I knew where Torin and the queen would be. I’d been through this maze countless times, usually to crash the queen’s party or spy on the queen’s guests. Sometimes it was at Oberon’s request, sometimes it was for my own amusement. But I knew where I would find the wayward couple: at the hidden spring in the northeast corner of the maze, where Titania took all her “prospects.”

I heard their voices as I approached, slipping past the countless lions, hounds and unicorn topiaries lining the paths. Peeking around a mermaid fountain, I spotted the queen and the Summer knight near the edge of the pool. Titania was very close to Torin and had a slender hand on the knight’s chest, leaning close.

“My lady,” the knight was saying. “I…I cannot do this…anymore. What of your husband? Lord Oberon—”

“Lord Oberon,” Titania murmured, putting a finger against his mouth, “is not here. And what Oberon does not know—” she leaned in closer, her lips parting “—will not hurt him.”

I took a deep breath. Well, here we go.

“You are so right, Queen Titania!” Dropping my disguise, I stepped out from behind the fountain. “What Oberon doesn’t know will not hurt him. Why, I tell myself that almost every single day. It’s so nice to know we have so much in common.”

Titania jumped, stepping back from Torin, her eyes going wide as she saw me. “Robin Goodfellow!” she spat, curling her lips into a grimace of hate. For just a moment, she hesitated, then rose up to her full height, glaring down her nose at me. “How dare you! How dare you come here uninvited, especially when my husband is away from court! Or…did he put you up to this?” She gave me a look of black contempt. “You’ve always been his little spy, his good little watchdog, always there for the tasks he finds too distasteful to do himself. Pathetic. You both are pathetic!” Lightning flickered overhead, streaking down to smash into a bush, setting it aflame. I resisted the urge to wince. In the flickering shadows, the Summer Queen’s eyes blazed blue-white. “Perhaps the great Robin Goodfellow will meet with an unfortunate accident,” the queen mused, the wind snapping at her hair as she raised a pale hand. “Something that will silence him completely for a few centuries.”

“Now, now.” I waggled a finger, giving her a fearsome smile. “I would think you’d want to reward me, my good queen. After all, I just stopped you from making a highly embarrassing mistake. You’ve been duped, my lady. Taken advantage of. You have an enemy right under your nose, and you didn’t even realize it.”

Torin glared stonily. I ignored him and faced Titania, who was watching me with wary, but curious, distrust. “What trickery are you playing at, Goodfellow?” she asked.