She gasped and pressed her bony knuckles to her mouth. Blinking, her eyes slowly filled with tears. “My purpose in casting spells is to help good people. I don’t cast spells if they will harm anyone. I’m not a bad person, really I’m not.”
Ryder bunched his hands into fists. What in the blazes was she talking about? If she didn’t put spells on people to harm them, why was the queen harmed?
“But it did harm someone—two people, in fact.”
She shook her head. “Prince Ormond told me that Princess Clarissa was not courting anyone, and of course, I knew he needed help—”
“I wasn’t courting the princess until the day the prince gave her the flowers. I’ve loved her for years, and she’s loved me, but we just never told each other.”
“Oh, forgive me.” She clutched his arm in desperation. “If I had known her heart belonged to another, I wouldn’t have put a spell on the flowers.”
Why did he believe her? Was she a skilled performer as well as a witch? “All right, so what about the king’s guards? Are you poisoning them?”
Her eyes widened even more. “Why would you think I was poisoning them?”
Perhaps he shouldn’t have blurted that out, but he was on a roll and couldn’t stop his thoughts now. “The few guards I’ve talked to who have gotten sick—and before they died—described talking to you of the same day they became sick. Tell me, does that sound coincidental to you?”
“Mr. Grey, I fear I don’t know why you are accusing me of such horrid things. Ask anyone around here. I am a good witch. I would never hurt anyone.”
Irritation grew inside him, mainly because he was beginning to feel she was telling the truth. He wanted to keep pointing the accusing finger, and yet, the more he thought about it, the more things began making sense. If she were a bad witch, she would have put a stop to his accusations by now. She would have put some kind of spell on him to shut him up—or turned him into a frog. Instead, she defended herself.
“I just don’t understand.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I know horrid things have been happening, and a witch has been involved.” He cocked an eyebrow and said sarcastically, “Unless there are two of you running around our town that nobody knows about.”
The color in her face disappeared and her mouth hung open. Fear was the emotion on her expression now. It couldn’t be. Had he guessed correctly? Were there two witches?
“What?” he asked quickly. “Am I right?”
Slowly, she nodded. “I have a twin sister. When we were younger, she was the witch who always created spells to harm people.”
He cursed under his breath. “Where is she now?”
“I haven’t seen her for years. The last I saw her, she resided in the east forest. There’s a small cottage nearby the tower.”
Shock coursed through him, and this time he allowed his curse to be heard. “East forest...near a tower? Are you certain?” Unless there was more than one tower, this was where Clarissa had kept him prisoner...the same place they’d found the queen. And, the cottage Clarissa had found when trying to fetch him water must be where the witch’s twin had been residing.
“Yes.”
Another question popped into his head, but it was one only Clarissa could answer. How had she known about the tower?
“She hated people,” Cordelia continued. “Because her heart had been broken so many times, she kept herself hidden from the kingdom. She hadn’t used magic for years, mainly because every time she had, she made bad things happen to people, but fate always came back around and slapped her.” She tapped a finger on her pointy chin. “If I remember correctly, the last time my sister did something truly evil, it almost cost her life. Apparently, she’d kidnapped a little girl, and the girl’s father nearly killed her.”
Something about this story picked at his conscience. Why did this sound familiar?
Frowning, Cordelia shook her head. “My sister was a sore loser. Clarissa was never happy, poor thing.”
He sucked in a breath.Clarissa?“That’s your sister’s name?”
“Yes...why?”
Suddenly, the tale the princess had told the children at the hospital returned to his memory. The king picking a Rapunzel flower for the woman he loved. The promise he’d made to the witch to name the child after the witch. And...the tower. However, in the princess’s tale, the witch had died. Apparently, she had not. Did the king know this?
Ryder blew out a pent up breath. “Well, if my feelings are correct, your sister is up to her old tricks again. I think she is the one poisoning the king’s guards, and I think she is the one who kidnapped the queen.”
Cordelia gasped. “The queen has been kidnapped?”
“Waskidnapped. She was being held at the tower in the east forest.”
“Ohhh...” Cordelia grumbled. “I swear that sister of mine was beaten too many times with the stupid stick when we were children. Why would she do something like this? I cannot believe she hasn’t learned her lesson yet. When we were children, Mother would always warn her that if she didn’t stop her wickedness, Clarissa would never be able to look at herself in the mirror without seeing all the bad things she’d done in her life and feeling guilty about them. Mother told her once that guilt destroys a person.”
