She hadn’t been pretty to start with but in death her face was left frozen in the agony in which she’d died. No longer mousy and hunched, her body was contorted and her hair matted and red where her scalp had bled from contact with the poison. It was Snow White who had found her, and after the doctors had been called and the body removed from the hushed castle, it was Snow White who now stood trembling with anger, her violet eyes flecked with red from crying, in front of her.

‘The comb was poisoned,’ she said, eventually, once she’d got her breathing under control. ‘It killed Tillie, but it was meant for me. You gave it to me. She only tried it on because she wanted to look pretty. Like a princess!’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Lilith said. Her haughtiness had left her and her stomach was a watery pit of fear. The stays being too tight had been one thing. But this, this to all and sundry, looked like attempted murder. What would the whispers be saying now? How far would they travel? ‘I didn’t know.’

‘You didn’t know?’ Snow White almost laughed. Her nose was running and she wiped it with the back of her hand. ‘You know everything!’

‘I thought it was simply enchanted.’ Tears pricked at her and she did her best to swallow them down, but one broke free, cutting a sparkling track down the angles of her face. ‘That’s all. Why would I poison you? And if I wanted to poison you why would I do it so obviously?’ Her fear was turning to aggression, just as it always had, even when she was a little girl. ‘I was trying to say sorry.’

‘Enchanted?’ Snow White stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Around them, the unused library had settled into silence as if listening to their story so as to bind it and add it to their shelves later. ‘It was supposed to bring you happiness. I almost used it myself.’

‘I don’t trust your magic,’ Snow White said. Her voice was calmer and her eyes, although still hurt, were now confused. It was a gift and a blessing, this trait she had of wanting to believe the best in everyone.

‘I didn’t know it was poisoned,’ Lilith repeated. The dark beauty stared at her for a long time, and the queen knew that if there was ever a moment for all the secrets she hid, this was the time to share them. They choked in her throat, though. She couldn’t bring herself to set them free.