I caught sight of Jane talking to Prince Hugh in one corner. She looked out of place in my Snow White dress—it was nicer than the clothes the peasants and servants wore—clearly a lady’s dress, but not fancy enough for a ball.
As I walked up to her, she shook her head at Prince Hugh apologetically. I wondered where Hunter was. “Jane?”
She turned and her mouth opened with surprise. “Savannah, how did you get here?”
“Compliments of Chrissy. The inn is now short twelve mice and a turnip, and don’t ask what happened to the innkeeper’s dog.” I gave a quick curtsy to Prince Hugh, then turned my attention back to Jane. “Where’s Tristan?”
But Prince Hugh wasn’t about to let me ignore him. “You’re Savannah?” he asked incredulously. “The lady I spoke to on the stairs?”
“Yes,” I said.
Jane gave an “oh!” of understanding, then turned to Prince Hugh. “You thought I was my sister—that’s why I didn’t know what you were talking about.”
The prince’s gaze ricocheted between us for a moment longer, adding up our similarities and differences, then he held out his hand to me with a smile. “Your sister tells me that she prefers not to join in the festivities, but I can see you came to dance. Would you do me the honor?”
He wasn’t really giving me a choice, but I didn’t take his hand. “I’d be happy to dance as soon as I find my friend. I’m afraid it’s urgent.”
A flash of annoyance went across the prince’s face. “Sir Tristan is outside with his friend waiting to see if the Black Knight will answer his challenge. I doubt he’ll come. It’s bad form to fight during a ball. Any knight of worth is inside dancing.”
He raised his hand to me again and this time I took it. Over my shoulder to Jane I said, “Tell Tristan I need to talk to him. Make him promise not to eat or drink anything. Someone may be trying to poison him.”
She looked as though she wanted to ask more questions, but the prince had already pulled me away from her. She turned and disappeared into the crowd.
I was out on the dance floor and in Prince Hugh’s arms before it hit me that I didn’t know how to dance any medieval dances. It wasn’t like modern times where slow dancing consisted of huglike swaying to the music. This dance actually had steps. I opened my mouth to tell him I didn’t know how to dance, but as I formed the words I realized my feet were moving. I was dancing already.
I looked down at my feet and remembered what Chrissy had said about the shoes—they were dancing slippers—and apparently magic. Cinderella must not have known how to dance either, so her fairy godmother had to give her special shoes to help her out. No wonder the glass slippers didn’t disappear when everything else did at midnight. Really, these fairy tales made a lot more sense now that I’d been here.
“You fear that someone is trying to poison your friend?” Prince Hugh asked. The smile on his face told me he found the idea amusing.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
I couldn’t very well tell him I suspected his sister and yet I couldn’t lie. The Black Knight could be in this room. Prince Hugh had just said that any knight of worth was inside dancing. If he heard me lie, if I even did it in his presence, would my tongue burn? I looked around the room even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to recognize him.
“You don’t know?” Prince Hugh prompted.
“I don’t want to discuss it.”
His eyes searched my face and he nodded. “Every lady has her secrets.” He leaned a bit closer and added, “I imagine you have several.”
“I have my secrets,” I answered.
He smiled at me and two perfect dimples formed in his already perfect face. He surveyed me another moment and said, “You look remarkably like your sister.”
“And you look very much like your brother.”
A bit of cynicism twisted his smile. “Yes, except he is more handsome.”
“That’s not true at all.”
“As long as Edmond wears the crown, he will always be more handsome.”
I hadn’t thought of that. Prince Edmond would inherit the entire kingdom. What did the second sons of kings do in the Middle Ages? I’m not sure history class had ever covered this topic but apparently whatever it was, Hugh wasn’t pleased with it. I felt a pang of sympathy for him.
“Jane is my older sister. She’s always done everything better than me. She’s a straight-A student.” I realized that didn’t mean anything to him so I added, “She’s the smart one.”
He looked at me as though he didn’t believe it, which made me smile.
