Magic & Mirrors

by L. M. Brown

  When morning arrived he went to find the queen.

  “Good morning, Julianne.” He greeted her with a smile and sat beside her at the breakfast table.

  “Is it?” Julianne snapped.

  Lucius took her hand and squeezed it. “It is indeed.”

  Julianne snatched her hand back and glared at him. “Touch me again and I’ll gut you with the butter knife.”

  Lucius laughed and shook his head. “I have no interest in touching you at all. Except perhaps to give you a brotherly peck on the cheek when you’re my sister-in-law.”

  “Lucius?” Julianne peered at him curiously. “Is that you?”

  “It is.”

  “But how?”

  Lucius grabbed some toast and piled a healthy dollop of jam on top. “I got some help, of course.”

  “Are you sure that’s enough jam?” Julianne asked with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Perhaps you could send for another pot or two from the kitchen?”

  Lucius grinned as he took a huge bite of toast, savouring the flavour of his favourite strawberry jam. “You have no idea how good it is to finally eat something I like. While I was stuck in that wretched mirror, the only time I could taste anything was when the wizard was eating, and he and I don’t share the same tastes in anything.”

  Julianne picked at her own breakfast. “So, are you going to tell me what this help was, and more importantly, whether the wizard is gone for good?”

  “I can’t answer that last question, but the help came in the form of an assassin sent to murder me.”

  Julianne gasped. “You’re jesting, surely?”

  “No.” Lucius continued to enjoy his breakfast, and between bites he explained to Julianne how Harry had helped to free him from his prison.

  “You like him, don’t you?” Julianne had always been perceptive.

  “Yes, and I intend to rescue him and marry him.”

  Julianne laughed and came round the table to hug him. “I’m so happy for you.”

  Lucius patted her on the back. “Thank you.”

  A crash from behind him made Lucius jump and he released Julianne. Shielding the queen with his body, he turned to face the broken window and the assassin standing in front of it.

  For the briefest moment the dark clothing made him think of Harry, before common sense took over and he recognised the barely disguised man as his brother.

  “Philippe, what are you doing?” Lucius asked. “Put down that crossbow before you hurt someone.”

  Philippe ignored his request and pointed the weapon directly at his head. “I won’t let you destroy this kingdom any longer.”

  “Philippe, I can explain. It’s me, Lucius.”

  “I can see who you are,” Philippe replied. “I’m not blind.”

  Julianne stepped up beside Lucius. “Philippe, it’s all right. Lucius wasn’t himself, but he’s recovered now. Come and sit down and we’ll explain.”

  Philippe shook his head. “I have no reason to trust him, and neither should you. He stole you from me.”

  “That wasn’t Lucius,” Julianne explained. “Your brother has no interest in me, and I think you know that.”

  “He married you,” Philippe shouted. “You were betrothed to me!”

  “No, he didn’t,” Julianne said as she stepped in front of Philippe and lowered the crossbow. “He was possessed by an evil wizard, but now he’s restored. We can be together and Lucius can marry the man he loves.”

  “The man he loves?” Philippe gaped at him.

  Lucius nodded. “I’ve always known that I preferred men, and now I’ve found my true love I’ll announce it to the world. You’ll recall that Prince Aiden has married another male?”

  “Yes, what of it?”

  “If the laws in his kingdom can be changed to allow men to marry, so can ours.”

  Philippe didn’t appear entirely convinced, but he wasn’t trying to kill him, so that at least was an improvement.

  Lucius gestured to the table and everyone took a seat. “There is one slight issue that needs to be resolved before I can marry my true love.”

  “You need to annul your marriage to Julianne,” Philippe said.

  Lucius waved away his brother’s concern about that. “It’s already underway. My advisers are currently undoing everything the wizard has done since he took control of my life. No, what I need to do is go rescue my love from the wizard. Which may take some time.”

  “Why? Aren’t you up to the job?” Philippe asked.

  “I hope I am,” Lucius replied. “But the main problem is that he’s trapped in a magic mirror on an island that moves on the night of each full moon, and it moved to parts unknown last night.”

  “How are you going to find it?” Julianne asked.

  “The same way Harry and I found it the first time,” Lucius replied. “I’m going to visit Prince Aiden and request an audience with his husband’s magic mirror again.”

  “How many magic mirrors are there round here?” Philippe asked.

  “Far too many for my liking,” Lucius replied, “but Robert’s mirror seems fairly harmless and it has already helped me once.”

  “When do you intend to leave?” Julianne asked.

  “Immediately, or as soon as I’ve notified my advisers that Philippe is to rule in my stead until my return.”

  Philippe’s jaw dropped. “I am?”

  “Who else?”

  “Er…”

  “There isn’t anyone else,” Lucius reminded him. “Now, let’s finish breakfast and start getting things back to normal.”

  Philippe continued to cast suspicious glances in his direction, but Lucius ignored them as best he could. In time he knew his brother would learn to trust him again.

  Until then Lucius would do what he could to make things right, starting with rescuing Harry.

