Hedwig Dornwald wanted a child of her own blood, and the mirror in the tower room was the only thing that could give her one. She stood before it now, counting under her breath. Eleven witches slept in the castle of the Dark Forest. The rite to free the demon needed thirteen. Two short. Two souls between her and the baby she had wanted her whole barren life. The mirror was tall and gold, its frame carved with twisting vines. Her own tan face stared back at her, frizzy red hair loose beneath her hood. She hated how old she looked. She hated more that her godchild Rapunzel now wore a crown in Nachtburg, fat on wealth, while Hedwig begged a demon in a mirror for what nature had refused her. She wet her lips and whispered the words. "Mirror, Mirror on the wall." The glass rippled. A pale man formed in the depths, white hair drifting, grey eyes bright as struck flint. Azkarath. He looked at her and said nothing. He never wasted words on her. "We are two witches short," Hedwig said. "But I know where to find a girl with witch blood. My Rapunzel. If I bring her—" The door opened behind her. Kassurina swept in, her dark cape dragging over the stone. Crown, corset, every jewel in place even at this hour. The High Priestess did not look at Hedwig. She looked at the mirror, and the room seemed to shrink around her. "Step back, Hedwig Dornwald." Hedwig stepped back. She always did. Kassurina raised her hand to the glass. "Mirror, Mirror on the wall." Her voice was low and sure. The demon's eyes turned to her like a flower to the sun. Whatever flint Hedwig had seen in him, it warmed only for Kassurina. "You have found the thirteenth," Azkarath said to her. "The princess." "I have found both," Kassurina answered. "The twelfth is a girl from a tower. The thirteenth sits behind palace guards. Both are princesses and out of our reach." She spoke her plan to him as settled fact, never once glancing at Hedwig. Hedwig watched them speak and felt her face burn. He answered Hedwig in one word or none. For Kassurina he opened like a book. The deal was Hedwig's. The child was Hedwig's price. Yet in this room she was only a servant holding a candle. The girl from the tower. Kassurina meant Rapunzel, the now Princess of Nachtburg. She meant to take the twelfth witch herself. Hedwig lowered her eyes and nodded along, meek as a scolded dog. Inside, her plan hardened. She would reach Azkarath alone, when Kassurina slept. She would bring Rapunzel as the twelfth herself. If anyone collected the price of this coven, it would be the witch who struck the bargain. Kassurina dismissed her with a flick of her fingers. Hedwig went. On the stair she stopped counting witches and started counting the hours until the High Priestess closed her eyes.