Aurora grinned at them as they bickered. They could be silly and sometimes selfish, but they were always also her own dear aunts. “All those flowers are lovely. Let’s have all of them!”

“Delightful!” said Knotgrass. “But are you sure you wouldn’t prefer just peonies?”

Lady Sabine and Lady Sybil stared at the pixies hovering in place by the buzzing of their bright wings. They appeared thrilled to meet Aurora’s aunts.

“We were just discussing my first partner for the dancing,” said Aurora to Flittle. “Who do you think it ought to be, Auntie?”

“As I was saying—” began Lady Fiora, frowning.

“A contest!” said Flittle. “Let someone win your hand.”

Lady Sybil and Lady Sabine began praising the little faerie’s ingenuity. Flittle appeared immensely flattered by the attention, while the other two pixies grew more and more annoyed.

“I might have said the same thing,” said Knotgrass.

“You didn’t, though, did you?” teased Thistlewit.

Lady Fiora looked speculative. “I suppose…no one could be offended if we have a contest among your people for the honor of leading you onto the floor for the first dance. And you did say you wanted games, my queen.”

There really could be no objection to that, Aurora thought. It might even be fun.

“It’s brilliant,” she said, giving Flittle a hug, surprising the faerie. “Now we’ve only to think of what sort of contest we should have.”

“Not a game of chance,” said Lady Sybil. “Too chancy.”

“A riddle contest,” Aurora declared. A contest of cleverness would please the faeries—and if she had any other reason for choosing that particular skill, she never would have admitted it, even to herself.

The twins clapped their hands, delighted.

“Perfect,” said Lady Sabine. “Now it’s just a question of when to hold it!”

“Now, of course,” said Lady Fiora. “Why not? We can assemble all the likely gentlemen. It will be a good game to while away the afternoon.”

But the more Aurora considered that, the more she disliked the idea of the Fair Folk and the villagers being excluded. “The riddle contest should be part of the festival itself,” she said. “Peasant or noble, faerie or human, anyone with the will and the wit can open the dancing with me.”

Lady Fiora looked appalled. “B-but you could wind up standing up with someone loathsome. Or filthy. Or who reeks of onion and cabbages.” She held her pretty little nose.

“So long as they’re very good at riddles,” Aurora agreed, “and don’t mind my stepping on their toes.”

Chapter 18

The night before the festival, Phillip set off for the Moors on horseback to dine with the faeries.