Moving down the line of portraits, I stopped in front of a particularly grand and imposing one. It portrayed a tall king, standing alone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword and his brow stern as he gazed into the distance.
“Another one of your ancestors, I suppose. He looks…” I trailed off as I tried to think of a non-offensive description.
“Conceited?” Giselle appeared beside me. “Don’t worry, I won’t be offended. I’ve never liked the look of him myself.”
From his stance and expression it surprised me somewhat that he hadn’t had himself painted on a victorious battlefield or on his throne, at least. But as my eyes roamed over the background of the picture, they landed on an unusual object.
Excitement filled me, warmth swirling around my insides which I quickly suppressed. The last thing I wanted was fire erupting in this room of all places.
“Giselle, what’s that? Behind him?”
Mounted on the wall behind the figure, the painter had included a large mirror. The elaborate frame appeared to be covered in gilt, and it seemed a strange thing to include in a portrait. Unless…
Giselle sighed. “That’s the Eldonian royal mirror.”
I nodded. “You told me it was lost. Just before I freed you. What did you mean by lost? How do you lose a mirror?” I couldn’t quite keep the excitement from my voice.
“Well, I suppose lost is a bit of a euphemism.” She looked pained. “The truth is that it was stolen.”
“Stolen?” Some of my eagerness drained away, replaced with confusion. “How does something like that get stolen out of a palace?”
She just shrugged. “It was before my time. All I know is that someone managed to take it. It was gone before I ever got the chance to see it.” She sounded genuinely sad, and I remembered the echo of the emotion pushing through the fog of her enchantment when we had talked about it previously.
I tried not to sound impatient or critical when I asked, “I assume your family has tried to recover it?”
“Of course.” She sounded a little sharp despite my efforts. “Many times, in fact. The thief was tracked up the mountain. Only then a blizzard hit. The tracks were lost after that.” She sighed. “No one can survive up the mountains in winter. The thief froze to death long ago and the mirror is stashed in whatever hidey hole or cave he found before he died. My grandfather announced a reward for anyone who could find it, and every summer at least one expedition goes looking. But the mountains are vast, and the thief could have fled to any corner of them before he succumbed.” She sighed again. “Such a waste.”
I groaned, the remaining elation seeping out of me. A waste indeed. Because if we could have found the lost mirror, we could have used it to find the source of the enchantment. Find it and stop it.
“It would be a useful thing to have now,” Giselle whispered, her mind obviously in the same place as mine.
“Maybe we could—”
“In this weather? That would be crazy.” Giselle didn’t even let me finish the thought.
Reluctantly I conceded the point, and we moved out of the room. But I couldn’t get the thought of the royal mirror from my mind. It was out there somewhere, and if only we had it, we could finally make some progress on defeating this curse.
Chapter 13
When I raised the question of the mirror later with Oliver, he was no more hopeful than Giselle.
“If none of the expeditions could find it in the summer, we would have no chance at all of finding it now.”
The pain on his face made me back away from the conversation. I could see how frustrated and desperate he was becoming, and the last thing I wanted to do was remind him of all the ways we weren’t making any progress. But still, the thought of the mirror haunted me.
Oliver wasn’t the only one becoming more desperate as the days passed. The three of us wound tighter and tighter, in direct opposition to the rest of the palace’s inhabitants. I had thought Emmeline, at least, might show some response to Giselle abandoning her to spend her time with us, but she seemed completely unaffected.
“It’s horrible,” burst out Giselle one day from where she lay sprawled across one of the sofas in the sitting room of my suite. “It’s like a stranger is wearing Emmeline’s face.”
Oliver, who stood by the fire, one leg propped against the grate and his arm resting along the mantel, didn’t look up, but I saw his expression tighten. I could feel his frustration at his impotence and had to restrain the instinct to go over and place a comforting hand on his arm. Despite my gift, I hadn’t managed to free anyone else. Why would he want comfort from me?
“I’m sorry,” I said, focusing instead on Giselle. “I’ve tried.”
And I had. As I gained more control of my powers, I had tried several more times to wake Emmeline without success.
Giselle sighed. “It’s not your fault. Without you, Oliver and I would be just as bad.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “I just wish I knew why it worked then and not now.”
Oliver did look up this time. “I’ve been thinking about that. Whatever enchantment holds them in thrall is obviously getting stronger. I think you got to us just in time.” He looked back down at the fire. “And you didn’t have as much control back then. I think it only worked instinctively. And probably only on people…”
He trailed away, but when he glanced up, both Giselle and I were watching him curiously, so he was forced to continue.
“I was just thinking how Giselle is much more like you in personality than Emmeline. Perhaps you sensed that somehow…some connection. Some small lingering part of her true self that called to you, and you instinctively responded.”
It seemed as good a theory as any, but I noticed he said nothing of himself. Can you deny it, though? asked a small voice inside me. That you’ve felt a connection to this prince ever since you got a glimpse of his true self?
I shook the thought aside. I had more important things to worry about than fanciful connections.
“But what can we do then? If it’s too late for me to reach any of them…”
Giselle sat up. “Don’t say that! It’s not too late.”
