“About wizards,” I said. “You were right when you told me they couldn’t be trusted. Do you remember that red bottle I had when I went to meet with the Black Knight?
The wizard’s apprentice, Simon, told me that if I drank it, the Black Knight would do anything I asked—but it was poison. The next day when I saw the wizard’s cart, he had a new apprentice and Simon had been turned in-to a goat because he’d stolen a bottle of poison.” For the first time since I’d sat down beside him, Tristan looked directly at me. “You’re sure?” 329/431
“Yes. Somewhere out there is a goat who wants me dead. That’s why I’m not going with you to the castle tomorrow—if he licks me, I’ll turn into a goat.”
“If the wizard licks you?”
“No, the goat.”
Tristan looked at me blankly. “Why don’t you just start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened during each of your meetings with the wizard.” I tapped one finger against the table. “I can’t. Not for another four days.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t tell you that either, but the point is, I don’t want to go to the castle because that plotting little goat may still be there.”
Tristan ran his hand through his hair and turned to Hunter. “Did any of that make sense to you?”
“Nope.”
Tristan nodded philosophically. “Just checking.”
“There’s one more thing I meant to tell you,” I said.
“Am I going to understand any of it?” Tristan asked.
I leaned closer to him. “I bartered a gold hibiscus ring to Simon. Then the same day I saw it on Princess Margaret’s hand.”
Both Hunter and Tristan waited for me to continue.
When I didn’t, Hunter shrugged as though trying to 330/431
guess my meaning. “So you think Princess Margaret bought the ring from him?”
“Why should I know about that?” Tristan asked.
I didn’t have a good answer. “It just strikes me as suspicious.”
Tristan took his hand out of the water, stretched his fingers, then balled them into a fist. “Well, you’ve never liked my future fiancée, have you?”
“And you refuse to think she’s dangerous because she’s pretty.”
His gaze returned to mine. “That’s not true. I think pretty women can be very dangerous.” I sat back in my chair with a humph. “She’s sneaky and vindictive. I’d watch her if I were you.” He smiled over at me. “Oh, I will. I’ll watch her very closely as we dance together tomorrow night.” After that, I went upstairs to check on Jane.
• • •
The next day Tristan slept in until midmorning. None of us woke him; we figured he needed the rest. After he got up, he hardly spoke to me and he watched my reactions every time Hunter said anything. I wanted to just tell Tristan, “By the way, I’m over Hunter,” but I didn’t 331/431
know a good way to work that into casual conversation, especially since Hunter and Jane were always around.
He planned to ring the bell for the Black Knight tonight when he went up for the king’s celebration. It bothered me that I wouldn’t be there for it, but then, perhaps that was for the best. I didn’t want to see the Black Knight.
Tristan was going to challenge him to a javelin throw— something he’d done in track with enough success that he had a chance of winning. I wanted him to win desperately. All of this could be over soon. Maybe by this time tomorrow we’d all be back home eating ice cream and potato chips and trying to convince ourselves it had really happened.
Or maybe we’d just be at the wedding feast for Prince Tristan and Princess Margaret. This thought made me grit my teeth. I didn’t want to think about what we’d do if Tristan lost.
I sat in my room and watched out the window as Hunter, Jane, and Tristan left for the castle. It was lucky for them, really, that I didn’t want to go. After the dragon attack we only had three horses left.
By midafternoon most everyone in the village had gone to the castle as well. The only ones left behind were the young mothers with little children and the older people who couldn’t travel the distance. I’d seen them 332/431
waving good-bye to their kinfolk, asking that a piece of pie or a morsel of meat be brought back for them.
I stared out the window for a while after they left. It irked me to no end that Tristan had told me he was going to spend the night dancing with Margaret. She hadn’t run up the trail until her lungs felt like they were going to burst, mourning his death.
Besides, he had nearly kissed me. Didn’t that mean anything to him?
Okay, so I’d pushed him away and told him I wasn’t over Hunter yet, and then Hunter had shown up. And maybe Hunter and I had both been chatting happily when we walked into the inn. But still.
I took out Jane’s schoolbooks and read for a few hours. I didn’t even mind that they were textbooks. They reminded me that there was a life beyond this one. And besides, reading textbooks makes a person smarter.
Before the light had gone, I wandered into the kitchen and decided to take a bath and wash my dress. I lugged buckets of water from the well, filled a metal tub that was kept in the kitchen, and then boiled enough water over the fire to turn the water in the tub warm. You know that saying, “A watched pot never boils”? I’m pretty sure that came from the Middle Ages. It took forever. When the water was finally warm enough, I 333/431
climbed into the tub and relaxed, for oh, a good fifteen minutes until the water grew cold again.
When I got out, I wrapped myself in a towel—or at least, the medieval version of a towel—a stiff piece of linen that had probably been a tablecloth before it grew too stained to lay out anymore. I wore it while I washed my dress out and hung it up on a peg by the fireplace to dry.
I figured I might as well wear the towel all night. No one was around to see me anyway.
That’s when I turned around and nearly bumped into someone.
Chrissy stood in the kitchen, this time wearing a white sequined ball gown. Her platinum hair was piled on top of her head in a bun, making her look older than the last time I’d seen her. She wore no sunglasses and the end of her wand glowed like a nightlight. Pale glitter covered her face. She smiled at me benevolently. “I am your Fair Godmother.”
I let out a breath because she’d scared me. “Yeah, I know. We’ve already been introduced, Chrissy.” She shushed me, waving the wand in my direction. “I am trying to do this right. Don’t mess me up.”
“Do what right?”
“Shush, and you’ll find out.”
I was already in a bad mood and this didn’t help. “You know, yesterday I called you, like, a hundred times. I 334/431
thought Tristan was dead. Dead! Where were you when I was hysterical and I needed you—out shopping or still at a party?”
She lowered her wand and sent me a condescending look. “You know, even for a mortal, you’re really ungrateful.”
“Ungrateful for what? To be here? A cyclops tried to eat me not long ago.”
She brushed off my comment with one perfectly man-icured hand. “Did you think wishes were like kittens, that all they were going to do was purr and cuddle with you?” She shook her head benevolently. “Those type of wishes have no power. The only wishes that will ever change you are the kind that may, at any moment, eat you whole. But in the end, they are the only wishes that matter. Now then,” she looked me up and down, from my wet hair to my bare feet. “I take it you aren’t ready to go to the ball.”
“I’m not going to the ball.”
“Not like that,” she said. “The dirty-sheet look just doesn’t do anything for your figure.” She waved the wand over me, and before I could begin to protest I wore a purple velvet gown with gold trimming. I took a step and my skirts swished around two sparkling slippers on my feet.