life as long as I wish.” Leonora’s grin returned, slow and wicked. “Your husband went to war with the witch named Melvina, who spurned his advances. When I took over her life, I didn’t know your husband had laid a trap for her that same day. I drank her sweet wine and fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke, I was here, the guards singing lies about some great battle Philipp had won against me. Believe me when I say I will make him pay for his crimes. I’d thought to overtake you—to start—but the child... Her fate is mine, and mine is hers.”
Charlotte shook her head, locks of hair slapping her cheeks, and backed up, severing contact. “She’s just a baby. Please don’t—”
“So sorry, Queenie, but it’s as good as done. And don’t bother telling anyone what has occurred here. They won’t believe you. And if they do, they’ll murder your precious Ashleigh just to kill me. Oh, and just in case you think to do the same, don’t. It never works.” Leonora released a final breath and collapsed in the dirt, her body unmoving.
Knees threatening to give out, Charlotte tore open Ashleigh’s blanket to discover bronze glowing with health. She would live? She—
Ashleigh’s eyes. They’d brightened to an icy blue, the same color as Leonora’s eyes, before darkening again. Horror doused the flare of elation. Leonora had done it. She’d jumped into Ashleigh. And I let her do it. I helped her.
Charlotte didn’t...she couldn’t... No. This wasn’t unfixable. She might be able to buy some kind of magical extraction. Surely someone specialized in that. If not, she would buy...what? A spell to keep Leonora contained?
Though she had no gold of her own, she had the key. Yes. She would offer the key as payment, and a witch or a warlock would help Ashleigh.
She swaddled Ashleigh anew, then used the bottom half of her gown to anchor the child against her chest. Then, drawing on a reservoir of strength she hadn’t known she possessed, she crouched down to feel the witch’s body for a pulse. Dead.
Charlotte hung her head. Then, she got to work, dragging the witch’s body back into the cell. The next time Philipp checked on her, he would think she’d died of natural causes.
A ring hung around her neck, capturing the queen’s attention. Something inside Charlotte shouted, The ring belongs with Ashleigh. My daughter must have it, now and always.
Though she sensed the wrongness of such a thought, she claimed the necklace for Ashleigh, anyway.
As she hurried to the secret passage, her emotions got the better of her and she sobbed. But she never slowed her pace.
Just as Charlotte crawled back into bed, arranged her nightgown and her daughter, the door opened and Philipp marched inside, another oracle close to his heels. A pretty woman with guarded eyes and a strained smile.
“Well?” the king demanded, waving in Ashleigh’s direction.
Charlotte trembled as the woman sidled up to the bed. Ashleigh was...was...possessed by a phantom; what if the oracle prophesized a terrible end, placing the child in the same predicament as before?
Voice soft and soothing, the oracle stretched out her arms and said, “Come now. Let’s see the little precious.”
The moment of truth had come.
Terror and hope held the queen immobile as the other woman opened the blanket that covered Ashleigh...
A milky film spilled over the oracle’s irises, the first sign the fairy was having a vision of the future. In a monotone voice, she announced, “Woe is she. Woe is she. The Glass Princess, born twice in one day. Two heads, one heart. To purge or merge? One heart, two heads. To merge or purge? One brings a blessing. One brings a curse. Only she can choose. Only she can fight. The ball. The shoe. Diiiing. Diiiiing. Diiiiiiiiing. At midnight, all is revealed. Who will live and who will die when past, present, and future collide? Let the fire rage—let the flame purify. Let the world burn, burn, burn.”
Thick, oppressive silence reigned. Philipp peered at Charlotte, looking shocked to the core. Had a curse just been spoken over the entire kingdom? After what had happened with Leonora...there was a chance.
“This points to ‘The Little Cinder Girl’ fairy tale. But how can that be?” Philipp scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “You and I...we are the prince and Cinder. The babe cannot be part of our fairy tale, for it is finished. We are living our happily-ever-after. Unless...” He stared at Ashleigh through narrowed eyes. “Our fairy