Oliver glanced between us. “We can only hope it’s not. At this point, I suspect we’ll need to defeat it at the source.”
I stood up and began to pace the room. “Yes, but what is the source? None of us have any idea, remember?”
He ran an angry hand through his hair and shot me a look that made me instantly regret my words. Of course he remembered. I doubt he thought of much else. And it was eating him up inside. He thought that as heir he should know his own kingdom better.
I reached the window and spun around to pace back again. They had both given up on the mirror as hopeless, but I’d been thinking about it. And it’s not like we had any other ideas.
“What if the thief didn’t die up the mountain?”
“The thief?” Oliver raised an eyebrow, and Giselle’s face looked no less confused. I rushed to explain myself.
“The thief who stole the mirror. What if he evaded his pursuers and somehow came back down the mountain somewhere else? It would explain why no one could ever find it.”
Giselle looked skeptical. “The size of the mountain and the weather would also explain it.”
“Right. But what if it wasn’t up the mountain? What if we could find it?”
Oliver’s mouth twisted, but he didn’t immediately protest. No doubt he was desperate enough to consider any option at this point, however crazy.
“Perhaps…perhaps we could go on a royal tour,” I said.
The other two stared at me, so I kept going. “My father sent my oldest brother on a royal tour of the kingdom when I was fifteen. There were rumors of trouble at the time. We visited all the different regions and, sure enough, we chased the trouble out into the open. Maybe we could announce we’re going on a tour, and go searching for the mirror. If we could find it…”
“We could finally find out what’s going on.”
Oliver sounded half-hopeful, half-despairing.
But Giselle was already shaking her head. “It might have worked a year ago, but I can’t imagine trying to rouse anyone at the palace to be involved or even to help organize such a thing. Not now. They’re barely maintaining even our most simple routine.”
Watching her face, I realized the depth of her fear. She worried that one day they would all stop caring enough to do anything at all. That they would just sit down and die. And I couldn’t say I blamed her for her concern.
Oliver groaned. “Then we go ourselves. Just the three of us.” But his eyes flickered to Giselle as he said it, and I knew he would leave her home if he possibly could.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said quickly. “I am not staying here on my own.”
He looked at me instead, but I shook my head. “Don’t look to me for support. There’s no way I’d want to stay here on my own. And I remember what it was like to be fifteen too.”
Giselle threw me a grateful look and Oliver a frustrated one. I just shrugged. “Well, I do. I’m not that old, you know.”
Oliver’s gaze caught on my face. “No. No, indeed…”
Giselle cleared her throat loudly, and he looked away quickly, his face flushed from his proximity to the fire. Silence fell between us, eventually broken by Oliver.
“I don’t like it. It’s a desperate plan, and in all likelihood we’d be chasing a fool’s errand. But we can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“Well, that’s decided then,” said Giselle, although she hadn’t actually given her opinion on the plan either way. She climbed off the sofa. “I’ll start collecting supplies.”
She disappeared from the room, and Oliver went to follow her. “I’ll pick us mounts. The hardiest I can find since it looks like we should expect conditions more like winter than late spring.”
I stood as well, although I wasn’t sure what help I could be beyond packing my own bags. Oliver paused as he crossed in front of me, and I waited for him to suggest what I might do, but he said nothing.
Instead he raised a hand and laid it gently against my cheek. I stilled, only the slightest tremble running through me as the ever-present warmth in my chest stirred and grew.
“I’m being selfish.” His words were a bare whisper. “Too selfish. It’s unforgivable.”
“What do you mean?” My voice was hardly louder than his.
“There is no reason for you to face this danger with us. Leave now, while there’s still time.”
“No.” I would have shaken my head except that his hand still burned against my cheek. “I was sent here remember. By the godmothers. To free you all.”
“But perhaps it’s too late for Eldon.” The weight in his eyes made me want to cry. And his next words were so quiet I could barely catch them. “You are too alive, Celine. Too full of fire. I couldn’t bear it if you were snuffed out.”
A bone deep shiver shook me as he voiced my own deepest fears. At my movement, he dropped his fingers as if burned. But I leaned forward and placed my hand against his chest—just where I had placed it when I released him from the enchantment.
“No,” I said, more forcefully this time. “I’m not leaving you. And nobody is snuffing me out. Or you either. I will keep us both alight for as long as I need to.”
A deep sigh ran through him. “It’s wrong of me to feel so relieved—and yet…I do.” He swayed toward me, and I read something in his eyes that both exhilarated and frightened me. I never ran from a challenge, and yet I could not ask what his eyes begged me to ask. Because everything was up to me. I was the keeper of the fire, and what he didn’t know was that I had to work far harder to stop it burning us both alive than I did at keeping us from freezing.
When I didn’t move or speak, he pulled away, his eyes shadowed. “You are wise beyond your years, Celine.” He strode to the door and then paused, looking back at me. “We leave in the morning.”
