“What’s going to happen?” Sabine asked.

“Watch.”

Crimson splattered up from the depths, and we both jerked back. The surface of the water caught and held the red liquid like a pane of glass, but I knew what it was. Blood, but from who or what, I could not say.

“Eternal youth, eternal youth, eternal youth.” The words started quiet as a thought, but then grew louder and louder until I was sure everyone in the house could hear the voice. Catherine’s voice.

Then abruptly as it had begun, the voice went silent. The bowl of water turned pristine white.

But the memory wasn’t over.

Slowly, the whiteness faded like clouds clearing on a summer sky, and an image appeared. A woman – Catherine – was walking through the corridors of the castle, the skirt she was kicking out in front of her infinitely finer than what she wore now. I could hear her heels against the stone, the swish of the fabric of her dress, although the quality of the sound was strange. She paused in front of a door, looked both ways, then entered into the room.

“I have it.” Catherine spoke, the words echoing as though she stood at the end of a long corridor.

“It took you long enough.” The voice of the woman who spoke was distorted, and Catherine was staring at her feet, so I couldn’t see who it was.

“This is the last batch.” Catherine’s voice shook. “I can’t keep doing this – what if I get caught?”

“Be more afraid of what will happen to you if you stop!” There was a flurry of motion, and the other woman snatched up the jar Catherine was holding and spun away. She finally looked up, but the other woman was wearing a hooded cloak.

“Turn around,” I breathed at the image. “Who are you?”

“It’s getting harder and harder to hide the bodies,” Catherine pleaded. “This is dark magic, mistress. There is always a cost.”

“I don’t care.” The woman whirled around, revealing the cruel beaked mask she wore. It concealed all her features, making it impossible to tell what she looked like or even how old she was. “There is no cost too great. Not for this. I must endure.”

The image vanished, and the basin was once again filled with ordinary water and the sodden bundle of paper, hair, and herb, the magic fading away. Sabine met my eyes. “Do you think that was her?”

I nodded slowly. “The way she said the last bit, I must endure, there was something about her phrasing. Not that her beauty or youth must endure, but that she herself must.”

“It could mean nothing. She could just be a woman desperate to maintain her youth.”

“Or it could mean everything.” Pushing the basin back, I got to my feet. “I need to see Catherine and convince her to tell me what she knows.”

“She’s no more likely to tell you anything now than she was before, Cécile.”