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“You think the queen was not responsible?” She blinks at me, the gears turning in her brain. As if on instinct, she looks over her shoulder even though we are the only ones in the room. “Well, then,who? Not the king, surely?”

“No…No, I do not think so. He is cruel enough, certainly, and I believe he has enough hate in his heart to perform a curse. But he is not magically inclined…is he?” I look at Inez expectantly.

“I do not believe so, miss.” She shakes her head. “He has never made anything glow purple, at the very least. But magic can be hidden, can it not?”

“Sometimes…” I sit, thinking. “No. There are not infinite types of magic, and I fully believe the king would have exploited it if he had the ability to do so. The hold he exerts over others is entirely due to his status and not a magical ability. No,” I conclude. “It could not have been the king.”

Something else catches my brain, but I cannot quite see it. What would the king do if he were magically inclined? I shake the thought away, deeming it irrelevant.

“So, it was the queen then?” Inez asks.

I make a vague sound, unconvinced.

“Would anyone else have been around or had access to the prince when he was a baby?” I ask, considering the theory of someone sneaking in while he was still in his crib.

Inez thinks for a moment before shaking her head.

“The prince has been sheltered, even within these walls,” she tells me, gesturing around us. “And the staff were prevented from assisting the queen during the birthing process.”

I give her a questioning look.

“The king believed she would survive if she was fit to.” A look of disgust crosses her face. “The young prince was kept confined for the first several years of his life, even from the staff, due to the dangerous nature of his curse.”

I sit back and ponder this.

“It was the queen then,” I say with a sigh. “It could not have been anyone else.”

Inez is quiet for a moment before speaking.

“I am sorry I could not be of more help, miss,” she says, patting my shoulder. “I was too young to remember much of the queen, and the king got rid of the staff who did know her.”

My ears prick up at this.

“He got rid of them?” I repeat. “Why?”

“The queen had many friends amongst the staff. I suppose the king did not want her allies around him after what she had done.”

My eyebrows furrow.

“So…she was well-liked?”

“Yes, miss.”

I stare at her dumbly. The queen being popular with the staff was not a thought thathad ever crossed my mind. I picture her from the tales we have been told for twenty-five years and all I can see is a bitter, vindictive woman.

“But how?” I ask. “If she was this horrible wretch capable of cursing her own son?”

“I suppose a lot of evil people are quite charming when they want to be.” Inez shrugs.

“But with the staff?” I brood over this. “I cannot understand. There are so many missing parts to this story.”

Inez regards me with sympathy as I rub my temples.

“Do you want to stay for lunch, miss? I can ask Vanya to rustle something up for you,” she offers.

“No, thank you. I think I am going to clear my head,” I say, standing.

There are too many moving fragments in this puzzle, and my mind begins to slow, bogged down by it all.