“I didn’t do it for you,” I replied. “I did it for Meghan. And I did it for me. And if you want to make ice-boy pay for your humiliation, you’d better do something about him real soon. He’s on his feet already.”

Titania spun. Ash stood beside the fountain, glaring at me as he backed away, his sword drawn. The Summer Queen sent another bolt of lightning at him, but Ash ducked behind the fountain and the bolt smashed several fish into marble fragments. The queen hissed in fury, and I gave Ash a lazy smile.

“Better run, ice-boy!”

The Winter prince was already going. Diving away, he rolled behind a lion shrub as another bolt came slashing down, barely missing him. Leaping to his feet, he tore off into the maze.

“Stop him!” The Summer Queen raised her arms, glamour whirling and snapping about. “Stop him!” she called again, as the hedge lions, hounds, unicorns and other topiaries stirred, then leaped off their bases with howls and roars. “Go!” shrieked the queen, flinging out a hand. “Find the Winter prince. Hunt him down and tear him to pieces!”

The bushes roared and scattered into the maze. I heard yelps and screams coming from the center of the courtyard as the nobles’ party was rudely interrupted. Titania waited a moment, and then turned on me.

“I will find him!” she snarled, eyes flashing electric blue in the darkness. “He will pay for this humiliation! Goodfellow, call the guards, the knights, the servants. Alert the rest of Arcadia. The Winter prince will not leave this court alive!”

I bowed. “Certainly, my queen,” I drawled. “And may I suggest squads of at least four to six knights if you’re going to have them looking for ice-boy? Unless you want to find frozen shish kebabs littering the halls all the way to the wyldwood. Ash is pretty handy with that sword.”

Titania’s eyes glowed as she raised her hand. With a flash of lightning, the smell of burned earth and smoke rose up from the ground, and the Summer Queen was gone.

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists to stop the shaking. Final stage, complete. That was easier than I thought. Now…if only the other part went off without a hitch…

“Nice performance, Goodfellow,” said a voice at my back.

I turned wearily as Ash stepped out of the shadows of the maze, still wearing his disguise as a Summer knight. He carried a sleeping child, held tightly to his chest. Vi snored softly, smears of blue frosting around her mouth. With the amount of sleeping powder she’d gorged on tonight, she would probably be out for several hours. All that flirting with the huge troll cook in the kitchen, just to sneak the powder into the frosting mix, hadn’t gone to waste at least.