King of Tides (The Immortal Iron Brothers #3)

Chapter 27

Shattered Mirrors

A month later …

I step into the room of revelation and look around at the mess. No one has come in here to clean up since two months ago when Kendrick found Ray. The mirrors are all shattered to pieces.

I make quick work of restoring the room. I’m not going to be able to sleep without at least trying to locate my nephew. Maybe the mirrors will reveal him to me.

We all have our mates and as Bradan pointed out, they are more than what we think. I was floored to see Ray flash to Kendrick and get so close to his desk. In the month that Lee has been here, I’ve sensed that she’s more powerful than a being who just came into their powers should be, even though Reilly treats her like a porcelain doll.

“What does any of this mean?” I mutter to myself.

I don’t understand how a baby disappears from a womb. I’ve been so excited for the arrival of Knox. My first nephew. I was counting on watching my brother with his family so I would know what to expect.

Hearing the pain in Kendrick’s voice as he revealed to us what his mate had come to tell him made my chest ache. To have lost hope before it could reach its full potential—for beings like us, it’s almost unfathomable. Not that it hasn’t happened, just never like this.

I know I said I was going to my mate, but I can’t bring myself to tell her this news. Not when one of her fears is not being able to protect and care for one of our own.

I lift my hands palms up and look up at the mirrors. “ Ben kral?m .”

My iron releases and I stretch to my natural full height. The magic of the room allows it to expand to accommodate me. Although my crown is on my head, I have not released my avatar.

I gaze into the mirrors to see what they will reveal. I’m expecting to find a baby or little boy lost. However, what I find in the reflection before me are two boys.

The twin titans. I furrow my brows. It was just reported to me today that they are doing well. They ask after Billy and me a lot.

“Show your meaning in revealing this,” I command of the room.

The images change and the boys are in full titan form. However, one is water, the other is ice. I nearly drop to my knees. This means I have failed them.

To lose one is to lose them both. Once they part from each other, they will always feel lost. Ice runs through my own veins and I drop to one knee.

“What have I done?”

That’s when the image changes again. I knit my brows as I observe what’s happening in the mirrors before me, like watching a sports game on multiple screens that all make one image.

The titans are standing side by side, but that’s not what stands out to me. It’s the mischievous grins in the corners of their mouths. They reach their hands out toward me and that’s when a pair of blue arms appear from behind them, placing a hand on each of their shoulders.

I narrow my eyes. I can’t see the rest of the figure. From what I can tell, the hands look like claws. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind tells me I know more about this figure, but the pieces won’t connect, or they are being held back from connecting.

The twins look back at the figure, then back toward me. As they turn their hands as if to catch something, each captures a triton. One of ice and gold, the other gold with water flowing around it. However, I’m confused because they are not holding the element of their being. The water titan is holding the ice triton, and the ice titan is holding the water.

Before I can ask the mirrors to reveal the truth behind this vision, it vanishes and the mirrors go black, leaving me with none of the answers that I came for and full of questions I didn’t have when I came in here.

“I won’t allow this. I will not fail you, sweet boys.”

With a heavy heart, I leave the room of revelation. I don’t understand why the mirrors chose to show what they did. The desire of my heart is to find the boy who is lost.

I shake my head to clear it. My thoughts turn to earlier. Bradan’s words outside of Kendrick’s office come back to me.

For her, it feels right. If she’s anything like me. It’s wiser to release the pressure cooker than to let it build.

My brother is right. Our mates are meant to be like us. However, I’m the opposite of Bradan. I know when my emotions and temper run free, my powers can flood everything around me.

It is best not to release that chaos. Perhaps that’s why I feel cautious about pushing Billy too hard and unlocking what I feel within her.

Where it’s the right thing for Bradan to push Taylor, I know it’s unwise for me to do the same. Nevertheless, I can’t help feeling like Billy will need to take those steps sooner rather than later. Something is brewing.

Knox’s disappearance feels like some type of marker of sorts. This is a pivotal change the gods clearly don’t want us to understand. I’m not going to give up. There has to be an answer.

However, as I head to our apartment upstairs, I can’t shake what the mirrors revealed. It’s haunting me with each step I take.

This is just the beginning, brother. Get ready.