The Stepsister Scheme

caused the birds to attack, Danielle was positive she hadn’t been the cause.
    Almost positive.
    Charlotte tossed the cup to the floor and glared at Talia. “Haven’t you better things to do? I wish to speak to my stepsister about my inheritance, and I’ll not have a servant lurking about, gathering bits of gossip like a dog snatching scraps from her master’s table.”
    Charlotte used to speak to Danielle in that same, dismissive tone. But Danielle had never met that disdainful glare with such a cold, tight smile. Talia stooped to retrieve the cup, using the hem of her apron to blot up the spilled wine. Her eyes never left Charlotte’s face.
    “I would be happy to escort you to the chancellor’s office,” Talia said. “Father Isaac is highly knowledgeable about such matters, and he—”
    “I see,” Charlotte said. “Now that you’ve married into royalty, you hope to use your newfound friends to bully my sister and me, to rob us of everything we have left.”
    “That’s absurd,” said Danielle, already weary. “Thank you, Talia. I’ll ring if we need anything further.”
    Talia hesitated, then turned to go.
    The instant the door closed, Charlotte whirled on Danielle. “You murdered my mother, Your Highness .” She still moved with a faint limp, courtesy of that night when Prince Armand had arrived at the house bearing Danielle’s lost slipper.
    Danielle took a deep breath. “Is that why you’ve come? To hurl your grief and anger at my feet like the soiled linens you used to fling on my floor? I’m sorry about your mother, Charlotte. I asked the king and queen to provide healers, but—”
    “My sister and I want nothing from you,” said Charlotte, stepping so close that spit sprayed Danielle’s face. From the smell, Charlotte had imbibed far more than a single cup of wine today. “Unless you’ve the power to raise the dead?”
    Danielle took a discreet step back. “Then why are you here? Your mother left everything to you and Stacia. My father’s home, my mother’s garden, all of it belongs to you now. What more do you want from me?”
    Charlotte smiled. Her free hand unfastened the bronze clasp at her neck, and her cloak slid to the floor. Beneath, Charlotte wore peasant’s garb: a loose shirt of white linen, and a rough brown skirt. Normally, strings of gold or jewels would have adorned her long neck. Today she wore only a leather necklace threaded through a smooth blue stone. A long hunting knife hung from a rope belt. Her feet were bare, aside from a soiled bandage on her right foot. Charlotte’s own mother had cut away part of her heel in a deranged attempt to fit Charlotte’s foot to Danielle’s discarded slipper.
    “I’m here to do what my mother should have done,” Charlotte whispered. Eyes wide, she yanked the knife from its sheath.
    Danielle backed toward the wall. The knife alone wasn’t enough to frighten her. She couldn’t count the number of times Charlotte had threatened to throw Danielle into the fireplace, or bury her in the garden, or drag her down to the canals and drown her like an unwanted kitten. But those clothes... Charlotte would have sooner died than be seen in such poor fashion. She had always been her mother’s fancy doll, garbed in the most expensive dresses and jewelry, even as Danielle shivered in ash-stained rags.
    “You like it?” Charlotte asked, stroking her necklace. She waved a hand at the door. The iron bolt slid into place.
    “How did you do that?” Danielle asked.
    The blade caught the sunlight as Charlotte approached. “You think you’re the only one with secrets? I know all about you, little Cinderwench. How your dead mother enchanted the prince, making him choose you over me. How she showered you with silver and gold for the ball. How she helped you scar my face and murder my mother.”
    Danielle reached the bedside table. Never taking her eyes from Charlotte, she reached down until her fingers brushed the edge of the tray Talia had left.
    “I tried to help you and Stacia,” Danielle said. “Armand wanted you imprisoned for your deceptions. I’m the one who urged mercy. I allowed your mother’s will to stand uncontested, rather than fighting you for my father’s home. I gave you the chance to start your own lives.”
    “The life I wanted, the life I was promised, is the one you took from me,” Charlotte said. “You should thank me, Princess . Soon you’ll be with your beloved mother.”
    “At least I’ll be safe