One True Queen (School for Good and Evil Book 2)

Chapter 45

"You sure your girlfriend isn't a crackpot?" Hort's man-wolf growled, pacing in the dark forest.

Tedros ignored him as he tried to rock Merlin to sleep.

The Contempo Caves were most well-known for their ability to mess with time. But all anyone talked about was one part of it—how a moment inside could make you age ten years.

They never talked about the opposite effect.

Tedros still was not sure who had decided to throw Merlin in there—Rhian, Japeth, or Y/n. But it didn't matter. The two former were dead, and the third was on a quest to gain the answer to the first test.

And Agatha was on a quest to stop her.

Tedros readjusted his grip on baby Merlin.

"Consider the evidence," Hort went on. "First she says Robin Hood left her a message in magic dust at the Arrow. A message no one else saw. Then she says Merlin appeared to her and told her to come to Putsi. Both sound pretty crackpot to me."

Through the thicket, Tedros glimpsed the wizard tree in the distance, rising high over the land. Movement flickered in its branches, but they were too far away to see more. Putsi was a well-armed city: the shock of a wizard tree bursting out of the bank would bring the bank's guards and the Empress's flying minions. Tedros' stomach knotted, the baby fussing with his shirt. He shouldn't have let Agatha go off alone.

"You're worrying if she's wrong? I'm worried if she's right," the prince returned, so focused on the tree he didn't notice Merlin squiggling out of his arms. "What if the answer was in Putsi all along?"

"Then pray we find it before the Witch," Hort said, rescuing Merlin into his paws before the baby slipped. "Whoever wins the first test gets a head start for the second. And if the Witch gets too far ahead . . ."

Wind axed through the trees, finishing Hort's thought. Tedros watched him cradle Merlin into his dark fur, the baby's eyes starting to close. How could I be so stupid? Tedros thought. His dad wouldn't have expected him to track down the wizard in his old age and lop off his beard. Especially after Arthur and Merlin had gone their separate ways. For all his father knew, Merlin would have been long dead. And yet, Tedros had done what he'd always done: made assumptions without thinking.

Agatha was right.

The beard was here in Putsi.

Only he'd come to this realization too late.

Which meant his first test was no longer up to him.

It was up to her.

Agatha, who was out there right now, fighting Tedros' battle. All on her own.

And here Tedros was, twiddling his thumbs, just like he had at Camelot when Agatha usurped his quest the first time. Long before there was a King Rhian or Queen Y/n, there was a pair of masked attackers, daring Tedros to come fight. But it had been Agatha who answered the call instead of Tedros, the prince willing to stay behind.

The mistake that started it all.

But he'd learned from that, Tedros thought angrily. He was different now. He was ready to be a king. If only his princess would stay out of the way.

Tedros' blood simmered, his father's ring cold on his hand.

That's what this tournament was supposed to be about, wasn't it? Proving himself? Even Agatha had admitted that, back at the inn. So why was he still loitering here like a princess in waiting while she was off hunting the answer to his test?