In the courtyard below, the young man laughed and held out a pale pink flower to Eirwen. Before she could take it he pulled it back. She turned to leave and he ran after her, offering it a second time. Eirwen turned her back to him and crossed her arms. From her elevated angle in the tower, Heldie could see the girl smiling.

Heldie pursed her lips tighter together. By now, Ezekiel was a frequent visitor to their secluded castle. How many times had he now climbed over the castle walls to follow Eirwen around the courtyard? He never used the front entrance, choosing to leap into the courtyard like a daring adventurer. Heldie let the pair believe she hadn't been watching their every move.

So far, things had been uneventful. There were times Heldie could almost believe there was nothing to worry about. This was just a young boy doing his best to catch the attention of a pretty girl. Even without direct supervision he hadn't done anything suspicious or ungentlemanly. It all looked so safe.

All it took was one little mistake. Heldie would have only seconds to reach them before total disaster. She was too far to reach them on foot, magic would have to get her there but even that wasn't a sure thing. This close to Eirwen's birthday the well of stored magic in her was wild and unpredictable. Every second she built it up, the carefully built dam threatened to burst. It could go wild in an instant if the mood struck it or if it decided to act on some unspoken want of hers.

In an emergency, it wasn't enough for her to depend on it strongly enough to stop a death.

The poor boy didn't deserve that.

Ezekiel climbed back over the wall and Heldie closed her curtains over the large window. Darkness spread over the room like a rising tide. Only the raised platform against the back wall was untouched. Candles lined the sides and up the steps, forming a narrow passageway to the large mirror at the center. The flames reflected in its inky depths. Heldie's reflection came into focus as she moved to stand directly in front of it.

"Mirror, awaken," she commanded.

The black glass slowly grew brighter under her outstretched hand. A face without features took the place of her reflection. Even without eyes it tracked her movements, shifting subtly left and right in time with her movements. "You called for me, my queen?" No mouth appeared, no chin moved. The words emanated from the glass like an echo.

"Follow the boy, report back as usual."

"As you wish, my queen. I shall follow the boy as far as I am able. As always." The mirror went black again except for a small pinprick of light.

Heldie stepped away and pressed a hand to her forehead. Even after all this time, communing with the mirror left her feeling weak. The effort to only pour a trickle of magic into the glass forced a level of precision she could only hope to master.

Ever since finding the mirror hidden under the hay of a traveling merchant's cart, Heldie had used it to not only learn magic, but to search for answers. Still the answer to Eirwen's cure eluded her. She hoped this year they had it right.

The door opened just as Heldie stumbled for the low couch beneath the window. Ryker gripped her gently by the elbow. "Easy, I have you," he said. Worry lines were etched deep into his face after years of watching over her. Dozens of marks from foraging and hunting decorated his hands. Though two years younger than Heldie, Ryker looked forty years her senior.

"I'm alright, it'll pass," she said. The splitting headache she would have later was barely a thought in her mind now. Once she'd imbued the pastry with her magic she'd be able to breathe again. The rest of the magic could be passed into the sigils around the castle and stored in the roots of the trees.

The empty potion bottles still emanated a faint glow in the dim room. Flecks of green, blue, and purple stained the insides of the glass bottles. Beside it, a small tart filled the room with a sweet apple smell. All that remained was to bake it. Heldie smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress, erasing any signs of her momentary weakness.

"Do you think this one will work?" Ryker asked, looking at the tart skeptically.

"If it doesn't it will at least be another clue to the true cure," she said.

The dizziness faded to a manageable level. The room felt lighter, a sign the magic had dissipated. She fixed her hair back into a tight bun and reached for the glittering crown on the velvet pillow beside the mirror. At the last second she decided to leave it there. She didn't know why she bothered with it at all anymore. There was no one to see it.

"Now is as good a time as any to test it out. Keep her out of the kitchens, and prepare yourself. If she reacts as badly as last year we'll need to be ready to settle her," Heldie said. She scooped the tart into a shallow basket lined with a red cloth.

"This all sounds like a slow torture. Are you even sure she'll become a blutsauger?"

"I can't risk being wrong about this, Ryker." Heldie stopped at the door with her head bowed. "I need her to be alright." She swept out the door with Ryker behind her. They separated at the base of the tower stairs and Heldie made her way to the kitchens. A smile crossed her lips as she pushed on a large wooden shelf and slid it aside to reveal a false wall. After being trapped in here with Ryker she had gotten to work on the secret passageways he'd been so hopeful for. This one was one of the few that led to a dead end.

At the bottom of a narrow set of stairs lay Heldie's spellroom. It was directly below the main kitchens in a cellar room. Here, she was free to let her magic run wild. Sigils decorated the walls. Shield and absorption spells kept anything from traveling back up the stairs and into the castle.

Heldie flicked her wrist to light the fire beneath the oven. It blazed green and faded back to the flickering orange red one would expect. Magic pulled her hand like a cat begging to play. She could allow it a longer leash here, but too long and it could turn and scratch her.

