The advisor nodded. So did the other Trolls. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
They scurried among the trees, snatching apples as they went. This was a well-fed army and becoming accustomed to all the fine food in the Fourth Kingdom.
So was Relish. He picked a round apple and took a healthy bite. Juice ran down his chin. He smiled.
All of this would be his.
Soon. Very soon.
Virginia had never known that watching cards could be so tiring. Especially when the players were playing a game of War for high stakes.
Over the last few hours, her father had eliminated the Troll and then the Dwarf. Only the old lady was left, and she didn’t look tired at all.
“Please stop, Dad,” Virginia said. “Please. We’ve won over four thousand.”
“Four might not be enough,” her father said. “One more game.”
“Dad, stop,” Virginia said. “You’ve been playing all night. You’re too tired.”
“One more. For the whole pot. I can take her.”
This was typical of her father. Virginia should have known this was going to happen. Both he and the old lady had a mountain of chips. They stared at each other. Virginia sighed. Her father had clearly forgotten that the point was to get the mirror back, not to be the best player in the casino.
“One more for the pot, dearie,” the old woman said.
Her father shoved in his chips. So did the old woman. Virginia put her hands over her face. She couldn’t watch.
The sun was rising over Kissing Town. Wolf had never seen a more beautiful dawn. He hurried back to the casino, wondering if Virginia had missed him as much as he had missed her.
As he got close, he ran through the plan in his mind.
“Everything is done, prepared and ready, and I still have tons and tons of money left. I will give the rest to Virginia and she can still buy the ...”
He was walking past a jeweler’s and he stopped, stunned at his own stupidity.
“Cripes,” he muttered. “You fool. You nearly forgot (lie most important thing.”
He went inside the jeweler’s. The shop was filled with stones and necklaces and clocks of all types. The cuckoo clocks seemed to have real birds in them.
Wolf went immediately to the ring display. Inside a glass case were velvet boxes filled with all sorts of rings, from plain ones to very elaborate ones. Some were even nestled in a nest of tiny flowers. He hadn’t expected this much choice.
The jeweler leaned his hands on the glass display case and smiled at Wolf. “A very good morning to you, sir. How may I serve you?”
“I want an engagement ring,” Wolf said. “And not just any ordinary ring.”
The jeweler put a hand on his heart, as if Wolf’s words had offended him. “We don’t sell ordinary rings, sir. Tell me a little about the lady. Is she a big girl?”
“No,” Wolf said. “She’s very slender.”
“Plain or pretty?”
“She’s gorgeous,” Wolf said. “Are you trying to insult
me?”
“Most assuredly not, sir,” the jeweler said. “I am simply trying to fit the ring to the lady. Some rings might overwhelm a lady.”
“No ring is more beautiful than my girl.”
“Oh, sir, how romantic,” the jeweler said. “She sounds like a girl in a million.”
“She is.”
‘ ‘Then I shouldn’t insult you by showing you these ordinary, everyday gold and diamond engagement rings.”
He reached inside the glass display and closed the box with the plain rings.
“Or even these, handmade by Royal Dwarves.”
He closed the box with the flower-encased rings.
“Feast your eyes instead on these.”
The jeweler opened a satin box that had previously been closed. Just six rings were inside it. They sparkled magically. Little stars bounced off them to add to the glitter.
The jeweler brought the box to the top of the display case, and the rings bobbed up and down as Wolf looked at them.
“Choose me,” one ring said.
“No, choose me,” a second ring said.
They spoke in tiny little voices. Wolf was charmed.
“Sir, I don’t wish to be indelicate, but these rings are disgracefully expensive.”
“Money is no object,” Wolf said.
“You’re my kind of gentleman, sir.” The jeweler slammed the box closed, almost trapping Wolf’s fingers.
“They looked pretty nice to—”
“Oh, no, no, sir,” the jeweler said. “I have something quite unique in mind for you.”
The jeweler turned with a flourish and pulled back some purple curtains beneath the cuckoo clocks. Behind the curtains was a nest of duck down and inside it was the biggest, most beautiful engagement ring Wolf had ever seen. It sent off a shower of sparkles that lit up the room.
“It is a singing ring, sir.”
Wolf smiled. “Huff-puff. A singing ring. I have to have
it.”
As he leaned over the ring, it twinkled.
“How I long to linger, on your sweetheart’s finger ...” the ring sang.
The jeweler leaned beside him and said, “The lady who slips this on her finger will have no choice. She will simply say, I do.”
“Will she?”
“No singing ring has ever received a rejection.”
“Ever?”
“It comes with a lifetime love guarantee,” the jeweler said.
“I’ll take it,” Wolf said.
“It’s yours. For the paltry sum of seven thousand gold Wendells.”
Seven thousand gold Wendells? Wolf put a hand ova his heart. It was either the ring or the mirror. But if Virginia put the ring on, she would forget the mirror.
Still. Perhaps he could bargain.
“Seven thousand?”
“Is there a problem, sir? There are more modest rings for less important ladies if—”
“No,” Wolf said. “No, I’ll take it.”
