The torch snapped on again.

The witch who stood on the other side of the bars was tall and grey-faced. Her eyes reminded Flax of mid-winter, when the trees in the Floating Forest sometimes cracked under the weight of ice.

Her long sleeves covered her elbows.

Flax made herself very small, and hoped those wintry eyes wouldn’t turn towards her. The toasting fork trembled in her hand.

‘You are correct, Felicia,’ said the witch. ‘I am the Lady. But if you believe that is a bad thing, you are entirely wrong. My power protects Hallow from the dragon who calls himself Edwin Spurr. If I had not imprisoned him, the whole country would be a blackened ruin. You would no longer be Queen, because there would be nothing left to be Queen of.’

Queen? thought Flax, staring at Rose. QUEEN?

Rose swallowed. ‘But Aunt Delilah. You – you tricked us. You locked us up.’

‘For your own good. Edwin Spurr is more dangerous than you can imagine, and I do not want you anywhere near him.’

‘Is he the dragon that took my parents?’ asked Rose.

‘He is,’ said the Lady.

‘But why did he take them?’ asked Rose.

‘Why do dragons do anything?’ said the Lady. ‘Because they are vicious creatures who care for no one but themselves.’

A witch calling a dragon vicious?

A witch claiming that a dragon cares for no one but himself?

Ha.

We dragons are completely trustworthy.

Except when we are not.

The Lady hung the torch on the wall and turned away.

‘Wait,’ cried Rose. ‘Aunt Delilah, I won’t go near Uncle Edwin. Not now that I know what he is. So you could let me out. And my friends.’

‘Your subjects,’ said the Lady. ‘Remember who you are.’

She turned away again, saying over her shoulder, ‘I will release you soon, Felicia.’

‘All of us? The pup’s parents, too?’

‘Of course. But for now this is the safest place for you.’

And she walked into the darkness.

Flax breathed out very quietly. ‘You’re the Queen,’ she whispered. ‘The Queen of Hallow.’

Rose looked at the floor.

‘Your name isn’t even Rose.’

‘It’s one of my names. And I’ve always liked it better than Felicia. I feel like Rose. So I didn’t lie.’

‘Yes you did,’ whispered Flax. ‘You told us you were a quite unimportant fourth chambermaid.’

‘You wouldn’t have taken me with you if you knew I was Queen. And I wanted to go so badly.’

The pup nosed her shoe. ‘Your uncle is a dragon. Your aunt is the Lady. And you didn’t tell us.’

‘I didn’t know,’ cried Rose.

‘Shh,’ whispered Flax. ‘Keep your voice down. What do we do now?’

‘I suppose we wait for Aunt Delilah to let us out.’

The pup growled under his breath. ‘She will not. She is the Lady. She has imprisoned my parents.’

‘You said it was a dragon that stole them,’ whispered Rose. ‘Not a witch.’

‘It doesn’t matter who stole them,’ hissed Flax. ‘A witch has them now. The most dangerous witch of all.’

‘But she said it was for our own good. She said this is the safest place for us.’

The toasting fork twitched in Flax’s hand. ‘If the Lady told me the world was round, I would know it was square. If she told me I was a mouse, I would suspect I was an elephant. If she told me the sun was high in the sky, I would look for it near the horizon.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Rose. ‘I suppose you’re right. In that case, we’d better try to escape.’