TWENTY-TWO
Siward stopped at the door to his grandmother's cottage to take a deep breath. She was but a frail old woman, and no threat to anyone, he told himself, but he knew it was a lie. She could flay a man alive with her sharp tongue alone, and every maiden in the kingdom was terrified of her. Some called her a witch, but never to her face, lest Lady Schutz put an evil spell on them.
He knew there was no truth to her being a witch. His grandmother silenced him at the mere mention of magic, for in cursing the princess, the evil queen had cursed her, too. Cursed her to a life where she no longer had a position, for she had no mistress, and no other lady in the kingdom would dare to employ the lady-in-waiting who had served the princess, for how could any woman ever measure up to her?
