The Princesses of Gavaldon

Chapter 17

Whenever Tedros was stressed, he worked out. So to see him sweating at 6:00 a.m. in the Groom Room, throwing hammers, pumping dumbbells, and swimming laps, meant he had a lot on his mind.

It was understandable.

The Snow Ball invitations had been slipped under doors during the night. As he scaled climbing ropes made of braided blond hair, he cursed the fact he would spend Christmas at a Ball. Why did everything with Evers revolve around oppressive formal dances?

The problem with Balls was that boys had to do all the work. Girls could flirt and scheme and wish all they wanted, but in the end, it's the boy who had to make his choice and hope she  said  yes. 

Tedros  wasn't  worried  about  the  girl  saying  yes.  He  was worried there was no girl he wanted to ask at all.

He couldn't remember the last time he actually liked a girl. And yet, he always had one following him, claiming to be his girlfriend. It happened every time. He vowed to forget girls, then noticed one getting attention, set out to prove he could get her, got her, and discovered she was a fatuous prince hunter who had had her eye on him all along.

The Beatrix Curse. No. There was a better name for it.

The Guinevere Curse.

Tedros  was  only  nine  when  his  mother,  Guinevere,  made  off  with  the knight Lancelot, leaving him and his father alone.

He heard the whispers that followed. "She found love." But what about all those times she said "I love you" to his father? All the times she said it to him? Which love was
real?

Night after night, Tedros watched his father slip further into heartbreak and drunkenness. Death came within the year. With his last breaths, King Arthur gripped his son's hands.

"The people will need a queen, Tedros. Don't make my mistakes. Look for the girl who is truly Good."

Tedros  climbed higher and higher on the golden braids, veins straining against muscle.

Don't make my mistakes.

His hand slipped and he fell off the rope, crashing to a soft mat. Cheeks red, he glowered at the taunting waterfalls of hair.

All  the  girls  here  were  mistakes.  Guineveres  who  confused  love  with kisses.

Maybe except for her. But she was far too gone, right?

Daylight  flecked  across  Agatha's  pillow.  She  stirred  and  saw  Sophie hunched on Reena's bed.

"Why are you still here! If the wolves catch you, it's the Doom Room again! Besides, you should be home writing that anonymous love poem to
Tedr—"

"You didn't tell me there's a Ball."

Sophie held up a glittering snowflake invitation, Agatha's name in pearls.

"I'm sorry, Sophie but we've got more pressing issues in mind." Agatha  groaned.  "We'll  be  long gone.  Now  make  sure  that  poem  talks  about  who  he  is  as  a  person.  His honor, his valor, his cour—"

Sophie was smelling the invitation now. "Sophie,  listen  to  me!  The  closer  we  get  to  the  Ball,  the  more  Tedros
looks for a date! The more he looks for a date, the more he falls in love with
someone else! The more he falls in love with someone else, the more he leaves you here to die! Got it?"

"But I want to be his date."

"But you're not invited!"

Sophie pursed her lips.
"Sophie, Tedros has to kiss you now! Otherwise you'll never be safe!"

"Honestly, do they even check invitations at a Ball?"

Agatha snatched the invitation. "Sophie, come one. I thought you wanted to stay
alive!"

"But I can't miss the Ball!"

Agatha shoved her towards the door. "Use the Tunnel of Trees—"

"Marble hall, glittering gowns, waltzing under stars . . ."

"If a wolf catches you, just say you're lost—"

"A Ball, Aggie! A real Ball!"
Agatha gently shoved her out. Sophie scowled back.

"My roommates will help me. They're true friends."

She slammed the door on Agatha's shocked expression.

Ten minutes later, Hester stamped her foot, nearly killing Anadil's rat.
"HELP! YOU WANT ME TO HELP A NEVER KISS AN EVER! I'D
RATHER STICK MY HEAD UP A HORSE'S—"
"Sophie,  no  villain  ever  finds love,"  Anadil  said,  hoping  reason  might save her rats. "To even look for it is to betray your own soul—"

"You want me to go home?" Sophie snapped, picking away tunnel leaves. "Then put a hex on Tedros so he asks me to the Ball."

"THE  BALL!"  Hester  screeched.  "HOW  DO  YOU  EVEN  KNOW ABOUT THE BALL?"
"A villain at a Ball?" said Dot.
"A villain waltzing!" said Anadil.
"A villain curtsying!" said Hester, and all three collapsed into howls.

"I'm going to that Ball," Sophie fumed.
"Presenting the Witch of Woods Beyond!" Hester cackled through tears.

By lunch, she wasn't laughing. First,  Sophie  was  twenty  minutes  late  to  class  after  trying  to  find  a solution to her jagged hair. She disguised it with berets, bows, combs before settling on a daisy wreath.

"Not hideous," she sighed before she walked into Uglification and saw students' hair turned gray from bat wing potions. A "1" suddenly exploded over her head.

"Hideous!"  Professor  Manley  beamed,  ogling  her  hair.  "Your  greatest beauty. Gone."

Sophie sobbed as she left class, but then heard Hester scream. In the hall,
Albemarle, a studious, spectacled woodpecker, was chipping Sophie's name
just below hers on the Evil rankings board.

"One little love spell, Hester," Sophie reminded sweetly. "And then I'm
gone forever."