The song ended, and although Prince Hugh released me from his arms, he didn’t move from the dance floor. I supposed that since we hadn’t danced long, he wanted to dance a second song as well. As we waited, Prince Edmond appeared at his brother’s side.
He nodded in my direction then turned to Prince Hugh. “I’m afraid I must ask to cut in.” Prince Edmond’s attention turned back to me and he sent me a dazzling smile. “I find I can’t go another moment without meeting this enchanting woman.”
Hugh glared at him, which Edmond didn’t see as he was busy staring at me. Then Hugh said curtly, “Edmond, may I present Lady Savannah to you.”
I curtsied, and when I looked up again Hugh was gone, making his way through the crowd.
The music started and Edmond took my hand and pulled me into dance position. I looked over his shoulder at Hugh’s retreating back until I couldn’t see it anymore.
I could feel Prince Edmond’s gaze on me. He leaned toward me and spoke softly. “I’m quite pleased to make such a fine lady’s acquaintance.”
“Thank you.”
We danced, and I was glad for the shoes that effortlessly moved me across the floor.
“From what part of the country do you hail?” he asked. “Do I know your parents?”
“You don’t know them, your highness. I come from a land very far away.”
I waited for him to ask me more questions about myself, dreaded it actually, since most of them I wouldn’t be able to answer. But he seemed content to hold me in his arms and watch me dance. Another minute passed. “I daresay I’ve never seen the likes of your grace or beauty in my kingdom.”
Right. He’d looked right at me over eight months ago and called me “serving wench.” It made me wonder how much of beauty is in fact wealth or fashion or mystery. “Thank you,” I said.
He smiled and his face took on a stunning glow. “You’ll think this is foolishness, but last night I dreamed a fairy stood beside my bed and told me that tonight I would meet the woman who was meant to be my wife. The fairy said this woman would have to go suddenly, but she would leave behind a token so that if I searched hard enough, I might find her again.” He looked at my feet, then gazed back into my eyes. “I won’t tell you what she said the woman would leave—it’s so silly—not the type of token a woman normally gives to a man . . .”
Okay, this was all going a little fast and in a direction I didn’t want. I glanced around the room, more than ever wishing Tristan was somewhere nearby. “Your highness, I’m sure you’ll meet many women tonight. And besides, you can’t trust anything a fairy tells you. They’re constantly getting things wrong.”
He laughed and pulled me closer. “Ah, you’re modest too. You’ll do nicely as my bride.”
Just like that? He was deciding to marry me after one dance? “You don’t really know me at all,” I said. “What if I’m not . . . smart or punctual?”
He twirled me effortlessly, then returned me to his arms. “When you’re a queen, time bends on its knee to serve you, not the other way around. As for intelligence—in my opinion wives shouldn’t be too smart. It only complicates things.”
I laughed, then realized he wasn’t joking. “But you might not like my personality . . .”
He leaned closer and flashed a set of perfectly white teeth. “Trust me, your beauty compensates doubly for any deficit in your personality.”
At one point?
??well not too long ago, really—I would have loved to hear this comment. I would have even hoped it was true and not just charming. Now it seemed silly on his lips and altogether insulting. I didn’t want someone who had to force himself to overlook my personality.
I glanced out across the room and noticed Tristan standing on the edge of the dance floor somehow managing to look both sleek and rugged—and utterly handsome. He watched me with his arms folded. This is when I realized I was a hypocrite, because suddenly I wanted nothing more in the world than for Tristan to notice how beautiful I was and to overlook all my deficits.
He looked at me not with admiration but with frustration, as though he wasn’t happy to see me.
The dance ended, and I waited for Prince Edmond to walk me off the dance floor. Instead he took hold of my hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed my glove. “I’m afraid I must claim your dances for the rest of the night. No other partner can tempt me to leave you.”
Cinderella and Prince Charming had danced the night away, hadn’t they? Very inconvenient when I needed to warn Tristan that Margaret might be planning to poison him. “That’s so sweet,” I said casting a glance at Tristan. “But I really need to talk to Sir Tristan for a few minutes.”
