The Stepsister Scheme

how you killed my husband.”
    “Stacia, please don’t do this.” Danielle moved to the side, trying to put Stacia between herself and Talia. Before Danielle had taken more than a few steps, Stacia snapped her fingers.
    The whip in Talia’s hand uncoiled, lashing around Talia’s throat.
    Danielle raised her sword and moved closer. “Let her go!”
    “I never should have trusted Charlotte to kill you,” Stacia said. “Give me your weapon.”
    Danielle fought to hold on, but her fingers obeyed Stacia’s will. She slowed to a walk, reversing her grip on the sword. Stacia reached out.
    Stacia hadn’t ordered her to surrender. As Stacia’s hand closed over the hilt, Danielle punched her in the throat. She grabbed Stacia’s wrist in both hands, trying to wrench the sword away.
    Stacia pulled her knife with her free hand, cutting a shallow line across Danielle’s stomach. Danielle backed away, collapsing as her wounded leg gave out.
    “Idiot! I need that child.” The voice was Stacia’s, but the inflection was Rose’s.
    “Fight her, Stacia.” Danielle started to crawl toward Talia. Talia’s face was dark. She was using another knife to try to cut the whip. The handle lay on the floor, but the individual strands continued to strangle her.
    “They killed Brahkop!” Stacia shouted.
    “And they will be punished.”
    Danielle shivered. Both voices came from Stacia’s mouth, one full of pain and grief, the other cold and hateful. She could see blood in Stacia’s hand where she held Danielle’s sword. As before, the weapon fought to escape Stacia’s grasp. But this time, Stacia didn’t seem to notice.
    “Princess,” Talia wheezed. She dropped to her knees. Her eyes flicked toward Stacia. She placed her knife on the floor and slid it toward Danielle.
    “Stacia, you don’t have to listen to her,” said Danielle. She grabbed the knife. Stacia had never defied her own mother, and Rose was a far more terrifying master. But grief and anger had given Stacia strength. Danielle could see her fighting to throw off Rose’s control.
    To one side, Talia shook her head. Use the knife , she mouthed, and pantomimed stabbing Stacia.
    Stacia smiled and walked toward Danielle. She raised Danielle’s sword. Now it was Rose’s turn to fight for control. “You can’t. We need the child.”
    Stacia shook her head. “ You need the child. I need to avenge my husband.”
    “Don’t do this, Stacia.” Danielle turned sideways, keeping the knife pointed at her stepsister. “I don’t want to fight you.”
    “I loved him.” Stacia swung.
    Danielle tried to duck, but she wasn’t fast enough. The blow felt like a heavy branch slamming into her neck. Danielle heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. She fell to the floor, grabbing her neck where the sword had struck. She felt bruised, but there was no blood.
    Stacia backed away, staring at the broken sword. The glass blade had snapped close to the hilt. The broken blade had landed by Danielle’s leg.
    Crystalline splinters protruded from Stacia’s forearm. Blood was already trickling down over her hand.
    Stacia screamed and flung the hilt away. She clutched her knife in both hands and rushed at Danielle.
    Danielle grabbed the broken blade and thrust the tip into her stepsister’s stomach.
    Behind her, Talia gasped for air as the strands of the whip fell away. Stacia stumbled back. She grabbed the broken blade to pull it free, but only managed to cut her hands on the bloody glass.
    “I’m sorry,” Danielle said. Despite all of the torments Stacia and Charlotte had inflicted on her over the years, she felt only emptiness as she watched Stacia stumble. The cut on Danielle’s stomach stung as she crawled toward her stepsister. She prayed Talia was right, that the poison on Stacia’s knife wasn’t enough to kill.
    “Murderer,” whispered Stacia. “Your mother would be so proud.”
    “Go on, then. Finish her.” The words sounded distant and hollow, as if heard through a long corridor.
    The ghost of Snow’s mother stood behind her, shaking her head. Like the darklings, Rose seemed untouched by the light. But where the darklings absorbed the light, Rose simply ignored it. She was a woman always in shade, despite the bright flames from the chandelier overhead. Nor did she cast any shadow on the ground.
    She was beautiful, with Snow’s full lips and round cheeks, and dark eyes that shone like the sea at night. Slender and graceful, she circled Danielle