But maybe there was something else she could do.

Cordelia’s gaze settled on the cooling black pot that sat beside the fireplace—and the golden goblet that had fallen in her scramble to push the oak table to the door.

“What a clever child you are, my dear!” Grandmother caroled through the door. “You should have slept for hours yet—but it won’t make any difference, you know. Whatever little tricks you’re planning—and casting a bird illusion to distract me was impressive!—my magic will win in the end. Did your mother even bother to train you properly? Or did she keep her own tricks secret, like everything else she hid from you?”

Gritting her teeth, Cordelia scooped up the empty goblet from the floor and started toward the pot.

“How many secrets have you ever managed to winkle out of her?” Grandmother crooned. “It was so convenient for Kathryn, wasn’t it, to keep you locked up in the forest for all these years? Utterly safe from interference, with no one who’d ever dare let you know the dangerous truth about yourselves … Did she never drop any hints about who you truly are? Or those other brats, either?”

Brats?

No one was allowed to insult her triplets. “You don’t know anything about me or my family,” Cordelia snarled. “But if you’re talking about the Raven Crown—”

“Aha!” Grandmother let out a pealing laugh of delight. “So it is you causing all this trouble, little girl. I had a feeling that it might be! The others aren’t even awake yet, are they? But you were too wild to stay asleep for long.” She breathed her words through the door. “It’s just you and me now, dear. Do you truly believe you can stand against my magic?”

No. That answer was as obvious as the open window high above, still offering Cordelia one last chance at escape.

Swallowing hard, she took a slow, unhappy step toward the oak table that blocked the door. She knew what she had to do.

“That’s it,” Grandmother murmured. “Come closer, now. The truth is, my dear, the two of us can work together. I only need the Raven Heir, you see.” Her words purred through the air, soft and tingling. “You can go free if you help me now. You’re a feral one, aren’t you? You’d never fit in at court, I know. It would be miserable for everyone involved. But I can make quite certain that you’ll never be chased by any bothersome knights again.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes in disgust. “Connall already told me that the dukes and duchesses won’t ever let go of any possible heirs.”