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E lowen stared at Ash sitting on Queen Grumhilda’s lap in the throne room. How had the trolls found him? Was this his idea of a distraction?

Ash’s golden head hung low, but as soon as he noticed Elowen watching him he perked up. Not enough to catch the queen’s attention, but enough to let Elowen know he saw her.

Someone shoved a bouquet of pink lilies into Elowen’s hands. She swallowed, her mouth dry, and focused her gaze on Vale and Cedar and Ash. Bagpipes squawked from some unseen corner. Trolls packed the room so tightly that there was barely an avenue down the center for her to walk. She took a few tentative steps, grasping the bouquet so firmly the stems bent. A few more steps, and she lifted the lilies closer to her face, trying to concentrate on their fragrance rather than the rancid trolls. The last steps, and she reached Vale’s side.

Cedar gave her a small smile. She tried to return it, but she still hid behind the flowers, so he probably didn’t see.

She had to get Cedar and Ash away from the queen.

“Do you like my new pet?” Queen Grumhilda said, stroking the goose’s golden back. “Imagine my excellent surprise when my huntsman found him in the forest outside my very own castle. He’s the source of the golden feathers.” She almost looked suspicious.

Elowen gripped the flowers harder.

Vale spoke up. “An excellent surprise for us to find the feathers so that you may find the goose. It is most fortuitous indeed that you now possess that which has already brought you much happiness.”

The queen’s expression started off confused, changed to thoughtful, and ended with satisfaction at Vale’s grand words and overall response.

“Yes, much happiness.” She stood with Ash in her arms. “And now to unsure your own happiness, let the wedding begin.”

Vale looked at Elowen, a strained smile on his face. A nearby female troll snatched the lilies from Elowen and turned her by the shoulders until she faced Vale.

Vale took Elowen’s hands and whispered, “This isn’t how I wanted—”

Queen Grumhilda’s voice drowned out his next words. “I am most honorable to be enjoying the marriage of Prince Vale and Lady Elowen. It is lovely for them to be willing to do whatever it takes to be together. I hope the new couple will live a happy life among my trolls for many years to come.”

Elowen swallowed hard, cringing at the thought of staying there any longer than necessary.

After stringing together a few sentences using grand words Elowen had never heard used in such ways, the queen ended the ceremony. “And now I enunciate you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Elowen frowned. Was that all? She hadn’t expected it to be over so soon. Actually, she hadn’t known what to expect from trolls. Before she left home, she never would have imagined trolls living in a castle, much less trolls performing a ceremony of any kind.

Vale wasted no time with getting things over with. Keeping his gaze locked on hers, he leaned down and kissed Elowen softly on the lips. Before she had a chance to look once more at Cedar or Ash, he led her down the aisle and out the doors.

Elowen’s head spun as the green-haired Athaga led them away. Afraid to be overheard, she whispered to Vale, “This is a disaster! It’s almost sunset. If Ash changes, he could injure Cedar, and that’s the last thing he wants!”

Vale stopped walking. He lifted her chin and kissed her, lingering longer than he had in the throne room.

Her head spun even more, but it was oddly reassuring.

He took advantage of their closeness and whispered into her ear. “Cedar is the handsome young lad in gold?”

She nodded, pleased that he recognized her brother. “I never expected him to be so close to the queen. We’re not ready. We have no plan.”

He squeezed her hand and continued walking. “We’ll think of something. We’ll be ready when the time comes.”

They arrived at a ballroom, where even more trolls waited. Queen Grumhilda was just settling into a grand chair at the end of the room. Did all castles have shortcuts? The room was small compared to the one in King Odolph’s castle, but the crowd of trolls made it appear smaller still.

Flowers adorned every space possible—the trolls must have brought in half the blossoms outside the castle. Four narrow windows allowed the moat stench to mingle with the floral scents and troll body odor already overwhelming the room. In the center of the ceiling, instead of a chandelier, hung a wicker cage holding a pixie. She sat despondently in the center of her prison, a trickle of pink pixie glitter sprinkling down onto the floor. When she spotted Elowen and Vale, she stood and grabbed the bars of the cage and stared at them.

