"Ivy, you're killing me!" Heidel said. "Pick something!"

"I'm trying." Ivy turned another yellowed page of the old dessert book. "They all sound wonderful. Except for bread pudding."

"Good! We've ruled out bread pudding," Heidel said. "Let's narrow it further: pie or cake?"

"Cake, I think," Ivy said. "Maybe the Rapunzel Raisin Cake?"

Heidel wrinkled her nose. "A lot of people don't like raisins. Not good for a party."

"Oh... you're right," Ivy said. She liked the cakes based on the old tales. Her remaining choices were a Cinderella Carrot Cake, and a Princess-and-the-Pea Cake. Coralina had had one for her fifteenth birth feast. It had a candy pea inside, made of stiff marzipan. Wasn't something special supposed to happen to whoever found the pea? She couldn't remember....

Wait—she did!

"This one!" Ivy pointed to the page and Heidel sighed in relief. "Perfect. Now I only have a thousand things to do, so take yourself elsewhere. You'll get your cake." She shut the old dessert book and lifted it off the worktable.

Ivy grabbed her crutch and slid off the stool. "That's fine. I have work to do," she said with soft pride. She had just begun working on the burnt forest background for Coralina's play. She had no other way to do this than simply to paint the back wall of the stage each time. But she didn't mind. Coralina knew how to make one background work for her entire play.

Giles joined her as she pushed through the swinging door and left the kitchen. I thought of what you could say to Prince Roald when you write back.

What? Ivy said.

He's off to Bella Reino, right? It's a pretty big place. Tell him to wait for his moment and slip away. Head for the Southern Realms where nobody knows him.

Run away? Ivy said in surprise.

Why not? He could build a new life for himself.

Ivy chewed on her lip. I'm not sure he'd survive it. He's been waited on hand-and-foot his whole life, he doesn't know how to care for himself. Not that I'm any better. She shrugged. No—he needs to face his father and tell him the truth.

Don't envy him that, Giles said. But you've already told him to face his father and he's not doing it. He's putting it off, using this trip as an excuse. You know that.

I do. He's only making it worse, Ivy said. He should not be going to this celebration of his engagement. It digs him in deeper. Makes the engagement harder to break.

So what will you say to him? Giles asked.

Ivy shook her head. I don't know. But I have some time. A trip to Bella Reino will take a month at least. But I want there to be a letter from me waiting when he returns.

Giles smiled and reached for her hand. That sounds like you. He curled his fingers through hers, and Ivy smiled. He always stayed on her left, on the side without the crutch. She liked to imagine they held hands as they walked, and curled her fingers in the empty air, almost feeling his warm grip. But he had never kissed her. She didn't know what a real kiss felt like, so she couldn't imagine it properly.

Which brought her thoughts back to the Princess-and-the-Pea Cake.

At the Early Spring Ball, she had met Prince Gavin of Timory. He had shocked Ivy by asking her to dance, something nobody ever did because of her foot. They just assumed she couldn't. Well, she could—maybe not exactly like everyone else, but still graceful. She had enjoyed two dances with Prince Gavin and he had stayed in her mind ever since. She had modeled Giles after him, giving him the same wiry body and elvish features. Except that Gavin had sandy blond hair, whereas Giles had carroty orange.

Ivy thumped into the ballroom through the side arch and turned in the direction of the stage.

"Ivy? Is that you?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen the gypsy tent?"

"What?" Ivy knew Coralina had spoken but couldn't see her. The open door in the backstage wall answered her question: she was in the prop room. "I thought it was back there," Ivy said.

Coralina came through the door, looking annoyed. "It's not there. Neither is the evil mirror."

"We're using the evil mirror?" Ivy asked. She had enjoyed painting that, covering it with false cobwebs and spiders for last year's play, The Unsightly Siren.

"No." Coralina shut the door. "But it's always there, and it's big. So I noticed the empty spot." Coralina put a hand on her hip and tapped her foot. "Do we... do we have a thief in the castle?"

"What do you mean?" Ivy reached the side of the stage and climbed the steps, her crutch making loud clops on the wood.

"Heidel's lumen bread vanished right under her nose. Now I'm missing two props." Coralina scowled but looked as if she doubted her own words.

"Maybe one of the girls just borrowed them?" Ivy already had a knot in her stomach. There couldn't possibly be a thief slipping into the castle. Right?

