The Stepsister Scheme

in the floor, but the queen caught her, supporting her weight with fingers far stronger than Danielle would have guessed.
    Wooden trunks and barrels, faded with age, lined the wall to either side of the archway. Even more books filled the shelves above the trunks. The collection here was as vast as the royal library. The walls in this room were bare stone, and the air smelled of oil and preservatives. Thick blue-and-gold carpeting covered the floor, a luxury marred by numerous stains and burns.
    On the wall to the left hung a mirror, taller than Danielle herself. Unlike the small hand mirrors she had seen around the palace, this one was liquid smooth.
    The silvering was flawless. Not a single speck marred the surface to distinguish reality from reflection. Her father would have wept at such perfection.
    The frame was cast of gleaming silver metal. Danielle saw no trace of tarnish, so it wasn’t likely to be silver. She knew better than most how hard it was to polish every nook of such a work. White gold? Could it possibly be platinum? It had been cast in the form of flowering vines crawling around the glass. Danielle reached one hand toward the glass. “This is a master-piece of glasswork. Where did it come from?”
    “Please don’t touch that!” The reflection showed another woman hurrying into the room behind the queen.
    “I’m sorry,” said Danielle. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    She could have said the same for this newcomer. Though she looked a few years older than Danielle, her smooth, pale face evoked the innocence of childhood. She wore men’s trousers tucked into high boots. A blue shirt draped her shoulders and made a half-hearted attempt to conceal the curve of her chest... though it would have had a better chance had she bothered to do up the laces. A polished silver pendant in the shape of a snowflake hung between her breasts. Danielle did her best not to look at it, or rather, at them .
    A delicate choker circled her neck. Fine braids of gold wire held a series of tiny oval mirrors in place.
    “I’m sorry I’m late,” the newcomer said, breathing hard. “I was with Squire Timothy, and we—” Circles of red flowered on her cheeks. “Well, it doesn’t matter.” She grabbed Danielle’s shoulders and pulled her into a tight embrace. “You must be Danielle. I’m so glad to finally meet you. It’s been dreadfully unpleasant with only Talia to talk to.”
    “Shove it, Snow,” snapped Talia.
    Snow stuck out her tongue. “Don’t worry about Talia. She’s not happy unless she’s stealing something or beating people to a pulp.”
    “Want to cheer me up?” Talia asked.
    Danielle ignored her. “You’re Talia’s friend. The one she told me about.” She picked up the pigeon. “She said you could help him.”
    Snow stared. “It’s a pigeon.”
    “He helped me. Please.”
    Talia stepped closer to the queen. “It was the stepsister. The pretty one, Charlotte. She tried to kill the princess. She used magic of some sort to escape.”
    “You let her escape?” Snow repeated, apparently oblivious to the annoyance on Talia’s face.
    The queen spoke up before Talia could respond. “Princess Danielle, allow me to present Princess Ermillina Curtana of Allesandria.”
    “Snow, please,” said the girl, dropping into a curtsy. She carried the pigeon to a table, setting him in front of one of the oil lamps.
    “Princess?” Danielle studied Snow’s face, so different from the queen’s long features. “Is she your—”
    “No,” said Beatrice. “King Theodore and I have no daughters, and Armand is our only son. Snow came to Lorindar four years ago, shortly before Talia... arrived.”
    Snow snickered as she wound a bandage around the bird’s wing. “Before the guards found her stowed away in a shipment of cloud silk, you mean.”
    The queen sighed. “Like Snow, Princess Talia wished to escape from a rather unpleasant situation.”
    “Princess?” Danielle said again. “Talia, too?”
    “Princess Talia Malak-el-Dahshat,” said the queen.
    In the corner, Talia gave a quick bow, somehow managing to make the motion sarcastic.
    “So... you collect princesses, then?” Danielle asked, trying to absorb it all. Princesses weren’t supposed to run around foiling attempted assassinations, let alone serving drinks or taking abuse from enraged stepsisters.
    “I took in three extraordinary girls,” corrected the queen.
    Her words took a moment to sink in. “Three?”