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.”

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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.

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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?

Hopefully the wizard could tell me.

As I walked up to him, I said, “Pardon me, sir—” The man turned around and I stopped short. It wasn’t the wizard and it wasn’t Simon either. A freckle-faced boy who couldn’t have been more than fourteen faced me.

“Oh,” I said, and then, “I thought you were the wizard.”

“Not yet,” he said with a nod. “I just was advanced from assistant to apprentice. The wizard is inside showing Prince Edmond his wares.”

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A goat that was tethered to the side of the wagon bleated and walked toward me. The rope around its neck had tangled around the bottom of the wagon wheel, and it bleated another noisy protest.

I suddenly wondered if this was a different wizard’s wagon altogether. Maybe they all had similar-looking wagons, like police departments had similar cars. I couldn’t remember his name. “Was he here two days ago?” I asked.

“Aye, but he only talked to Prince Hugh then. Prince Edmond thought his brother dismissed my master too speedily, though, and called him back. A good thing too.

Master Pergis was getting ready to pack up and leave the region altogether.”

Pergis—then it was the same wizard. The goat pulled on the rope again. He gained a couple of steps, but bumped into the apprentice in the process. The boy absentmindedly pushed the goat away and returned his attention to me. “If you haven’t got business with my master, I don’t suggest you be about when he comes out.

He’s in a powerful foul mood.” The boy’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He sold his only switching potion and now is wishing he could offer it to the prince.”

“Oh.” It didn’t seem like a good idea to volunteer the information that I’d been the one who’d bought it. Still, I wanted to find out about truth potion and I didn’t know 258/431

how else to do it. “Switching potion,” I said, as though I found it an interesting subject. “When a person uses switching potion, do all of their enchantments switch or just one?”

“All of their magical enchantments.” The boy tilted his head as though unsure why I was asking. “But as I said, the master has no more of it.”

“Magical enchantments?” I asked. “Is there any other kind?”

The goat tried to butt the apprentice out of the way.

The boy pushed him back angrily, and yelled, “Stop it!” Then he turned back to me. “Aye, there’s all kinds of enchantments.” As though reciting a lesson he rattled off:

“There’s the enchantment of wishing stars, and ancient wells, of droughts and potions, of a mother’s love—”

“Potions?” I asked. “What about truth potion? Would that switch?”

He shook his head. “Truth potion changes a person’s tongue. The only way to change it back is to take the an-tidote— blood of a politician.” I put my hand to my chest. “Blood?” He laughed at my expression, clearly pleased to be the expert. “Only a few drops, and it’s not like we have to kill them for it. They sell it quick enough. The problem is it won’t keep longer than a day or two. It’s something Master Pergis would have to make special for you.” He 259/431