"Probably. I know Jaedis liked that mirror. Let me ask her." Coralina marched down the steps and left the ballroom.

Ivy wished she hadn't gone. She didn't like being alone in the enormous ballroom, even if the stage curtains gave a sense of confinement. She straightened the old sheets she had spread on the floor to catch drops of paint, and picked up her bowl and brush. She had decided to paint the burnt forest against a background of bright orange sky, using deep vermillion at the top, which faded down to a brilliant marigold. It would be more eye-catching than plain old blue.

Don't worry, there's no thief, Giles said. Just misplaced items.

Heidel didn't misplace her lumen bread, Ivy said. She approached the wall and dipped her brush in the thick orange paint. And no one would have borrowed it from her.

I blame the dog, Giles said.

Ivy smiled but felt no reassurance. Once an idea got stuck in her head, she couldn't root it out, like a stubborn weed. She didn't want a thief in the castle. She didn't want bandits in the realm. Why did there have to be bad things in the world?

Just stay with me, she said to Giles. I don't like being alone in here.

He nodded and sat down on the sheets to watch her paint. Ivy continued, blending the orange on top seamlessly into the yellow. She would paint the silhouetted trees in front of it, black and charred, lifeless and desolate. The feeling of gloom would be perfect.

One of her braids slipped down and plopped on her shoulder. Ivy sighed. With her fingers dotted with fresh paint, she couldn't pin it back up just now. Jaedis probably wasn't within calling distance. And Giles, for all his good points, could not help her with this.

Ivy swept her brush over the wall, barely noticing the pleasant smell. A bandit could walk in right now and cut off her hair. Who would stop him? They had no guard at the door, just Arialain. He could pretend to be a visitor for Maelyn. He could pretend to be anything. Track down the princesses one by one, knock them out, and take their hair. Lace's gold curls would sell for a high price, so would Shulay's lustrous black, and Ivy's red. Her own color was rarest, she knew. Would probably sell for the highest price.

She forgot about Giles. She was imagining herself being found by a bandit. Right here, on this stage. She sees a huge man with a mean, snarling face. In less than a second, he knocks her down. She screams, but he pins her with one massive arm, while the other reaches for her head. She feels the cold metal of sheers against her scalp-

"Ivy?"

Ivy released a shriek and whirled around, dropping her brush. "Oh!" The man coming onto the stage was Kerrick, their friend since childhood. "Oh, I'm so sorry—you startled me."

Kerrick smiled. "Coco here?" He cast an admiring glance at the sky Ivy had painted.

"She was a few minutes ago. Went to look for something. Do you mind staying with me until she comes back?"

"Of course," Kerrick said kindly. "Do you want help?"

"I don't need help." Ivy stooped to pick up her brush, and her wayward braid swung in front of her. "Oh—maybe I do. Can you pin this back up for me?"

"Your hair?" Kerrick looked puzzled. "Not sure I know how."

"It's not hard. Just wrap it over my head, tuck the end, and stick the pins through it." She held still while Kerrick awkwardly rewrapped the braid and fumbled with the pins until it stayed. "I have no idea what I'm doing," he said sheepishly.

Ivy laughed. "Just so long as it stays up. Thank you!" She loved Kerrick like a brother. He felt like one, having lived in the castle for most of his life.

"I like your hair like that," Kerrick said.

Ivy turned back to her painting. "I'm trying to make it harder for the bandits. Loose, flowing hair is easier to grab."

Kerrick smiled. "They won't get near you. If they do, use that crutch of yours with no mercy."

"I will." Ivy grinned.

Coralina walked back into the ballroom through the archway. "Kerrick!" she cried in delight. He rushed off the stage and greeted her with a quick hug. "I can't be long. Just wanted to see you a few minutes."

"Great! Let's go outside, I have so much to tell you." Coralina wrapped her arm around Kerrick's waist and they left the throne room, leaving Ivy alone again. She shook her head. Now she imagined herself fending off the vicious bandit with her crutch, whacking nice big welts into his head. She wondered if she would ever be brave enough to do something like that.

"Ivy?" Her sister Lace walked into the room. "When you're done there, would you please come up to the sewing room? I want to finish fitting your party dress."

"I'll be up soon." Ivy smiled. It was time to stop thinking about bandits. And even about poor Roald. Her birth feast was only a few days away, and maybe, just maybe, she'd get that kiss from Prince Gavin.