As requested, the room was dark, the velvet curtains drawn. Candlelight danced against the walls, shadows slithering just out of its reach. Carissa drummed her fingers against the arm of her chair, the tapping the only sound within the room. Beyond, there was the muffled sound of bustling servants.
Elon stood behind her, his hip propped against the back of the chair. Aleck sat on the bed, his arms folded tightly, his expression puckered in a frown. Since he'd discovered Carissa had told Elon of their plans, he'd been rather displeased.
Finally, Aleck glanced her way. "You just had to tell him."
She shrugged. "Aside from the fact that he's my husband, he also has Foresight."
Aleck rolled his eyes. "That's what I get for expecting a girl to keep a secret."
Elon brought his fist to his lips and cleared his throat, though it sounded suspiciously like laughter.
Carissa poked his forearm. "If you want to spend the night here, Elon, you're going to have to behave."
Elon chuckled and bent, so his lips were by her ear. "But you like it when I misbehave." His kissed the edge of her jaw.
Aleck sucked in a breath. "Oh, that's just wrong. I thought you were only supposed to kiss on the lips."
Elon laughed as he straightened. "Then you have much to learn, Aleck."
Aleck grimaced. "But I don't want to learn about that."
"Oh, you will." Light flickered in Elon's eyes. "Someday."
Someone rapped on the door, and they all stilled.
"Your highness?" The door muffled the knight's voice.
"Yes?" Carissa replied.
"The young servant you've sent for has arrived."
"Then by all means, let her in."
The door opened, revealing a girl standing at the threshold. Her pale face was framed by hair the color of sunlight-kissed snow, an unnaturally radiant blond. Her eyes were just as unearthly in color—a blue even paler than Carissa's, its shade so shocking even glancing at her made one feel like they'd been doused with frigid water. Something about her was... familiar.
Those ice blue eyes flicked towards Aleck, then narrowed. She spun around just as the knight shut the door behind her, then she turned to face them slowly.
Elon stepped forward. "Lila, wasn't it?"
She firmed her jaw. "Am I in trouble?"
"Of course not. We'd just like to talk to you."
"Do you think I'm a witch?"
"No, we don't, Lila."
"Good. Because when someone last tried to burn me... it didn't end up so well for them." Her rosy lips quivered. She'd obviously intended the statement to be a warning, not a threat.
Carissa glanced at the girl's hair again, and she remembered: the girl had been sprinting out of the gardens just as she and Elon had been entering.
Elon stopped a few feet away from her before crouching. "It'll be alright, Lila. You're not going to hurt anyone, and no one's going to hurt you."
She peered out from her veil of hair. "You promise?"
"I promise."
"Pinky promise?"
Elon held out his pinky. "Pinky promise."
After a beat of hesitation, she stepped forward and curled her tiny, delicate pinky around his. Then she dropped her hand. "You want to know about the gardener, don't you?"
"We do. Would you like to sit?" Elon gestured towards the bed, where Aleck was seated.
She glared at Aleck before rounding the bed and sitting on the other side. She curled her legs to her chest and clamped her arms around them. "What do you want to know?"
Elon returned to Carissa's side. "How the gardener was killed, and who killed him."
The girl nodded slowly. "The day after the gardens were locked, I was asking the gardener to accompany me to the gardens."
"And he went without protest?"
She flushed, pink enveloping her light skin. "No, but I persuaded him. I told him I had something important to tell him, a matter of life and death. And I told him the consequences would be severe if we were overheard, so I suggested the gardens."
"And what was it you wanted to tell him?"
Her chest swelled with a deep breath, and she clenched her legs more tightly to her chest.
Aleck scooted a bit nearer. "Lila, you can tell them. They're—"
Lila's gaze snapped to his. "Don't speak to me. I told you about—" She waved her hand through the air.
"Your powers."
"Yes, and you told them. Even when you knew everything that had happened to me the last time my powers were revealed."
"But Carissa and Elon are different. I promise. Whatever has happened, Lila, they can help you." Aleck extended his hand towards her.
Her eyes became slits of ice. "That's what I get for trusting a little eight year-old with my secrets."
Color crept onto Aleck's face as he lowered his hand.
Carissa straightened. "How old are you then, Lila?"
"Ten."
Given her manner and speech, that made sense, but she was petite enough that she appeared younger.
Elon cleared his throat. "As you were saying, Lila?"
She took another deep breath and fell silent. A candle behind her flickered, making the shadows writhe.
"You don't need to be afraid, Lila. Tell the truth, and we can help you."
Lila exhaled slowly. "I–I can't." Her voice creaked and broke on the last syllable. The flame behind her sputtered, flared, twisted. The other flames began to do the same. Her breaths came faster, harder.
Carissa clenched the arms of her chair, now grateful more than ever that she'd told Elon about this.
A sob slipped past Lila's lips. "It's coming, and I can't stop it. I knew it would come. I knew it would."
Carissa squeezed the chair arms harder, trying to conceal how badly her arms were shaking. "What's coming?"
"My powers." She shook her head, her eyes shining with tears. "I'm so very sorry."
Elon strode towards her. "Lila. Don't worry about your powers; just tell us what happened."
Lila was choking on her own sobs, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I did it. I killed him." And then the flames from each candle flared, their light outshining all else in the room.
***
Author's Note: The sneak peek is in my profile :)