The Rise Of The Morningstar (Eng. Version)

Chapter 80 - The Mortal Mirror

Chapter 80 – The Mortal Mirror

--- 2 days before the start of the war. ---

Lake Lyn. The words echoed incessantly in my head. Like a melody that you picked up and couldn't get rid of. A brutal earworm that tormented you in the most banal of situations. Lake Lyn. The lake from which the Archangel Raziel had risen to give Jonathan Shadowhunter the Sword and the Cup.

So simple and unremarkable that past generations probably never even bothered to write down the location of the Mirror.

I was still in a state of shock when Alec intervened. "How do you know that? How do we know you're not lying?"

Adam's tortured eyes met mine, and when he spoke, he spoke only to me, no one else. "My parents ... they're leaving Alicante. They've decided ..." His voice broke, and my hand twitched, wanting to reach out to him. "They've decided to join Valentine. Friends have already left and reported that he's been meeting with faeries at Lake Lyn."

"They're forming an alliance," Alec whispered thoughtfully.

"That means nothing," Jace burst out, leaping from his chair like a cat poised to pounce on its prey. "Valentine could just as easily meet them there. Lake Lyn holds special significance in faerie mythology. Maybe they chose the location."

Adam slightly shook his head. "It would be foolish of Valentine to relocate his position just before the war. Lake Lyn is quite unstrategic for a battle. It's too far from Alicante to simply station his troops there. It would be equally unwise to place them closer to the city and leave it defenseless while he meets with the fairies at the lake. He certainly won't meet the Seelie Queen's representative without reinforcements."

"And even if all of this somehow makes sense in his plans," Adam continued, now a little more clearly, when Jace tried to interrupt him. "As soon as I heard about the lake, I did some research. As you rightly say, Jace, the lake has a special meaning for the fairies. They drink from it because the water gives them clear visions. But instead of Lake Lyn, they call it the Lake of Dreams, or ... Mirror of Dreams."

"They will sacrifice the missing fairy child to complete the Sword's conversion." I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to put myself in my father's shoes. What made more sense – the demons first or Raziel's wish first? Calling the Archangel first was a risk if they didn't know if Mellartach would still have its demonic abilities afterwards. "Adam is right, Lake Lyn is an unstrategic place to station his forces. The question is, does that even matter? How strategically does Valentine have to think when he is so clearly outnumbered?"

"What, so we're just going to believe that Lake Lyn is the Mortal Mirror?" Alec blurted out. "What if we put all our energy into misinformation?"

"The lake is the Mirror," Adam and I replied simultaneously, the finality in our voices testifying to how sure we were.

Jace narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction but remained silent.

"Someone has to tell Imogen," I continued when Alec didn't say anything.

"And we need a plan," Adam said, his eyes here, his expression not really present. After everything I had learned about Adam in the last few weeks, I was now able to decipher that expression. I had always dismissed it as discomfort – because his family was on a different side than we were. Until I had painfully realized that he and I weren't on the same side. This was his tactical expression – when he retreated into his head, making plans, making excuses, and making up stories.

"There is no we," Jace hissed, crossing his arms demonstratively. "You're not part of the team. Maybe the information about the Mirror eases your twisted conscience. Go ahead, tell yourself you're giving us a chance. But it doesn't change the fact that you're a traitor."