The mirrors in the west wing were veiled in velvet cloth—every one.
Selene stood before the last uncovered pane, its glass warped by age. Her reflection wavered, the silver-threaded gown clinging to her like fog. Behind her, Iris adjusted the clasp of a crimson sash.
"You shouldn't go alone," Iris murmured.
"I won't be," Selene said. "He'll be there. And if not him… then the fox."
Aro entered, dressed not as a prince, but in the dark leathers of a traveler. A nod passed between them—no fanfare, no royal decree. Only trust.
The masquerade awaited.
Torches burned low as Selene stepped into the lantern-lit garden of the Glass Court. Masks glittered—foxes, wolves, stags. The air reeked of perfume and pretense.
At the far end, a woman in a silver mask raised a glass. "To old truths and new lies."
Whispers threaded through the crowd. Selene recognized the speaker—a former ally of Corvex.
Selene stepped forward, voice cool:
"Then let the mask fall first from the one who fears their own reflection."
The woman froze. For a moment, even the music halted.
In the shadowed balcony above, Aro crouched beside an ancient device—half-mechanical, half-magical. It pulsed faintly, responding to the fox-rune carved into its base.
Aro (softly): "What is this supposed to reveal?"
A voice answered—not aloud, but inside his mind:
"What they cannot hide when they think they are unseen."
He looked through the lens. Masks flickered, illusions peeled back. Selene shimmered—not fading, but glowing brighter. Some in the crowd dimmed—others bled black around the edges.
Back in the garden, a figure stepped out from the hedge maze—no mask, no name. Just eyes too old, too knowing.
"The Developers chose well," he said, voice like gravel and wind. "But they're watching too."
Selene held her ground.
"If they fear what I might become," she said, "perhaps they should've written me differently."
The man smiled—a grin too wide.
"Perhaps they did. Perhaps they left the pen behind."
Later, beneath the flickering gaslights of the lower archives, Selene found Aro waiting with the lens.
He handed it to her.
"It doesn't just reveal what's hidden," he said. "It reflects what you are becoming."
She looked through it once. And didn't flinch.