“I expect you not to fail me,” she said, turning away from him in a sweep of black cloth. She looked over her shoulder. “Or Aurora. Now let us go to her.”

Diaval blinked back at Maleficent, something of the bird still in the tilt of his head. “She is not afraid of you, either, you know. She never has been. And she is entirely human.”

Chapter 7

Still fuming, Aurora urged her horse ahead of Lord Ortolan.

“Was he prosing on?” Lady Fiora asked, falling back to ride alongside Aurora. She glanced over her shoulder at the advisor. “The old fossil. I suppose he hopes to bore you into letting him get control of your treasury.”

“He seems more worried Prince Phillip will steal my heart,” Aurora confided with a laugh.

Lady Fiora laughed, too. “No chance of that. He’s returning home to Ulstead.”

Aurora wondered if her horse had taken a wrong step, because she experienced the curious sensation of her stomach dropping. “That’s not possible. He would have said something.”

Her companion lowered her voice to a whisper. “My maid overheard him talking with a messenger from his kingdom just today. Apparently, he is to depart within the week.”

Aurora took a deep breath, drinking in the familiar scents of the forest. The sun dappled the ground, filtering through the leaves and making shifting patterns along the forest floor. It ought to have made her feel better, but all she could think about was Phillip’s leaving.

Somehow she’d imagined things would go on exactly the way they were.

But of course, that was impossible. His parents must have missed him. And he had duties back home, perhaps even including an obligation to a marriage, as Lord Ortolan suggested—just not one to her.

“Don’t you love it out here?” she forced herself to say, her voice brittle.

Lady Fiora looked around. “I don’t mind being in the forest with a large party, but I worry over sounds. There could be bears. Or adders. Or faeries.”

Aurora considered telling Lady Fiora that bears and snakes would run the other way from all this human noise, but she wasn’t sure Lady Fiora would find that at all reassuring.

“The faeries won’t hurt you,” Aurora attempted.

Lady Fiora gave Aurora a strange look but didn’t contradict her. One didn’t contradict a queen.

“And there are lots of wonderful things in the woods,” Aurora went on, steering her horse toward a wild blackberry patch. She leaned down and plucked a few ripe berries, then held them out to Lady Fiora, who she knew had a sweet tooth. “See?”

Lady Fiora’s delicate nose wrinkled. “Uncooked fruit? That’s sure to make you ill.”

Count Alain rode up beside them, catching sight of the bounty in Aurora’s hand.

“How enterprising,” he said. “Perhaps we can bring those to the kitchen. I am sure the cook would be charmed.”