Prince Edmond was already pulling me farther away on the dance floor. “Sir Tristan can wait.”
And Sir Tristan did. As I twirled the floor with Edmond, I saw him standing on the side of the dance floor, talking to one noble and then another, but his gaze kept returning to me, impatience darkening his expression.
The song ended and the next started. Still Edmond wouldn’t hear of me leaving his arms. He told me my eyes were like brilliant jewels, my skin shone like sunlight over the snow, and my lips looked as soft as rose petals. He couldn’t have been more romantic, and I just wanted to leave.
I spotted Jane and Hunter standing at the far end of the room, looking out of place among so many guests with fancy clothes. But Hunter held Jane’s hand and she leaned in close, and both seemed oblivious to everything else going on around them.
I noticed the wizard talking to a group of men and saw Scuppers standing by the food table, gnawing on a cooked chicken leg. So much for obeying my orders to stay outside. Still, there was nothing I could do about it even if I had wanted to shoo him away. Besides, when you came right down to it, his table manners weren’t all that much worse than those of other men I’d seen in the Middle Ages.
Prince Edmond talked to me of the kingdom and the crop predictions for the season. He pointed his father out to me, a middle-aged man who, despite the streaks of gray hair on his head, seemed to be made mostly of muscle. I wondered what the king did to stay so fit. As Edmond spoke, I nodded, smiled, and answered him halfheartedly.
My WSM and two stepsisters, as per the fairy tale, watched me sullenly from the side of the room, but showed no sign that they recognized me. It wasn’t worth taking the time to gloat. I kept wondering how I was ever going to get away from Edmond long enough to talk to Tristan.
After another song Tristan apparently grew tired of waiting for me, and disappeared from the edge of the dance floor. When I saw him next he moved past me, towing Margaret in his arms. Margaret. He’d probably have been safer if I’d left him outside.
She smiled at him, but even from a distance I could tell it was a condescending smile. Why in the world he kept smiling back at her, I didn’t know.
We danced two more songs. When I saw Tristan walk Margaret back into the crowd, I told Edmond I was thirsty and asked if he could get a drink for me. He obliged me and we walked off the dance floor. As soon as he went to look for a serving girl, I slipped through the crowd, making my way toward Tristan.
He stood by Princess Margaret and several other nobles. They were offering their condolences that the Black Knight hadn’t responded to his challenge.
“Surely he’s heard of your success with the cyclops and dragon and is afraid to face you,” one man said.
Several agreed. A few suggested Tristan ring the bell tomorrow and see if the Black Knight responded then. One added, “It’s a fight I won’t miss—when the Black Knight finally faces Sir Tristan.”
I took hold of Tristan’s arm to get his attention. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”
The men all stopped talking and bowed in my direction. Their eyes took me in and they smiled enviously at Tristan. I found the attention disconcerting, but I could tell it totally ticked off Princess Margaret. She pursed her lips together and glared at me.
Tristan said, “May I present Lady Savannah to you,” then repeated the names of the earls and barons who stood nearby. I didn’t try to remember them, I just smiled and nodded, then pulled Tristan away. As we walked toward the far corner of the room, I checked over my shoulder. No sign of Prince Edmond, but I was sure it wouldn’t be long until he tracked me down again. Really, if Edmond insisted on being so attentive, I would flee long before midnight.
“You decided to be Cinderella after all,” Tristan said tightly, eyeing my dress. “I thought you were through with princes.”
“I came to warn you that Margaret may be trying to poison you. I’m not positive, but she could have bought the poison from Simon and I can’t think of who else she’d want to kill.”
“Oh.” Tristan gazed back at me without concern. “Margaret might have bought poison and she might want to use it. Well, you obviously couldn’t deliver that message without dressing in a ball gown and dancing with Prince Edmond for every song.” Tristan reached over and pushed my skirt away from my feet. “You’ve even got the glass slippers. Perfect.”
