Chapter: 43: Pangea’s Mirror

“What are you doing here?” I asked and felt my heart skip a beat. I was sitting in a T-shirt and a set of baggy pants. Not very fitting for a visit from the crown prince.

And he was probably the last person I had expected to see this evening. Wasn’t he supposed to be keeping the suitors comfortable?

“You were the only one who didn’t attend dinner, so I thought I’d stop by to check on you,” he said casually and looked around to see how I had rearranged the room to make myself feel more at home.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” I blurted, and I closed the book to be prepared if I had to get out of my chair.

“I thought we discussed this already before the trial! You aren’t supposed to visit any of us in our chambers until the next phase of the Crown Trials!”

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t really think that rule has applied to you so far,” he chuckled and turned to face me.

I felt my face flush, and I had to look away from his mesmerizing eyes before he saw. “The others could see you,” I said, doing my best to make him leave without seeming impolite.

However, I still remembered the burning sensation from his touch when he had run to check on me after my fight with the Faceless Shifter, which was probably the real reason I wanted him out of here as fast as possible.

“I promise to be quiet,” he assured me and stepped closer. “Is that the book of the Grand Escape?”

The book was lying exposed in my lap with the cover page facing him—a golden figure of a dragon silhouette with the title right beneath it.

“Calla told me that she chose a fossilized dragon egg as her artifact.

“She explained why by telling me a story of the dragons she had heard from her mom, and it made me want to know more,” I admitted.

I let my hand run across the dents and patterns covering the front.

Caiden stopped right by my chair, and I felt him tower above me, but I didn’t dare to look up.

“My mother used to read it aloud to my brother and me. I remember her telling me the stories my grandfather told her when she was a child too.

“I have always admired them, and it’s sad to think that such magnificent creatures might be lost to history forever.”

My finger brushed the back of the book, the engraved letters teasing my skin. “Yeah,” I said, combined with a sigh. “I would like to see one with my own eyes one day.”

Caiden took advantage of my inattention and suddenly knelt to grab my wrist and examine the visible bruises on my arms.

It startled me, and I twisted my arm slightly, which sent a wave of painful electricity through my shoulder, making the muscles in my face constrict.

I had felt the pain before when we were watching the last few suitors go through the first trial, but it hadn’t been this bad.

“Haven’t you been to the infirmary yet?” he asked and looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“I-I,” I stuttered but couldn’t seem to find a good excuse, so I stopped trying. “No.”

For once, I couldn’t lie. The bruising on my arms and the excruciating pain from my shoulder was impossible to hide, even if he wasn’t a human lie detector.

“What were you thinking, Will?” he asked without letting me go. “You could have injuries that could cause some serious damage if you don’t get it healed right away!”

“It’s really none of your business, Caiden,” I said and tried to haul my arm out of his grip, but his hands were holding on tightly and didn’t budge in the slightest.

The pain in my shoulder flared up again, and I turned away from him to hide my pain.

“Stop acting like a child and let me help you,” he said harshly and prepared his healing touch.

I was lost for words, and instead of continuing to dispute him, I pressed myself against the backrest of my chair. His touch was still burning as if he could wield fire, and it made me uneasy.

“Caiden, please,” I whispered, but he didn’t let go.

Instead, his hand proceeded to move farther up my arm, erasing the bruises one by one until he reached my shoulder, where he stopped and focused his energy on that specific injury.

“Your shoulder is sprained, Will.” He sighed as he rose from his squat. “Keep still,” he said and walked behind me to place both his hands on my shoulder.

Not even a moment later, I felt the pain fade away, and I let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly and brought a chair with him to sit right in front of me.

My body was feeling better, but I wasn’t okay, and I didn’t know how to tell him, so I remained silent.

My thoughts were still haunted by the creature, while at the same time… I didn’t really feel like discussing it with Caiden in particular.

But I had a question to which he could give me the answers that nearly no one else could.

“Why didn’t you interrupt the Faceless Shifter when I was in there like you did with Devika,” I asked and watched him look away.

He knew that they had practically abandoned me to be consumed by the Raeewh, and he didn’t seem proud of it. But he had the answers.

“I wanted to, believe me, but my uncle insisted that you would be all right. And he was right,” Caiden confessed.

Had Art been there too? Had he been the reason I completed the trial and overcame my fears to face the Shifter?

