Four days before her birthday, Queen Raven held out her arm and called the only friend she had left. A black crow dropped from the rafters and landed on her wrist. Its claws pinched her skin. Her mother had trained the bird before the accident. Now the crow was all Raven owned of her parents, and it was not enough. She was twenty-three, a queen with dark powers, and she was alone in a castle she no longer wanted to be alone in. Raven walked the cold halls of Blackspire Keep with the crow on her shoulder. She wanted more than an empty throne. She wanted a kingdom that loved her the way they loved her parents, she wanted a love of her own. Truth be told the people feared her they did not understand her magic, the same magic her mother wielded but hid. When Raven was fourteen she accidentally made some dead rise when she awoke from a nightmare and since then the people have feared her magic. Raven then started making a plan. She would throw a grand ball on Halloween night. She would open her doors and let the people see her as a woman, and their Queen, not as someone to fear. She found her maid polishing candlesticks in the great hall. Morgana looked up, then quickly lowered her eyes. "I will host a ball," Raven said. "For the whole kingdom. In four days." Morgana's cloth stopped moving. "Four days, Ma Reine?" Her French accent turned sharp with worry. "That is not enough time.." "No worries we will make it happen," Raven said. But her voice cracked, and the crow shifted on her shoulder. Her head butler stepped from the shadows near the stairs. Edgar Grimshaw had served her parents for thirty years. He carried a silver tray, a wine glass sat on it ready for the Queen. He always seemed to arrive before he was called. "A ball," Edgar said. His voice was low and strange, like wind through a graveyard. "What a good idea my Queen." Edgar set the now empty tray down. "I must tell you of the whispers, the people want an heir for the kingdom they worry" Raven stared at the butler. For a year she had ruled. She had never once asked her people for anything. The thought frightened her more than any battle. She took a breath. "Then help me please." Morgana and Edgar worked through the night. By dawn, Raven held a single card in her hands. It did not carry the seal of her power. It carried a plain request. *Come dance with your Queen on her birthday this Halloween.* She gave the crow the first invitation. The bird gripped it in its beak and flew out the tall window into the gray morning. Raven watched it shrink to a dot above the town. She had done something she never dared before. She had opened her door and let go of the one thing she controlled. Now the kingdom would answer her, or it would not. In three days, she would learn whether her people could ever love her, or whether the ballroom would stand empty.

The crow had flown. Now Raven had three days and a ballroom that could scare guests away. She pushed open the tall doors and stepped inside. Dust hung in the air. Sheets covered the tables like burial cloth. The great windows were gray with grime, and cobwebs hung thick in every corner. No one would want to dance here. It looked like a tomb. Morgana followed her in, feather duster in hand. Her orange-striped stockings flashed under her torn maid skirt. She looked around the huge, dead room and let out a small breath. "Ma Reine, three days," she said. "We cannot clean all this." Edgar came behind her, silent as always. He carried no tray this time, only a candle that would not stay lit in the cold air. "The room remembers happier nights," he said, his voice low and strange. "But memory alone will not warm it, my Queen." Raven knew he was right. Scrubbing and hanging cloth would take a week. She had days. For years she had hidden her magic. She had feared what it did to people. But now she needed it, not to frighten, but to build. She did not even know if she her power could even do that. She walked to the center of the floor. "Stand back," she said. Morgana and Edgar stepped toward the wall. Raven lifted her hands and closed her eyes. She pictured the room the way she wanted it. Carved pumpkins glowing along the walls. Candles floating in the air with no strings. Tables dressed in black and gold cloth. She held the image tight and pushed her power into it. The air shifted. She heard Morgana gasp. She heard Edgar's candle drop. She did not open her eyes. The floor hummed under her boots. Cold wind moved across her face. She poured everything she had into the picture, until her arms shook and her breath came hard. When she opened her eyes, she nearly cried. The dust was gone. Golden light filled the room. Pumpkins grinned along every wall. Candles hung in the air, burning soft and steady. The tables shone under black and gold cloth. It was beautiful. It was warm. It looked like a place people could love. Morgana pressed both hands to her mouth. "Ma Reine," she whispered. "It is a dream." Raven laughed, breathless and proud. For the first time, her magic had made something good. Raven still had a lot to learn about her power and magic, but tonight she had created something beautiful with it and that satisfied her.