The silver hands on the mirror's frame moved.
Their long, thin fingers slowly curled inward, and then they closed into fists.
CRACK!
The glass shattered between them. Caesar's smiling face broke into dozens of pieces, and the desert of bones disappeared with it.
A moment later, the frame crumbled into black dust in Tavian's hand, and the rain washed it away.
Simon stared at the place where the mirror had been.
'Caesar.'
He still remembered the root beside Caesar's boot. It had been dark red, and it had been pulsing like something alive.
He didn't know what it meant. But he had a feeling that he would find out sooner than he wanted to.
The rain around Lilith suddenly stopped falling.
No.
It was still falling, but it no longer reached the ground. Every drop that came within several meters of her body turned into steam, and the cracks beneath her feet spread across the terrace like a spider's web.
"You gave it away," Lilith said.
Her voice was quiet, and it was trembling.
