Isadora
Issy lay amongst her pillows and blankets, staring up at the flowers carved into her bedroom ceiling. Her mother had commissioned them for Issy’s tenth birthday; roses for beauty, lilies for calm, and sunflowers for happiness.
She sat up and looked down at the rumpled calf-length gown she’d slept in, catching sight of the discarded pair of battered slippers lying in the middle of the floor. She longed for the day she would wake up in the nightclothes she’d gone to sleep wearing.
She rubbed her thumb over the sunburst on her locket absentmindedly. In just a few days, her eighteenth birthday would arrive—the sixth one since her mother had died—and with it the pressure to choose a suitor, marry and begin her formal training for the day she would inherit the throne from her father.
Unless…If the soldier, Anders, couldn’t solve the mystery and break the curse, she could end up unmarriageable, or worse. She pointed her toes, stretching her aching calves and testing her sore ankle. Had anyone ever danced themselves to death? She didn’t fancy being the first.
She couldn’t say how she knew, but something had been different last night. The memories that teased at the very edge ofher consciousness were somehow closer, more solid than they’d ever been before. They were still just out of reach, dancing away when she stretched up to brush her fingers against them. And there was nothing she could grab onto, nothing that told her who or why this was happening. Just a feeling she couldn’t put into words—not that anyone would believe her if she did. But something had changed, and she had a suspicion she knew why.
Her bedroom door creaked open and Livia’s face appeared, relief shining in her eyes when she saw her sister lying on the bed. Issy knew that relief, she felt it too, knowing Livia hadn’t become another victim of the curse, like the missing princes.
Livia stepped into the room, still dressed in her own pale blue gown, and clambered on top of the covers beside Issy. Nina the calico joined them a moment later, mewing softly as she burrowed under Liv’s arm.
“Good morning,” Liv said lightly.
“Is it?” Issy didn’t turn her head, but she could feel her sister’s eyes on her face.
“Well, the sun is shining…”
Issy snorted. “The sun always shines in Orovia.” She could almost feel Livia roll her eyes.
“Is it the curse?” Liv asked quietly.
Issy rolled onto her side to look her sister in the eye, propping herself up on an elbow. “No, of course not. Why would it be? We’re only being magically forced to dance ourselves into the grave every single night with no end in sight. Oh, and almost a dozen princes and lords have vanished from our palace in the past few months, creating an international incident. Why would I be upset about that?”
Livia chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. After a moment, her dark eyebrows lifted and she plastered a smile on her face. “It’s your birthday tomorrow.”
Issy huffed and flopped onto her back again. “Magnificent. So, I’m either cursed and no one will want to marry me, or the curse has been leading up to me turning eighteen and some horrible fate is going to befall us at midnight. Things couldn’t be better.”
Livia sat bolt upright then, a genuine, impish grin tugging at her cheeks. “I know what might cheer you up.” She hopped off the bed and disappeared from the room, pursued by Nina.
Issy sat cross legged, watching the door with a frown that deepened by the second. What in the heavens was Livia up to now?
When she reappeared, in her hands was a small, black box with a white ribbon. It was a beautiful gift, and Issy felt a little shiver of excitement at the thought of her first birthday present. Livia pulled the end of the ribbon to untie the bow and handed the box to Issy.
“What is it?”
Livia practically bounced up and down. “Open it.”
When Issy lifted the lid, the most delicious scent she had ever smelled rose up to meet her.
“It’s chocolate!” Livia squealed. “Go on, try one. They’re absolutely delicious.”
The box contained six elegant chocolate bonbons, the kind that their father had been gifted once or twice by foreign dignitaries. There were four empty spaces where Livia had obviously already indulged herself.
“Livia, where did you get these?” Issy’s tone was sharper than she’d intended, but she couldn’t help it. This clearly wasn’t a birthday gift for Issy, so where had Livia gotten her hands on these chocolates?
Livia’s face fell. “They were left for me by a secret admirer.”
“A secret admirer? Livia, how could you be so stupid? These could have been poisoned. They could have been left for you bythe person behind the curse.” Issy felt both her voice and her anger rising, her sister’s reckless behaviour could have gotten her killed. And Issy would have been powerless to stop it. The thought made her stomach churn and her throat constrict.
Livia’s bottom lip quivered. “Who would poison chocolate?”
A knock came at the door. “Miss Isadora? Are you awake?”
Livia’s eyes widened, but Issy just hissed at her to get rid of the chocolates and she hid the box behind her back.
