“Finally!” Belle had shrieked, gliding her fingernails along Raven’s cheek. “The precious prince is mine, to have and to hold, for all eternity. Unless you’d like to wake him up?” She’d turned then, catching Jack’s eye, and Jack had blushed furiously. She hadn’t wanted to kiss Raven. Raven was her oldest friend. For years, the two had lived as brothers, dangling from the tall trees of the orchard or wrestling in the rose garden. The thought of pressing her lips to his was shocking. Appalling. But also…

“Someone’s watching us,” a voice whispered, pulling her out of her thoughts. Jack slammed into the current moment like she’d fallen from a tree. Her lungs struggled to take in breath. Her cheeks were blazing, and she wondered if Belle could see it in the light of the full moon.

But Belle was watching someone else. Jack turned, and Raven turned too, their eyes finding the girl spying on them from the back of the orchard. Fourteen-year-old Lily must’ve had a complicated relationship with clothing, because she always wore multiple layers under her bulky sweaters. Amidst the pale blossoms of the apple trees, her white-blond hair made her look perfectly at home, like she belonged there. Like she’d been born there. In reality, Lily had moved onto the Holloway estate a few months earlier along with her mother, and in Belle’s mind that made her an interloper.

A trespasser on sacred lands.

“Raven,” Belle cooed, her voice as sticky as maple syrup, “I’m feeling a bit parched from bringing you back to life. Would you get me some cider?”

Raven eyed her a minute, wary of leaving her alone with his new stepsister. “Play nice,” he told her, hand lingering on the door. “If I come back here to find her hanging in the orchard by her feet—”

“She’d deserve it after sneaking into your bedroom,” Belle snapped, turning to Jack. “Raven found his stepsister hiding in his closet. How’s that for ominous?”

Jack’s head swiveled toward Raven, her mouth agape. “What? Lily’s been sneaking into your bedroom?”

“Almost every day.” Belle cocked her head to the side, touching Raven’s cheek. “Do you think she’s looking for something? Or… hiding something?”

“I think she’s hiding from her mother,” Raven replied, striding through the door.

“You’re probably right.” Belle watched him disappear into the house. “Or she’s hiding something for her mother,” she murmured, softly closing the door behind Raven. “Something that will scare him. Make him want to disappear.”

“Belle,” Jack began, a warning.