I…well. She’s not wrong. Who cares if I blow my cover? I’m about to be reunited with Evariste!
Angelique flicked her eyes to the door and swallowed loudly. “Sure thing.” It was hard to keep the smirk off her lips—she was going to free Evariste!—as she glanced at Snow White again.
There goes the forlorn hope that I had her fooled in thinking I was an herb wizard’s apprentice. Elle, I’m going to hold you responsible for this one!
Snow White released her now-stretched tunic collar, and Angelique stood up straight and brushed herself off, snorting when Snow White demurely folded her hands in front of her—once again looking like a polite royal.
A sliver of Angelique’s excitement snuck through when she grinned. “You’ve got guts by the boatload when you need them, Snow White.”
“I also have eyes in my head,” Snow White said, her voice colored with a trace of sarcasm.
“Very good eyes.” Angelique winked. “Here we go!”
Angelique threw the herb on the ground and eyed the door, double checking for any sign that it was bespelled.
Nothing. Not even a trace of magic. Very well, then. Let’s end this!
Angelique picked out a spell—one of many she’d gotten good at using thanks to her breaking-and-entering ventures with Quinn. She pictured the chains of the spell and the symbols, then used a quick burst of her powers to create it and toss it at the door, cutting it off so swiftly that hopefully any Chosen mage skulking around Juwel or watching the queen wouldn’t feel it.
The door ripped off its hinges and flew into the room as if hit with an invisible battering ram. Even after it crashed to the ground, it skidded a few steps, its hinges scraping the stone floor.
Whoops! Might have put a little too much power in that one.
Chapter 28
Snow White stared at the mangled doorframe, but the Seven Warriors silently slipped into Queen Faina’s quarters. The lord and his men marched in after the warriors, but Snow White and Angelique remained outside.
The only thing that kept Angelique anchored to the wall instead of rushing inside first was that she didn’t feel any magic at all coming from the chamber. Nor did she feel the strange muffled sensation that muddied up her senses when the mirror had cast protection spells on the larger constructs.
I’m not certain they’re here…
“Top floor clear,” Fritz’s voice echoed from the loft of the two-floor room.
“Bottom floor clear,” Gregori said.
Snow White lingered at the doorway for a moment before stepping inside. “You mean she isn’t here?”
“Correct,” Gregori said.
Snow White scurried into the room and scuttled up the spiral staircase that led to the upper balcony.
Angelique followed, pausing a moment when she first stepped into the room to glance at the soldiers who were poking at padded chairs and tasseled cushions that filled the lower floor—which was arranged in the style of a sitting room.
I still don’t feel any magic.
She hurried up the stairs after Snow White—who was frantically patting down a blank spot on the wall.
“No—blast it!” Snow White hissed. “The mirror, it’s supposed to be right here.”
Wait…does that mean the Chosen knew we were coming and already removed the mirror as it had served its purpose? No!
Angelique threw herself to her knees next to the perfectly made bed and peered under the frame. “Maybe she hid it?” she desperately suggested.
Snow White stared at the wall, as if she could will the mirror into appearing. “If it really is what is influencing her, I doubt that.”
Marzell strode across the balcony bedroom. “Perhaps she took it and ran?”
“Why would she do that?” Snow White asked. “Unless there is a leak among our forces, she shouldn’t know I’m alive—or she couldn’t have until we stormed the castle. Thank you, Fritz.” Snow White was so concerned, she didn’t even smile at her beau when he pulled the large wardrobe back so she could peer into the shadows behind it.
“It seems unlikely she would leave now.” Rupert strode up to a vase of dried up, dead flowers. “Particularly since we can assume that whoever planted the mirror used Faina because he or she wants to take over Mullberg.” He poked the vase and a few petals fell at the disturbance, eliciting a sneeze from him.
“Then should we seek out the servants again?” Marzell asked. “Perhaps someone besides the housekeeper might better know where she is.”
Snow White convened at the balcony railing and rested her forearms against the barrier, her eyes far away as her eyebrows knit together in thought.
Angelique’s heart rattled uncomfortably in her chest as she watched Snow White, hoping the brilliant princess would be able to produce a winning strategy.
Please…they can’t have taken him. Please, he has to still be here!
Angelique squeezed her eyes shut, warding off the stinging sensation in her eyes that forewarned of tears.
“The throne room,” Snow White said.
Angelique opened her eyes in time to see Snow White nod, her blue eyes glowing with certainty.
“Faina is in the throne room,” Snow White said.
“Is this a guess or conjecture?” Wendal asked.
“A bit of both,” Snow White said. “If the mirror is making Faina as power-hungry as it seems, it is the most likely place for her to go. And it felt off as we passed it on our way here.”
“I’ll back Her Highness up on that.” Angelique almost tottered with relief at the reasonable—and hopeful—explanation.
If I wasn’t so cursed emotional, I could have come to that conclusion!
Angelique cleared her throat and tried to reign in her dizzying feelings and recall what she’d sensed when they’d stormed through the palace earlier. “There is evil lurking near the throne room. I assumed it was another band of constructs, but given that the mirror is missing, it probably was Faina herself.”
“The main part of the palace was unnaturally quiet,” Fritz said. “It reminded me of the way the forest grows silent before a terrible storm.”
“Very well.” Satisfied by Fritz’s explanation, Gregori plodded down the staircase. “Let us be on our way.”
Snow White followed the large man, calling out to her noble minion when she reached the bottom step. “Lord Vitkovci, it seems my stepmother is not here. We believe she must have moved on to the throne room.”
The lord replied, but Angelique only half listened as she looked around the empty loft one last time.
He was here not long ago. Snow White saw the mirror here when she last saw Faina. I’ve almost found him.
Angelique’s war magic stirred within her soul, aching to break out.
Not yet. Not until I see him.
Instead of forcibly shoving her magic down as she would have a year ago, Angelique caressed it before she trotted down the stairs, joining Snow White and the warriors as they left the queen’s quarters and marched down the hallway in a protective formation around Snow White.
Angelique shifted uncomfortably as the muffled feeling came back.
I can’t tell if it’s because the mirror is this way or because it’s spelled more of the constructs. She held in a growl. Why is it that despite my deep supply of magic, I have so many weaknesses?