Tedros put Merlin’s white star under Rhian’s suit collar, so his voice could be heard.
“I do hope Rhian gives Tedros something suitable,” Sophie whispered to Agatha. “You can always judge a man by his gifts.”
Rhian stepped to the balcony. “It is no easy feat to think of a gift for King Tedros of Camelot. So as inspiration, I looked to the gift that Sir Lancelot always gave King Arthur at the close of a winning battle. The knight would kneel before a lady of Arthur’s court and offer his tribute to her. As I stand before Arthur’s son, I, too, would like to offer my tribute to a lady of his court.”
He turned towards Agatha and sank to one knee.
Agatha blushed.
“Oh, Aggie,” Sophie breathed. “How chivalrous—”
“Sophie,” Rhian said, his eyes shifting to her. “Will you step forward?”
Sophie glanced at Agatha, surprised. Tedros looked equally confused.
“Go,” Agatha whispered.
Sophie obeyed and stepped towards the knight.
Rhian looked up at her, his face warm in the sunlight.
“Sophie of Woods Beyond . . .”
He opened his palm, revealing a glittering diamond ring.
“Will you marry me?” the knight asked.
Agatha and Tedros drew the same stunned breath. Merlin and Professor Dovey exchanged wide stares, as did the group of students behind them.
The crowd had gone completely still.
But no one was as shocked as Sophie, who had turned the color of a rose, unable to move.
Then, a light rushed into her cheeks, the moment dawning on her, and she leapt into his arms— “Yes,” she gasped. “A thousand times, yes!”
In an instant, she was off the ground, as Rhian picked her up off her feet and kissed her passionately.
“I love you, Sophie,” he whispered.
“I love you too, Rhian,” she said, wiping tears. She shook her head, still in a stupor, and looked out at the crowd. “We’re getting married!” she shrieked.
A single hurrah shattered the silence. Then like a wave of love, the mob let loose an adoring cheer, chanting Sophie’s and Rhian’s names as they kissed again and again. . . .
Tedros stepped back between Agatha and Merlin, baffled.
“Lancelot always gave his gift to the king’s queen. A tribute to the queen is a tribute to the king. That’s the point,” Tedros said to the wizard. “But Sophie isn’t the queen. Agatha is.”
Merlin frowned slightly. “Well, not yet.”
“I suppose he just wanted to surprise us,” said Tedros, trying to shrug it off. But still he seemed unsettled.
Even so, Agatha felt a tinge of relief, hearing Tedros reaffirm her place as his queen. The relief was followed by guilt that she was obsessing over her own relationship when her best friend had just gotten engaged.
She saw Sophie make eye contact with her and give her a sheepish, blissful smile as Rhian fit the ring on her finger.
Agatha tried to mirror the same smile back.
“Did you happen to ask what house at school Rhian was in?” Merlin asked Tedros casually.
“Arbed House,” said Tedros, looking at him.
Merlin lowered his glasses. “Arbed House? Are you sure?”
“Think so. Why?”
“Arbed House is where parents in Foxwood send children they want to hide from the School Master. Children they believe are Evil, despite growing up in Good families. And not just Evil. So Evil they’re a threat to the Woods. So Evil they’re too dangerous to be trained as villains. For a large fee, Dean Brunhilde magically conceals them from the School Master so he never comes to know of their existence. While every other child in the Woods has a file at the School for Good and Evil, these children’s files as prospective students simply disappear. Brunhilde never tells the Arbed students this, of course; she does her best to turn their souls Good. Meanwhile, the students never learn they were meant for great Evil all along.”
“But Rhian doesn’t have a drop of Evil in his body. He couldn’t have been sent there,” Tedros scoffed, watching the knight and Sophie still waving to the crowd. “Besides, Dovey checked him and his family out thoroughly. I must have misheard.”
Merlin tugged at his beard, his jaw tensed, as if he was trying to find a solution when he didn’t quite know the problem.
“By the way, whose file did Nicola want you to look at?” Tedros asked.
“Kei’s,” said the wizard. “She wanted to know if he and Rhian were in the same class at the Foxwood School for Boys. But there was no record of Rhian at the School for Boys at all. There was one for Kei, however. He was a student at Arbed House. And it seems he had an interesting roommate.”
“Who?” said Tedros.
Merlin looked at him. “Aric.”
“Lady Lesso’s son? Kei was roommates with that creep?” said Tedros. “Figures.”
Agatha listened to them, a prickly feeling slithering up her spine.
The Snake had been friends with Aric.
Close friends.
That’s what he’d told her and Sophie.
And the Snake clearly knew Kei too, since Kei had acted as his henchman.
Was it just a coincidence that Kei and Aric were roommates?
Or is that how the Snake met them?
Agatha’s heart pumped faster.
Had the Snake been in Arbed House too?
Nobody knew the Snake’s name, after all. Without his name, there was no way to check his file. . . .
But Rhian had been in Arbed House. That’s what he’d told Tedros.
So wouldn’t Rhian have known Aric and Kei as well?
The knight’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts: “Tedros, I believe it’s your turn,” said Rhian, grinning.
Tedros stepped forward and gave his knight a hug to congratulate him. He hugged Sophie too— But Agatha wasn’t watching them anymore. She was watching the armored guards lift the wooden plank with the Snake’s dead body and carry it off the balcony, back into the castle. As they left through the archway bearing Excalibur, one of the guards glanced in Agatha’s direction. His dark eyes met hers through the opening of his helmet . . . the flesh around them peeling from sunburns.
Agatha’s muscles shot up with adrenaline.
Sunburn.
Dot.
Pirate.
In a flash, she was running after the guards. Sophie intercepted her: “Aren’t you going to say congratulations?”—but Agatha was already shoving her aside, sprinting through the archway.
She chased them down the stairs as the guards looked back and saw her coming. Immediately they moved faster, shuttling the Snake’s dead body to the ground floor and turning the corner into a hall that led from Blue Tower to White Tower— Agatha jumped stairs, trying to catch up, as Dovey’s bag and crystal ball banged hard against her arm. She could hear Tedros’ voice resounding from the courtyard— “My dear Rhian, I wish you and Sophie the best for your lives together,” the king proclaimed. “And perhaps more than that, I wish for a double wedding.”
The crowd laughed.
“But now it’s my turn to give you a gift,” said Tedros.