Maleficent felt a wash of rage so overwhelming that it staggered her, overwhelming even her relief at finding Aurora unharmed. When she looked at Prince Phillip, all she could see was Stefan, and when she looked at Aurora, all she could see was heartbreak.

“You really came here for our walk?” the girl asked him.

Maleficent stepped behind a tree, hiding herself from view.

“I hoped to arrive a bit earlier, but—” He broke off and gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I got lost again. Did you know there are faeries that lead you around in circles? But I spoke to them kindly, and they brought me to you when they were done with their game.”

Aurora smiled at him with shining eyes, as though his being a fool were somehow to his credit.

Maleficent ought to have told those faeries who’d been leading Phillip in circles to take him to a swamp it would take weeks to escape. Months, even.

Angrily, she watched as Phillip took Aurora’s hand. “I had to see you. I—”

“You’re going to say that you must return to Ulstead,” Aurora told him, her gaze on their joined hands.

He raised his brows in surprise.

“Lady Fiora told me that a messenger had come from your family.” She took a breath and then spoke quickly, as though she’d rehearsed the words and now was just trying to get them out. “I know you must go, but I—I hoped you might be willing to stay a few more days. I am holding a festival, and if you will come and dance with the Fair Folk, surely it will help the people of Perceforest be less afraid of them.”

“And if I dance with you?” he asked.

Aurora laughed. “Then I am likely to step on your feet.”

“I will wear my heaviest boots,” Prince Phillip said.

She looked up into his face. “So you agree to stay a little longer?”

Maleficent began to hope that perhaps she’d convinced Phillip to withdraw after all. Perhaps he really was returning to Ulstead, and he only intended to bid her farewell. Another day or two didn’t matter, so long as he was gone.

“There is something more I would say to you,” Phillip said. “Before I go, I wanted to tell you—”

No, absolutely not.

She ought to have known better. Of course that feckless boy would attempt to take her heart and then swan off to Ulstead, never to return. Of course he wanted Aurora to believe that his love for her would make him less of all the things that all greedy princes are—selfish and power hungry and cruel. But it would be a lie. All of it, lies.

Well, Maleficent would not allow that to happen.