by Amy Sumida
“Not only will we survive, but we're also going to help you escape,” I said.
“If ve can find vay out.” Kirill gave me a heavy look.
“We have to,” I said simply. “So, we will.”
“Then I bless the day you three walked into my mirror!” Narcissus declared. He lifted his mug to us and then drank deeply.
Kirill, the Wolf, and I left our mugs alone and traded grim looks. We still didn't know enough about this place to drink the wine yet. I wasn't about to pull a Persephone and get stuck in Narcissus' mirror just because I had a craving for a hot, tasty beverage.
Chapter Six
“Perhaps we should start with the curse,” I said. “Do you remember any of it?”
Narcissus frowned. “It was a very long time ago. Nemesis caught me asleep in the forest; I woke up to her chanting and then I felt the shiver of magic filling me. Suddenly, she was gone and in her place was this magnificent mirror. It was carved with the flowers humans had named after me.”
“The same mirror we were pulled through,” the Wolf said.
“Yes, I assumed so,” Narcissus agreed. “I should have known better to approach it, but I went forward anyway, and I touched the glass. Then I woke here, in a forest that was nearly identical to the one I'd been sleeping in. At first, I didn't realize that I was in the Mirror. I assumed that I'd fallen asleep again. Everything looked the same. It wasn't until I tried to go home that the differences became apparent.”
“There was no one there,” I concluded.
“I lived here.” He nodded as he spread out his arms. “Except my palace wasn't nearly as grand as this one, and there wasn't a lake. I made some adjustments over the years.”
“You adjusted Mirror?” Kirill asked in surprise.
“As if it's your territory,” I mused.
“Yes. It took me years to figure it out,” Narcissus went on. “I believe that when Nemesis bound me to the Mirror, she inadvertently linked us. I can affect this place; alter it with my will. Ironically, the curse sustains me. I should have perished centuries ago without ambrosia to revive my immortality, but here I am.”
“She had to link you to an enchanted mirror in order to imprison you,” I said pensively. “The very magic she used to contain you is also sustaining you. Interesting.”
“But how do we use it to escape?” the Wolf asked.
Narcissus shrugged. “I've been trying to escape for years. I used to stand before that glass portal and scream and wave at the people I saw beyond it, all to no avail.”
“Da, ve learned zat,” Kirill muttered.
“So, you went home and found the place deserted,” I got Narcissus back to his story.
“Not only were there no servants in the palace, but the nearby village was also abandoned,” Narcissus said. “I was terrified. I walked for hours, trying to find another person. And then I reached the end.”
“The end of what?” the Wolf asked.
“The Mirror,” Narcissus said simply. “This place is finite; it encompasses the forest, the area that was once a village, and about a mile beyond. It's large enough, I suppose, but not endless.”
“What does the end look like?” I asked.
“A mirror, what else?” Narcissus laughed grimly. “I didn't realize it until I approached it and saw my own reflection staring back at me. With a cursory glance, it looks as if the forest continues forever, but it's actually surrounded by a mirror that extends up into the sky beyond sight.”
“What happened to the village?” I asked.
“I erased it.” Narcissus grimaced. “I hated seeing it empty. It just made me feel more alone.”
“An enchanted mirror,” I muttered. “Bound to a god. What type of magic do you have, Narcissus?”
“Just a bit of water magic from my father,” he said. “He was a river god. My mom was a nymph; I got my beauty from her.”
“Water magic,” the Wolf murmured. “That's why you built your palace on a lake.”
“Yes; I can manipulate the lake in most seasons,” Narcissus said. “But alas, you're here in Winter, and I can't work with ice.”
“Does your magic work the same in here as it did before?” I asked.
“It's a poor reflection of itself,” Narcissus said sadly and grimaced. “As are all things here.”
“That's why my star petered out,” I muttered. “Great.”
“I've never had other gods here,” Narcissus said. “I have no idea how your magic will fare. But I do know that the Mirror absorbs humans after they die. So, perhaps it would be best if you didn't attempt to use your magic until you're absolutely certain that you need it.”
“The Mirror absorbs corpses?” the Wolf asked slowly.
“It seems to.” Narcissus shrugged. “The bodies just disappear.”
“They're sacrifices,” I whispered. “Your mirror is taking sacrifices; that's how it's sustaining you.”
“Do you think so?” Narcissus didn't look the least bit disturbed by the possibility. But then, he'd been put into the Mirror back when sacrifices were normal.
“It would explain how you've been able to do all of this.” I gestured at the room. “You're not connected to the God Realm so the Mirror would need a source of power.”
“Especially if it has to revive your immortality,” the Wolf added.
“How often do you get visitors?” Kirill asked Narcissus.
“I don't really know,” Narcissus said with a frown. “Time became irrelevant after the first fifty years. If I had to guess; perhaps every century.”
