Or squander me,

But you will not call me back

Once I am lost.

Time.

What force and strength cannot get through,

I with a gentle touch can do;

And many in the streets would stand

Were I not, as friend, at hand.

A key.

I am a nimble creature

Who skips from tree to tree.

My tail is my glory.

Like the ant, I store for winter

In the knot of my treasury.

A squirrel.

Robin dropped out first, with a grin at Aurora that suggested he knew the answer but was going to cede the field to Phillip. She suspected he’d only entered the contest to keep Count Alain from dancing with her. Shooting an arrow into the Moors had really turned the faeries against him.

“This could be the final riddle,” Flittle said, to the cheers of the audience. They’d enjoying watching the game thus far, and now that they had the promise of seeing at least one more of the nobility made a fool of, their enjoyment kicked up a notch.

“I have one,” Lady Fiora said.

“No,” Aurora told her firmly. “Since it’s the final riddle, I ought to be the one to ask it.”

Lady Fiora and Count Alain exchanged glances. Aurora took a steadying breath. She didn’t like the idea of opening the dancing with Count Alain, since he could not be relied upon to be welcoming to the faeries.

Yet dancing with him would certainly be less fraught than dancing with Prince Phillip.

But Phillip had been dragged onstage by Lady Sabine; it wasn’t like he was demanding anything of Aurora after his confession. And he was her friend. Maybe if she signaled to him that they were still friends, she could apologize for how she’d behaved after the banquet and they could forget about everything that had been said. Friendship was safe. If they could get back to that, they would be safe again, too.

“The answer I give is no, but it means yes. Now what is the question?” Aurora asked Prince Phillip.

He looked her directly in the eye.

“I do not know, Your Majesty,” he said.

The crowd was shouting and Count Alain was eagerly answering, but all the noise seemed to come from very far away. She couldn’t focus on any of it. All she could see was Phillip turning away from her and walking off the stage.

Chapter 20

Maleficent arrived with her company of faeries as the sun began to dip toward evening. She wore a formidable gown of black velvet and silk, with tattered edges on her wide skirts. Diaval was on her arm, in black velvet and silver. A cuff hung from his ear, swinging back and forth in time with his gait.