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poor innocent prince.”
    “Fine,” Cauchemar said coldly, as her face fell stone still. The smoke and fire about her head dissipated as she walked slowly to the rows of shelves on the far wall. “Then I shall go back to the kingdom and never return. You shall remain in this tower all by yourself. If starvation does not take you first, then I am sure you can find something on these shelves to end it all when the boredom drives you mad.” Tossing a jar onto the bed beside the girl, she spat, “That one would do nicely.”
    Katerina picked up the jar and read the label aloud. “Pushing Up Daisy Root.” She shifted her eyes from the jar to her aunt’s back, then sobbed and stood slowly. While turning to the open window and wondering if she could survive the leap, Katerina noticed the faint flicker of Peter’s lantern still in the bushes. Pushing her shoulders back and wiping the tears from her cheeks, she said, “I see I have no choice. I’ll go to Bellemer and marry Prince Phillip. The southern kingdom is where I’ll be.”
    Cauchemar turned back to the girl and smiled. “I knew you’d see the wisdom of my plan. Now gather your prettiest things, and let’s begin your lessons. Tomorrow, after you have slept, we shall depart. I brought you a satchel for your dresses, but you need not pack much. I have already gathered most of what you’ll need. Once you are queen, you will have any dress you want.” She turned to the shelf again and grabbed a glass container. “I need a few provisions from my jars. Stork Tears: to guarantee a baby. Dragon Saliva: to put a little fire in that boy’s heart for your wedding.”
    “My wedding,” Katerina mumbled and she looked down to the ground. She could just make out the bobbing light of Peter’s lantern as he ran off into the woods. She could only hope he had heard and understood her pleas. She stumbled to the bed to find her satchel.
    “Her wedding! It’s what every girl dreams of.” Cauchemar purred, grabbed another jar and dropped it into the bag at her feet.
    Katerina dropped onto her bed and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t remember this dream.”

C hapter 3
    “S eventy-Eight. Seventy-Nine. Eighty,” Daniel said as he stepped up to the stump in the middle of the path. Dropping the reins he held, he turned to his horse and said, “How about that, Rosemary? Eighty steps from the fence to the stump. Of course, that knowledge gains me absolutely nothing, but at least I know.” He opened a saddle bag, retrieved a folded map and dropped it by the stump.
    Sitting on the stump, he adjusted the laces of his soft leather boot, then ran his fingers through his wavy black hair. He pulled down on the hem of his forest green doublet and smoothed a wrinkle in his dark brown leggings. He picked up the map and unfolded it.
    “Now, let’s see where we are.” He placed his finger on his castle in the forests of Sylvania to the east then dragged it up the border with Osterling to the lands in the north. “First we went north into the mountains of Upper and Lower Lipponia. Then we came back south along the Rupert River beside the troll king’s wall around Cantera.” Daniel pointed to the kingdom in the center of the map through which James had drawn a large red line. “Clearly, we won’t be going in there. So if we crossed the river back there on this bridge, we must be near the beaches of Bellemer. About here, I think.” Daniel placed his finger on the map and showed it to the horse. “Next we will head west into Dealonia’s farmland to see Emmaline and Robert. I have to apologize for missing her wedding. That covers all of Clarameer, I guess. If I don’t have my answer by then, we’ll just keep heading west to visit my mother’s people in Glorianna. Does that sound like a good plan, Rosemary?”
    The horse leaned its head over and nuzzled at his neck. “I know. I told James I would wait by that gate, but this is as good a place as any. Go on. Find something