bathtub.”