“That shouldn’t be too hard. Everything will be in place for the wedding,” said Aurelia. “He was going to marry me today. All we need is for him to decide to marry Priscilla instead.”

“We’ll have to be careful though,” said the King. “If King Rat sees Sugar and me and the Queen and Aurelia, he’s bound to know that there’s some sort of trick going on. He’s very clever.”

“Well, you could all stay here and I’ll go with Priscilla. I could pretend to be her assistant.” Said Delphie. “You don’t think King Rat would recognise me from the time I helped the Nutcracker escape, do you?”

“Oh no, King Rat may be clever, but his memory is terrible!” Sugar replied. “I think it’s a wonderful idea, Delphie.”

“And I could fly on ahead and spread the news that a mysterious princess is coming,” chirruped Skye. “A princess who everyone wants to marry.”

“It might really work!” said Sugar in delight.

Delphie grinned at everyone. She loved the thought of tricking King Rat. “Then let’s do it!” she cried.

5
A Toad in Disguise

It wasn’t long before Priscilla was fetched in from the moat. She sat in the hall, looking crossly at them all, her dark eyes glaring out from her brown and green bobbly, wrinkly skin.

“This is going to take quite a lot of magic,” Sugar said with a sigh.

Delphie giggled. It was very funny to think of King Rat marrying Priscilla. They’d explained to the toad what was going to happen and all she had done was croak grumpily.

Sugar pulled a wand out of her tutu, stretched her right leg forward and then rose on to her pointes, closing her left foot neatly. Music magically swelled out into the room as Sugar swept forward. She pirouetted round Priscilla and then jumped into the air, one arm held to the side, the other above her head as she flew into the air. She landed lightly and danced on.

Delphie’s feet tingled. As she watched Sugar dance, she almost felt as if she was doing the steps herself, as if she was the one spinning and leaping, keeping every movement light and delicate, her head poised, her arms outstretched.

The music rose in volume. Sugar stopped with one leg lifted and bent behind her, her right hand pointing her wand at Priscilla. There was a flash and a cloud of lilac smoke.

As the smoke cleared, the music stopped and Delphie gasped. Priscilla was still in front of them but she wasn’t a toad anymore. She was a beautiful brown-haired princess with enormous dark eyes. She was wearing a moss green and yellow dress, which sparkled with jewels. A heavily embroidered cloak hung from her shoulders and she was wearing a tiara with a gold veil that trailed behind her to the ground.