Magic sparked across her fingers and spiderwebbed across the wall. The purple hue blended with the light of the fire in a dazzling light show. It soaked into the sigils until they all shone like crystals embedded in the stone. Hedlie breathed a sigh of relief.

Dried herbs lined the side of the large stone oven in tight bundles. Heldie cut off the same few she did every year to toss into the fire. Sage and thyme went in first and their smell filled the room instantly. When she added the bundle of mugwort it lit instantly and smoke billowed from the hearth.

A single spark of magic fell into the smoke and it became a gray storm cloud sparking with purple flashes of lightning. By the time she slid the tart into the oven the room was full of smoke so thick it made her dizzy. There were no windows in the room, only a small vent high along the back wall that she kept closed while she was working.

When the tart was finally the perfect golden brown she moved it to the table and pushed up the cover on the vent to let the smoke billow out and fresh air washed over her. Heldie sagged against the wall and fought to regain her balance. Her magic drained with the smoke until her chest felt hollow. The deep well was finally empty. She used the last of it to direct the bulk into the trees where it would grow the apples for next year.

Just in case they needed them.

🍎🍎🍎

Eirwen was sitting alone in her room when Heldie found her. The young woman had kicked off her shoes to sit cross-legged on her bed while she picked petals off a pink flower. Her small grin came and went with the petals. She tossed aside the empty stem to join two others in the corner.

"Those aren't really reliable," Heldie teased as she walked into the room. She pressed the back of her hand to her lips to cover up a smile after seeing Eirwen's red ears. "But you have to tell me if it was a yes or a no." She sat on the edge of the small bed.

The princess pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. "Does it matter? He'll just leave when he grows tired of me."

"He seems like a nice young man, and you are a lovely young woman. Perhaps he has more plans than just flirting," Heldie mused. She reached out to tap Eirwen's nose and lift her chin back up. "Try not to look so glum, my little snow apple."

Eirwen laughed and pulled back from her reaching hands. "Are you ever going to stop calling me that? It's so childish."

"I'll stop when you are no longer my daughter," Heldie argued. She lifted the cover off the basket and lifted the warm tart. "I know it's a little early, but I wanted to give you your gift today." It had to be today. Thanks to the mirror she knew Ezekiel would be back on her birthday to celebrate. She couldn't take away that moment of normalcy by trapping her in bed the way she normally ended up on her birthdays.

Except this year it would work and she'd be alright.

"Oh, already?" Eirwen looked hesitant to take the treat. After the first few attempts, she'd started scraping them out the window when Heldie left. She'd have gotten away with it if the birds hadn't spread the pieces around the courtyard. Now, Heldie sat with her while she ate it.

"I actually have a second gift for you. Finish that up and I'll show you," Heldie said excitedly. That was the first time she'd seen Eirwen eat every bite without complaint. She took the girl's hand after and practically dragged her outside and across the courtyard to the entrance to the northern wing of the castle. She felt some hesitation in Eirwen's steps but just hurried her along.

They stopped outside of a set of heavy wooden doors. Heldie could still see the outline of where a banner had once hung along the wall, a lighter outline on the wall where it had been shielded from dirt by the fabric.

"What is this place?" Eirwen asked.

"These were your mother's rooms," Heldie said. She pulled a key from her pocket and undid the locks that had kept the door locked for so long. The king once kept the key on a cord around his neck. Heldie found him here often before his death. "Wait here." She motioned for Eirwen to wait by the door while she walked across the room to a large armoire. Several long silk dresses crowded the interior.

Heldie had never felt comfortable moving them or even trying them on. The thin fabric on a few was far too scandalous for her. However, there were a few she'd deemed fit for Eirwen. The girl's mother may have been a monster but every young woman deserved to have some part of her mother to keep. Since Heldie was intent on banishing the dark inheritance the old queen had left the princess, the dresses would have to do.

She returned with three dresses draped over her arms. "Here. They may need some alterations but it's high time you dress like a young woman." The gift was greeted with silence. Heldie's smile faltered. Then, Eirwen reached for the sunshine yellow dress with the blue corset.

"But they're so fine, I'll get them all grubby," Eirwen protested.

"Don't be silly. We will draw you a bath. I've even made you a special oil for your hair to make it shine." Heldie ran a hand through Eirwen's hair, careful not to let her fingers catch in the knots. "I'll comb your hair after. My sweet snow apple, how are you already thirteen?"

"That's not until tomorrow, and that's not even that old." Eirwen laughed, leaning into Heldie's hand. "Just you wait until I'm as old as you. You'll teach me how to look nice the way you do, won't you?'

Hedlie stifled a laugh. "Silly girl, you'll look nice in your own way. Even covered in dirt you shine like a diamond." She tapped her nose. "Come now. We have dresses to alter."

Eirwen threw her arms around Heldie's neck and hugged her tightly. "Thank you."