“That's about how long it takes for an Apple of Immortality to wear off,” the Wolf noted. “Makes sense that an enchanted object would run out of juice in the same amount of time.”
“How long has it been since you had your last visitor?” I asked the question that was really bothering me.
Narcissus thought about it and frowned. “Probably about a hundred years.”
“So, it's time for a refill,” I said with grim looks at my men. “Except the Mirror can't eat us.”
“Vhat vill happen if it starves?” Kirill asked.
“That's a damn good question.” I looked at Narcissus for the answer.
“Fuck if I know,” Narcissus huffed.
I scowled at him. Something was off, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
“I guess we'll find out,” the Wolf said cryptically.
Chapter Seven
We talked until we were all exhausted, but none of us could come up with a way out of the Mirror. Finally, we admitted defeat for the evening, and Narcissus showed us to a guest room.
His palace was bizarrely beautiful; something out of a dream. Things like gravity didn't seem to matter there. We walked up a spiraling ribbon of glass that led to the second floor and then down a corridor of reflective mist. The mist dissipated as Narcissus walked past it; hardening into walls of pure silver. The floor shifted as well, rippling out with every step we took like the struck surface of a pond. The whole place felt very fluid as if it could melt away at any second and reform into something else.
The bedroom we finally entered was round and airy just like the room we'd found Narcissus in. It had a peaked roof that looked like the inside of a minaret, and I concluded that we must be at the top of one of the spindly towers. But I couldn't conceive of how we'd gotten there. We hadn't entered a tower stairwell, and there was no way that initial glass swath had taken us high enough to reach the top of a tower. Yet, when I made my way to the delicate balcony of filigree silver and stone, I had a bird's eye view of Narcissus' world. It was curious but not entirely startling for me. Castle Aithinne in Faerie behaved in a similar fashion. When taking the stairs, the magic of the castle would often shorten the distance, and I'd end up on the top floor far faster than I should have gotten there.
“Allow me,” Narcissus said as he joined me.
Narcissus waved his hand and light bloomed over the land; night to day in three seconds flat. I gaped at him.
> “I have near complete control here.” Narcissus smiled smugly.
My husbands joined us to gawk at the brightly-lit world. I peered over the balcony's edge and saw the impossibly narrow tower falling away beneath me several hundred feet. The palace gleamed around the thin column and seemed to pulse with energy. From that height, the frozen lake looked like a mirror. Snow edged the shoreline but the center was clear; a pristine glass with the gray bottom of the lake giving the surface a more reflective quality. But it was only an echo of the enormous, mirrored tube that surrounded the forest in a seamless border.
“It's far more beautiful in the Spring,” Narcissus said petulantly. “Oddly enough, that's the one thing I can't control; the weather.”
“The snow doesn't bother me as much as seeing that mirrored horizon.” I nodded toward the endless reflection of palace and forest. It went on and on, bouncing back and forth to the mirror behind us to send the palace into infinity. “It's like living in a funhouse.”
“A funhouse?” Narcissus asked.
“Oh, um.” I frowned as I tried to think of a way to explain it to an ancient Greek god who had been trapped in a mirror for centuries. “It's a place created for entertainment; they usually include a room lined in mirrors and when you stand in it, your reflection repeats endlessly.”
“Ah, yes.” Narcissus murmured as he stared at the mirror-border. “I've gotten used to it but it was disconcerting at first.”
“It's fucking disturbing,” the Wolf said. “It makes me want to catapult boulders at it.”
“I've tried to break it.” Narcissus nodded in agreement. “It's indestructible.”
“Nothing is indestructible,” I said determinedly. “We'll figure it out.”
Narcissus smiled softly at me. “I had hope like that once.” Then he turned and left.
And the sunlight left with him.
“I suppose I'd become just as cynical as him if I were trapped here as long as he has been,” I mused.
“He's become more than cynical,” the Wolf said as he stared after Narcissus. “He smells wrong, just like this place.”
“There's something that's been bothering me about him too,” I agreed. “I didn't realize what it was until he questioned me about the funhouse.”
“Vhat is it?” Kirill asked.
“The way he speaks.” I shook my head. “He talks like a modern man, and yet he said the last time a human came into the Mirror was a century ago.”
“You're right.” The Wolf's eyes widened. “His speech is all wrong. Even if he picked things up from the humans who came here, he'd still be using an older vernacular.”
“Exactly,” I said. “When I asked him what would happen if the Mirror starved, he said; 'Fuck if I know.' That's a very modern expression. I don't think it was bandied about in the early 1900s.”
“Which means that he's had far more recent visitors,” the Wolf said.
“Vhy vould he lie to us?” Kirill asked.
“I don't know,” I whispered. “It could be several reasons. Maybe he wants us to be more eager to leave.”
“No matter what the situation is here, we want out,” the Wolf said. “I don't think that's it.”