When the door closed behind him, I swayed, nearly falling before I collapsed into the chair behind me. I wrestled with myself for several long moments before I could return my raging insides to their usual quiet warmth. I longed to run and throw myself into the snow that was even now building outside the palace.
“If we’re leaving tomorrow, I’ll have my opportunity soon enough,” I muttered to myself. “I should enjoy being dry while I have the chance.”
My door opened, although no knock had sounded, and a small head poked inside, looking around until her gaze caught on me. She instantly disappeared, and I heard her calling down the corridor.
“This is the one, Alexander. I’ve found her.”
I was still blinking in surprise when Cassandra reappeared, wandering in with a friendly smile on her face. She surveyed the room. “Nice suite.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Greetings to you too.” She grinned at me, although the expression didn’t last long, and I could see the concern hiding behind it.
A tall young man I didn’t recognize came through the door, closing it carefully behind him. Without thinking, I dropped into a defensive stance, my dagger appearing in my hand. I had no intention of being taken prisoner again—however well meaning Lord Treestone might be.
“Impressive,” said the newcomer, a hooded smile on his face. “Princesses don’t usually have those sorts of reflexes.”
“Maybe not in these kingdoms.” I kept my eyes on him.
Cassandra rolled her eyes at both of us. “Have a lot of experience with princesses, do you, Alexander?”
I expected him to be offended, but he merely grinned and shrugged. When neither of them made any move toward me, I sighed and relaxed.
“Let me try again. What in the kingdoms are you doing here, Cassandra? And who’s he?”
She climbed onto the sofa recently vacated by Giselle and gestured for the man to sit also. He hesitated but followed her lead, a wry expression on his face. I wondered if he’d ever taken orders from a thirteen-year-old girl before. On the other hand, he was obviously traveling with Cassandra, so…
“This is Alexander. He insisted on accompanying me.” She scowled.
“These are dangerous times,” he said, unmoved by her obvious displeasure. “And it’s what your uncle would have wanted me to do.”
I raised an eyebrow at that, and Cassandra looked a little sheepish. “He caught me sneaking out. I must be losing my touch.”
I shook my head, trying to follow. “Why were you sneaking out?”
“I was coming to see you, of course. I didn’t expect it to be so easy, though.” She glanced across at Alexander and shivered. “We just walked straight in and have been wandering the palace ever since looking for you. Not even one person has so much as questioned us. It’s going to make things even easier than Uncle hoped.” For some reason, she didn’t look entirely pleased about that.
Unease stirred inside me.
“Make what exactly even easier?”
“Our coup.”
Chapter 14
I jumped. “Cassandra!”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t my idea. I just tagged along.”
“What do you mean tagged along?” My unease deepened.
“Uncle is camped a day’s ride from the capital. With all the men he could gather from the southern forests.” She glanced across at Alexander. “And with a large contingent of troops from Eliam.”
“Eliam?” I frowned. If the southern kingdom had gotten involved, then this was far worse than I’d feared. I followed her gaze to Alexander. “You’re from Eliam, I suppose?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “King George has been in contact with Lord Treestone for some time. This blight is spreading south, and we have no reason to suppose that a border will stop it. If King Leopold lacks either the means or the will to try to contain and defeat it, then we must see someone on the throne who will at least try to act.”
I looked over at Cassandra accusingly, but she raised both hands defensively. “Don’t look at
me. Uncle doesn’t want to be king.” She looked out my window and shivered. “Who would want to live up here in the frozen north? But we can’t sit by and see everyone die. Not without at least trying to defeat it. Whatever it is.”
She looked at me hopefully. “I don’t suppose you’ve worked out…”
I shook my head, and she slumped. “Uncle’s still nervous about you. On account of the whole abduction thing. But I knew you would have at least been trying to find out what’s going on. So I thought I’d better slip away and see you before Uncle does anything irreversible.”
I stood up and resumed my earlier pacing, my mind racing, but coming up with no helpful answers.
“We’ve been trying. Believe me, we’ve been trying. But it’s just getting worse. And there hasn’t been so much as a hint of the cause.” I threw my hands up but dropped them again when I caught sight of Cassandra’s face. “What?”
“You said we. Did you just mean you and your people?”
“No,” I rushed over and sat on the sofa beside her. I had to at least try to stop this, for Oliver’s sake. “Oliver—Prince Oliver, the crown prince—has been freed from the curse and is working with me to try to undo it. You must tell your uncle that we are trying. In fact…in fact we have a plan. We leave tomorrow.” It was true—sort of. I just hoped she didn’t ask what our plan was.
“Well…” She leaned back and glanced across at Alexander. “That does change things. Uncle may see things differently if he knows the crown prince is working on the problem.”
“Please tell him. You have to convince him to stop this coup. It won’t help anything. This kingdom is already under attack—it won’t help for it to be divided as well.”
Cassandra looked thoughtful. “I’m fairly certain with this news that I can convince him to wait while you try to work it out. But I can’t promise for how long. And I want a promise from you in return.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What sort of promise?”
Beyond the Four Kingdoms Box Set 1: Three Fairytale Retellings (Four Kingdoms and Beyond Box Sets Book 3) Page 65