Six months later

"Come away from the window," Arryn said, his voice soft. "Fretting over it won't do any good. She's gone and she'll never hurt you again. You must get over this paranoia"

Greta turned away from the window and sat on the bench beside it. "I can't help it. What if something happens? What if she finds a way out?"

"The masons bricked up the door," Arryn said. "Once she was laid in the bed they closed off the entrance." They had also planted briars around the tower's base, to further ward off curiosity.

Greta nodded and wrung her hands. Conscious of the movement, she clasped them in her lap. "She wanted it to be me."

"But it's Daniella who is now lost to the dream world. The curse will keep her imprisoned in her own mind just as the tower houses her body."

The traveling wizard who had sold Daniella the poison had had a change of heart. Realizing that poor innocent might become the victim of the Sleeping Curse, he hastened to the castle to turn himself in and admit his greed, for the woman had paid him well.

When Arryn heard the particulars of the curse – that the victim would be comatose for a hundred years – he had led the man to a secret passage. Arryn had hoped his assumption was wrong, by the wizard took one look at Daniella and confirmed her identity.

The wizard had no idea he had done business with the queen herself, and Daniella probably thought the man would leave the kingdom and wouldn't cross her path again. So they had laid a trap.

When Daniella sent wine up to Greta it had been confiscated. The physician had been called for and the wizard cast a spell on Greta that made her appear to be lifeless, in case Daniella looked into her room for confirmation of the curse being successful. Half an hour later Arryn confronted his wife about Greta's "death". Daniella confirmed all the details the wizard had explained and, did indeed, sneak into Greta's room.

When Daniella had called for wine before bed, the poison was sent up. She was now the victim of her own curse and was facing the punishment she didn't know had been inflicted. Just be sure, however, they had walled her up in the tower.

Arryn was heartbroken over Daniella's actions and he mourned the innocent girl he had fallen in love with, not the woman who valued jealousy, retribution, and vanity. He obtained an annulment and was finally starting to look for a new wife.

This one, he vowed, would be a princess from the get go. He'd find one deserving to be his queen, because he was crafting princess tests in his mind. Ways to prove a woman was worthy of being called royalty.

Perhaps he'd make his potential brides spin straw into gold.

"I'm going to bed," Greta said.

"Sleep well," Arryn told her.

"I will," Greta replied. "My new mattress just came, the old one was so lumpy I could barely get any rest."

Arryn watched Greta leave the room. Her retinue of seven guards waited in the hallway, ready to see her safely to her room.