“Or perhaps he doesn't want us to know how strong he is,” I suggested.
Kirill grimaced and shook his head. “Vhatever his motives are, ve cannot trust him.”
“No, we can't,” I said softly. “The mere fact that Nemesis locked him in here speaks against him.”
“Let's try to get some sleep,” the Wolf said. “We'll think better after some rest.”
I didn't think I'd be able to sleep but once I was in the massive, crystal, four-poster bed, lying between my husbands, I drifted off very quickly.
Chapter Eight
The Wolf was right; sleep was just what we needed. I awoke with a new idea. I turned to tell him, but it wasn't the Wolf who stared sleepily at me, it was Trevor.
“Hey, you,” I whispered as I stroked his cheek.
“Hey back,” Trevor murmured in his sexy, morning voice. “A mirror-prison; that's a first.”
“Yeah. At least there aren't chains.” I chuckled. “I just got over my aversion to them.”
“It would be a shame to have to work out your issues again.” He smirked in a way that made a lie out of his words.
“I'm sure the Wolf would hate that.” I smirked back.
“You're getting him excited.” Trevor pulled me against his chest... and his erection.
“Not that I'm unhappy with you being here, but is there a reason you're back?” I asked. “I thought maybe you were letting him handle this one.”
“I was, but he was getting frustrated.” Trevor's hands began to wander. “I thought I'd take over for awhile. A frustrated wolf is dangerous.”
“Take over, huh?” I reached between us and palmed his thickening shaft.
Trevor growled and it was echoed behind me by Kirill. Another hard body slid up against my back, Kirill's cock nestling between my ass cheeks as he set his mouth against my throat. I moaned and reached back to hold his head to me while Trevor kissed me tenderly. As our tongues slid languorously over each other and my hand started to work Trevor eagerly, Kirill took the sensitive flesh of my neck between his teeth, lifted my leg, and angled himself into me.
I cried out into Trevor's kiss, delicious tingles racing down my spine. Kirill suddenly let go of my neck and shifted, pushing my top leg straight up as he got onto his knees over my bottom leg. He held my thigh to his chest tightly as he leaned forward and violently slammed into me. It bent my leg back to my chest and opened me up for deeper thrusts, but I had to let go of Trevor to accommodate Kirill. It was a bit startling, his sudden lusty savagery, but in a good way. In a; keeping things interesting way.
Trevor took it in stride, getting to his knees to toss aside the pillows so he could position himself at my mouth. I opened to him, and he slid his cock urgently past my lips. I groaned in delight as his silky heat plunged across my tongue and filled my mouth as Kirill filled my sex. Trevor's hand reached between Kirill and me to flick over my clit rapidly, and I came in just a few minutes; my body clenching around Kirill as my mouth vibrated around Trevor with my screams. The men continued to pound into me as I eased down from the high only to be driven back up again.
Wet sounds of flesh filling flesh echoed in my ears and the taste of werewolf was on my tongue; spicy and sweet. My body bucked for more, and Kirill moved us once again so that I was on my hands and knees between them; one man's motion pushing me onto the other. I gripped the bed and let them shove us into ecstasy.
The next time I cried out, they joined me. As Kirill emptied himself into me with wild jerks, and I drank down Trevor, I glanced to the side and thought I saw movement. But when I gave it a second look, all I saw was a smooth, stone wall.
Chapter Nine
We nearly got lost trying to get back to Narcissus' receiving room. The palace would randomly change, turning into that reflective fog before reforming into something new. It was disorienting and frustrating, but we kept heading downward through hallways of stone, glass, wood, and precious metals until we found the vain god lounging in his favorite spot.
“Ah; there you are!” Narcissus said as he sat up. “Would you care for some breakfast?” He waved his hand at a collection of trays before him.
“No, thank you,” I said as we took our seats.
I was actually starving, but I didn't trust the food. Although I felt the pangs of an empty belly, I wouldn't starve, and I wasn't about to risk eating just for the sake of comfort.
“I promise you, it's not poisoned.” Narcissus frowned as he leaned forward and picked up a pastry. “See?” He took a bite and chewed before swallowing.
“You're connected to this place,” Trevor said. “It may affect us differently.”
“Humph.” Narcissus seemed to consider that. “You may be right. Very well; it's your decision.” Then he looked at Trevor again. “Speaking of differences; there's s
omething different about you today.”
“Is there?” Trevor asked with a grin.
“Yes.” Narcissus pursed his lips. “I can't quite put my finger on it; something around the eyes.”
“I've had an idea,” I said before Narcissus went on. “I use mirrors to speak to my husband in the Faerie Realm. Perhaps if we went back to the mirror's portal, I could use the glass in that manner and contact someone. All I would need is some eyebright.”
“The herb?” Narcissus asked as he held out his hand.
