Page 205 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Nicholas Boothman
Chapter 20: The Betrayal
of Sofia
1. The Chamber Before Names
The corridor ended in a circle cut from the
river’s bright patience — a dais at its heart, a ring
of shallow water around it, thirteen steps up from
the floor. The air smelled faintly of ozone and wet
stone. Above, a single lamp hung, undecorated, like
a question that refused to be phrased.
On the dais waited a mirror the size of a page.
Not crystal this time: black glass without seam,
black the way night is before electricity.
Sofia’s voice arrived not from everywhere but a
precise point, as if she stood at the edge of the
water with her shoes off.
“I didn’t plan to lie to you,” she said.
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