Three days later they reached the edge of the Glasswaste.
The land simply ended. One moment there was black sand and wind-carved stone; the next, a perfectly flat plain of mirror-smooth obsidian stretching to the horizon. Nothing grew. Nothing moved. The sky reflected below so perfectly that it felt like riding across the underside of the heavens.
At its centre rose a single spire of white crystal, thin as a needle, bright as a star.
The Third Trial.
They made camp at the border that night, uneasy. The mirror plain gave back no sound; even hoofbeats died the instant they touched the surface. The bond felt strangely muffled, as if the glass were listening.
They slept close, bodies entwined, but no one suggested love-making. The plain watched with too many eyes.
At dawn they rode out.
The closer they came to the spire, the more the reflections changed. At first they showed only what was: three riders, horses, packs. Then the images began to lag a heartbeat behind. Then two. Then the reflections stopped moving altogether and simply stared up at them with unblinking eyes.
Lira's stomach twisted.
At the base of the spire stood a single arch of white stone. No door. Only empty air that rippled like water.
They dismounted. The horses refused to step onto the glass; they tethered them and walked the final yards on foot.
The arch hummed when they drew near. Words appeared in fire across the stone, burning without heat:
ONE TRUTH FOR ONE PASSAGE.
SPEAK IT ALOUD, OR REMAIN FOREVER.
The reflections beneath their feet shifted again. Now each showed a different scene:
—lira saw herself as a child, curled in a burning caravan while her goddess-mother screamed outside.
-Kazeal saw the night the grove burned, the princess's body in his arms, his own hands covered in her blood.
- Seraphin saw herself centuries younger, laughing as violet fire consumed the Queen's library, knowing she had just damned herself forever.
The images rose from the glass like smoke, solidifying into perfect duplicates of the three of them.
The Mirror Selves stepped forward and spoke with their own voices.
Mirror-Lira looked at the real one with gentle pity.
"You will burn them both to death to save the world. You already know it."
Mirror-Kazeal stared at Kazeal , eyes hollow.
"You failed her once. You will fail this one too."
Mirror-Seraphin smiled Seraphin's cruelest smile.
"You only love them because they make you feel less empty. When they're gone you'll steal someone else."
The real three stood frozen.
The archway shimmered, waiting.
Lira's throat worked. Tears cut clean paths through the dust on her cheeks.
She stepped forward first.
"I am terrified," she said aloud, voice cracking but clear, "that I will love you both so much that when the final choice comes I'll let the world burn just to keep you breathing."
The Mirror- lira flickered, then bowed her head, and dissolved into golden sparks that drifted upward.
Kazeal's turn. His hands were shaking.
"I still wake up reaching for a woman who died three centuries ago," he rasped. "Some nights I'm afraid the pendant around my neck is the only heart I have left to give."
Mirror- Kazeal closed his eyes, nodded once, and vanished in silver light.
Seraphin laughed, but it broke in the middle.
"I keep waiting for you both to realise I'm not worth saving," she said, voice raw. "I stole, I lied, I burned bridges for fun. I'm terrified that one day you'll see the real me and walk away."
Mirror-Seraphin's smile softened into something almost tender. She reached out, brushed ghostly fingers across Seraphin's cheek, and melted into violet mist.
The archway flared white.
All three reflections were gone.
The way stood open.
They walked through together, hands linked so tightly it hurt.
On the far side waited a small, circular chamber. In its centre hovered the Second Shard: a crystal of perfect clear light, singing softly.
No guardian. No flames. Only the quiet hum of truth accepted. Lira lifted the Shard. It settled against the First, clicking into place like pieces of the same star. Warmth flooded her chest, gentle and vast.
Kazeal exhaled shakily. "Two down."
Seraphin wiped her eyes with the heel of her hand, trying to look like she wasn't crying. "Don't get cocky. We still have to get outrun our own reflections on the way back."
They did: ghostly images chasing them across the plain, whispering the truths they had spoken. But the words had no power now; they had already been faced and owned.
When they reached solid ground again, the mirror plain cracked behind them like thin ice and sank into sand.
The Trial of the Mirror That Does Not Lie was over.
They made camp that night beneath real stars, on real earth that didn't echo their fears.
And when they came together this time, it was slower, almost reverent. No frantic rush, only the steady rhythm of bodies that had survived seeing themselves clearly and choosing each other anyway.
Lira rode Kazeal first, hips rolling in a gentle, deliberate dance while Seraphin kissed them both, hands stroking wherever she could reach. Then Seraphin took her turn astride lira's mouth while Kael moved behind her, until all three shattered in a long, shuddering waves that felt like forgiveness.
Afterward they lay curled together, the two Shards glowing softly between Lira's breasts like twin hearts.
"One more," Kazeal murmured against her hair.
Seraphin's fingers traced lazy circles over lira's belly. "Then we burn the rest of the world down together."
Lira smiled into the dark, no longer afraid of what she might have to become,Because whatever she became, she would not become it alone.