The Queen stared into the depths of the mirror on the wall. “No,” she said. “Something else. A meeting, I think.”

“With Tristan.” It wasn’t a question. “Why?”

“I desire to renew our acquaintance.”

A sour taste filled my mouth, and I turned away from her so she couldn’t see my face while I thought. She had something to gain from meeting with Tristan, that much was certain. But was her gain our sacrifice? “I’d have to go back to the castle to ask if he’d be willing,” I said. “I don’t speak for him.”

“Of course not.” Her tongue ran over her lips. “But why make the trek back through the cold when you can ask him from here? It is within your power.”

She meant that I should use his name. It was a simple enough thing to do, and although I knew he wouldn’t appreciate me using it, he might deem it worth it in the end.

“Cécile.” Sabine’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Sing that song again.”

“Why?” I asked at the same time the Queen said, “You are not part of this negotiation, girl.”

It was the first time she’d so much as acknowledged Sabine’s presence, and that, more than the dismissiveness of her tone, made me wary.

“Please.”

As strange as the request was, she wouldn’t ask without reason. So I drew in a deep breath and… nothing came out. I couldn’t remember the words. I couldn’t remember ever even knowing them. It was as though the song had been… taken from me. Stripped from my thoughts. And if she could take a song, how hard would it be to take something like a name.

Silently thanking Sabine, I turned back to the Queen. “He made me promise never to use it,” I lied. “He may well agree to a meeting, but I’ll have to ask him in person.”

The Queen went very still. Could she tell I was lying? “We’ll go straight away,” I said, bobbing a quick curtsey and then inching toward the door after Sabine. “It was a pleasure meeting you, and you really were most helpful.” I was babbling. “He’ll be wondering where I am. We really should get back.”

“I think not,” the Queen said, and wind whipped through the room, little bits of ice flying through the air and biting at my skin. Walls of packed snow formed, blocking our exit. The lupine creatures watching from her winter palace crept closer to the tear, snarls filling the air.

“Call him here,” she ordered, the mist forming her ebony hair rising and falling on the blizzard of her own making.

If she wanted Tristan here so badly, it could only be to our detriment. “No.”

The pupils of her eyes elongated like a cat’s, then snapped back into a round, human shape. And before I could think to move, her misty outline solidified and she snatched hold of my arm. Cold unlike anything I’d felt before burned through my skin, my muscle, and into my bone. I screamed, the sound like a rabbit caught in a trap.