Page 101 of Hemlock & Silver
“I caught sight of them off in the distance and recognized you. I thought it was something innocuous, like gathering herbs, so I just went out to meet you. Then I realized you had a sack over your head.”
“Oh, did I? How’d you recognize me with the sack?”
Javier gave me a look. “Please. I’d know you anywhere.”
“Really?”
He looked away hurriedly. Was that a flush? Blessed Saint Adder, it was. Maybe kissing wasn’t completely out of the question after all.
“Anyway, I gave chase and found where they took you, then fought them off and ran away with you.”
I grinned. “How many of them did you fight? A dozen?”
“Two,” he said sternly. “We’re trying to make this story plausible.”
“What if the guards ask you to lead them to the poisoner’s camp?”
“I will be mysteriously unable to find it again. I was too busy not being seen, and everything here looks alike.”
“Fair. Did we meet the poisoner?”
“Probably, but I didn’t get a good look at him.”
“And I had the sack over my head.” I considered this. “Not too bad. If anyone starts to grill me, I’ll just burst into tears.”
Javier gave me a wary look. “Can you do that on command?”
“Usually? No. Right now? I’m so tired that I’m going to start crying if someone looks at me funny.” I groaned and hauled myself to my feet. “Which is a bad thing, because the very first person we should talk to is Snow.”
The maids gaped at us as we burst into Snow’s quarters. Nurse’s mouth fell open, but she immediately positioned herself between us and her charge. I briefly wondered why, then realized that Javier had never come here with me before. A strange man charging into the princess’s quarters would have been bad enough, but a quick glance in the mirror showed that I looked like I’d been dragged backward through a cactus. My braid had failed hours ago, my clothes were rumpled, and I had hollows under my eyes as deep as Cholla Bay.
“Healer Anja?” Nurse said. “What are you—”
“I wasn’t really going to do it!” Snow cried, backing toward the balcony doors.
Her voice sounded like breaking glass. It was enough to throwNurse into confusion, and that was enough for me to stride past. She tried to get in my way again, and Javier stepped between us. She actually bounced off his chest and backed up with a startled cry.
I left Javier to do what he did best and went after Snow. Behind me, I heard“What is the meaning of this?”but Nurse’s heart didn’t seem to be in it.
Snow had backed past the double doors and was looking about wildly for somewhere to run. The only option was over the balcony, and I closed the gap hastily to make sure she didn’t try. “It’s fine,” I said. “Snow, it’s fine. It will be okay.” It was not actually fine, and I couldn’t see how it would be okay, but sometimes the words matter less than breaking someone’s panic.
Snow stared up at me. “I wasn’t going to do it,” she whispered. “I told her I couldn’t.”
“I know.” I held up both hands. “I’m not angry. It’s okay.” Actually, on some level, I was unutterably furious, but I could work through that sometime in the future when lives weren’t hanging in balance. It didn’t matter anyway, because Snow’s disbelief was obvious.
“Tell me about your sister, Rose.”
Snow looked away, her lips pressed together. I took a deep breath and gripped the railing.Tell them something wrong so they can correct you.I hoped it worked as well on Snow as it did on Grayling. “Fine. I’ll talk, and we’ll see if I’m right. You’ve known the Queen in the mirror for a long time now. You eat the apples that—what, allow you to manipulate the mirror-world better? Something like that?—so that you can bring living mirror-things through. Mirror-people to replace real people, ideally.”
Snow remained stubbornly silent.
“Your mother knew about the mirror, of course. I imagine you saw what she was doing and stole an apple—”
“I didnot!” Snow burst out. “Mothergaveit to me!”
I looked out into the desert so that Snow couldn’t see my smile.Gotcha.“Very well. She gave you the apple and took you throughthe mirror, I imagine. And you met your sister’s reflection there, didn’t you? A little girl just like Rose. A waking reflection who could talk to you. And you started trying to bring her through.”
Snow’s shoulders slumped. “I wanted her to play with my Rose,” she whispered. “She was always bothering me to play with her, and I thought maybe if she had someone else…”
