I shake my head, frantic. “No, no, we can pull it off! The Imperial Court guards can bring Adalbrecht in.”
“If he knows everything, then he’ll recognize Gisele pretending to be your maid,” Joniza points out. “And once he realizes something’s up, he’ll just kill Conrad too.”
“Then—then we’ll have Ragne do it. Or . . .” I trail off.
Gisele’s voice is low, mournful. “Vanja, I’m sorry, but . . . I don’t think there’s a way to save him. I think we just have to save ourselves.”
“I won’t,” I say immediately. “I won’t leave him.”
“That’s your choice to make. But I have too much to live for.” Gisele takes Ragne’s hand. “I . . . I’ll go through with the wedding ceremony. Then I’ll leave Minkja.”
“I’ll go with you,” Joniza says heavily. “I’m sorry, Vanja. You can come with us.”
“No—please—you have to help me—I have to save him—” I turn to Ragne, who’s stayed quiet this whole time. “Ragne. Ragne,please.”
She looks from me to Gisele, red eyes wide and uncertain. Gisele lays a hand on her shoulder. Ragne swallows. “I promised . . . I would protect the Gisele.”
A hollow, nauseating hush falls over the bedroom.
Then I pick up the spill-stick urn and throw it at Gisele’s feet. Copper clangs against the stone as the wooden splinters scatter. “GET OUT!” I scream. “DAMN YOU, GET OUT!”
She opens her mouth, then closes it, and sweeps from the room without another word. Joniza follows. Ragne wavers a moment—then she, too, slips through the door.
I hear my bedroom door open, then close. I almost laugh. Ofcoursethat’s where they went.
Emeric still isn’t moving.
I let all my fury and sorrow loose in a feral sob and sink to the floor beside him.
Then I take his hand in mine, tears rolling down my face, and trace into his palm like the mirror, writing out my last, most desperate plea:
Stay.
Stay.
Stay.
THE SIXTH TALE
Three Maidens
Once upon a time, three maidens went to a wolf’s wedding. The night before the wedding, the first maiden sat in a cold, dark bedroom, grieving a life that could have been hers. She was alone with her choices, good and ill; she was in a prison of her own making, behind bars she’d forged herself. And when the wolf’s guards came to take her, she went with them, for there was no saving her from herself.
The night before the wedding, the second maiden dressed herself in finest silk and went to dance with the wolf. She twirled and smiled and played the role ofprinzessinto a fault; she let the wolf’s groomsmen “steal” her to the far side of the hall and make the wolf ransom her back in beer and praise and promises. She made sure when she laughed, they could see her teeth, for she would marry the wolf the next day, and he was not the only one with fangs.
The night before the wedding, the third maiden slipped on a face that was not her own, but one she knew well. It was a face that had served her and hurt her, the face of a friend, the face of a liar, the face of a loyal maid. And she waited on her princess as she danced with the wolf. She knew creatures like the wolf well. She knew if no one was there to see it, he would eat the princess whole.
(Now remember—don’t follow the cards. Keep your eyes on the real mark.)
The day of the wedding, the second maiden dressed herself in the wolf’s own blue and donned the wolf’s heavy crown. It was all too heavy, but she bore it anyway, holding her head high as the loyal maid set the crown upon her and made certain it would stay there.
The day of the wedding, the third maiden walked into the ceremonial house the wolf had built in the Göttermarkt, wearing the wolf’s own blue. She was not there for the same reason as most of the guests; she was there to be married.
The day of the wedding, the first maiden was marched into the Göttermarkt, up to the gallows the wolf had built alongside his houses. She stood, iron-faced and alone, as the hangman placed a noose around her neck. Below her waited a barrel full of nails, ready to eat her whole.
You have watched the cards move, shields and grails, roses and bells, knights and pages and queens and kings. I think it’s only fair for you to take a guess now at where the Lady lies. There are maidens three: a loyal maid, a bride in her crown, a thief at the gallows.
Which of the maidens was I?
