The Stepsister Scheme

that?” Charlotte demanded.
    “I’m the one who spends hours working the wine stains from your clothes,” Danielle said. “I fluff your pillows, change your sheets, and dust your room. I also polish the tin flask you keep hidden in the back of your trunk, and I clean the algae off the bottle in the back of the pool.”
    Danielle upended the bottle over Charlotte’s bed, watching the crimson puddle soak into the sheets and mattress. She waited, but nothing compelled her to clean up the mess. Nothing more than her own need for tidiness, at any rate. “How—?”
    “Don’t you remember what I taught you, back in the queen’s labyrinth?” Talia spun the sword, offering the hilt to Danielle. “The lightest kiss of steel is all you need. Or glass, in this case.”
    Danielle took the sword with both hands.
    “That sword was a gift from your mother,” Talia said. “When she first died, her spirit stayed behind in the hazel tree so she could watch over you. When your stepsisters summoned the Chirka demon, she trapped it within herself to protect you.” Talia’s voice was distant, almost sad. “Love doesn’t get much truer than that.”
    “She’s still here, isn’t she?” Danielle whispered. “In the sword.”
    “A part of her.” Talia nodded. “Otherwise you’d still be cursed, and likely missing some fingers from that clumsy catch outside the cave.”
    Danielle couldn’t stop herself. She wrapped her arms around Talia and squeezed.
    “Watch it,” Talia said. “You’re going to cut someone’s arm off, waving that thing about.”
    “You really think I could hit you with a sword?” Danielle asked.
    “In your dreams, Princess.” Talia sighed and hugged Danielle back.
    Movement near the door made Danielle break away. “Oh, no.”
    Danielle knelt and set the sword on the floor. The tailless rat raised his head and sniffed. Most of the fur around his head and front paws was burned away, and the skin was red and blistered.
    Her eyes watered as she cupped the rat in her palm.
    “What is it?” Talia asked.
    “He saved me.” Just like the dove back at the palace, the first time Charlotte had tried to kill her. And like the dove, the rat had paid with his life. He was old and dying, and there was nothing she could do.
    “It’s a rat,” said Charlotte.
    “Take her pillow,” Danielle said. “We can at least make him comfortable.”
    “What?” Charlotte grabbed her pillow with both hands. “You’re not putting that filthy thing on my—”
    Talia grabbed Charlotte’s arm and twisted. She plucked the pillow from Charlotte’s fingers, then shoved. Charlotte staggered toward the wall, one foot splashing into the pool before she recovered her balance.
    Danielle set the rat in the middle of the pillow. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure he could even hear her anymore, as badly blistered as his face was. “Thank you for saving my son.”
    “What would you like to do about her?” Talia asked, pointing a thumb at Charlotte. “Want me to finish what you started?”
    Charlotte’s good eye widened. “Danielle, I tried to help you. I warned you not to come, remember? I warned you again, back in the cave, but you wouldn’t listen. I tried—”
    “You tried to keep me away so you could have Armand to yourself.” Danielle picked up her sword. “You tried to murder me. You tried to murder my son.”
    Charlotte tried to back into the corner and nearly stepped on one of the fish. “Your life was so perfect. All I wanted was that same happiness.”
    “That’s because you never learned to find your own,” Danielle said. She turned to Talia. “Can you tie her up so she can’t escape?”
    Talia rubbed her hands together. “It would be a pleasure, Your Highness.”

    They used Danielle’s sword to slice the sheets into strips, which Talia braided into ropes. By the time Talia finished, Charlotte could barely breathe, let alone escape. Charlotte lay on the bed, stretched diagonally across the mattress. Ropes bound her at the ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows. Another loop of rope secured her wrists to one bedpost, while her ankles were tied to the opposite post. Finally, Talia looped a gag around Charlotte’s mouth.
    “At least it’s one of the wine-soaked scraps,” Talia said. “Suck on that while you wait for someone to find you.”
    Danielle used the remaining rope to tie her sword on.
    “What now?” asked Danielle. “There are darklings in the hallway.