The mirror hall had been sealed since the night of the blood trials.
Or so Elara thought.
But grief is not bound by locks.
It leaks through the cracks.
And that night, it led her back.
She came alone.
Barefoot.
No guards.
No Kael.
No weapons.
Only silence.
And the name she hadn't spoken in weeks.
Liora.
The hall greeted her with frost.
Thin lines of ice traced the mirror edges.
Not conjured by magic.
Not chilled by winter.
But formed from sorrow pressed too long against stone.
She passed the entrance.
Stepped onto the bone-rune inlay of the floor.
And every mirror lit.
Not with light.
But with memory.
She saw herself—fractured, burning, weeping.
She saw Kael—bloody, silent, kneeling.
And in the farthest mirror—
She saw her.
Liora.
Hair damp with ash.
Dress scorched at the hem.
Eyes wide, unblinking, and full of something Elara couldn't name.
The reflection didn't move.
But its mouth did.
"You're walking in my skin," Liora said.
Elara staggered back.
"No."
"You carry my heart."
"I carry the pain."
"You wear the face of someone who was supposed to die."
"I didn't choose this."
Liora stepped closer inside the glass.
"But you didn't refuse it."
Elara fell to her knees.
Her hands trembled.
"I would've died for you."
"You lived instead."
"I tried to bring you back."
"You kept me buried."
The glass rippled.
The Liora inside blinked—finally.
And this time, her eyes weren't wide.
They were narrowed.
Judging.
"You think he loves you?" she asked.
Elara didn't respond.
"You think he sees you?"
"Stop—"
"You're the shadow I cast. That's all."
Footsteps echoed behind her.
Not imagined.
Real.
Heavy.
Kael.
He didn't speak.
Didn't draw his sword.
Didn't demand to know why she was here.
He saw the mirror.
Saw the figure.
And he knelt behind her.
Silently.
His hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
Not pulling her back.
Not forcing her away.
Just anchoring.
"I can't do this," Elara whispered.
"I know."
"I'm not her."
"No."
"I look like her."
"You don't."
"She died."
"She did."
"She deserved to live."
Kael's hand tightened slightly.
"And yet here you are."
The mirror began to crack.
Thin fractures spreading across the surface.
Liora's voice warped.
"Do you see her when you touch me?" Elara asked, tears in her voice.
Kael said nothing.
"Do you hear her name when I cry?"
Still nothing.
She turned to face him.
Her eyes bloodshot.
Her mouth trembling.
"If I'm just her shadow, Kael—would you still love me?"
Silence.
Then—
Kael took her hand.
Raised it.
Pressed it to his own chest.
"I only kneel for what makes me want to stand again."
Elara blinked.
"I don't understand."
"She died," Kael said softly, "and I never knelt."
"But you're kneeling now."
He nodded.
"Because you break… and still look for light."
"Even if I'm her ghost?"
"You're the only ghost who ever touched me."
The mirror cracked further.
Then—
Shattered.
Not violently.
Not in rage.
But like a memory finally let go.
Tiny shards floated in the air, light like snow.
Liora was gone.
Only Elara remained.
She fell into Kael's arms.
He held her.
No words.
Just the rhythm of his breathing and the way his forehead rested against hers.
As if her being there—
Living—
Was enough.