Agatha was sobbing hard now, cleansing, sepulchral tears, as if she couldn’t bear the weight of Merlin’s words. He wrapped her in his arms, letting her cry, until he heard her blow her nose on his robes and had to shove a cup of pistachio pudding in front of her face to distract her. She laughed through her sniffles and rested her head on the wizard’s shoulder, spooning at the sweet green cream. “I’m really not all that Good,” she croaked. “The first day of school in those candied halls, I ate part of a classroom.”

Now it was Merlin’s turn to laugh. “So did I, my dear. So did I.”

More laughter echoed behind them and they turned to see Sophie and Tedros arriving to the hilltop, both of them in stitches. “Here I am in a girl’s body with a dye job so bad that Merlin had to be joking, and I’m just off a chocolate roller coaster steered by a rat, and I’d prepared this whole speech to give you, and before I can get one word out, one word, here you are, fee-fi-fo-fum, clubbing me in the head—”

Sophie was giggling so hard she had to clutch her stomach. “Well, if I’d known you had to touch one of Anadil’s rats!”

“It peed on me the entire ride!” Tedros could hardly speak now. “The worst part is . . . the speech I had ready was really, really good!”

Sophie nestled into him, howling.

Agatha had never seen Tedros laugh this hard with her. She’d never seen her prince this joyful or relaxed. Even Sophie looked so free and guileless, as if she and Tedros had their own history and intimacy that Agatha hadn’t known. Agatha felt nauseous, as if she should grab Tedros and pull him away from her—

But the echo of Merlin’s words held her back like a wind. She felt old resentments give way to the new truth of the moment: the sight of her two best friends safe and happy, sniggering over a ludicrous story . . . and before she could help herself, Agatha was snorting too.

The prince looked up, startled, and stopped laughing.

“Goodness,” Sophie said, following his eyes to Merlin and Agatha. “Either we’re too fast or you’re too slow.”

“Knowing us, a little of both,” said Agatha.

Sophie stared at her, breath held, waiting for the bitter punch line.

Instead Agatha smiled.

Sophie’s face lightened as if she sensed a silent change between them.

Tedros, on the other hand, gave Agatha a frosty glance.

“Not too fast or too slow, as Goldilocks might say, but just right,” said Merlin, pulling new plates of food from his hat. “Wanted you two to catch up with us and get a hot lunch. Tedros, here’s chicken pie and some fresh greens for you and Sophie, while Agatha and I will resume our journey. Tomorrow, we’ll meet at the safe house by sunset. Come, Agatha—”

But Agatha was peering into the horizon. “What’s that?”