Chapter 22 – Selis’s Bargain
The room was colder than it had been moments ago.
Eira stood in front of the tall silver mirror, its glass frosted at the edges like breath on winter glass. Her reflection had stopped mimicking her. While she held her breath, the girl in the mirror—Selis—tilted her head, narrowed her eyes, and smiled with the cruel softness of someone who had been waiting for this moment for centuries.
“I wondered when you’d stop pretending you didn’t hear me,” Selis said, her voice layered with echo, ancient and aching.
Eira’s chest tightened. The mirror pulsed with energy—something between memory and magic—and it was no longer just a reflection. It was a prison. A window. A battlefield.
“I never pretended,” Eira whispered. “I hoped you’d go away.”
Selis’s expression dar
