Chapter 16 · Mirror Hunt

"You look like hell, Kael. Seriously. Is that a bloodstain or just bad fashion?"

I didn't even have time to blink before the blade sliced across my cheek. I jerked back, the sting of the cut immediate and hot. Standing five feet away was... me. Not a reflection. Not a ghost. It was me, but wearing a smile that I’d never seen on my own face—one that looked like it belonged to a shark.

"Who the hell are you?" I spat, wiping the blood with the back of my hand. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

"I'm the version of you that didn't hesitate," the other me said. He shifted his weight, the knife flipping effortlessly between his fingers. "The one who stopped pretending he wanted to be the hero of this little tragedy. Let's be honest—you're exhausted. You're tired of dying, aren't you?"

I didn't answer. I stepped forward, my boots crunching on the shattered glass of the warehouse floor. "I don't remember being this much of an asshole."

"That's because you're still playing by the rules," he laughed. It was my voice, but the cadence was wrong—too smooth, too confident.