Fritz rested his thumbs on his sword belt. “I can’t watch her slip away and do nothing about it.”
Angelique grimaced at the realistic observation. “Lord Trubsinn has sent word to the Veneno Conclave,” Angelique said, trying not to let her aggravation show. “A Council Member will come to help.”
Perhaps in a month.
“Do you really think they’ll arrive in time?” Fritz asked with a bitterness Angelique felt in her own soul.
“I don’t know. But I do know you won’t return if you follow your plan and walk out that door.”
“Then tell me what I can do to fix this!” Fritz’s hand stole to his sword, as if the spell were a foe he could cut down. “I will not stand by and let her slip away from me—from us!”
Angel sighed and crouched down next to Snow White—whose soft inhales and exhales were growing weaker every day. “She’s growing worse. Or rather, she’s slowly fading away.”
Fritz shifted minutely. “Did you hear Faina cast the spell?”
Angelique shook her head. “Whatever spell it was, it was already on Snow White by the time I left the stable. In truth, I came looking for her because she was taking so long, but also because I thought I could detect a faint stench of something rotten.”
“Faina?”
“The feeling left as soon as she magicked herself away.”
I assume the scent had to be involved with whoever was controlling Queen Faina—but why did the black mage send Faina instead of coming themselves? It seems too risky—particularly if the mage’s goal is to get control of Mullberg.
Are we really dealing with a mage? But besides mages, only artifacts have powerful magic like this…
Fritz tugged his hood off. “How could Faina use magic to escape so swiftly? I did not know it was possible.”
Angelique rested her chin on her knees. “It requires powerful and rare magic.” Her pain leaked through her voice.
Fritz wandered over to a cottage window and nudged a shutter open, revealing the dark night sky.
Angelique watched him for a moment before her eyes skated back to Snow White—and the ugly gray spell gathered around her throat. “This spell is cursed simple. However Faina cast it, it was quick to cast on Snow White and quick to settle in. By all rights, that should mean it should be easy to remove.”
Angelique sighed and let her head hang. “I should have listened to my master and learned how to use my core magic instead of running from it all the time. I’ve spent the past few months trying to play catch up for years of inactivity, and I can’t help but think if I’d practiced since he took me in, I could have stopped this.”
I’ve gotten much faster and more competent—even since the beginning of winter. But I lost years. How can I face a black mage who can do something like this when I’ve only recently begun to truly use my war magic?
Fritz didn’t hear or didn’t choose to comment. He stared out the window, breaking his silence abruptly.
“And the apple?”
Angelique rubbed the back of her neck as she peered at him. “Eh?”
“The apple from our food storage?”
What is he talking about?
“What apple?” Angelique asked. She rubbed her forehead, her thoughts sluggish from the late night and the sorrow of the past few days.
Fritz spun around. “Marzell said she had an apple piece in her fingers when he arrived. He assumed she had taken it from our food storage, as you said she had cleaned mushrooms.”
Angelique shook her head, shifting from a crouch to a kneeling position. “There was no apple when I left her inside. It’s possible she grabbed one on her way out, but Snow White isn’t one for snacking. That is something I’m far more likely to do.”
But there was an apple? I didn’t see it. But…could that have been the delivery method for the spell? Angelique glanced speculatively at the spell. The throat is a rather odd place for a sleeping spell to sit. I just assumed it was part of the primitive spellwork.
Fritz stalked across the cottage and knelt next to Snow White’s cot. “Could Faina have given it to her?”
Angelique was still half thinking about what use an apple would be in casting a spell as Fritz gently pulled Snow White’s mouth open.
Fritz peered into Snow White’s mouth, but Angelique could hear the raspy inhale and exhale of the princess’s breath.
It almost sounds as if she had something in her mouth.
“I need light,” Fritz said.
Angelique dove for her satchel and briefly fished around in it before her hand touched the familiar cold, hard crystalline surface of a starfire. She yanked it out, then murmured to it, “Shine,” before scrambling back to Snow White and holding the now-glowing crystal aloft.
If the spell was delivered through food, I might have a better idea of where to snip it—but I don’t want to impulsively cut it, or I could collapse the spell and kill Snow White by accident.
Fritz yanked his gloves off and carefully pulled Snow White into a slumped, upright position. “Support her back.”
Angelique sat directly behind Snow White, supporting the princess and still holding up the starfire. “Do you see something?”
“A half-chewed apple piece,” Fritz said.
Angelique felt afraid to breathe. That’s it. It must be the apple—sticking anything spelled in her mouth would account for the fast delivery and just how well the spell stuck to her!
Fritz shifted slightly. “Could it—”
“Possibly,” Angelique answered—her voice tight—before he could ask his full question.
Fritz gently tugged Snow White so she was slumped forward, her face pointed down at her lap. Then, the forester carefully stuck a finger in her mouth.
Time stretched on uncomfortably, and it seemed like a year passed before Fritz was able to pull out a half-chewed piece of apple.
Angelique stretched, her eyes narrowing in on the apple chunk…and the gray magic that surrounded it.
Before she could whoop with excitement, Fritz lovingly wiped Snow White’s lips off with the inner lining of his cloak. “Should we try to rinse her mouth—”
Snow White coughed—a wet, wheezing sound that rocked her body.
Fritz slid an arm around Snow White’s back, taking her weight.
Freed, Angelique scrambled around to crouch in front of Snow White.
Snow White coughed again, spitting out a little piece of apple.
Angelique grinned widely as not a flicker of magic remained on the princess.
Moments passed, and Snow White didn’t move any more.
But…the spell is gone? Did it just have to touch her and then the effect would be permanent? Does that mean there’s no way to remove the spell?
Chapter 27
Feeling utterly lost, Angelique thumped her forehead on the cot’s wooden frame and tried not to cry.
Why didn’t it work? The spell is gone!
Angelique miserably lifted her head ever so slightly, and Snow White bolted upright.
Surprised, Angelique fell back on her rear, gaping at the blue-eyed princess…whose delicate face was twisted in undeniable anger.
“It’s that mirror,” Snow White snarled, her normally pleasant voice shaking with fury. “That cursed mirror! I’m going to shatter it myself when we march on Glitzern.”