Sequoia Coast blue raven

Marina was smiling at him as their eyes met — and for a brief moment, the world seemed perfect. She felt better. She felt good, with the lingering ghost of her illness finally exorcised and their whole futures stretching ahead of them.

Then her mirror stepped from the sea, and all at once the world changed. She couldn't breathe. She knew him. How did she know him? How could she not know him? He was her; taller, perhaps not so honed by a life spent on the run, distinctly male and yet — !

In every other way, he was her.

He knew her name.

She couldn't breathe.

Marina pressed close to her husband, sucking in a sharp breath. No words came to her. She could only stare, anchoring herself to Chakliux while the rest of the world tumbled into chaos and unreality all around her.