“Then if the white follows through with your suggested strategy…” Marble half-bloods replaced onyx and the black king toppled off the boards, his crown detaching to float over and replace the simple circlet on Roland’s head. “The red now controls the black players, and they are all now aligned against the white.”

Which put me in a worse position. I inhaled, then let the air out slowly. “The white could rescue the new black king.”

“Are you sure?” Her face sagged, crinkling in a way I’d never seen before. The black crown lifted off the onyx Roland’s head, and he floated away. His garnet twin lifted out of its case, coming to rest on the board, the black crown settling on his head.

“No,” I whispered. “That cannot be. It cannot…”

The shattering of glass interrupted me, and what I’d been about to say ceased to matter as every mirror in the room exploded, the air filling with a million shards of razor-sharp glass and the sound of my mother’s piercing scream.

Chapter 17

Cécile

The chaotic noise of the musicians warming up filtered through the door of my dressing room, adding to the air of tension found backstage before any performance. I was on tenterhooks too, but for different reasons: I was convinced Marie du Chastelier had some sort of association with Anushka, and that she knew who I was. That I was working for the troll king. That I was hunting her.

The idea had tickled at my mind that despite the lack of resemblance to the portrait I’d seen, that maybe she was Anushka. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew that couldn’t be the case. Marie was too visible – she was the daughter of a minor but exceptionally wealthy noble family. Her birth and childhood were a matter of record, witnessed by many.

Anushka likely altered her appearance with hair dye, cosmetics, and magic, but she couldn’t disguise herself as an infant or a child. She’d been in her twenties when she’d cursed the trolls, and though she’d found a way to stop herself from aging, she still remained a woman grown. It would have been necessary to disappear and start new lives continually, or those around her would notice that she never aged. Taking on roles where her face would be well known would have been impossible – the risk of being discovered by the trolls or persecuted for witchcraft would be too great.

Unless those who would persecute her were actually protecting her. I chewed my lip, thinking. If the Regent and his predecessors knew about the trolls, and I had my suspicions that they did, given they maintained the title of regent rather than adopting that of king, it was in their best interest to help Anushka keep the trolls contained. Which meant they’d do anything they could to keep her safe.

And yet Lady Marie had selected me to perform in her masque, had invited me into her home. Was it a matter of keeping her friends close, but her enemies closer? Or had the hunter become the hunted? Clichés, but my gut told me that at least one, if not both, were apt.