“Congratulations, Laura,” the mirror says.

I smile at the diamond on my finger. “You noticed.”

“Of course. I notice everything. When’s the wedding?”

“August 18th. Can you make me a dress?”

“One moment…”

I wait, eager to see the custom dress the mirror’s AI will generate to fit my reflection. Instead, an error message appears—“EOL”—followed by today’s date.

I frown. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry. Based on my analysis of your biometric data, the wedding date falls beyond EOL.”

“What’s EOL mean?”

“End of life.”

My chest tightens. A sharp pain shoots down my left arm. “Whose life?”

“Yours.”

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