"I suppose you'd best conjure a mirror. Just imagine one you've seen and a facsimile will appear here."
Mari pictured her oval antique mirror, framed in oak in a spindle stand. Within a nanosecond, a copy manifested itself. "I just stand in front of it?"
"Yes, but be cautious with it," Elianna said. "The knowledge is potent and addictive. You'll receive an understanding no mortal has ever experienced. If you feel yourself getting in too deep, then you must pull back."
Mari nodded and faced the mirror. Beautiful glass.
Her eyes flashed, reflecting back. To infinity, Mari's eyes seemed to reflect. No more tedious questions and answers. Knowledge had begun to funnel directly into her, spells and magicks becoming part of her.
It was exquisite, but now she had only one thing she wanted to know.
How to kill a sorceress.
"You always stand outside," Mariah said as she joined Bowe at the porch railing. "Is it to scent her?" Over the last few days, Mariah had settled in here, as best as she was able.
"I want to know she's safe." Bowe had just returned from another failed attempt to locate Mariketa. Though he could scarcely believe it, the witches in her coven had allowed him to come and go into Andoain at will. But none could - or would - tell him how to find her.
Bowe had found that to the naked eye, the property had a proud-looking mansion surrounded by laden apple trees with shockingly green leaves. Butterflies flew everywhere.
Yet when he'd blinked for a fraction of a second, he'd seen an entirely different landscape. Hot stones choked up steam and smoke around a dilapidated manor house. Serpents wound along rotting balusters. That was the true Andoain - Mariketa's home.
"You are so miserable, Bowen. It's clear to me that she's cast a spell on you. What's unclear is why you seem not to care."
"Mariah, the years after your death were... harsh."
"I know. But I want to get past those times and look to the future. I need new memories. My last memories are of my death, and it was a... horrific death. But you know I don't blame you."
Then why bring it up? he thought, then flushed. She'd never irritated him like this before. But everything about her was different from the witch, so that meant everything about her was... wrong.
"I see so many things differently now. I want to learn your ways, and give you the children you've always longed for."
"What changed?"
"I was so selfish before and couldn't be more sorry for it. Death brought my priorities into focus. I want to create life." She smiled shyly up at him. "With you."
Here Mariah was, offered up to him as he'd begged the gods for decades. All the difficulties he'd had with her seemed erased. She wasn't a witch of unspeakable power, but a gentle fey.
She was everything he'd thought he could ever want.
And he wasn't even certain that the witch would take him back. They'd fought before the plane wreck and hadn't overcome the difficulties between them.
Yet none of this mattered.
Whether the witch was his mate or not didn't matter - because what he felt for her was stronger even than that pull. He'd already fallen for her.
For the first time in Bowe's endless, lonely existence... he loved.
Chapter 23
50
Mari was shamed to realize that although the fates of the earth and of a thousand tormented lives and those of her parents were dependent upon her defeating Häxa, she still couldn't get Bowen out of her head.
She did assiduously study and train in her new home - the imagined shelter on her plane had become a melding of the cottage where she'd grown up, her room at the Andoain manor, and the island house where she'd fallen in love with Bowen. Elianna and Carrow spent every day with her here at - as Carrow had dubbed it - the "Cottanorouse."
Yet in between the times when Mari had learned how to attack and deflect and how to bind others' powers, she'd used the mirror to try to uncover more about how the princess was resurrected. Every time Mari consulted the glass about her, it grew blurred, giving up no information - which only convinced Mari further that Häxa was behind the resurrection...
And sometimes, Mari found herself wanting to use her mirror simply to gaze at Bowen.
Like right now.
Mari furtively checked for her friends, peeking around the corner of her bedroom door. For some reason, she thought they might frown on her taking the time to stalk her ex-lover when the future of the world rested in her hands and all.
The two were in the cozy den before a fire. The coast was clear.
Apparently, Mari was not above spying on him - even though she knew she couldn't watch if he kissed his princess, or worse. So far, she'd rarely seen them together. In fact, Bowen spent more time at Andoain, or searching for Nïx, than he did at the Lykae compound.
Yet sooner or later, she knew she was going to see something that she wouldn't be able to handle.
Do I really want to do this... ?
With a nod, she whispered, "Show me... Bowen."
The mirror image shifted until she saw him pacing the sitting room of his house, looking as if he hadn't slept in days. He also appeared to be intent on voicing something, yet couldn't seem to bring himself to do so. Mariah patiently sat on the sofa, hands folded in her lap. A perfect lady.
"Mariah, I was true to you," he finally began. "For so many years, I was."
"I know. You're a fine male. I couldn't be prouder."
"Damn it, I doona want to hurt you, but I have been with Mariketa, and I have feelings for her. Undeniable ones."
Mari's eyes widened. He was telling her this?
"Bowen, I understand how difficult all those years must have been for you. And I forgive you for your... indiscretion. But can't you see that the witch has tricked you? Enthralled you?"