Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night (Immortals After Dark #4)(65)
Author: Kresley Cole

He didn’t walk the ten feet.

Mari exhaled a breath she hadn’t known she’d held and dropped her hand. She could read the writing on the wall. Just what in the hell would it take for someone to look at her and say "I choose you"? "If I leave here today, MacRieve, I leave for good."

Seeming as though she’d faint, the princess whispered, "I gave up my soul to rejoin you. Was this sacrifice for naught?"

He put his flattened hands out as if motioning everyone to slow down. "Just give me a minute… to think… "

Her soul? How can I compete with that? Mari wanted to loathe her, needed to, but she only pitied this other female who’d made the ultimate surrender to be with the male she loved. She found herself murmuring, "To think I’d worried about you going back for her, when she was already on her way forward."

Hope flashed in the fey’s violet eyes. "You were trying to go back for me?"

"For nearly two hundred years," Mari told her. Relentlessly. Mercilessly ridding any obstacles in his pursuit of this exquisite princess – a fairy-tale princess.

Mariah was the name he’d called out the night he’d believed he’d claimed his mate.

"Then you must still care for me," Mariah said. "And you wear my pendant after all this time."

Mari swung her gaze to the medallion he wore at his neck – the one that he never took off.

Even when he’d made love to her. Bastard!

He glanced down, seeming surprised he wore it. "I just need to think for a few bloody minutes. Just… just let me think."

B team. Why am I even surprised?

"What’s there to think about, Bowen?" Mari demanded. "You’ve got a choice – make a decision." But choose me!

His eyes narrowed. Maybe she was being unreasonable. Maybe he wouldn’t take her hand not because he no longer wanted Mari, but because he wanted to spare the princess any unnecessary hurt. Yet Mari needed him to walk to her side and pronounce her as his so badly – longed for him to. "MacRieve?"

"Doona push me, witch."

Witch. Her heart fell. He’ll never see past that. At his words, Mari was reminded that she and Bowen hadn’t resolved the obstacles between them – because they couldn’t. The fey princess suited him far better, and probably deserved him more for the sacrifice she’d made.

Suddenly, Mari became aware of the group witnessing this scene – Emma and her Lykae husband gazed at her and at Bowen with sympathy, while Carrow and Regin looked alternately sorry for her and incensed with him. Mari recognized that arguing with him here like this wouldn’t get him back. She could think of nothing that would. And Mari wasn’t known for fighting losing battles.

It was time to take herself out of the game – again. "I’ll go get my bag." With her shoulders shoved back, she turned toward the door, refusing to cry.

Which was proving difficult – since she’d already fallen in love with Bowen MacRieve.

Damn that witch for pressuring me like this!

Bowe knew why she felt she had to leave. She thought herself passed over yet again. Both parents had deserted her, and then her first love had thrown her over.

And I’ve told her there’d never be another female for me – then my mate showed up on my doorstep.

But he hadn’t made any bloody decisions, hadn’t chosen Mariah over her.

Regin hissed at him and followed Mariketa, with Carrow right behind them. As Carrow passed Bowe, she said, "Prick. You and Twice-Baked here deserve each other."

Clasping his forehead with frustration, Bowe turned to Mariah. "You remember Lachlain, do you no’?" he asked, as if speaking to a child. "He and his new wife are going to sit with you for a few minutes. Everything will be fine."

Lachlain stepped up, his arm wrapped tightly around Emma’s waist. "Aye, I’m sure you’ve questions – "

But Mariah seized Bowe’s hand with both of hers. "Please don’t leave. I’m so confused by all this. By this place and time I’ve been brought to." Tears streamed. He’d nearly forgotten how fragile she was. "Ah, gods, please, Bowen."

Bowe glanced from her to the doorway Mariketa had just exited. The witch was only going back to the bedroom. I’ll stop her before she tries to leave.

As she stared into the dresser mirror, Mari wiped at tears with the back of her hand. She didn’t have to bid the reflection to come. Knowing she would likely get just one answer, she decided to ask, "Am I his mate or not?"

"You are."

She gasped. Apparently Mari was his – and he still passed her over! "Then what in the hell just happened?"

The hand breached the glass with an apple. "Come with me."

"Damn it, if there was ever a time to answer more than one question, it’s now! Tell me how this is possible!"

"Are you ready to know the truth?" the reflection whispered.

"The truth about what?" Mari snapped.

The reflection smiled. "About – everything."

Mari frowned, recognizing that she finally was ready to go. I have nothing to lose. She was going to journey into that mysterious world of the mirror.

She nodded. "I am." Mari took the apple and set it on the dresser, then grasped the offered hand. She climbed up and through the portal, entering another dimension. Here it was soft, a place veiled in mist and sublime silence.

The reflection was gone – because Mari was the reflection now? Doubt over her action immediately suffused her. When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Carrow and Regin rushing into the room, bewildered by what they were seeing.

Behind them… ravens gathered on the windowsill.

Ravens? Had she just gone willingly to her own doom?

As Bowe tried to disentangle Mariah, his heart felt like it sank to his gut – for the second time in minutes.

Mariketa’s scent was utterly gone.

He tore away toward the bedroom, but of course, she wasn’t there. "Where the hell is she?" he bellowed at Carrow.

Eyes wide, Carrow hiked her thumb at the dresser. "In the mirror."

A single red apple sat beside it.

49

"Elianna?" Mari whispered when she spied her mentor waiting for her here. "Are you… real?"

She patted her wrinkly skin with a frown. "The last time I checked."

Mari pinched her forehead. "Am I real in this mirror? Or was the reflection fake?"

"Everyone’s real." Elianna chuckled. "The reflection is merely a facet of your being. A bit like an astral projection. And before you ask – yes, you do look that diabolical when you are using strong magick."

Somewhat reassured, Mari hugged her. As always happened, pungent scents from the powders and dried leaves in Elianna’s infinite apron pockets wafted up between them. "I missed you! I’d wondered why you weren’t with Carrow holding vigil."