Chapter 22 - The Mirror That RememberedKing Aldric refused to open the doors.
Instead, he seized Ethan by the wrist and led him through a narrow passage concealed behind the throne.
The boy struggled to keep up.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere your face cannot be seen."
They entered a chamber lined with black stone. At its center stood an enormous silver mirror covered by a velvet cloth.
Ethan immediately noticed something strange.
The mirror's frame was warm.
He could feel the heat from several feet away.
"What's that?"
"The reason my family was destroyed."
Aldric approached the mirror but refused to touch it.
"Thirty years ago, this object appeared after a lightning storm. My wife believed it was a gift from heaven."
"Was it?"
"No. It was a doorway."
The king slowly removed the cloth.
Ethan saw his reflection.
But the boy inside the glass wasn't wearing a hoodie.
He wore a golden crown.
His shoulders were covered by a crimson royal cloak.
Behind him stood thousands of soldiers.
Ethan stepped closer.
The reflection did not.
Instead, the crowned boy lifted his head and smiled.
"You're late," the reflection said.
Ethan stumbled backward.
King Aldric drew his sword.
"Don't answer him!"
But the reflection was already speaking again.
"Father, you promised you would remember."
Aldric dropped to his knees.
Ethan stared at the king.
"That's not me."
The reflection's smile disappeared.
"Not yet."
Suddenly, a second figure appeared in the glass.
A woman in a white dress stood behind the crowned boy.
Her face was hidden beneath a veil.
The king began shaking.
"Eleanor?"
The woman raised one finger to her lips.
Then she wrote five words against the inside of the glass.
THE WRONG SON WAS BURIED.
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The mirror cracked.
And beneath the castle, something answered with a scream.
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