Читать книгу A Choice of Crowns - Barb Hendee - Страница 6

Prologue

There’s a story sometimes told on dark nights by families sitting near their hearths seeking ways to entertain one another…

Long ago, a vain lord enslaved a young witch so that he might use her powers to keep him handsome and young. His most valued possession was an ornate three-paneled mirror in which he could see himself from several angles. Each day, he’d look into its panels and admire his own beauty.

Seeking revenge on him, the young witch began secretly imbuing the mirror with power, planning to trap him in the reflection of the three panels, where he might view different outcomes of his useless life over and over, and he would suffer to see himself growing old and unwanted.

Though the young witch had once been kind and generous, her thirst for vengeance twisted her nature into something else. But unknown to her, as she continued to cast power into the mirror, it gained a will and awareness of its own.

One night, the lord caught her as she worked her magic, and he realized she was attempting to enchant his beloved mirror. In a rage, he drew a dagger and killed her. But her spirit fled into the mirror. Though she had been seeking escape, she was once again enslaved…this time by the mirror itself.

It whispered to her that it would protect her, and use the power she’d given it for tasks more important than punishing a vain lord. Together they would seek out those facing difficult decisions and show them outcomes of their choices.

“Wait!” she cried, inside the mirror. “What does that mean?”

The mirror vanished from the lord’s room, taking her with it.

And no one knew where it might appear again.