  * * * *

  Lucius found Prince Aiden and Robert much as he had last seen them, completely smitten with each other. They greeted him with warmth and had no hesitation in granting his request to speak to the magic mirror once more.

  When the mirror revealed the location of the island, Lucius was disappointed to see it showed it to be on the far side of the most distant kingdom of the known world.

  “I can’t possibly get there in a month,” Lucius said. “It’s impossible.”

  “You can ask again next month,” Aiden suggested. “You can stay here until then, or you can return home and come back again.”

  Lucius had promised himself that he wouldn’t return home without Harry, but he was still torn. What if the island continued to appear in places he couldn’t get to in time? Could he neglect his kingdom for so long?

  No, he had to trust Philippe to keep things running smoothly. He couldn’t keep running back and forth if the island remained out of his reach. Besides, he couldn’t concentrate on ruling if he was worrying about Harry all the time.

  “My brother is ruling in my place at the moment,” he explained. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay here, at least for a little while.”

  “Of course,” Aiden assured him.

  “I just hope that the island returns to this part of the world soon,” Lucius said. “I don’t want to impose on you, and while I trust Philippe, it isn’t fair to leave him to rule in my place indefinitely.”

  “You could abdicate,” Aiden suggested. “It’s been done before.”

  Lucius shook his head. “No, or at least not yet. I’ll give it a few months before I make that decision. I don’t want to have nothing to offer Harry.”

  Robert gave him a smile. “You really like him, don’t you?”

  “I love him,” Lucius replied.

  “And does he feel the same way about you?”

  “I don’t know, but if it’s any indication he gave up his life to free me, that has to count for something.” Lucius sank onto one of the plush, cushioned chairs and sighed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t rescue him.”

  “Do you have any idea
how you’re going to do that?” Aiden asked. “Once you’ve found the island that is.”

  Lucius shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot on the journey here. I’m hoping to trick the wizard into breaking his own mirror, which will release Harry when it breaks, and trap the wizard when it reforms.”

  “Well, it’s a plan at least.”

  “You think it’s a bad idea?” Lucius asked.

  “No, but you’re counting on the wizard being there when you reach the island. What if he’s gone?”

  Lucius had already considered that, and he worried Aiden might be right. He was relying on a lot of luck.

  * * * *

  Lucius spent the next month as a guest of Prince Aiden and Robert. He enjoyed watching the two men as they lived in seeming domestic bliss. He desperately wanted the same for himself.

  “Can I join you?” Robert asked one rainy morning when Lucius was sat in the morning room.

  “Of course,” Lucius gestured to the seat opposite. “It’s your castle.”

  Robert chuckled. “Technically, it belongs to Aiden’s parents. Aiden’s own castle is still undergoing renovations to make it safe to live in.”

  “I didn’t realise you were planning on moving out. You seem so happy here.”

  “Oh, we are, but we intend to move into our own castle one day. It’s actually Aiden’s great-grandparents’ castle. It fell into ruin many years ago, but we’re putting it back together again.” Robert lowered his voice and leaned closer with a mischievous grin. “Whether it’s completed in our lifetimes is another matter entirely.”

  Lucius could only imagine the scale of the task they had given themselves. He wished them every success.

  “I’m sure you’ll find a way to rescue Harry,” Robert said. “I have faith that everyone deserves to live happily ever after.”

  “Thank you,” Lucius replied. “I just hope I can convince him that we’re perfect for each other, and to give up his profession, which may be even harder.”

  “Ah, yes,” Robert said. “An assassin is an even less suitable consort for a king than a painter.”

  “You’re more than a painter,” Lucius said. “You’re one of the most talented artists alive.”

  Robert flushed and lowered his gaze.

  “You are,” Lucius repeated. “In fact, I intend to commission you to do a portrait of Harry and myself once we’re married. If you’d be so kind.”

  “Of course I will,” Robert replied. “Just tell me when.”

  “Thank you.” Lucius looked at the portrait of Aiden’s mother on the wall opposite them. It wasn’t one of Robert’s pieces, and showed the queen in her younger days.

  Robert picked up his ever-present sketchpad and pencil. Lucius didn’t take much notice of what he was drawing, but a few minutes later Robert passed him the sheet of paper. On it was a perfect likeness of Harry.

  “This is beautiful,” Lucius said. “Your memory is as amazing as your artistic talent.”

  “I thought you might like a reminder of Harry,” Robert said. “Until you can look on him again.”

  “That’s so thoughtful of you.” Lucius teared up a little at Robert’s kindness. “Thank you.”

  “Think nothing of it.” Robert smiled. “The island will be moving tonight, perhaps we’ll be lucky and find that it’s moved closer.”

  “I hope so. Thank you again for letting me use your mirror. I did want to ask you something about it though.”

  “What do you want to know?” Robert asked.

  “Well, your mirror speaks in rhyme, but the one in the wizard’s castle doesn’t, why is that?”

  “Ah.” Robert laughed. “I believe my mirror is what you might call traditional, or pretentious as Aiden refers to it. It can speak normally when it wants to, but it’s rare that it does, especially when a stranger stands before it.”

