"no, certainly not. stil enjoys entertaining, especially when he's not here," angelique said before she left the bathroom through a different door, taking the tea tray with her.

elise scrubbed herself until she was pink, getting rid of every smudge and splotch of dirt that caked on her over the past few weeks. she soaked and rinsed her hair several times until her tired curls regained some of their spring. by the time she left the bath she was as wrinkled as a prune and smelled like freshly cut lavender.

the dress angelique had set out faintly reminded elise of her treasury department uniform. it was black with white sleeves made of fine, opaque material. the sleeve cut off at her elbow and turned into a long black cuff that encased her forearm and hooked around her middle finger. the dress lacked the gold braiding elise's work uniform had, but the belt was a gold sash, and there were several golden ribbons and a pair of black silk slippers set out as well.

elise tied her hair back with one ribbon and used the remaining two to make a new loop to hang the treasury vault key from. she discarded the dirty red rope she had made from her old uniform-it was stained and ratty-and slipped on the shoes before she deemed herself presentable and left the bathroom.

"perfect timing, princess. your brothers were just asking after you," angelique said from one of the odd-looking sofas. "please, come have some tea and scones."

"you look much better. you were quite bedraggled and scruffy before." falk said, blasting elise with a backhanded compliment as he inspected her from head to toe. "not that you didn't have reason to be," he added.

rune smiled fondly before he slid a hand beneath elise's chin. "you look beautiful."

"doesn't she though?" steffen said, crowding rune away from elise.

elise seated herself next to angelique and took the hot tea the enchantress offered her. it smelled like peppermint, but it was sweetened with honey and a little milk.

when elise's stomach growled, erick passed a plate laden with scones and tea sandwiches.

"thank you," elise said, devouring a chicken sandwich.

"i do not mean to rush you, lady enchantress, but you said you knew of someone who could break the curse?" steffen asked.

angelique topped off elise's tea. "i do: furstin elise."

elise choked on her sandwich.

"pardon?" steffen blinked.

"no, i see where this is going. we cannot ask elise to do more for us," rune said.

"her hands will take months to heal, even if i purchase the best creams and plants to make pastes for her. she cannot do a thing more," falk said.

"elise has done more than her fair share," gerhart chimed in.

"i agree with what you say," erick said. "but perhaps we should hear out the lady enchantress first."

angelique smiled when the brothers quieted down. "as i mentioned, after i left you, i called on my friend in erlauf. she used to be in charge of seeking out young boys and girls who are gifted with magical talents before she became a fairy godmother."

"i discussed with her the oddity that the curse worked on every arcainian royal-gabrielle excluded-except for you," angelique continued. "after conversing further, we concluded that the only logical explanation is you have the ability to use magic as well."

"i'm sorry, but that's impossible. there would have been signs. i wouldn't be the royal family's foster child," elise said. "magic is not something a person can hide. furthermore, i would know! there's no possible way i could be ignorant of an ability like that."

angelique shook her head. "you are ignorant because of the way your powers manifested. observe," angelique said. she drew her fingers together, making a glittering ball of light. she flicked her fingers, and the ball rolled in elise's direction. when the ball touched elise, it bounced off her and faded away like smoke.

angelique made a second ball and flicked it at erick. it stuck to him like a burr, remaining there until erick crushed it with his fingers.

"what does this mean?" elise asked.

"it means your powers, probably as a result of the country you live in, lie in magic cancelation. magic cannot survive around you. thus a curse, even one as powerful as the one clotilde used against you, will not work," angelique said. "the curse couldn't hit you, but it was powerful enough to survive contact with you, so it bounced back and hit clotilde."

"it is my understanding that it is difficult for other magic users to hide their powers from each other. how could no one have discovered elise before now?" erick asked.

"probably because elise's magic doesn't feel like magic. i didn't notice it myself until i touched her and felt my powers go mute," angelique said. "elise does not give off the aura of magic because, to put it simply, her presence devours all traces of magic."

"and our curse?" mikk said, rubbing his chin.