I yanked my skirt out of his hands. “Did you even hear me about Princess Margaret?”
“Yes, you don’t like her. I understand that.”
I tried again to make him see my point. “The poison that Simon stole—think about it—if she’s in league with the Black Knight, what else would she do with it?”
Tristan’s blue eyes narrowed in on mine. “You just assume, of course, that she doesn’t want to marry me. That she couldn’t. Marrying me would be a fate worth killing for.”
I blinked at him in surprise. “That isn’t what I meant. I just don’t want you to trust her. She could hurt you.”
“She could hurt me? She’s always been very nice to me.” He looked upward as though considering the charge. “And not once has she set fairies on me to transport me to another realm.”
“Tristan—,” I started, but he cut me off.
“One time when she didn’t know I was near, she told her lady’s maid that she didn’t care whether a man was lowborn or not. An ambitious man would rise to the top regardless. And I have. It’s too bad you’ve been too wrapped up in fairy-tale princes to notice.”
I took a step away from him, stung. “I came all this way to warn you. I don’t know why I bothered.”
His gaze ran up and down me. “You came all this way to meet up with Prince Charming. It’s what you’ve wanted all along. I read your contract.”
I felt my cheeks flushing. “Fine. Trust her. You’ll see I’m right after you’re dead.”
“Well, it all becomes a moot point after that, doesn’t it?”
Which is pretty much why it’s impossible to argue with smart people. They pay more attention to what you say than to what you mean. I turned around so quickly my skirt twirled around my ankles, and I stalked off in the direction I’d come. I’d find Edmond again and dance with him until midnight. And I didn’t care if Tristan spent the entire time dancing with Margaret. They deserved each other.
Chapter 24
I weaved through the crowd, but instead of looking for Edmond, I went outside onto the balcony. I wanted to be alone.
I walked past couples standing in the moonlight. The stars spread out in the sky above the green, untamed land below. I had to grudgingly admit that the Middle Ages was nice in that regard—everything green and wild. Even here at the castle, their pinnacle of civilization, thick vines crawled up the balcony’s walls.
/> Looking at the romantic scenery made me feel even worse. I had thought that Tristan cared about me. Had all his feelings for me evaporated? Perhaps they hadn’t been that strong to begin with. I should just leave and go back to the inn.
I’d only taken a few steps into the ballroom when Edmond found me. He carried two goblets, and after giving me one, took my free hand in his. He pulled me back toward the dance floor. “Come, let’s quench our thirst and dance again. You’ve been away from my arms for too long.”
We walked several steps until we came upon Tristan. His eyes flickered over my hand in Edmond’s and his jaw grew tight. I nodded at him, said “Sir Tristan,” and waited for him to move out of our way. He didn’t. The next moment Princess Margaret arrived at his side holding two goblets. She offered one to Tristan without paying any attention to Edmond or me. “Are you thirsty, Sir Tristan?”
“No,” I said too quickly.
I sent Tristan a wide-eyed look of warning, but he took the goblet from her hand just to spite me. “Thank you, your highness. You’re as thoughtful as you are beautiful.”
“A toast then.” I held my goblet up and tried not to glare at him. “To love, and the things we do for it.”
Edmond smiled and raised his own goblet. “Here, here.”
Margaret raised her drink and clinked it into mine with a cold smile. Tristan reluctantly raised his own drink. His face was serious and he didn’t take his eyes off of mine.
I slammed my goblet into his with such force that it flew backward, spilling the entire contents on his tunic.
He flinched, gasped, and took a step backward as the liquid ran down his shirt.
“Oh! So sorry,” I said. “I’m horribly clumsy.” To Prince Edmond I added, “It’s one of those personality deficits you’re going to have to overlook.”
Edmond waved to a passing kitchen girl, but smiled at me. “It’s already forgotten.”
Tristan held his tunic away from his chest and sent me a dark look. “I haven’t forgotten it.”
I looked at Margaret to see if her facial expression showed any frustration. Had I just spoiled her plan to poison Tristan?