The Emperor in Every Mirror

The emperor is awakening inside hundreds of innocent people—and someone is murdering them for their memories. Dormant fragments of Emperor Vaustian Rhel are stirring throughout the capital. Ordinary citizens wake with memories of forgotten wars, sealed palace chambers, and executions committed decades before they were born. Then the fragments begin to die. Their bodies are left untouched, but carefully chosen memories have been torn from their minds. Every murder scene carries the magical signature of Kerron Auvray—the fugitive Saelis Dorran has learned to recognize no matter which body he wears. Saelis refuses to believe Kerron is the killer. But belief is not evidence, and Kerron is hiding memories even he does not understand. The investigation becomes more dangerous when Cauldrik Esh, a quiet palace guard, awakens with the same memories, gestures, and magical resonance as Kerron. If two men can remember the same prison, the same pain, and the same impossible promise, Saelis can no longer rely on memory or magical signature to prove who anyone truly is. As the palace prepares to reclaim every imperial fragment, Saelis turns to Doctor Myrce Ravel, the brilliant researcher who helped create fragmentation. Myrce claims the murders are part of an attempt to restore Vaustian's original consciousness. But the stolen memories reveal a far more dangerous possibility. Kerron may not have been copied from the emperor. The emperor may have been copied from the same forgotten prisoner who became Kerron. With the capital filling with rival versions of its immortal ruler, Saelis and Kerron must decide whether identity belongs to the person who came first—or to the person who chooses who they will become. The Emperor in Every Mirror is the third novel in The Empire of Borrowed Bodies, a dark romantic fantasy series about forbidden magic, changing bodies, uncertain identity, and a love that must be chosen again in every form.