“Same with the attacks in Ravenbow! Snake’s scared of the Lion!” said a dark-dressed boy wearing a Lion necklace.
“We’re here to fight with you!” said a girl from the Lion’s Army, hanging on Rhian’s window.
“We’re here to fight for you!” said a Son of the Lion.
More Evers and Nevers thronged the carriage as the driver tried to whip the horses on, but the crowd blocked them and the two carriages behind.
“LION! LION! LION!” they shouted.
Sophie and Rhian exchanged baffled looks.
Without warning, Sophie opened the carriage door—
“Sophie, no!” Rhian barked.
But the moment Sophie emerged, the people let out a huge cheer.
“She’s with the Lion!” a girl cried.
“The rumors were true! He’s Sophie’s prince!” said her friend.
“Sophie’s with Camelot now!” a boy hollered.
Lost in a daze, Sophie scanned the thousands of people and creatures and animals, Good and Evil, cheering for her and Rhian as rain soaked her hair. She could see Beatrix, Reena, and the three witches gaping through the windows of their respective carriages, just as bewildered by the sight of the Woods rallying around Evil’s Dean and her new love.
“SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE!”
Sophie closed her eyes and soaked up the sound of her name. Ever since Rafal died, she’d been happy with a Dean’s life. She’d been happy on her own. That was the Ever After she’d fought so hard to find.
But then Rhian had come into her story. And for the first time, Sophie began to wonder if she was meant for more.
Much more.
She climbed up onto the side of the carriage and waved to the crowd—
“Hello, my loves! I’m here! I’m here for you all!”
“SOPHIE! SOPHIE! SOPHIE!” they roared.
She felt Rhian’s hand clasp her arm and she stepped down, cozying up to his broad chest, drinking in the Woods-wide worship and the breathless, red-hot feeling of fresh, new love.
“Isn’t it amazing?” she gasped.
“Sophie.”
“Yes, my prince?” she said, gazing up at him.
Rhian eyed her sternly. “We need to get to work.”
Stripped to wet shirtsleeves, Rhian huddled with his rain-soaked team behind the gates to Camelot Park.
“We’re looking for two things. Loyalty to Camelot and loyalty to Tedros. That’s all. Anyone who passes the loyalty test qualifies to fight,” he said, raising his voice over the chants of his and Sophie’s names. “When the Snake comes, we need our army to stop him outside the castle perimeter. Before he crosses the drawbridge. These soldiers will be our first line of defense, so we need as many as we can get. But they must pass the loyalty test first.” He held out his hand. “Ready?”
Sophie, Hester, Anadil, Dot, Beatrix, and Reena put their hands on his.
“Ready!” they said.
The gates opened. Selection began.
The process was simple. Rhian took charge of the Evers line with Beatrix and Reena; Sophie helmed the Nevers line with Hester and Anadil. As each candidate came forward, the respective teams tested them: 1. Do you believe Camelot is the leader of the Woods?
2. Do you believe King Tedros is a good king?
3. Are you willing to die to protect Camelot and King Tedros?
If they passed the test, then they were sent to Dot, who stamped them with her fingerglow and ushered them to the Town Hall inside Camelot Park, where they’d be fitted with armor and weapons.
If they didn’t pass, then they were denied entry and sent home.
At first, progress was slow.
For one thing, the leaders of the allied kingdoms came flurrying down the hill amidst a cavalcade of carriages, camels, elephants, magic carpets, and other modes of royal transport, Guinevere trailing behind, with each foreign leader determined to have a private audience with the Lion. Sophie thoroughly enjoyed this impromptu summit, staying close to Rhian and greeting Ever and Never kings and queens, while they kissed her hand and complimented her pantsuit (“If I’d have known this was a royal occasion, I would have dressed the part!” Sophie wisped). One by one, the leaders gave Rhian gifts for saving their kingdoms: a medal of honor from Foxwood, a mother-of-pearl wristwatch from Malabar Hills, a ruby-hilted dagger from Ravenbow, a diamond monocle from Glass Mountain. . . .
“We’ve informed Tedros and his mother that you must command the army,” the King of Jaunt Jolie told Rhian quietly, so Guinevere wouldn’t hear. “With you in charge, we know we’ll win.”
“You’ve shown yourself to be a leader,” the Ice Giant of Frostplains confided. “We only feel comfortable in your hands.”
“And with a face like that, you’re made to be a hero,” added the Empress of Putsi, admiring Rhian’s torso through his wet shirt.
Rhian gritted his teeth politely, looking eager to get back to work.
Even Guinevere herself couldn’t stop thanking him for saving her son in Nottingham, emotion nearly overtaking her, before she remembered Rhian and his charges had a job to do and she whisked the leaders into the Town Hall to make sure that the deliveries of weapons and armor from their respective kingdoms had arrived.
But just as Rhian and his team tried to push on, Agatha rode up, hidden beneath a hooded cloak, looking unnerved by the crowd.
“Aggie, isn’t it wonderful? They love him,” Sophie said, helping Agatha from her horse.
“And it seems they love you too,” said Agatha tightly, hearing chants of Sophie’s name.
“Who would have thought that a Dean of Evil would have to come to Camelot for respect?” Sophie marveled. “At school, kids pound on my office night and day, complaining about rankings or feigning some pustulous disease or asking inane questions, treating me like a maid or a tour guide, never once taking the time to appreciate how lucky they are to be talking to a real-life fairy-tale hero in the first place. But here . . . well, just look at all this! I’m going to revel in it while I can—” She saw Agatha’s face. “Oh, don’t be greedy, darling. Not everything in life can be about you and Teddy. You’ll get more attention than you can handle at your wedding.”
“I’m not worried about attention, Sophie,” said Agatha, facing her dead-on. “I’m worried about Tedros ending up like Lancelot.”
Sophie’s smile vanished. “I know that, Aggie,” she said sincerely. “So am I. And we’re doing the best we can to protect him.”
She carried on interviewing, but she felt oddly self-conscious with her best friend watching from beneath her black hood like the grim reaper. But Agatha didn’t stay long and when she left, Sophie sighed with relief.
“She’s right, you know,” said a voice.
Sophie turned to see Rhian in the other line.
“A knight shouldn’t overshadow his king,” he said.
“Oh please. You and Tedros are a team. It doesn’t matter,” Sophie dismissed.
“You don’t get it,” said Rhian. “People weren’t cheering for Lancelot when Arthur was around, were they?”