“There’s nothing to sort!” Sam stared at his cousin in disbelief. “She didn’t summon the monsters. She’s the one who saved us!”
“You’re not even making sense,” Jack said. “No one saved us.”
“She turned us into birds!” Sam shouted.
Jack’s face twitched. “She was the one? You’re certain?”
“I saw her do it.”
“Thirty days as a goose,” Jack growled. “A month trapped in that nightmare.” So they hadn’t changed back any earlier than we had. Useful information if I was ever able to cast the spell again. Although surviving Jack’s rage would be a necessary first step toward that goal.
Sam was shaking his head. “You don’t understand. If she hadn’t—”
“The whole kingdom thought we were dead until yesterday morning. They thought the king was dead. They had to appoint a regent.” She bared her teeth. “Did you hope for our deaths?” The question was directed at me. “Did you think I would get eaten by a fox? Or that Gervase would?” Her eyes flicked to Sam. “It nearly happened. I had to drive it off him. Hitting it with my wings. Where were you?”
I shivered—standing still let the cold creep up my feet. Clem’s bow followed the motion like a reflection. Keeping a bowstring taut for that long takes astonishing strength. She must have had an arm like an iron bar.
“Dinnae shift.” Her tone was empty of any emotion. “Ah’ll shoot afore ah let ye cast anither spell.”
I’d no doubt she could do it, too. Not that I’d be able to cast much of anything without the benefit of True Love’s First Kiss. “Clem,” I rasped, my throat raw and aching. Speaking felt like shoving my words through a grater. “You saw me run from those creatures. Do you really think I brought them down on us? I did…the thing I did so we could get away.”
Her aim didn’t waver, but her voice did, ever so slightly. “Ah dinnae ken whit tae think.”
With a valiant effort, I refrained from screaming. It wouldn’t have done my throat any favors.
And although I wasn’t eager to admit it, as misdirected as Jack’s ideas might have been, they weren’t completely without cause. She was suspicious of me because I had been behaving suspiciously, from practically the first moment we had met.
Enough was enough. It was time to come clean.
“There’s a very simple explanation for everything I’ve done.” I took a painful swallow and then at last admitted, “I am Princess Melilot.”
There was a moment of profound silence.
Then Jack laughed. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” I replied crossly. That wasn’t the response I had been hoping for.
“Then, when we met you in the forest, where were your servants? Your guards? What became of your carriage? You were alone and unaccompanied. It makes no sense.”
My own words, flung back at me. Had I lied too well for my own good? “They were…they were teeth,” I tried to explain. “And a pumpkin…”
Jack took a step closer, her hand on her sword hilt. “I’ve been wondering what you did with the real Princess Melilot.” Her voice was almost a whisper. “She still hasn’t arrived. I wasn’t looking forward to her wedding day, but that was no fault of hers. She didn’t deserve death.”
“I didn’t kill her!” Shouting hurt just as much as I’d thought it would. I grimaced in pain and dropped my voice to a scratchy mutter. “Me, I mean. I didn’t kill myself.”
“Jack.” Sam moved to interpose himself once again, his eyes flicking between Jack and the arrow still targeting me. “She really is the princess. She told me yesterday.”
“She told you.” Jack sighed. “Sam, has it crossed your mind you might be ensorcelled?”
Sam’s mouth dropped open. His face turned the dark red of beet juice. “I might bewhat?”
Clem looked thoughtful. “Jack haes a point.”
“No,” Sam said. “That’s absurd.”
Jack stepped in closer, until their faces were only inches apart. “You’ve been mooning over her since the moment you saw her—”
“Oh, that’s rich,” her brother interrupted, “coming from you!”
