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Sira quirked her head and held Rosalina out before her. “Let her go? Why, a fall from this height might harm the poor dear.” Sira tucked the baby closer in her arms. “And why would I want to harm what is mine?”

“She is not yours!” Fury rose in Anya’s voice, and she stepped toward Sira.

“Shush. You’ll wake the child and the elderly outside.” Shadows rose along the walls, blocking out the sound. “And there are two very elderly humans out there, aren’t there? He would be long rotting in the ground if it weren’t for that little spell I taught you. Don’t you remember our bargain?”

“If I were to love anyone more than George, they would belong to you.” Anya ground her teeth together. “The bargain was of romantic love.”

“Are those your words or mine?” Sira rocked Rosalina. “Because a mother’s love is something else entirely, is it not? And I know it all so well. Knew its might the moment I first held my darling boy.”

Anya’s breath came ragged, her heart pounding as understanding dawned. Horror slicked up her spine.

She was right.

The words of the bargain hadn’t said romantic love. Only love.

And Anya had never loved anyone like she loved Rosalina.

Sira twirled a finger around the baby’s curls. “Do you think she’ll enjoy the Below? So much more lively than this sleepy village. She’ll have her own wing in Nether Reach. The shadows will carry her to sleep. She’ll forget the sun…in time.”

The baby blinked awake, laughing, a sweet, bubbling sound that made Anya’s knees nearly give out. Rosalina reached up to tug at Sira’s hair, giggling like it was a game.

Sira sneered. “So easily amused. That smile. It won’t last.”

Anya’s stomach churned. She imagined her daughter crawling across cold stone floors, her tiny hands brushing against bones instead of toys. Pictured her first words whispered to shadows. Her first steps uncheered. Her smiles twisted by darkness.

What kind of child would she become, raised in the Below? What kind of creature?

A monster.

A princess of ruin.

Sira’s legacy.

“No,” Anya said. “No, you won’t have her. I won’t let you.”

“She is my right.” Sira’s smile widened. “Unless you have something better to offer me.”

The iron ring pulsed once more, and Anya’s gaze dropped to it. Her bargain.

I’ve always been the clever one.

But there was no way out of this. It became so clear. Why today of all days she’d arrived.

“You knew I returned to the Enchanted Vale.”

“Oh yes, my shadows are everywhere. And they say the howls of beasts can be heard for leagues and leagues around Castletree. That already the flowers are withering in Spring, the seas grow restless in Summer, the leaves turn from gold to brown in Autumn, and in Winter, a great storm brews. The magic is upset, the balance wrong.” Sira paused. “You’ve once again proven what kind of queen you are, Aurelia. I’ve always said I learned everything from you. Clever, ruthless, wicked Aurelia. An enchantress of terrible power.”

Anya’s lip trembled. There was a way to save Rosalina. She knew why Sira had come.

The Enchanted Vale was weakened, and like a fox smelling blood on an injured rabbit, Sira was ready to strike.

But she could not do that if the queen returned, if Anya herself restored the balance while waiting for the princes to break their curse.

Save the Vale or save her daughter?

“Castletree will never be yours,” Anya growled.

“Then the Below will be hers!” Sira screamed, thrusting the baby in Anya’s face. “Admit who you truly are. Abandon your child for the privilege of remaining queen. It was always what was most important to you, wasn’t it? Being the best, the most beautiful, the fastest flyer, the cleverest, wielding the greatest power.”