“Now dry those tears. Tell me what’s wrong,” Mama said.
I rested my head on her shoulder. “Everything is wrong. They’re going to kill me because I’m a witch. You’re visiting because I’ll be with you soon, aren’t you?”
She patted my cheek and chuckled. “Silly girl. I’m visiting you because you’re in trouble and you won’t do anything about it.”
“There’s nothing I can do, Mama. Lana was right. Witches don’t belong with humans. Helping them only landed me a death sentence.”
Her eyes saddened. “Darling—”
I shook my head and stood. “You showed me your life with Papa. Sure, you were happy,” I said, smiling at the memory of their meeting, “but it ended much too soon. If that isn’t proof, I don’t know what is.”
“I chose my own path and I do not regret it,” Mama said. “You still have time to choose yours.”
“What is there left to choose? I chose to be a witch among humans and look where that led me. They think I poisoned the queen.”
She tilted her head. “You speak as if you aren’t one.”
“Aren’t what?”
“Human,” she said. “You forget you’re also human.”
I stared at my hands. “But my magic—”
Mama pressed my hand between hers. “You thought witches were horrid creatures before you realized you were one. And now that you’ve embraced your witch side, you speak as if you’re no longer human.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out. “Which one am I, then?” I finally said.
She laughed. “Darling, you don’t have to choose. You’re both.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, hanging my head. “They only see my magic.”
“Then show them everything else,” Mama said. She lifted my chin. “Show them how bold and clever and kind you are by getting yourself out and saving the queen.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes again. “Lana said none of that matters if I’m a witch.”
Mama rolled her eyes. “My sister has very pointed opinions. She’s too blinded by her biases to see hope. That is largely my fault. But if anyone can change her mind, it’s you.”
“How?” I said. “I can’t do it alone.”
“I will always be with you, darling. I always have,” she said, pointing to my crystal. “Everything leaves a trace. Lana was right about that.”
Mama had been with me all along. I pressed the crystal to my chest, my vision blurred with tears. “Thank you, Mama. You’re all I have left.”
She shook her head and smiled. “Not just me,” she said. “Your friends and your sister are at the door.”
“What?”
Then, Mama and Lana’s cottage melted away to darkness. I reached out, but my arms only touched stone and straw.
I opened my eyes to the dingy surroundings of my cell and the sound of voices.
“You have ten minutes,” a guard said. “Scream if you’re in trouble.”
Something that sounded exactly like Tori’s snort echoed through the dungeon. “Yeah, like that would happen.”
I scrambled up as the door swung open, revealing Tori, Genevieve, and Olivia.
30
Genevieve threw herself into my arms first.
“How could you have hidden this from me?” my stepsister demanded, her sobs smothered by my hair.
Tori crossed her arms. “And me,” she said. “All this time there was a witch in my house and no one noticed?” She looked serious, but her tone was teasing.
I could only stare at them.
“Amarante?” Olivia said softly from behind them. “Are you alright?”
Genevieve pulled back and took my hands. Tori quirked an eyebrow at me.
I shook my head, hardly knowing how to react. “Aren’t you scared of me?”
“Scared?” Tori said, making a face. “I never believed that fear mongering nonsense about witches in the first place. Pa raised me better than that.”
Genevieve’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she wiped them away and smacked my shoulder. “I don’t care what you are, Amarante. You’re still my sister.”
“And you’re my friend,” Olivia said. She fidgeted, as if embarrassed to be speaking at all. “I knew there was something wrong ever since the soirée, even if you didn’t tell me.”
I lowered my head. “I haven’t been completely honest,” I said. Tori snorted. “I owe you the truth. All of you.”
Taking a breath, I told them everything, from the scarlet smoke to working as Narcissa’s scullery maid. I told them about my fight with Lana and how making the truth potion led to my arrest. In a lower voice, I revealed how Narcissa used her magic to sabotage me. I didn’t want Captain Greenwood to hear what his daughter had done. He had lost enough.
“And now I need your help to escape,” I said after I finished my tale.
All three of them looked astonished. I could hardly blame them. Even I had difficulty processing all that had happened in the past two months.
Tori was the first to recover. “Anything to get those rotten Whittingtons what they deserve,” she said, slamming her fist into her palm. “Really! The audacity of Narcissa to order you around and frame you as a thief and traitor!”
I winced as her voice boomed through the cell. Hopefully, Captain Greenwood was asleep.
“We’ll help however we can,” Genevieve said, her face earnest.
“Do you need us to tell Prince Ash?” Olivia said.
I scuffed the floor with my heel. “No need,” I said. “He can’t do anything for me.”
Tori scoffed. “Don’t tell me he didn’t try to stop your arrest after all you did for him!”
The last thing I wanted was to talk about Ash. I pressed my lips together. “Never mind that,” I said. “Tori, find Erasmus, the royal inspector.”
“You mean the ugly-haired old fellow who told us about you?” she said.
I nodded. “I need him to bring me some of my truth potion, if it’s still there. And a vial of his sleeping draught.” I turned to Genevieve. “Gen, can you pay a visit to Miriam? Her shop is right next to the post office.”
“Absolutely,” my stepsister said. “Anything for you.”
I gave her hand a squeeze. “Tell her what happened. And tell her I’ll see her soon,
