The prince looked amused.‘You have an interesting way of showing respect.’
‘Apologies, Serene Highness,’ I said dryly.‘My mother began toteach me etiquette, but never finished her instruction before she was taken from us.’
Father shot to his feet and was standing between us before the prince could respond.‘You have to forgive my daughter.She doesn’t know what she’s saying.’
‘I have no doubt she knows exactly what she’s saying.’Prince Raleigh regarded me a moment longer, then strode further into the room.Father didn’t offer him refreshment or invite him to sit, nor did he himself.His height was the only advantage he had.
‘You must be wondering why I’m here.’
‘You are always welcome here, Your Serene Highness.’
Raleigh tilted his head back, face glittering with amusement.‘Juri, please.You’ve never wanted me here and we both know it.I come here on a matter of business.Or have you forgotten your responsibility to this town?’
‘I don’t know what you’re implying.’
The prince cocked his head.‘Do you not?’A pause.‘I see well enough that your people are starving.’
A shadow passed over Father’s face.‘Yourpeople,’ he corrected.‘You cut off our water, and it hasn’t rained since autumn.What did you expect to happen when you built that dam?’
Raleigh splayed his hands.‘I’ve found the result more than satisfactory.’
How dare he gloat like that in my mother’s house.
‘I had thought our arrangement would suffice to keep you all sated.But’—he pronounced every consonant with utmost precision— ‘I can see we’ve reached a perilous situation.Something has been drastically mismanaged.’
Father cast a fleeting glance in my direction.I could tell he wanted me to leave, but I had no intention of doing so.I’d already lost my mother to this man – I wouldn’t leave my father to his mercy too.
‘It is a terrible famine,’ Father said carefully.
‘Yes, it is.If only there was a way to bring food in from outside the valley.’The prince paused, waiting for a response that never came.He continued.‘Without intervention, there won’t be an Orlfen for much longer, and I have no desire to watch this town go extinct.’
‘I’ve been telling you this for years.’
‘Then you agree?’A thin smile.He was facing Father now, leaning against the side table.Lazy, elegant.‘Somebody needs to take the fall for what’s happened here.’
Father jolted.
‘I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not to kill you, but I don’t think that would solve anything, would it?They trust you.And I’d prefer to avoid another raid on the castle.A fine would be fitting, but it doesn’t quite seem like enough, does it?Blood must be paid with blood.’
Father squared his shoulders.‘What are you talking about?’
‘Shall I spell it out?’The prince’s smile twisted into something worse, something feral.‘The maid’s listening too, did you know that?We could tell everyone—’
‘Stop,’ Father said.‘What do you want?’
A deadly calm washed over the prince.He turned, scanning the cluster of artwork that hung on the wall behind him.Most were my mother’s work, though there were several clumsy miniatures among them I’d painted as a child.Amidst them all hung a single mirror.Tarnished and murky, it barely reflected the viewer, but Father insisted that noble homes were full of mirrors and ours ought to be, too.It was at least clear enough to tidy your hair in if you looked carefully.Clear enough for our prince, it seemed, who stepped closer and bent at the waist to examine himself in it.
He had no reflection.
Realisation jolted through me.It’s one thing to suspect that nightmares are real and quite another to confirm it.
I could feel him watching me through the mirror.There came a soft clack as a talon-like nail hit the mirror’s edge, just over my reflection.A sudden tremor racked my body.
‘I hear your daughter is in search of a suitor.’
Father whirled towards me, all colour drained from his face.‘You are mistaken.’
‘You sent letters to every aristocratic bachelor in Europe.Did you think word wouldn’t reach me eventually?’The prince returned his attention to Father.‘I take it my letter was lost in the post.’
