By sunrise, the royal grounds were filled with Evers and Nevers from all over the Woods, eager to see the dead Snake and the Lion who killed him.
Still filthy and covered in blood and ooze, Agatha crouched behind a pillar near the balcony to eavesdrop on the people beneath.
“So-called King ain’t so-called anymore, ain’t he?” said a man proudly. “Beat the Snake with ’is bare fists.”
“Lion killed him, though,” said his friend.
“King already beat him to nothin’.”
“Lion finished him. All that matters.”
Agatha stopped listening.
She rose to her feet and looked back into the castle’s sitting room across the hall, where Sophie and Rhian were treating Tedros’ wounds.
“This is going to hurt,” said Rhian, standing over Tedros, who was shirtless and facedown on the couch, his back red-hot from the burns.
Tedros bit into a pillow and his knight spread salve on his skin while Sophie held the king down. Tedros let out a stifled roar, his teeth tearing the pillow to feathers, before his yells muted to groans and he let his two friends wrap him with gauze.
Agatha watched Sophie and Rhian take care of Tedros the way she should be.
“Something must be wrong when Good’s greatest helper isn’t helping,” said a voice.
She turned to see Guinevere next to her, dressed all in white, watching her son with Sophie and Rhian.
“I think I’ve helped Tedros enough for now,” Agatha said softly.
“You did what you had to do, Agatha. You kept my son alive.”
“And yet he hates me for it,” said Agatha, tears flowing.
“Because the Snake was his to kill,” said Guinevere. “Not for his own pride. But for his people. Tedros needed to be the king, no matter the cost, even to the end if need be. You took that from him.”
“But I didn’t want him to end up like Lancelot,” Agatha argued, smearing at her eyes. “I didn’t want him to die. Surely you understand that!”
“More than you can ever imagine,” said Guinevere starkly. “I didn’t want Lancelot to die, Agatha. Of course I didn’t. And yet I asked him to go into the Woods with Tedros, knowing he might.”
Agatha shook her head. “But you just said I did what I had to do. . . . So which is it? Which is more important? Keeping Tedros alive or letting him be a king when he might die for it?”
Guinevere smiled sadly. “Welcome to being a queen.”
She touched Agatha’s shoulder and walked inside.
A short while later, Agatha returned to the sitting room, bathed and dressed in a black gown, with Professor Dovey’s bag on her arm.
Tedros stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his father’s old coronation robes while Rhian changed into his blue-and-gold suit.
“God, this thing smells even worse than the first time I wore it,” said Tedros, fussing with the collar, clearly trying not to look at his battered face in the reflection.
“It’s just for a short while,” said Agatha.
The king glanced at his princess in the mirror. “You sound like my mother,” he said coolly.
He went back to Rhian. “You’re sure you tried to get the Snake’s mask off? There’s no way to see who he is?”
“The scims are both his armor and part of him somehow,” Rhian answered. “He sent the scims on his body to fight us, but the ones that make up his mask can’t be dislodged. His face is melded with them. Hard to tell where the magic begins and the human ends.”
“Well, as long as both the magic and human are dead,” said Tedros. He stared hard at Rhian. “Since you’re the one who killed him.”
“As I was ordered, Your Highness,” Rhian said stiffly, his eyes darting to the future queen. “My men will present his body to the people at the ceremony.”
Agatha waited for Tedros to say something to her.
He didn’t even look in her direction.
“Why are you lurking?” Sophie said to Agatha, sidling next to her at the back of the room.
Agatha frowned at Sophie’s shimmering pink princess dress. “I thought you were done with pink.”
Sophie eyed Agatha’s black one. “Pot. Kettle,” she said. “Oh come now, Aggie. I know I said I don’t wear pink anymore, but surely even a girl like me is allowed to feel like a princess. For one day, at least.”
“He certainly is a prince,” Agatha murmured, watching Rhian put cream on a gash near Tedros’ eyebrow.
Sophie tapped the bag on her friend’s shoulder. “Dovey’s crystal ball?”
“Found it untouched where I left it, thank goodness. Did Dovey really sleep through the entire battle?”
“I think we’re lucky she woke up at all this morning, given what she looked like last night,” said Sophie soberly. “Dovey claimed it’s that ball that’s been sapping her strength. Whatever you do, keep it away from her.”
“Where is she?”
“Getting the crew ready for the celebration. Dovey insists the Nevers be as presentable as the Evers in deference to the king. Which is taking some work, to say the least.”
Agatha snorted half-heartedly. Sophie rested an arm on her shoulder as they watched the boys.
“Will we exchange gifts in front of the people?” Rhian was asking Tedros. “As king and knight, I mean?”
“We won our battle, didn’t we?” said Tedros. “Besides, can’t deny a boy who grew up jabbing pillows with spoons and rehearsing for this moment his whole life. With all that preparation, your gift better be a good one.”
“My gift I know you’ll like,” said Rhian thoughtfully. “It’s your gift I’m concerned about.”
“Very funny,” Tedros said, elbowing him.
“Tedros?” Sophie asked.
The king turned.
“Are you going to try to pull Excalibur again?” she said. “At the celebration, I mean?”
Tedros considered this for a long moment. “The Snake is dead. The people of Camelot are happy. The Woods are safe once more. Excalibur will have its day,” he said. “Just not today.”
He smiled warmly at Sophie and Rhian . . . then at Agatha.
“See, darling?” Sophie whispered to Agatha. “You two are going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”
Agatha didn’t answer.
Because from the way Tedros smiled at her, Agatha was thinking very much the opposite.
The door flew open and Merlin shambled in, his slippers muddy, his cape tattered, and his hat slashed and full of holes.
He took in the scene and grinned, revealing three teeth missing where there’d been teeth before.
“Ah. Just in time,” said the wizard.
“Presenting King Tedros and his royal court!” a courtier announced.
The crowd unleashed a roar as Tedros and Rhian emerged onto the Blue Tower balcony, followed by Agatha, Sophie, Guinevere, and Merlin. Tedros and Rhian took their places in front of the archway with Excalibur trapped in its stone, while Agatha and the others stood off to the side behind them. Agatha could see from the crowd’s dress and colors that it was composed overwhelmingly of citizens from beyond Camelot, many wearing Lion masks, holding Lion banners, chanting, “LION! LION! LION!”
Tedros raised Rhian’s fist in his and they soaked in the ovation together.
Agatha made sure to stand next to Merlin, accidentally smacking him with Dovey’s bag as she did.