like, to be born into royalty. I don’t know what it’s like to come into the world with power and wealth. Do you know why? Because it was taken away. I was just a baby. I was the weakest, most defenseless creature in that forest, and I still became its queen.”
Queen Dagmara was suddenly quiet.
“You left me,” said Ren, and her voice cracked. “You left me all alone.”
The dim shapes on the wall began to resolve. The blurred reflections focused. They stayed pale, ghostly. But Ren saw them: A white eagle swooping across the glass ceiling. Her younger siblings skidding along the glass floor. Faint painted flowers trailing over the walls. A broken blue crib. An old spotted mirror.
A black wolf, head on his paws, lying on the ghost of a blue bed.
“You were never alone,” said the queen.
Ren gasped. They weren’t just memories. They were reflections of her castle.
“I was always there,” said the queen. “We protected you.”
Ren swallowed hard.
“We—?”
Ren broke off. Her eyes widened. How could she be so stupid?
It was all glass. The Mountain, the castle, the sword—everything was made of glass. Lukasz had mentioned the Leszy’s forge, with its stained glass windows . . .
Ren’s heart skipped a beat.
. . . he would have done anything to save his forest. He was its god. He had told them where to find that sword, and only after Lukasz had bound him with the cross.
“The Leszy?” breathed Ren.
The queen had a strange look of pride on her face.
“Yes,” she said. She motioned to the sword at Ren’s side. “Like you, he doesn’t trust my Dragon. He made that sword and this castle—a weapon in case the Dragon ever turned, and a refuge in case I was in danger. We . . . we were surprised your Wolf-Lord asked how to kill the Dragon. We thought he would ask about his brother.”
Ren knew her mouth was open. She closed it and asked: “Why bring me to the top of the Mountain? Is it true that the Dragon can only be killed here?”
Queen Dagmara spread her hands.
“The Wolf-Lord compelled him to tell you how to kill our Dragon,” she said. “The least the Leszy could do was to ensure that we meet first, so I could explain.”
The queen waited. Ren was dirty and bruised, but at least her skin had stopped rippling to fur.
“Wait,” she said suddenly. “But I’m not human—”
The queen laughed again that. Her shiny lips were stark against the pale walls, the gray sky outside.
“Once again,” she said, “the Leszy’s idea. We thought you’d be safe with the lynxes, until you attacked a grown huntsman. After that, the Leszy thought it best to give you some claws. I think he rather likes you better that way.”
The rain had thickened outside, and beyond the tower window, the sky was a wall of gray cloud. When Ren spoke again, her voice was quiet. It rasped, as always, because she had been born a human and because she had not been raised as one.
“What was the point?”
Queen Dagmara had moved back around the desk, trailing long white fingers along its surface. Ren wondered if they looked alike. She hoped they didn’t. Then the queen said:
“To save the kingdom.”
“You didn’t.”
Ren’s words were harsh, made worse by her ugly voice, but she didn’t care. Fury and pain had combined inside her, twisted around. Made her say the truth.
“People are dying. The Wolf-Lords are dead. No one has been saved. You sacrificed everything. Your throne, your husband, your child. And for what? The monsters are still taking over. Nothing is better. Nothing is saved.”
The queen’s eyes dropped to the desk. Rain rushed in to fill the void. The sky swirled, dull gray and stormy, outside the queen’s tower.
“They are not dead,” she said. When she hesitated, Ren saw the lazy, feline elegance falter. It was subtle: just in the tremble of her eyelashes, in the slight waver of her voice.
Outside, thunder rolled.
“I was waiting,” she said. She kept her eyes on the desk. “I was gathering my army. They did not listen to me, seventeen years ago. I became terrified they would not listen to me again. But while I waited, the evil kept growing. And now I worry—I fear—my forces will not be enough.”
She looked up, and gold stared into green.
And at the pain, suddenly stark on her face, Ren saw the queen with new eyes. As a queen, she had been helpless. She’d taken one leap of faith, sacrificed everything in