The Stepsister Scheme

of the bedsheets and wrapped several layers over the handle. The rest of the sheet dragged behind her as she walked back to Danielle. “Let’s see it stab me through that .”
    The rat yanked the wick free. He ran to the next flame and touched the end of the wick to the fire. The oil-soaked wick caught immediately, and the rat squealed in pain.
    Charlotte spun just as the rat jumped. He landed on the top of Charlotte’s head, shoved the wick into her hair, and tumbled to the floor.
    The fire spread quickly. Charlotte swore and flung the sword away. The blade barely missed Danielle’s face.
    So close. All Danielle had to do was move her arm. She could take her sword and finish this. But the curse still held her prisoner. Charlotte had ordered her not to move. Until Charlotte or Stacia said otherwise—
    “Help me!” Charlotte cried. Her brown locks shriveled and curled from the flames, and the putrid smell of burning hair filled the air.
    Danielle smiled grimly as she climbed to her feet. She clamped one hand around Charlotte’s arm and dragged her to the pool in the corner. Switching her grip to Charlotte’s neck, she thrust her stepsister’s flaming head into the water.
    White fish cowered in the corner. Bubbles burst as Charlotte struggled, but Danielle held fast, pushing down until Charlotte’s face pressed the algae-covered stone at the bottom. After all, the flames in her hair still smoldered, and Danielle had been commanded to help.
    Charlotte squirmed, twisting her face and clawing Danielle’s arm with her nails. Danielle braced herself. So long as Charlotte’s mouth remained underwater, she couldn’t issue any more commands.
    Charlotte switched tactics. She grabbed the edge of the pool and pushed, trying to force Danielle back.
    Danielle put her full weight onto her arms. Charlotte had never been strong. Danielle was the one who had spent her life at hard labor, beginning before her stepsisters awoke and continuing long after they retired for the night. Add Danielle’s fury over what Charlotte had tried to do, and Danielle was easily strong enough to murder her stepsister.
    Charlotte’s struggles weakened. Her head twisted to one side. Her eyes were squeezed shut, like a child trying to block out a bad dream. A tiny column of bubbles rose from the corner of her mouth.
    The rage began to drain from Danielle. Killing Charlotte wouldn’t free her. It wouldn’t save her baby. It wouldn’t save anyone. Eventually, Stacia would find her here, standing over Charlotte’s body. She would take Danielle’s child, and then she would kill Danielle, the same as Danielle had done to Charlotte.
    She twisted her fingers in Charlotte’s hair and hauled her from the pool. Charlotte slumped to the ground, water darkening the floor around her head and torso. She coughed weakly, spitting water and blood. She must have bitten her tongue or cheek as she struggled.
    Charlotte began to throw up. Once she finished, Danielle grabbed a blanket from the bed and tossed it over her shivering body.
    “Good choice. If she’s dead, she can’t tell us what we need to know.”
    Danielle spun. Talia stood by the head of the bed, arms folded across her chest. A thousand questions raced through Danielle’s mind. She would have sworn Talia hadn’t been there a moment before, when she grabbed the blanket for Charlotte. Nor had Danielle heard the door open.
    She tried to speak, but she couldn’t. For some reason, a part of her found this terribly funny. She could murder her stepsister, but she still couldn’t talk until someone asked her a question.
    Charlotte groaned and reached for the sword. The glass blade slid along the floor. Charlotte lifted the blade, pointing it at Danielle. “I’ll kill her.” The words sent her into another coughing fit.
    “Go ahead and try.” Talia stepped toward Charlotte. She moved with none of the clumsiness Danielle remembered from the cave. Somehow Talia had found a way to throw off Stacia’s curse. “You still don’t understand what that sword is, do you? No matter how hard you swing, that blade will never hurt a hair on Danielle’s head.”
    Talia glanced at Danielle. “Do you remember the fight outside the cave? I wasn’t thinking when I threw the sword back to you. By rights, you should have lost the fingers on that hand when you caught the blade.”
    Talia watched as Charlotte pushed herself to her knees. “My guess is that blade will shatter before it will hurt