(Here is the first of the bonus scenes from Jude's point of view, concerning Taryn's disappearance. These aren't full chapters in their own right; just certain select scenes.)

Following Master Noggle up to the gallery, I glance down at the glittering assemblage of the High Court. I have to admit, they're a magnificent sight from a distance: all the highest nobility of Faerie, in their jewels and their finest garments, turned out at the ball to honor their High King and the New Year.

All so very pretty. My lip curls in a sneer.

I spot dear old Cardan, sulking with his ubiquitous glass of wine in his hand. By great good fortune, he happens to look up, and our eyes meet. I give him my sweetest smile, and a little finger-wave. Even from this distance, I can see him flush with rage, and I let out a laugh I know he can hear. Perfect. Perfect.

"Not very wise, Miss Jude," Noggle says mildly. "Deliberately provoking the prince like that."

"Perhaps not, Master Noggle," I say, "but sometimes I just can't resist."

He gives me a look I can't really interpret, a weird little smile, and murmurs, "I wish you two the very best of fortune."

I frown at him in confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

"Never mind." Still with that weird smile, he leads me on.

Just as we're leaving the gallery, I spot Prince Balekin, cutting through the crowd like a snake, toward Taryn. I turn away and follow Noggle up the stairs to the tower.

The observatory tower is a tall spire open to the sky, with all the heavens arching above it. I feel myself relaxing just being up here: it really is gorgeous. Above us spreads the vast night skies of Faerie, crowded with stars and planets, so close you feel you can pick them like fruit; below us spreads all the Shining Isles of Elfhame, lit with flitting magical lights, soft with darkness, the vast wild ocean stretching out beyond, the lights of the mortal world shining. I find myself smiling as I accompany Noggle to the rail. At moments like these, I remember why I love Faerie so much.

Master Noggle is already craning up at the sky. "What are you looking for, Master Noggle?" I ask.

"Nothing in particular," he says. "The stars have been behaving a bit oddly lately…"

"Like the sign of the birth of a royal heir?"

"Yes." He's digging through his robes. "Here, hold this for me?"

I help hold down the star chart on the table handily provided. "Do you think it could happen? Another Greenbriar born?"

"Anything's possible," he says neutrally. "Though the princes are…And Eldred hasn't had a consort since—" He breaks off abruptly.

My eyes widen at this choice piece of gossip, carelessly dropped. The King has been celibate for a long period of time? I marvel, half in amazement and half in fear: he really must be getting old and tired. And if he gets tired enough…if he dies…who inherits? My heart thuds with a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

I push the thought away. Even alone up here with Noggle, it's too dangerous to dwell on. Together, Noggle and I enter stars into the chart, murmuring over our findings.

"Prince Balekin has been paying marked attentions to your sister, Miss Jude," Noggle says suddenly.

I bite down on the surge of irritation and resentment this rouses in me. "Yes, Master Noggle."

He regards me with a benevolent eye. "Well, that would be a good thing for her, and for your family, wouldn't it? The favor of a Greenbriar! Maybe it would make Miss Taryn feel a bit better. She's been awfully quiet lately, and hasn't been to school in so long."

"We'll see." I don't tell him about the conversation I overheard between Oriana and Taryn yesterday: Oriana admonishing her, and Taryn's miserable silences.

I let out my breath in a long, exasperated exhale. I know she's my twin sister and everything, but, honestly, sometimes I just want to smack Taryn! I hate the way she's so silent. How she wanders around like a melodramatic ghost. Who does she think this is helping? Does she think she can forge a future by sighing and staring palely out of windows? It makes me so angry with her. Doesn't she realize that this is exactly what our tormentors want? That she is only making things worse?

Oriana's right: Balekin is Taryn's best chance. She should take it. Madoc taught us to see our opportunities and exploit them; so why can't she exploit this one? There's no dishonor in it, and potentially great profit. And Faerie knows, she's certainly getting plenty of attention from the affair, I think sourly.

But she acts like…like some silent drama queen. I remember when she quit school for good: how she sat there, staring at me with those dead eyes, while I tried explaining to her why this was a bad idea and how she was letting us both down. She didn't say a single word then: just looked at me with the same expression that she looks at the faeries: blank and bleak, without a trace of trust, or hope of kindness or friendship.

When did she start looking at me this way? When did I become the enemy in Taryn's mind?

I let out a long sigh, trying to let go of my irritation. It serves no purpose. My jaw clenches on my old, old resolve. Taryn may bow and break, but I never will. I will never give the faeries that satisfaction. Ever. I will be strong. Stronger than them. I will fight for a future worth having.

And if Taryn doesn't, then that's her lookout.

Several hours later, my neck is aching from craning at the sky, and I'm happy to straighten up and follow Noggle back down the stairs. As we descend, I see that the ballroom is emptying, the musicians packing up.

