The Stepsister Scheme

such an unspoken accusation would have landed her in the attic, locked away for the rest of the day. Beatrice looked... not angry, but sad.
    “We needed to know you weren’t involved,” said Talia, her words striking like knives. “There have been other attempts on the royal family over the years. Beatrice trusted you, but—”
    “I do trust you,” the queen interrupted. “But where my son is concerned, it’s hard for me to trust myself. With so much at stake, I took Talia’s fears to the king, who agreed. I’m sorry for that, and you have every right to be angry.”
    “I’m not angry,” Danielle said automatically.
    “You should be.” Beatrice stepped closer, her fingertips closing gently around Danielle’s shoulders. “One day, I hope you’ll feel safe enough here to express that anger.”
    “Just don’t express it as much as Talia,” Snow said. “Or as violently. I’ve already had to replace three shelves down here.”
    Talia stood with her arms folded, watching Danielle like a falcon waiting for its prey to make a move. “The odds were against you being involved, but we had to know. When your stepsister arrived today, I thought she had come either to conspire with you or to issue her demands for Armand’s release.”
    She couldn’t blame them. Danielle was still an outsider here, an upstart girl who had dared to marry a prince. How could they not suspect her? She clutched the wounded pigeon close, automatically stilling her face to keep the hurt from showing. “Snow was the one who helped you get back inside the room?”
    “I can do a lot through my mirrors,” Snow said.
    “For which I’m in your debt.” Beatrice gave a slight bow in Snow’s direction, then turned her attention back to Danielle. “I knew as soon as I awoke that Armand was in trouble. Snow confirmed it with her mirror. Theodore has already dispatched scouts to search the port where he disappeared, but they won’t arrive for another day.”
    “I tracked Armand’s movements after he left the ship,” Snow said. “He dined with his men, then retired to his room for the night. He never came out.”
    “What does that mean?” Danielle asked. She stepped away from the others and stared at her reflection in Snow’s mirror, as if her will alone could force it to show where her husband had gone.
    “It means whoever took Armand is powerful enough to block Snow’s spell,” Talia said. “Charlotte knew the prince was missing. She has to be involved.” She handed the broken stool leg and the bloody feather to Snow. “She used her magic on both of these.”
    Snow grimaced as she took the feather. “Do I look like some sort of magical hunting hound?” She stepped past Danielle and brushed the feather across the mirror, painting a faint circle of blood. The circle dried and flaked away an instant later, leaving the surface as clean as before. “Someone else cast these spells. At least, it wasn’t Charlotte alone.”
    “She had a necklace,” Danielle said. “She touched it right before the stool shattered.”
    “So she had an accomplice,” said Talia.
    “Stacia?” Danielle frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.” Charlotte would hardly trust her sister with something as important as protecting Charlotte’s life.
    Snow seemed to agree. “I doubt either of your stepsisters are strong enough to do all of this by themselves. I watched them both at the ball, then later at your wedding. If they had this kind of power, I would have felt it.”
    “If they had that kind of power, Danielle never would have made it to the ball,” Talia added.
    “So who was it?” Danielle asked.
    “Probably witches,” said Snow.
    At the same time, Talia said, “Fairies, I’d bet.”
    Snow shook her head. “If Charlotte brought fairy magic past the wards in the wall, I would have known. Besides, no fairy would dare work magic within the palace. Malindar’s Treaty prohibits it.”
    “And where are you going to find a witch strong enough to hide the prince from that?” Talia pointed to the mirror. “Ten shillings says it’s fairies.”
    “Done.”
    “Why didn’t your wards sense Charlotte’s necklace?” Danielle asked.
    “Because until she activated it, it was just a rock. Witches do magic. Fairies are magic. That makes fairies a lot easier to detect.”
    “Snow, can you use these things to find Charlotte?” asked the queen. “If she does know about my son, it becomes even more urgent that we find