Demelza glanced at the mantel of the fireplace. It took her a moment to realize something was missing. And then she recalled the red eyeball. It was nowhere to be seen. Odd.
“What is your plan with the contestants, then?” asked Arris. He frowned. “What is it?”
“I could’ve sworn there was something else on that mantel… well, never mind… it was unsettling anyway,” she said. “I need to get close to the contestants.”
“Dressed like that, I don’t think they’ll let you anywhere near them, unfortunately,” said a new voice.
Against the wall, the tall dressing mirror began to tremble. Demelza leapt back as shadows darted across the surface and Yvlle appeared in the reflection. The princess wore black silk pajamas. Her hair, somewhat long in the front and cropped short everywhere else, was swept off her face. For the first time, Demelza could see her scarlet eyes. Again, Demelza was struck by the fact that Yvlle and Arris were twins. Same handsome features, but a different hand—a crueler hand—had sketched the princess.
“It was your eye,” said Demelza, pointing at Yvlle. “On the mantelpiece!”
“Yes, yes, shock, disbelief, etcetera,” said Yvlle. “Now what’s this about a bargain between the two of you?”
Arris marched forward. “You were spying? Have we no right to privacy?”
“Of course not, brother, this is an absolute monarchy. You’re fortunate that it teeters on the side of the rational more often than not,” said Yvlle. “So. You are a veritas swan with a murderous father? Where are you from?”
Demelza thought about not answering, but didn’t see the point.
“The Silent Lakes,” she said.
“I thought no one lived there but the wizard Prava.”
“He is my father.”
Demelza glanced at Arris, whose shocked reaction looked a bit… delayed. He must have known. And yet he had kept her secret.
“Arris, how could you be so profoundly incurious about this girl whose services you’ve enlisted!” said Yvlle. “It is a wonder you’re still tethered to this life!”
Arris did not appear to be listening. He had taken Demelza’s seat by the fireplace and was now dragging his finger through the flames. The light caught on his fingertip and he began to swish shapes and sigils through the air.
“Fire calligraphy,” he said, when he caught Demelza looking. “Excellent for the expression and articulation of love poems. The method was first created by Zaaru in the eleventh century. Apparently he had eaten coals, and then belched a sonnet so lyrical that the air held its shape simply to read it again.”
“You mean Zaaru claimed credit for the work of Zaavitra the Noseless in the ninth century,” said Demelza. “Most scholars agree that she wrote about the method in a treatise on the peculiarities of zulfur and zalt. She could not smell such elements, and so she studied their other properties. It was how she alerted a merchant of his son-in-law’s plans to murder him for the deed to his cave.”
Arris scowled. “I prefer believing in the calligraphy’s more romantic origins.”
In the mirror, Yvlle groaned. “Do you see why he is constantly on the verge of being murdered?” She eyed Demelza. “I did not know Prava had a daughter.”
“He has seven,” said Demelza. “I’m the youngest.”
“And the rest of your sisters?”
“Off conquering thrones and bringing the spoils of other kingdoms’ magics to my father,” she said. “He was lookingfor the final piece of a puzzle to the secret of everlasting life, and he found it. In me.”
Yvlle frowned. She looked between Demelza and Arris. “I am sorry to hear that,” she said, and Demelza heard genuine sorrow in her voice.
Too late, it occurred to Demelza that her father might not be the only one interested in everlasting life. That someone far worse and far crueler could find just as much reason to carve out her heart. But Yvlle did not make Demelza nervous. If anything, she reminded Demelza of her sister Eustacia, who had dyed her golden hair red from the blood of a vizier she had slain on the occasion of her nineteenth birthday. Bloodthirsty, yes, but still… loving.
“If you’re to suss out which of the contestants have murderous motives, then you must understand that they will not speak to you unless they think there’s something you can give them in return, such as proving yourself to be a useful ally when they take the throne,” said Yvlle. “I could help you, Arris. You are my favorite brother, after all.”
“I’m your only brother.”
Yvlle shrugged. “Fine. Why not. I’m in between experiments anyway. Now… what to do… what to do…” Yvlle peered about as if she could see past the mirror’s edges and into every corner of Demelza’s chamber.
“Did you bring any other clothes?”
“There was no time. Will this not serve?” asked Demelza. “The cloth is enchanted to clean itself.”
