CROWNED BY BLOOD
My claws extended without conscious thought, and before I knew it, before I could stop myself or even think to try, the mirror was in shards at my feet.
The crash echoed through the abandoned wing, a sound like thunder and breaking hearts. Each piece that hit the stone seemed to take a piece of that impossible hope with it, scattering fragments of what might have been across the dusty floor. I stood in the wreckage, chest heaving, hands bleeding from where the glass had bitten deep, surrounded by a thousand fractured reflections that showed me nothing but darkness.
But still... something lingered.