---
The Mirror No Longer Breaks
It recoils.
As Irlenne steps back into the manor, the house greets her like a creature nursing a wound. The floors creak differently. The walls breathe slower.
Every mirror turns toward her.
Even the cracked one above the staircase — the one Mara once kissed Lucien in front of — hums in recognition.
> "You've changed," the hallway whispers.
She doesn't answer.
She never left a version of herself here to reply.
---
Elowen Is Waiting
She's sitting on the edge of Irlenne's bed, wearing a white dress that looks too much like the one Mara was buried in.
Her hair is curled in waves that aren't hers.
Her hands tremble, but her eyes hold still.
Irlenne pauses at the doorway.
"Elowen."
"You said my name right," she says, smiling like she invented it. "I was afraid you'd call me her again."
"You never were her," Irlenne says. "You only ever wanted to be."
Elowen shrugs, like that doesn't matter.
"Wanting is enough to make a god in this house, isn't it?"
---
The Mirror Behind Elowen Speaks
It flickers.
Then stabilizes.
And it shows not Irlenne.
Not Elowen.
But Mara.
Mara in her last dress. Mara with fire in her mouth. Mara on the night she whispered into Irlenne's ear, "If you can't keep him, you don't deserve him."
> "Do you remember what she said that night?" the mirror asks.
Irlenne nods.
And speaks the words aloud — without fear, without flinching.
> "Glass hearts break prettiest when someone else throws the stone."
---
Elowen Flinches
She's losing hold.
The illusion is cracking — not from magic, but from truth.
Every word Irlenne speaks unweaves another borrowed thread.
"Why do you want to be her so badly?" Irlenne asks, stepping forward. "Mara was cruel. Mara was empty."
"She was chosen!" Elowen snaps. "Lucien loved her. You loved her."
"I survived her."
"And I was made of her."
Silence.
Then—
Elowen breathes out in someone else's voice.
Mara's voice.
And the light in the room goes cold.
---
Lucien in the Loop
Elsewhere in the manor, Lucien is trapped.
Not physically.
Chronologically.
Every time he blinks, he's back on the night of the masquerade — where he first kissed Irlenne, thinking it was Mara.
Every blink: the same music, the same lie, the same wrong girl.
And each version of himself leans in closer, more desperate.
Until the real Lucien shouts, "STOP!"
And all the mirror versions freeze.
One — the most recent — turns.
> "You made me," it says. "So now you watch me ruin her."
---
Back in the Bedroom: A Shard Appears
Elowen rises from the bed.
Her mouth is bleeding.
Her eyes flicker between colors.
One green, one hazel — neither hers.
She holds out her hand.
A shard floats above her palm.
"I took this from your first lie," she says, voice wobbling between Mara and something deeper. "The first time you pretended not to care he chose me."
"I didn't pretend," Irlenne says, calm. "I just didn't beg."
"You should have."
"I don't have to."
Irlenne walks forward, unafraid.
"You think wearing a ghost makes you real?" she asks. "Ghosts don't get choices. I do."
---
They Clash — Not With Blades, But With Truths
The mirror behind them begins to splinter — not from touch, but from resonance.
Irlenne raises her voice.
Speaks every moment she never got to scream:
"You were a copy of my worst day."
"He only kissed you because I was too proud to cry."
"Mara died without ever saying sorry."
Each truth hits Elowen like a blow.
The shard in her hand shivers.
Then begins to melt.
"I didn't mean to become her," Elowen whispers. "I just… she didn't deserve to keep all that love."
"And you don't deserve to steal it."
---
The Final Reflection
The mirror shows all three of them now.
Irlenne. Elowen. And Mara.
But Mara doesn't move.
She's just watching — a memory with sharp edges, trapped in time.
Elowen reaches toward the glass.
"I thought if I touched her, I'd understand why everyone broke for her."
Irlenne lays a hand on Elowen's wrist — gentle now.
"You can stop reaching."
Elowen shakes her head.
Eyes welling with something far older than grief.
"She's in my head, Irlenne. Even now. Telling me I'll never be enough unless I finish what she started."
And then — her voice crumbles.
"Make it stop."
---
Irlenne's Choice
She cups Elowen's face.
Not out of mercy.
Not out of rage.
Out of knowing.
"I'm not her. But I know what it's like to feel like a room you weren't invited into."
Elowen begins to sob — not with Mara's voice, not with anyone's — just hers.
"I don't know who I am."
Irlenne leans in.
"Then let's find out. Together. But not through her. Never again through her."
The mirror behind them sighs.
And shatters into snow.
---
Elsewhere: Theda Watches the Fracture Close
She sees the snow fall from every mirror in the manor.
Sees Lucien fall out of the loop.
Sees Mara's face fade from every surface.
And she smiles.
> "It's not over," she whispers.
"But the echo's finally run out of breath."
---
Lucien Finds Them
He bursts through the door.
Sees Elowen on the floor, weeping.
Irlenne holding her hand.
"What happened?" he breathes.
Irlenne looks up.
"She gave me back my shadow."
Lucien falls to his knees.
And the three of them—scarred, mirrored, changed—sit in the ruin of the room that once held a ghost.
---