Hester  stomped  away,  reminding  herself  that  Nevers  kissing  Evers couldn't be encouraged no matter how extreme the circumstances.

At the start of Curses, Lady Lesso swept into the ice chamber, jaw tighter than usual.

"Impossible to find good torturers these days," she muttered.

"What is she talking about?" Sophie whispered to Dot.

"Beast went missing!" Dot whispered back.
Behind her, Sophie looked nauseous. Testing the class on Nemesis Dreams, Lady Lesso seethed and sniped at every wrong answer.

"But I thought a Nemesis Dream meant you'll be a Lead Villain," Hester
said—

"No,  you  imbecile!  Only  if  you  have  symptoms!  A  Nemesis  Dream  is nothing without symptoms!" Lady Lesso retorted. "Dot, what do you taste in your mouth during your first Nemesis Dream?"

"What you ate before bed?"

"Blood, you idiot!" Lady Lesso dragged nails across the ice wall. "Oh, what I'd give to see a real villain in this school. A real villain who could make Good weep instead of these dung fleas."

When it came to her turn, Sophie expected the worst abuse, only to have Lady  Lesso  give  her  a  wart  for  a  surely  incorrect  answer  and  caress  her shorn hair as she passed.

"Why is she being nice to you?" Hester hissed behind her.

Sophie had the same question, but turned around with a smile. "Because I'm future Class Captain." As long as Hester looked like she might break Sophie's neck. "Love spells are junk villainy. They don't work."

"I'm sure you'll find one that does," Sophie said.

"I'm warning you, Sophie. This will end badly."

"Hmm . . . What about petunias in every room?" Sophie mused. "I think it'll be my first proposal as Class Captain."

That night Hester wrote to her relatives for love spells.

"It's contagious," Agatha moaned happily as Evergirls bounded around the Clearing
showing  each  other  their  invitations,  each  snowflake  a  different  shape.

Nearby  Tedros  shot  marbles  and  ignored  them  entirely.  "Every  challenge
had to do with a ball. Ball beauty, Ball etiquette, Ball entrances, Ball history—"
Sophie wasn't listening. Pail of pig's feet in hand, she gazed longingly at the Evergirls.

"No," Agatha said.
"But what if he asks me?"
"Sophie, he needs to kiss you now! Not take you to some stupid Ball!"
"Oh, Agatha, don't you know your fairy tales? If he takes me to the Ball, then he'll kiss me! Like Cinderella at midnight! Kisses always  happen at the Ball! And by then my hair will have grown and I'll have fixed my shoes and—oh  no,  the  gown!  Can  you  steal  some  charmeuse  from  one  of  the girls? Some crepe de chine too. And tulle! Mountains of tulle Preferably in pink,  but  I  can  always  dye  it,  though  tulle  never  looks  quite  right  dyed. Perhaps we should go with chiffon, then. Much more manageable."

Agatha blinked, speechless.

"You're  right,  I  should  ask  him  first,"  Sophie  said,  leaping  up.  "No frowns, darling. It'll be easy as pie. You'll see! Princess Sophie at a Ball!"

"What are you—YOU'LL RUIN EVERYTHI—"
But  Sophie  had  already  flounced  to  the  Evers'  side,  plopped  next  to Tedros, and held out her pail.

"Hello, handsome. Want some of my . . . feet?"

Tedros misfired his marble into Chaddick's eye. The entire Clearing went silent.

He turned to her. "Your girlfriend's calling."
Sophie followed his eyes to Agatha, waving her off.

"She's just upset," Sophie sighed. "You were right, Tedros. She and I are
too close. That's why I left in the middle of class yesterday. To tell her it's
time I make Good friends now."
"Dot said you left because you were sick."
Sophie coughed. "Oh, well, I had a bit of a cold—"
"She said it was diarrhea."
"Diarr—"  Sophie  swallowed.  "You  know  Dot.  Always  making  things
up."
"She doesn't seem like a liar to me."
"Oh, she's always lying. Just to get attention. Since she's, you know . . ."
Tedros raised his eyebrows. "Since she's . . ."
"Fat."
"I  see."  Tedros  lined  up  his  marble.  "Funny,  isn't  it?  She  crawled  into
empty graves to eat enough worms for the two of you, just so you wouldn't
fail. Said you're her best friend."
"Did she?" Sophie saw Dot waving at her. "How depressing." She turned
to Tedros, who was preparing to shoot. "Do you remember when we first
met, Tedros? It was in the Blue Forest. Nothing that happened after matters,
not you punching me or calling me a Never or you landing in poo. What
matters is what you felt at first sight. You wanted to rescue me, Tedros. And
here I am."
She folded her hands. "Whenever you're ready, then."
Tedros looked up at her. "What?"
"To ask me to the Ball," Sophie said, smiling.

The prince's face didn't change.

"I know it's a bit early, but a girl does have to plan," Sophie pressed.
Beatrix shoved in. "No room for Nevers."
"What? There's plenty of room," Sophie huffed—

But Reena jostled her, then six other girls, and Sophie was pushed out of
the circle entirely. She whirled to Tedros to defend her.

"Can you go away?" he said, eyes on his marble. "You're blocking my view."
Agatha smirked as Sophie stomped towards her.
"Easy as pie, hmm?"
Sophie blew past her—
"Humble pie!" Agatha shouted.