Mirrored Snow [novel]

Chapter Seventeen

Py and Zeus had left by the time I returned to the cottage, but Ephy was there instead, delivering one of Cook's legendary cottage sandwiches wrapped in crisp brown paper. I wondered if Cook knew Snowdon was still alive; there was little within the palace walls she wasn't aware of. Once or twice I'd wondered whether she wasn't receiving a little magical assistance of her own.

"Here," she said, placing it in his outstretched hand. "With compliments from the chef," she added with a wink. "Just don't tell Py – he'll go spare if he knows Cook's not only worked out that you're alive, but also who you're likely to be hiding with."

Snowdon looked startled. "Did you tell her?"

"Not a word. I don't think Lyona did either. Cook just has an uncanny way of knowing things she shouldn't. A bit like you really – How did you know to find us here?"

Snowdon blushed. "I... It's complicated. And a bit weird."

"A bit magical, you mean?" Ephy guessed.

Snowdon smiled, glancing towards the medallion he'd placed back on the fireplace. His eyes gleamed when he caught sight of me watching from it. "More than a bit!"

"Well, if you promise not to tell Py about Cook, I won't tell him about you either," she replied with a smile of her own. I tried to recall what I knew about Ephy. I'd seen her on guard rotations often enough. She was usually placed on the outer wall, but could sometimes be found outside the treasury, which provided a neat link with Maus. I wondered who had recruited whom.

"He doesn't like magic?" Snowdon replied. He didn't look surprised.

Ephy wrinkled her nose. "He doesn't trust magic. He's had too many bad experiences with it under the queen's rule. He prefers things he can see and touch with his own hands."

Snowdon nodded. "I don't think he likes me."

"Like has nothing to do with it," she replied with a shake of her head. "He's trying to work out if he can trust you. He wants to do what's best for the kingdom. We all believe that's putting you on the throne. He desperately wants to believe that too, but he's worried about putting too much faith in you, only for you to let him down."

"How do I show him that he's doing the right thing?"

Another smile. "Don't let him down."

"Right." Easier said than done. "So what's your story?" Snowdon asked her.

"Sorry?" Ephy's expression was closed off. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have.

"I'm assuming you didn't wake up one day and decide life as a royal guard was too dull for your liking, so you threw your lot in with a group of young adults resisting history's most tyrannical leader?" Ephy's answering smile was a chink in her armour.

"Not quite," she conceded.

Snowdon sighed. "She hurt you?"

When Ephy hesitated he added, "Or someone you loved?"

"My father was a glove maker. It was a decent trade and we should have had more than enough money to go around, but the queen kept raising the taxes higher and higher. My little sister fell ill two winters ago and even going without food for a week couldn't save up enough money for the treatment she needed. She died of a disease that could have been cured by a single tonic."

Snowdon reached out, as if to touch her, but let his arm drop back to his side. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." Ephy's expression had closed inwards again, her tone firm. "You weren't here."