Dawn in an apple orchard. The Queen almost smiled. Across the row from her stood Relish, the Troll King. He looked less fearsome than he did through her mirror. When he saw her, he started walking toward her.
She walked toward him as well. Might as well meet him halfway. It would be the last time.
He opened his jacket to show his hips. “I am unarmed and alone.”
She opened her cloak. “As am I.”
They stopped ten feet from each other. She was glad. She didn’t want to get too close to him.
“I have done as you asked,” the Troll King said. “Now where are my children?”
The Queen smiled. “To be quite honest, I have no idea. I simply used them as an excuse to get you to meet me.”
The Troll King frowned. “Then I will kill you.”
“Don’t you wish to know my great plan first?” she asked.
“I have known your plan all along,” he said. “To put the imposter prince on the throne and rule the Fourth Kingdom yourself.”
She took a step closer to him. He was as stupid as she had thought he was. Good.
‘ ‘Do you think I spent seven years rotting in jail, just to rule one of the Nine Kingdoms? I’m going to have them all.”
“But where do I fit in?” he asked.
“Yes, well.” That was the problem, wasn’t it? “I see what you mean.”
“I have heard enough,” he said. “Trolls, arise!”
A dozen Trolls came out of the orchard and surrounded her. They were all carrying weapons, and some of them pointed the weapons at her.
She was hopelessly trapped.
The Troll King sauntered over to her, secure in his victory. The idiot.
“You didn’t expect that, did you?” he asked. “My men have been hiding here for the last hour.”
“I am impressed at your foresight.” She looked up at him and smiled very, very slowly. “And had you arrived two hours earlier, you would have met me, poisoning all the app
les.”
The Troll King put a hand to his throat, and looked afraid for the first time since she met him. All around him the other Trolls started to gag and fall.
“Poison is something of a science with me,” she said, smiling. “And I seem to have timed it just right.”
The Troll King sank to his knees. The hand at his throat had started clutching it. His men had eaten more and were dying faster. They fell forward, on their stomachs, weapons forgotten. Only the Troll King remained, eyes bugging out of his head, filled with disbelief.
“You know what they say. An army marches on its stomach.” She plucked one of the apples from the tree, and stuck it in the Troll King’s open mouth. Then he fell forward.
She surveyed the mess. So easy, once she remembered how to do it. Then she leaned over and picked up a sword. She cradled it against her for a moment, and then she brought it down with the full force of her unspoken anger.
A girl always needed a trophy. It made any other dissenters so much more civilized.
The game had gone on all night. Virginia had no idea what time it was, but judging by her body ’ s clock, it had been forever. Everyone in the casino was gathered around this table. Her father still seemed alert. He would snap a card as the old lady would snap a card. Virginia felt as if she had lost the thread of the game.
Then someone brushed against her. She looked behind her. Wolf was standing there with a wide grin on his face.
“Where have you been?” she whispered.
“I just popped out for a walk,” he said.
Her father laid down a card. Then the old lady did. Then her father did. And then—snap!—her father’s hand slammed on top of the deck.
But when Virginia looked, she realized that the old lady’s hand was beneath his.
“Sorry, dearie,” the old lady said to Tony. “Better luck next time.”
Her father put his head in his hands as the old lady swept up the mountain of chips. There had to be thousands upon thousands of gold Wendells in there, enough to buy the mirror twice over.
And her father had lost it all.
“Oh, no,” Virginia said. She was out of money. Wolf was clearly out of money. Her father was out of money. He couldn’t even play another hand.
The old lady scooped the chips toward her, then started separating them into two equal piles. “Well,” she said as she worked, “you certainly have been lucky for me, so a deal’s a deal. I expect you want a biscuit more than you want this money, though.”
Virginia looked at her father. His eyes had widened. Together she and her father peeked beneath the table.
Sitting at the other end, beside the old lady, was—
“Prince!” Tony said.
He was still wearing his placard proclaiming him the lucky gambling dog.
“ ’Bye, then,” the old lady said. She left half her earnings on the table for Prince Wendell and walked away. Prince Wendell rose on his hind legs to survey the money. Wolf was staring at him as if he’d never seen a dog before.
But Virginia lunged for the chips. “What time is it?” Virginia asked. “We may be too late.”
Somehow they managed to cash in the chips and get to the auction hall. The auction had already started when they entered.
And, on the block, was their mirror.
“Oh, no!” Virginia muttered.
“For the final time,” the auctioneer was saying, “I am bid three thousand, eight hundred gold pieces. Any advance?”
A large antique dealer in the front row put his hands over his ample stomach. Obviously he thought the mirror was going to be his.
“Going once ... going twice ...”
“Five thousand gold pieces,” Tony shouted from behind Virginia.
The huge hall echoed with gasps from the audience.
“Five thousand,” the auctioneer said. “Will anyone increase on five thousand gold Wendells?”
The antiques dealer shook his head in disgust.
“Five thousand,” the auctioneer said. “Any advance on five thousand?”
Virginia clasped her hands together. They had it. No one else was going to bid.
“Going once ... going twice ...”
“Ten thousand,” a voice said from the other side of the room.
