“I haven’t decided where to go to college yet,” I said.
“You should visit the University of Cincinnati. In fact, tell me when you go to the campus, and I’ll meet you there.”
“I may need to go there multiple times to consider it.”
Donovan chuckled. “With the gold and silver I’m bringing back, I bet my family could afford a better apartment. Maybe one closer to Kentucky.”
“Maybe one in Greenfield,” I said.
“We should both apply to—” Donovan broke off and he dropped my hand, shifted away from me. I looked at him—again forgetting I couldn’t see him—then glanced around to see why he’d stopped talking.
Queen Orlaith was gliding toward us, as soundless as moonlight on the stone walkway. Her white dress flowed around her ankles like ocean foam sliding over the waves. “There you are.” She held her goblet casually in one hand, apparently unwilling to let it out of her sight. “Why aren’t you dancing with your prince?”
I spoke slowly, careful not to lie. “Jason said he didn’t want to dance.”
She frowned. “Did you fight?”
No lying. “We said some unkind words to each other on the boat ride over.”
“We must only have love here tonight.” She smiled, impatience masquerading as understanding. “Your prince is bereft from the lack of your company. Go set things right. You’ll both be happier.”
I nodded and went back to the dance floor. Jason, far from being bereft of my company, stood at the refreshment table flirting with Penny and Kayla. I could tell he was flirting because my sisters were laughing and chatting to him while their dance partners stood nearby glaring.
No wonder Queen Orlaith came to get me. Jason wasn’t helping the queen’s true love goal. When I ambled up, Jason turned to me. “There you are. I wondered where you’d gone.”
“You didn’t need to wonder. I told you I was going to see what was outside the pavilion.” I glanced at the clock, and did a double take. The hands stretched toward midnight. It hadn’t felt like I’d talked to Donovan that long.
Four more hours and I could go home. If I stayed in the boat this time, I could get some sleep before the king came to check on us.
Jason popped a rose bud into his mouth and took my hand. “We might as well dance. Got to give the TV folks something to watch.”
We went to the floor and waltzed, gliding across the floor to the strains of the music. My practice with Donovan had paid off. Dancing didn’t seem as hard tonight, and I was able to pick up on Jason’s cues.
Sitting at her table again, Queen Orlaith looked on approvingly, all the while stroking the goblet’s stem like it was a cat. Jason’s gaze went to it as often as mine did.
“Let’s get the goblet tonight,” he muttered. “I don’t want to spend one more day in that excuse of a castle.”
“Be patient. We’ll have a better chance of success if we switch the real goblet with a fake one.”
Jason made a dissatisfied noise. “If you’re not even going to try, I’ll do it without you.”
I leaned toward him, serious. “Don’t. Queen Orlaith cursed it. Something bad will happen if you touch it.”
“Yadda. Yadda. Nothing bad better happen to me. I’ve got lawyers, and I know how to use them.”
Last night Jason had depended on the show workers to keep me from drowning, and now he was depending on his lawyers to protect him. I had to tell him the truth. He needed to understand the danger here was real. “Here’s the thing.” I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “This isn’t a reality show. We’re actually back in time stuck in a fairy tale. Queen Orlaith is a dangerous fairy queen.”
“Save that look for your agent, sweetheart. I’m not buying it.”
“Just don’t touch the goblet, okay?”
He looked out across the pavilion, done with the conversation. “Whatevs.”
Whatevs? Did it take too much effort to finish the word?
The clock struck the midnight. I ignored Jason’s lead and waltz-dragged him closer to the queen’s table so I could hear her question.
Queen Orlaith poured a vial of elixir into the goblet and swirled it once, twice, three times. “Magic cup within my hand, make me wise to understand. Two fortnights were spent in vain, and yet this night I ask again. To save my trees, once more I plead: How shall I find the love I need?”
A deep voice rose up, hanging in the air around her. “You mistake in trying to find . . .”
My mind raced ahead to finish the couplet, and I suddenly feared it would be, “Don’t you know true love is blind?” Queen Orlaith would then blind us in an attempt to save her trees. Chrissy was so going to hear about this when—or if—I saw her again.
But the goblet finished, “What comes forth from human minds. Listen to fair wisdom’s voice. Love’s not a feeling. It’s a choice.”
“A choice?” the queen asked. “What choice? Who must choose?”
The goblet remained silent. Its answer was over.
The queen slammed the cup on the table and uttered the word “Brimstone!” as though it were a curse. Then she took a deep breath and put her fingers on the bridge of her nose in an attempt to regain her composure.
Jason dropped my hand, and without another word left me and sauntered to her table.
“Your Highness,” he said, dripping his usual charisma. “You said you would teach me more steps of this dance.” He held his hand out. “I’d love to have you as my partner.”
Well, that left me standing awkwardly on the dance floor. Then again, if Jason danced with the queen, I could leave the pavilion and talk to Donovan again. I glanced around, wondering where he was.
The queen didn’t move her hand away from her face. She shut her eyes, fighting for inward patience. “No. Dance with your princess.”
“Another time then.”
I realized what Jason was doing a second before he did it. I had no way to stop him, no way to keep the queen’s wrath from crashing down around him.
As Jason turned, he grabbed hold of the goblet. He didn’t make it more than a step from the table before he froze, hand clenching tighter, spasming. His jaw went slack, and he shuddered as though electrocuted. The goblet tumbled from his hand, slow and spinning until it hit the ground with a clank.
The queen’s head snapped up and her expression hardened. “Thief,” she spat out. One word, spoken with the condemnation of a judge’s gavel. She snapped her fingers and Jason disappeared.
I gasped in alarm, stepping toward the queen. “He didn’t know it was magic. Please, you’ve got to bring him back. He didn’t think any of this was real!”
Queen Orlaith eyed me placidly. “I didn’t kill him. You’ll find him on the ground.”
I looked down. There, sitting on the white stone floor was a large green bullfrog. It held one webbed hand out in front of its face and shrieked—a human sound. A Jason sound.
I covered my mouth. “Oh no.”
Jason held up both webbed hands. To say his eyes bulged was perhaps unfair, but accurate. His voice, only smaller, came from the frog’s mouth. “What happened to me?”
With an air of exasperation, the queen stood and strode around the table. She snapped her fingers again and the goblet flew from the floor into her hand. She set it on the table, then turned to Jason. “Why did you take my goblet?”
He peered up at her and jolted. “You’re huge!”
She bent down to be closer to his level, and spoke the words again, this time with less patience. “Why did you take my goblet??”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t answer for him, couldn’t lie. I stared at Jason and hoped he had the sense not to tell her the truth.
Jason shrunk back. “Your glass was empty. I was getting you a refill.”
The queen considered this, her expression an unreadable mask. Finally, she smiled. The movement was cold and smug. “I’ll assume you’re telling the truth because you couldn’t be foolish enough to steal something from me. You certainly must value your life more than that.”