“But if you hadn’t fought back within two minutes of what you did, I would have put an end to it, I promise. I don’t know what went wrong or why it attacked you like that.

“It wasn’t supposed to be able to do anything else but mirror you. We made sure of that,” he said and rubbed his temples before he saw where my gaze was fixed.

Her mirror was standing on my nightstand. Faye had moved it there to keep it from shattering if it fell from the bed, but she hadn’t spotted the initials.

“Have you noticed yet?” Caiden asked and walked over there to wrap his hands around its handle.

I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see it. “It was the queen’s. I didn’t know that, and I’m sorry.

“I was planning to give it to Art during our next session,” I explained to ensure that he knew I didn’t intend to keep it.

“We placed it there on purpose,” Caiden said and smiled as he examined the ambiguous pattern of the metal.

“You don’t have to be sorry about it, but yes, it was my mother’s. It was my suggestion to include it as part of the artifacts because I found its concept so remarkable.

“That a mirror, so plain and trivial once belonged to the queen of Heliac as one of her most treasured possessions. I hadn’t expected anyone to choose it over the many beautiful artifacts, but you did.”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks again because his thoughts about me seemed so pure and compassionate.

“It was more the reflection than the actual mirror,” I admitted and cursed myself for talking so casually again.

“The reflection? Your own reflection?” he asked curiously.

“It was something the Faceless Shifter said to me,” I quickly added, trying to let the subject end as suddenly as I had started it.

“I see,” he said and walked back to me with the mirror still in his hand.

He sat down in front of me, placing the mirror on top of the book in my lap and wrapping his hands around mine before I could argue against it.

“The Raeewh is gone, Willow. It can’t harm you anymore. We sent it back to the Blaze, and we’re not hiding any more monsters here. I promise.”

His expression was sincere, and I slowly felt the memory of the Shifter fade a bit.

I was about to answer him when I heard something buzzing. As if something in the room was vibrating.

Caiden freed his hand from mine and moved it to his pocket, where he revealed a square-looking object. It wasn’t longer than the size of his index finger or wider than the size of his thumb.

He pressed a button, and the square split to displace one half above the other with incredible precision.

Then I saw icons appearing as he tapped on the transparent screen that had materialized between the two halves of the square, and I realized what he was holding—a device they called a phone.

I had never held one in my hand before, let alone owned one. Not even one of the primitive phones with buttons, but I had seen my dad bring one home occasionally from work.

We had never been able to afford them, and they were forbidden for the suitors to carry during the Trials.

They wanted us to socialize instead of being distracted by the countless functionalities of the complex technology. That was also the reason we didn’t have a TV in our personal chambers.

His phone, however, fascinated me more than most, and I kept staring at it, trying to figure out how they could hide the solid screen in a case so small.

“I have to go,” he said and rose to his feet. “Are you sure you’re okay with spending the night by yourself? I can get your valet back in no time,” he said and gestured with his hands toward the door.

“It’s fine, Caiden. Thank you. I just want to read and have a little time to think by myself.” I smiled, anxious for him to leave, so I could return to the stories of what had once been.

He nodded reluctantly but didn’t leave right away. Instead, his eyes had returned to his mom’s mirror that was still lying in my lap.

“This belongs to you,” I said and lifted the mirror for him to take it. “It was your mom’s, and I planned to give it back anyway, so it’s yours to take.”

He smiled widely at the way I expected him to take it without hesitation, but he didn’t reach for it. It didn’t belong to me, so I failed to see why he was reluctant to accept it.

“Keep it for now,” he said and took me by surprise. “You seem to need it more than me, and I know you’ll take good care of it.”

“Are you sure?” I asked and squeezed the handle again.

“I trust you, Will. Probably more than you trust yourself, and I believe that the stories of this mirror will help you through the tough times ahead. So keep it.

“I’ll know where to find it if I need it,” he said and smiled gently before he gracefully walked to the door and exited, careful not to be seen by the other suitors before his time.

I looked at the mirror in my hand and examined my reflection in the stained glass. This room had many bigger and cleaner mirrors scattered everywhere, but there was something about this mirror.

Maybe it was the thought that it had belonged to Queen Pangea, or perhaps it had something to do with the way Caiden entrusted me with it.

Either way, it made me think of Caiden. Not only the image of him but the feeling of his touch too.

The burning sensation on my skin from where his fingers had touched me and the question of why. Why was he able to make my heart flutter like that? Why now?