Grabbing Cordelia’s chin in her free hand, she leaned even closer, until her hawk nose bumped against her granddaughter’s and her familiar/unfamiliar face filled Cordelia’s vision like a waking nightmare. “I’ve had twelve years to learn from my mistakes,” she murmured. “This time, I won’t allow any accidents to happen. So I will be the one to hand you, personally, to the dukes of Arden and Lune tomorrow, to win back all the wealth and power that your mother stole from me for your sakes—and no one, especially not my own grandchildren, will stop me!”

Cordelia’s head was still spinning, but that couldn’t stop her now. She lunged forward, screaming with all her might—

But Grandmother was too strong. Grabbing Cordelia’s nose with one hand, she pinched it tightly shut. Long fingernails jabbed into Cordelia’s skin. Then she lifted the steaming goblet to Cordelia’s mouth and pushed.

Cordelia’s screams were full of bubbles. She couldn’t even focus enough to shift shapes. Everything turned into a desperate, wordless blur as she twisted and struggled in her grandmother’s iron grip. Sweet liquid gushed down her throat no matter how hard she gagged and tried to spit it out.

The last thing she heard, as sleep closed smothering arms around her, was her grandmother’s sigh of perfect satisfaction.

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

“Cordelia. Cordelia!”

Still deep in sleep, she whimpered with frustration. Would her bothersome family never leave her alone? Connall wouldn’t stop shouting no matter how hard she tried to stay wrapped in blissful dreams of dappled leaves and rippling streams.

Didn’t he understand that she was tired?

“Cordelia!”

“What?” she finally snarled—and woke with a gasp at the eerie, echoing sound of her own voice. Her back hit a cold stone wall, hard.

Her eyes shot open.

She sat in a tiny, curving room that she’d never seen before. It was as round as a kitchen well, lit by dim streaks of sunlight, and barely two paces wide. A latticed grate covered the single, small high window, its bars crisscrossing like the dark, latticed beams that had covered Grandmother’s white cottage …

What had happened to Grandmother’s cottage?

Where was she?

“Finally.” Connall’s big hands closed around her shoulders and gripped hard. He let out a shuddering breath.

She yanked her gaze away from the small, barred window and finally took in her older brother’s face. Heavy shadows sagged beneath his dark-brown eyes, and his thin face looked tight with strain. “I’ve been trying to reach you for hours!” He gave her shoulders a gentle shake. “Where are you three hiding, anyway?”

He really didn’t know. She could see it in his face.

Nothing about this made any sense.