Hailey drew a rune at each corner of the princess’s bed, and set them to working. They each glowed white in turn. “I hope this works,” she told the Esmerelda.

“One of these attempts ought to,” Esmerelda said.

What her friend didn’t know was that she had no idea what she would try next. The thought terrified her. She had to get this right. Every bit of preparation had been done. The king had sounded so full of despair the last time she had talked to him. It was like he was certain he was going to die soon.

“Natalia was supposed to meet me here,” Hailey said.

“I can go get her.” Esmerelda rose from placing the last candle according to the diagram in Hailey’s book.

“No,” a knot of guilt twisted in Hailey’s stomach. “If the prince is there then I need to talk to him.”

Esmerelda raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not like that. I just need to apologize for the way I treated him. He is the Prince of Yapuris, after all. I wouldn’t want him to hold a grudge.”

Esmerelda was glancing at the book again. “You go ahead and tell yourself that. Before I left, some of the maids said that he had taken an interest in you.”

Hailey rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. The prince had been nothing but a gentleman to her and to everyone else around him. He was a bit of a flirt, but he seemed to flirt with all the women around him, not just Hailey. Shoving thoughts of the prince out of her head, she hurried to the guest chambers. She needed Natalia’s help. At least, she thought she did. Cringing, she knocked on the prince’s door. The swordsman opened it.

He was not a big man, but he was also not the type of person that Hailey wanted to meet. His dark eyes bored into hers, making her uncomfortable.

She shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I am sorry to bother you. Have you seen Natalia?”

Frederick was sitting on the couch in the antechamber. He rose and strode to the door. “Richard, I think I will handle this.” The swordsman bowed and took a step back, still keeping an eye on Hailey as if she were a threat to the prince’s life.

“I do not know where she is,” Frederick said. “You can’t expect mages to be at your beck and call.” He gave her a knowing smile. “I bet there are times when your king can’t find you.”

She cleared her throat. She did not come here to talk to him about this. “I had wanted to talk to you, actually. I — I wanted to apologize for the way I had been treating you. It was unkind of me.”

“My lady,” He took her hand and kissed it. “What you are trying to achieve is clearly a difficult task. You are under a lot of pressure. I am just glad that Natalia has been of use to you.”

She took her hand away from him. “She has. Thank you.” Hailey could see now why the women of the court were so taken with him. He was charming and considerate and he was flirting with her. He had even been polite to her when she had been screaming at him. “I should go,” she said. “Thanks again.” She curtsied to her and hurried back to the princess’s room. She could feel his eyes on her back, but she couldn’t think about him right now.

Men were distractions that she didn’t need at the moment. Thoughts of Aaron and Gillian pushed into her mind. She would have to find some time to speak to him without the other woman around. If he was happier with Gillian, she would have to let him go. It was like a knife in her heart to think about that. She had feelings for Aaron, had always thought that they would end up together.

“You’re being foolish,” she told herself.

Esmerelda sat at the chair beside the princess’s bed. “It’s so tragic what happened to her. I had hoped that the prince’s kiss would wake her.”

Hailey gasped. The mage lantern was blinking.

“How long has that been blinking?”

“It started a few minutes after you left, why?”

Hailey didn’t have time to explain. “I will have to try the spell later.” There was something going on in the King’s room. Hailey turned and ran, praying that she was not too late.

Isabella understood so much, so quickly. She had been the dragon, and she had tried to destroy the castle. She had killed people, but now she knew why. She could almost hear Lillith’s voice inside her head, telling her what to do. She thought back over all the memories that had been haunting her. She had cursed her niece, but she had done it at Lillith’s bidding. She had come to Lillith, hoping to find her child, and Lillith had trapped her and held her hostage in the dark castle. She had used her to control the fairies.

There was more to it than that. The power of the heir flowed through her and she understood why her brother didn’t believe that she was the one trying to hurt Taivalon. He had been able to sense the truth, as she could now. As memories came back to her, she could see the way she had been duped. Lillith had held a secret that Isabella would do almost anything to unravel. Lillith had manipulated and deceived Isabella and Isabella had fallen for her tricks time and time again. The fairies trusted Isabella, and she had broken that trust, sending them out to destroy themselves against the shimmer.

The shimmer. She could sense it now, sense it weakening, but still defending the kingdom, still protecting the people inside, protecting her people. This was her kingdom now. Theodric had foolishly given it to her, believing in her despite everything that she had done.

She turned to look at her brother. He looked so peaceful now, like he was sleeping. She was the heir, but she didn’t know anyone else in this castle, didn’t know who she could trust. Endolynn knew who she was, certainly, but everyone who knew who she was knew what she had done, and most of them would have wanted her dead.

She paced through the massive room, her boots thumping on the wood floor. Memories of her parents and happy times spent here flooding her thoughts. She shoved them aside. She would have time to reminisce later.

For now, she would fix some of the things she had done wrong. She could defend the borders, but she could not be the ruler of this kingdom. She would have to wake the princess and let her rule or anybody else. She knew better than to leave herself in charge. Lillith would take control over her and over the kingdom as well. Maybe if she woke the princess and then killed herself, or maybe waking the princess woods be enough to set the power of the heir back through the correct line. That won’t work, she told herself. You might actually have to die.

But then, if she died wouldn’t her daughter, wherever she was become the heir? What if Lillith had her too. The thought put a knot of worry in her stomach. Lillith would stop at nothing to make sure everything went according to her plan.

She turned back to her brother. “You created quite a mess for the rest of us to clean up,” she told him. She hadn’t thought this all the way through, had respected his wishes despite a tiny voice in her head insisting that she heal him despite what he wanted. She kissed him one last time on the forehead. He had become so dear to her in the last few hours of his life, and then he had let go.

She still struggled to remind herself that he was really gone, not just sleeping. He looked like he could wake up any moment and joke with her about the way she had floated him up the stairs or about the way she had stolen things from him when they were young. She didn’t know why he had trusted her so much, except now she did. When she had taken his hand, he would have been able to sense the truth in any statement she made. She had forgotten how powerful the magic of the heir was, and now that weight along with all of her crimes rested on her shoulders.

“I will make sure that your kingdom is safe. I will do the best I can, at least, but I will protect the power of the heir, and I can stop the army that is about to descend.”

Then she squared her shoulders, preparing to keep her promises to him. She would find Endoylnn and make her listen. She glanced at the clock. This was going to take too long. She would have to hurry. As she turned to go, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She was too thin and ragged. She had been wearing the same tattered black dress for who knows how long. Black, she thought. Mourning the daughter I never found.

Her thoughts were interrupted. In the doorway, someone screamed.