Virginia felt a chill run down her back. She knew that voice. She turned. The Huntsman was standing in the back, his pale eyes on her. He was holding a pipe and he didn’t seem injured at all.
“It’s him,” she said to her father.
“Going once,” the auctioneer said.
Her father looked lost. They didn’t have enough to buy the mirror. But he turned anyway.
‘‘Going twice,’ ’ the auctioneer said. ‘ ‘Sold to the gentleman with the pipe. Your name, sir?”
“Mr. Hunter. I will pay immediately.” He stood and followed the auctioneer’s assistants as they carried the mirror into the back office.
“That’s ours,” Tony said.
“And the next item for auction,” the auctioneer said, “is a remarkable Troll work in 22-carat gold, entitled Frozen Rage.”
Virginia hadn’t seen the Trolls before. She frowned at them, then shook her head. Wolf was staring at them openmouthed. Her father was looking at Prince Wendell.
“Come on,” Virginia said. “What are we standing around for?”
They hurried to the office, but the two guards outside stopped them.
“Only purchasers allowed in here,” a guard said.
Virginia felt a familiar frustration. She led them through the front door and around back. There had to be an exit back here somewhere. Finally she found it.
It too was guarded.
Her father caught up to her, panting hard. “Is there a man in there buying a mirror?” he asked the guard.
“Was,” the guard said. “Just left this second.”
“No,” Tony said. “Which way did he go?”
The guard shrugged. Virginia looked one way down the street, her father the other.
“You go that way,” Virginia said. “I’ll go this way.”
She hurried down the street, Wolf at her side, but they saw no one. Nothing.
The Huntsman had vanished, taking their mirror with him.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Virginia wasn’t sure how Wolf managed to talk her into Islll going out with him. She was horribly depressed. The loss of the mirror to the Huntsman meant that she would never go home again. She certainly wouldn’t chase after the Huntsman to find the mirror.
She could only hope that was all he wanted.
Her father and Prince Wendell were sitting at the bar in the Ho Ho Ho Hotel, getting drunk. Apparently the bartender had told them there was no beer in the place, so when Virginia came down the stairs, she had found them drinking some frothy pink concoction, her father from a glass, Prince Wendell from a saucer. They had been talking to Wolf, who was dressed up, his hair slicked back.
He was the one who was sober, and he was the one who looked nervous.
For some reason, taking her to dinner was important to him. So she had gone.
She hadn’t expected the carriage, though. It was beautiful, stuffed full of flowers and chocolates. Somewhere nearby, a string quartet was playing a melody she had never heard before.
Wolf eased her into the seat of the carriage, then clutched his pocket. His eyes were big and he seemed subdued. He held her hand tightly as the carriage started.
“To the restaurant, driver,” Wolf said. “And please drive as romantically as possible.”
Virginia smiled. As they pulled away from the hotel, the music stayed with them. “Where’s the music coming from?”
“Do you like it?” It seemed to matter to Wolf that she did. Suddenly she realized that he had something to do with it. She looked out the carriage window. On the roof, the string quartet sat, playing as comfortably as if they always played from a carriage top.
As she eased back into the carriage, Wolf said, “It’s a tune I had specia
lly composed for you. It’s called ‘A Time for Commitment.’ ”
She gave him a funny look. He had a small, warm smile on his face. She had trouble turning away, but she did as the carriage pulled to a stop.
Wolf got out and then helped her down. The string quartet continued to play as he led her into a restaurant.
The restaurant was stunning. A thousand candles lit the interior. Live frogs leapt out of individual ponds placed on top of every table. As Virginia took it all in, waiters swooped down on them, taking their coats and then lining up to greet them as the maitre d’ led them to a table.
“Are we the only people eating?” she asked.
“It certainly seems that way,” Wolf said.
As Virginia sat down, more musicians showed up. They started to play the same tune. A wine steward came by and poured champagne.
The maitre d’ bowed, and said to Wolf, “Would you like your food served now?”
“Do we get menus?” Virginia asked.
“I have chosen for us already, my darling,” Wolf said.
She smiled at him, feeling slightly confused. He smiled back. He had never looked handsomer.
The bar in the Ho Ho Ho Hotel lived up to its name. At first, Tony had thought the place garish, but it was beginning to grow on him. The grotto theme and the brightly painted gnome-sized dwarves just added to the charm.
Or maybe it was the six empty cocktail glasses lined up on the bar. He could feel them, yes indeedy. It wasn’t as nice a buzz as the one he got with good beer, but it was certainly better than thinking about the loss of the mirror.
He leaned toward Prince Wendell, who had been keeping up with him, surprisingly enough. Tony would have thought royalty too snooty to get drunk.
“I had a perfectly good business,” Tony said to Prince, “but I expanded too soon, and then the recession hit me and I lost everything—my business, my self-respect, my wife.” He lifted his glass. “To Tony Lewis, the biggest failure you could ever hope to meet in all Ten Kingdoms.”
He drained the ugly pink drink. It tasted like rum and refined sugar. That was growing on him too.
“No, Anthony, my failure is much worse than yours,” Prince Wendell said. ‘ ‘This has been a test of kinghood, and I have failed dismally.”
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