He looked upward as though contemplating it. “Well, she is royalty . . . and you were just telling me how a crown makes a person totally hot and prom worthy.”
“I never said that.”
He leaned closer to me. “You might as well have. You thought it. That’s why I’m here—because no one but a prince was good enough to take you out.” I stood up and walked away from him, glad that in the low light he couldn’t see my face flush. “Fine, go ahead and marry her then. She’s a conceited shrew but I’m sure you’ll be very happy with her.” He shrugged, still relaxed. “Maybe not, but I’ll be happy to see you bowing every time I go by.”
“You won’t have the chance because I won’t come near you after you’re married.” Tristan stood, walked to the door, and took the torch from the wall. “Oh, I know we’ll see each other again, because we still have a prom date set up.” He left the room, taking a good portion of the light with him.
Princess Margaret and Lady Theodora came into the room about a half hour later. Even though I was still completely dressed, I pretended to be asleep so I wouldn’t have to talk to them. I didn’t sleep though. Not until long after the two of them were softly snoring in their respective corners of the room.
251/431
I lay there with my eyes pressed together tightly. I’d come back to the Middle Ages—back to a place that I hated—to help Tristan, but somehow that didn’t matter to him. He was never going to forgive me for sending him here in the first place.
What’s more, now that I had time to think about it—
replaying it in my mind, perhaps more than was necessary—I was convinced that if I had turned around and looked at the Black Knight in my dream, I would have somehow found out his identity. But I hadn’t turned around because I’d been so busy staring at Tristan, trying to tell him not to marry that horrible, awful woman.
He wouldn’t mind the feasting. I bet. Men.
I tried to erase thoughts of Tristan. I thought of my dream again and wondered if the Black Knight’s words were true. Was he what I’d been looking for all along?
Chapter 17
In the morning, before I’d even gotten off the pallet, Princess Margaret was up, dressed, and shaking her head at me. “I need not ask how you fare this morning.
Your face is sickly and gaunt.”
“I’m sure I’ll be up to traveling.” She sent me a condescending smile. “Nay, you must rest this day. I insist.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it again. I’d already learned from my stint as Cinderella that when someone of greater rank gave you an order, you didn’t have a choice. So I was stuck here for the time being even though I was pretty sure Princess Margaret was only declaring me sick in order to torment me.
Had she known I was faking it at first—perhaps Tristan even told her as much—and so now she thought this was fitting punishment? Or maybe she had feelings for Tristan and didn’t like that I’d suddenly shown up and taken his attention away from her. Or maybe she just hated me because I was pretty.
“Will you tell Tristan I’d like to talk with him?” She paused before leaving the room and smiled at me.
“Of course.”
253/431
Hours went by and he didn’t come. I wasn’t sure if this was because he was angry about the things we’d said last night or because Princess Margaret just hadn’t told him I’d asked in the first place. I would have gone to try and find him, but Princess Margaret had left Lady Theodora to tend to my needs, and she seemed to think I shouldn’t venture far out of bed at all.
She sat on a bench in the corner somehow transform-ing a formless pile of wool into thread, then spinning it around a wooden spool. Her fingers rubbed together, twisting and stretching the fibers, and never seemed to tire.
At midday a servant brought Lady Theodora a spread of meats and bread. I got more cold broth.
After I finished eating, I looked out the window several times in hopes that I would see Tristan somewhere down in the courtyard. Where was he? Even if Princess Margaret hadn’t told him that I wanted to talk to him, you’d think he would have at least stopped by to see me.
On my third window check, Lady Theodora told me the draft would make me worse, and if I didn’t stay in bed she would be required to call the physician to attend to me. So I went back to the pallet and pretended to sleep. I didn’t want anyone coming near me with leeches, or worse yet, knives that had never been disinfected.
254/431
Finally the door opened, but it wasn’t Tristan. Princess Margaret breezed back in to change clothes as her gown had grown too hot. She completely ignored me, but spoke with Theodora about a Sir William of Burglen.
He’d sent word he was coming to the king’s celebration early in order to challenge the Black Knight. He hoped that Princess Margaret would give him a token of hers to take with him into battle.
Theodora thought this was “exceedingly romantic,” whereas Princess Margaret declared he was a hairy red bear and she would have nothing to do with him. “The Black Knight will give him tokens enough of his battle—bruises and scars, if he lives at all.” Her words sent shivers through me. I’d been so busy dwelling on my kiss with the Black Knight, I’d forgotten he was dangerous. Perhaps he was as brutal as Princess Margaret just suggested, and he had me in a bad situation. If I said the wrong thing at the wrong time, my tongue would burn out of my mouth. I shuddered as I thought about how that would feel.
Theodora rebraided Princess Margaret’s hair, and I hoped she would say more about the Black Knight, but instead they went on to discussing Sir William’s purse.
Apparently, instead of betting any of his own wealth, he planned to slay the ogre first, and had asked King 255/431
Roderick to give him a reward for such since he already held the title of knight.
He’d killed a different ogre in his own land and so felt confident he could dispatch this one as well.
I wondered if Tristan knew about this. And then a worse thought hit me—if he did, then he wouldn’t have stayed here at the castle waiting for me to get better from my faked illness. He would have left as soon as possible to go try and kill the cyclops before Sir William arrived.
He wasn’t going to come check on me at all—he was already gone.
Perhaps because they thought I would sleep for a while, or perhaps because Princess Margaret had found something more important for Theodora to do besides guard me, they left the room together.
I waited for a few minutes to give them time to reach wherever it was they were headed, then I slipped out of the room and went down the stairs myself. I barely cared that there wasn’t a banister to hang on to now. I just needed to get away as quickly as possible.
I’d go out to the stables and ask them to get my horse ready, then ride back to the inn. Princess Margaret would be upset, no doubt, that I’d left without her permission, but hopefully she had enough people here at 256/431
the castle to torment that she wouldn’t think it was worth her while to find me.
Once I reached the main floor, I looked cautiously around. No sight of the princess or Theodora. I made my way toward the main doors. I walked by washerwomen with baskets of linens and a boy lugging buckets of water in each hand. Then, thankfully, happily, I was outside.
I paused before heading to the stables. Not far from the castle door was the wizard’s wagon, and a man in maroon robes bent over the wares inside of it.
The wizard would know about truth potion. Perhaps he could sell me a cure, or wait—had that enchantment been switched to the Black Knight when he kissed me?