The First-Forged Mirror: A Starlight and Shadows Story

Seraphine has spent over twenty years perfecting her craft as an artificer in the mountains of Grauradur. Her work is unerringly precise, she is respected, and she prefers to work in solitude. When a scholar named Eiran arrives at her workshop with an unusual commission and a curiosity about her that refuses to stay within its brief, she can’t help but take note, observing him as she would a puzzle to be solved.

She does not expect to love him.

She does not expect to lose him.

When a council shrouded in secrets offers Seraphine a new commission, an object capable of anchoring corrupted magic before it devours what remains of the world, she accepts. Not for the council, but for Eiran.

But the lore of making has never asked for skill alone. And the mirror, it turns out, knows the difference.

The First-Forged Mirror is a prequel story in the Starlight and Shadows series about the oldest truth of creation: that the finest things are never made without cost.

Cidney Mayes is a fantasy author whose work weaves dark, atmospheric worlds with fierce heroines and forbidden knowledge. She is the author of Season of Fire and The Starlit Shadow. Based in Portland, Maine, she is a teacher librarian, Yale Writers' Workshop alumna, and MFA in Creative Writing candidate at Southern New Hampshire University. When not writing, you can find her wandering wooded paths, playing boardgames, or watching reality TV with her husband and cats.