Someone below shouted at me. Before I could decipher their words, a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
“Give it to me! Give it to me!” Duchess Wilhelmina’s crazed face was inches away from mine. A drop of manbane fell into the vase.
I jerked away. “Give it up!” I told her, clutching the locket behind me. “Your crimes have already been—”
My eyes widened at the sight of an unconscious Queen Cordelia crumpled behind the duchess. Had she been dragged up the stairs?
The duchess lunged for me. I evaded her again. My back hit the railing and I teetered.
“She’s going to fall!” somebody squealed.
That distracted me enough. Duchess Wilhelmina wrenched my arm from behind me. Pain shot up my shoulder and the locket clattered to the floor. She cackled and snatched it.
“Goodbye, witch.”
She shoved me. The world turned upside down and for a terrifying moment, I was falling. And then my hand caught the bars of the railing.
“Amarante!” It sounded like Ash. I didn’t look down to check.
The duchess had forced Queen Cordelia’s mouth open and was holding the vial over it.
My fingers began to slip. I swung my other hand up to grab the railing when Ash barged in and knocked the locket out of her hand. It slid across the marble.
“No!” Duchess Wilhelmina screamed. She scrambled to retrieve it. I struggled to pull myself up, ignoring the burning of my arms. Ash grabbed my wrists and hauled me back onto the balcony. I barely caught my breath when the duchess charged for the queen.
“Get away from my mother, monster!” Ash lunged for a music stand and jabbed her shoulder with it. Sheet music went flying as the duchess howled.
I clutched the vase and began stirring counterclockwise with the bow.
“Slow, steady stirs,” Lana had said. “Otherwise it will not be done properly.”
I didn’t know if I had the capacity to do anything slowly or steadily at the moment, but I forced my arm to still as I drew wide circles at the bottom of the vase.
“What is she doing? What are you doing, witch?”
“Slow and steady,” I muttered to myself. I did not look up. I had to trust Ash to keep the queen safe and the duchess away as I worked.
Magic pooled from my chest to my fingertips and seeped into the violin bow like honey dripping from a comb, filling the antidote. A purple-red haze filled my vision, rippling with magic. The scuffle was merely at my periphery as I stirred. But my stomach wrenched when I heard Ash cry out.
“Mother, stop!” It was Narcissa. “Stop this at once, please!”
“You ungrateful girl! How dare you betray me?”
“What you’re doing is wrong, Mother.”
“I knew it! You are weak! Weak like your good for nothing father!”
And then something very strange happened. A burst of emerald green magic burst through my vision. Out of nowhere, a bevy of swans swept into the ballroom, their bugles and flapping deafening as they swooped past me and swarmed the duchess.
“What? Stop! Narcissa, stop this! How dare you—!”
Mice flooded in from the staircase, squeaking and scurrying. “Let me go! Give that back, you stinking vermin!”
The locket appeared at my side on a bed of moving white mice. One of them pushed it toward me with tiny paws. I took it and tucked the locket into my pocket. With a final stir, I knew the potion was done.
The sight that greeted me when I looked up was rather bizarre. Duchess Wilhelmina lay unconscious beside the queen, her skin pecked and bruised and bitten. The pond swans had made themselves comfortable on the seats of the musicians, many of whom had fainted. The mice cascaded down the steps. Narcissa stood before it all, looking breathless and bewildered with feathers in her hair. Ash was nursing a large bruise on his forehead.
I pushed the vase toward him. “It’s done,” I said. He gave me a weak smile.
The stillness was interrupted when the Royal Guard marched up the balcony. Two seized the duchess and one of them grabbed me.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” Sir Hughes said, helping Ash up.
He winced and touched his forehead. “Quite.” He gestured to me. “Release Amarante at once. She saved my mother.”
Sir Hughes looked down at Queen Cordelia, who was still unconscious, and tutted. “No, she didn’t. And anyhow, that girl is a witch and is a danger to us all. We must imprison her again, this time with more security.”
Ash began to shake his bruised head but seemed to think better of it. “You don’t understand—”
“Now, now, Your Highness. What you need is some rest,” he said.
I stepped forward, but my guard restrained me. “Give Queen Cordelia the antidote quickly,” I said to Ash.
He grabbed the vase. “Sir Hughes, take my mother to her chambers.”
“Understandable, Your Highness. First let me take care of this madwoman and this witch. And these birds.”
Ash widened his eyes. “Wait, don’t—!”
That was the last thing I heard before something slammed into my head and I lost consciousness.
34
A mouse was nibbling my hair when I opened my eyes. I jerked up. My head spun and my eyes strained to take in my surroundings. I was back in the dungeons.
Memories flooded in all at once. The Masquerade Ball. The duchess’s confession. The scuffle that ensued afterward. Then nothing. I brushed off the straw on my skirts and pounded the cell door.
“Release me at once!” I shouted. “Take me to Prince Ash! I must speak to the prince!” I didn’t cease my pounding until the slot above my head slid open. Ken peered in, his brows furrowed in displeasure.
“How long have I been in here?” I demanded.
“Two days,” Ken said. “And hopefully many more.”
He closed the slot but I pried it back open. My head swam. “There must be some sort of misunderstanding,” I said. “The duchess confessed her crimes. I saved Queen Cordelia!”
Ken guffawed. “You? Save Her Majesty?” he said between wheezes. “Then I am a princess in disguise!”
I stared at him in