  Lucius shook his head and smiled at the thought of magic mirrors having personalities and attitudes of their own. It was a very strange world they lived in.

  * * * *

  Harry was bored out of his mind. He’d been stuck in the mirror for a month and he had nothing with which to occupy his time.

  There were no books to read and no games to play, not that he had a clue about chess and other such pastimes of the rich and idle.

  The wizard came into the room occasionally, during which times Harry tried to taunt him into throwing things at the mirror. He hoped that it might release him and trap the wizard instead, but he was unsuccessful in baiting his captor.

  The wizard refused to lose his temper and took little notice of Harry at all, save to make the occasional snide comment about whether he was enjoying his accommodations, and to threaten to remove the only chair in the room.

  Harry supposed that meant he wasn’t going to be getting a bed installed any time soon.

  On the plus side, Harry found he didn’t actually need to sleep or eat while he was stuck in his prison. If he had, he’d have been sleeping on the stone floor while slowly starving to death, because the wizard had no intention of providing him with anything.

  With no company except the mirror it said something about how bored Harry was that he didn’t mind the voice intruding in his head at any given time.

  The thought of being stuck in the mirror for the rest of his life was not a pleasant one, and in his darkest moments the knife he wore on his belt looked quite appealing. The only thing stopping him from ending it all was the thought that Lucius might be able to find a way to get him out of there.

  He didn’t know why he was relying on the king to rescue him. He was sure Lucius had settled back into his life and forgotten all about him.

  Harry frowned at the idea that Lucius might even have found someone else to marry by now.

  He regretted his reaction to Lucius’ suggestion that they marry. He had been insensitive and stupid, especially since he was pretty sure he was in love with the king. Why else would he have put himself in this position?

  He still had the handheld mirror from Lucius’ castle and sometimes he thought he could hear Lucius in it, but it was just his overactive imagination.

  Lucius was gone. He had lost him and he had missed the opportunity to tell him how he felt. He was a fool.

  Chapter Eight

  Lucius left Prince Aiden and Robert within an hour of speaking to the magic mirror. The island was closer now, but he was going to be cutting it fine to get there before it moved again.

  Aiden had given him the fastest horse from his stables and enough gold to secure passage on a ship. Lucius had almost teared up at the generosity of his host. It wasn’t as if they were old friends who had grown up together. Lucius knew that there were many people in the kingdom who mocked the prince because he wasn’t known for his intelligence, but they didn’t know that what he lacked in brains, he more than made up for with his big heart.

  Lucius wished Aiden and Robert every happiness before he galloped off to try to find his own happy ending.

  By land and then by ship, Lucius sped across first one kingdom and then another, each day taking him farther from his home. He sent word back to Philippe of his progress, but he didn’t expect a reply.

  At long last, he reached the island. Once again he arrived by rowboat, although this time he had paid the captain for the loss of his boat. Thankfully the captain had been more amenable than the one Harry had tried to secure passage with.

  Lucius was in the process of dragging the rowboat over the sand when the island moved. The ship no longer sat on the horizon, and instead there was a long stretch of land. He didn’t recognise the land formation or any of the landmarks. He wasn’t surprised, as he wasn’t well-travelled. The island had moved a lot closer to civilisation this time, although the sense of unease remained and Lucius could tell the spell to keep people away was in force.

  The castle stood on the hill in the centre of the island. This time Lucius knew he would have to be even more careful, because the wizard was almost certainly going to be
in residence.

  Lucius tried to recall the way to the secret tunnel, not an easy task considering that the last time he had been viewing everything from the vantage point of a mirror on Harry’s belt.

  Luck seemed to be with him, and after almost an hour of frantically running around the bushes, he spotted a familiar opening and raced for the tunnel.

  Once he was in the castle itself, it was a lot easier to find his way. He just kept heading upwards. He tried to be quiet and cautious, but he made a very poor job of it.

  Lucius found the door to the room containing the magic mirror and finally slowed down. He eased the heavy wooden door open and peeked inside.

  The wizard stood in front of the mirror, which showed a room inside Lucius’ castle, and not the wizard himself. Lucius considered that this might be a good thing, because it meant that the wizard wouldn’t see him standing behind him in the mirror either.

  It took only a moment for Lucius to realise what he was seeing in the mirror. Philippe sat with Julianne in front of a roaring fire. It was a cosy domestic scene and it warmed Lucius’ heart to see the two of them so happy. He had told them not to wait for him to return before marrying, and it seemed that they hadn’t. He suspected they had tied the knot the same day the paperwork severing Lucius’ own marriage to Julianne had been completed.

  The implications of what he saw hit Lucius a moment later. The wizard had clearly been watching the castle and could see that Philippe was the one running the kingdom now, not Lucius. The wizard was no longer interested in taking over Lucius’ life, he intended to steal Philippe’s body instead.

  Over my dead body.

  Lucius tightened the grip on his sword. He wasn’t sure how much good it would be against a wizard capable of powerful magic, but it was all he had.

  “I can hear you breathing,” the wizard announced calmly. “You might as well come in, rather than lingering in doorways.”