"I'm sorry I made you miss the ball, Miss Jude," Noggle says.

"That's all right, Master Noggle," I say sincerely. "I enjoyed stargazing with you." I look around, but don't see Cardan or his Court anywhere as we descend the staircase back to the ballroom proper. I feel a pang of disappointment.

"Jude!" It's Oriana, rushing up to me. She looks more agitated than I've ever seen her, shifting from foot to foot, eyes darting around. "Jude, have you seen Taryn anywhere?"

I draw back a little, surprised. "No. I was up in the observatory tower with Master Noggle." I look around. I can see the last few guests, including Madoc and Vivienne, but Taryn is nowhere to be seen. I feel the first twinges of anxiety.

"I've been looking for her everywhere!" Oriana exclaims. "She disappeared midway through the ball. I can't find her!"

"Oriana, calm down." Madoc comes up, patting Oriana on the elbow, though he too looks worried. "We'll find her. She can't have gone far. Unless…" He swings around to stare at Vivi, who looks outraged.

"I didn't take Taryn anywhere, I swear! I haven't seen her since the middle of the ball." She peers around too, as though our sister might suddenly appear out of nowhere. "I don't know where she is!"

"Neither do I," I realize. I think to the last time I saw Taryn: staring into space in that bleak and passive way, while Balekin moved toward her. "Who did she dance with? Maybe we can ask them."

"Prince Balekin," Oriana says immediately. "Last time I saw, she was dancing with Prince Balekin."

"Balekin has already gone home," says Madoc. "We can't disturb him again tonight. I'll go to Hollow Hall to ask him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Oriana exclaims. "You think we won't have found her by then?"

Even in the midst of my rising anxiety, I feel a surge of resentment toward my twin. Dear old Taryn, the sad one, the fragile one, always grabbing attention, even when she's missing.

"That's just if need be," Madoc says hastily. "Maybe she's on the palace grounds somewhere. Let's turn out the palace servants. They'll find her, if she's here."

"If?" My voice sounds strange in my own ears.

Madoc's eyes flick to me, but all he says is, "Jude, help me."

And so I do.

All night we look for Taryn, scouring the palace grounds, rousting the servants to help. We go through as much of the palace as we can, search the gardens. But there's nothing. Not a single trace of Taryn anywhere. Oriana and Vivienne hurry home to look—maybe Taryn somehow made her own way back—but, as dawn is breaking over the ocean and we're all red-eyed and cranky with mounting anxiety—Vivienne sends a seagull with a message that Taryn isn't there, either.

"Where could she have gone?" I ask Madoc as we're heading home in the carriage Eldred loaned to us. I try to keep my panic out of my voice, but I'm not sure whether I succeed. My head hurts and my eyes burn. My thoughts run in frantic circles. "Where could she have possibly gone?"

He rubs his forehead tiredly. "I don't know, Jude." I wonder, with a start, whether this is the first time Madoc has ever admitted any weakness to me. "I'll go talk to Balekin later today, and put the word out. Someone must know. Someone must have seen her."

But it seems nobody has. Madoc's visit to Hollow Hall yields nothing, and messages pour in from the islands with a single import: nothing. No one has seen Taryn. No one has any idea where she is.

"Do you think she went Ironside?" I ask Vivienne later that day. We're on a balcony, looking for Madoc's return. He took his knights and hounds out earlier, to search the mainland. I wish he'd taken me, even though I'm staggering with exhaustion. I hate feeling so helpless, so useless.

"How?" Vivi demands grumpily. "It's not like she can get there on her own. And I certainly didn't take her."

"I didn't say you did," I say, annoyed. "But someone else might have."

"Who would do that?" Vivi gives a strange, bitter smile. "Who in all this pretty High Court cares enough for Taryn Duarte to take her back to the mortal world where she belongs? Prince Cardan? Prince Balekin? No, Jude, Taryn's not on the Ironside."

"So you think she's still here in Faerie?"

Vivienne doesn't look at me. "Maybe."

I'm about to question her further when I see the hunt returning, galloping across the sky. "Here they come!"

We hurry downstairs, hope giving us fresh spurts of energy, and arrive in the entryway just in time to see Oriana hurry to greet Madoc. As soon as I see my stepfather's face, I know it's not good news: he looks tired, angry and frustrated, with an edge of worry that frightens me as nothing else has so far.

"We didn't find her," he says without preamble. "Not a single trace. If any of my enemies snatched her, then they did a remarkably good job."

Oriana clutches her heart. "Madoc! You don't think that's what happened?"

"It's a possibility," he growls. "One we can't rule out. But…" He runs a great clawed hand through his hair. "I don't know what happened to her," he mutters finally, staring at the floor. "I don't know what happened to Taryn. She's gone."

And that's when it truly hits me. When I fully realize that, yes, this is happening. This is real.

Taryn is missing. My sister is missing. And no one has any idea where she could be.