Elowen felt sick to her stomach and added the pixie to her list of those to get safely away from the trolls. Thankfully, Cedar stood next to the queen and Ash sat in her lap, so at least they were within Elowen’s sights again.

Queen Grumhilda instructed Elowen and Vale to begin the dancing.

A bagpipe and a violin grated out a tune nothing like the one Elowen had danced to at her first ball, but Vale led her in the steps as expertly as if they danced to a proper orchestra. She wondered again where her plans to rescue Cedar alone would have gotten her.

A few trolls joined them on the dance floor, and Vale had to stay diligent to keep away from them as they faltered around the room. Elowen still had to concentrate too much on the steps to talk at the same time. She didn’t want to tip off the trolls that she wasn’t a real lady who’d danced at dozens of balls.

She tripped on the hem of the lime green gown. “They’re going to know I’m a fake.”

“Look around you,” Vale said. “You wouldn’t compare a swan to a chicken.”

“Yes, well, swans aren’t exactly graceful out of the water.”

The song screeched to an end, and the trolls wandered off to partake of the refreshments being laid out on a sideboard.

Elowen wanted to get closer to Cedar and Ash, but Queen Grumhilda motioned for her and Vale to join the next dance. They did so, both of them alternately eyeing the windows, where the sun dipped dangerously low, and the queen’s chair, where Cedar shifted on his feet and Ash glanced around as if looking for a quick exit.

Two more dances later, and Ash’s time as a goose was almost up. Elowen stopped counting steps in her head long enough to say, “What will we do when he changes? Cedar is too close, and there are too many trolls here!”

“Wait, look.” Vale glanced at the trolls milling around the refreshments and others clustered around the room. “Look at the trolls.”

She and Vale were almost alone on the dance floor. Some of the trolls leaned against the walls, grimacing and clutching their stomachs. Others looked pale and close to fainting. One made a gagging sound and ran from the room.

Queen Grumhilda leaned forward as if noticing something was wrong, but she didn’t call out in alarm.

“What’s going on?” Elowen said.

“They’ve eaten something disagreeable, I think,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Elowen remembered the mushrooms at breakfast. More of the same had been placed on the sideboard, and those plates were completely empty.

“Who knew trolls liked mushrooms so much?” Vale said.

“That was you?” Elowen wanted to laugh, but her stomach was still in knots. They weren’t out of danger, yet.

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt. This could be the distraction we need to get Ash out a window.”

Brilliant! “If you can get us close to the queen, I can snatch him and run.”

“No.”

“What? Why?”

“Your skirts are too bulky. Any troll could grab a handful and stop you in a second.”

Stupid lime green gown.

“You grab Ash and hand him to Cedar. Your brother is smaller and can run between the trolls better than either of us.”

She nodded in agreement. She didn’t like the plan, but she saw the logic in it. She would have to trust her brother.

“Get ready.” Vale danced them closer to the queen, and then a few things happened simultaneously.

As they reached the queen’s chair, the song ended and half a dozen trolls stomped from the room, groaning in pain. A particularly tall troll passed out on the dance floor, hitting his head on the pixie’s cage and dusting himself with pink glitter. Several lady trolls screamed in alarm.

Queen Grumhilda lumbered to her feet, and Ash seized his chance. He flapped his great golden goose wings and leaped from her arms.

“Guards!” the queen screeched. “Guards! My goose! Get my golden goose!”

Elowen ran forward and grabbed Ash. She rushed to Cedar’s side and thrust the goose into his arms. “This is Ash the dragon. You need to get him out the nearest window NOW. I’ll explain later.”

Cedar wrapped his arms around Ash, a panicked look in his eyes.

“You can do this. Go!”

Cedar ran.

“Elowen!” Ash called over Cedar’s shoulder.

Elowen ignored him. She had to trust both of them to do what needed to be done.

Vale lobbed plates and utensils from the sideboard at the queen’s bodyguards to keep them at bay. The queen hid behind her throne, peeking around the edge and screaming.

“Save my golden goose!” she yelled. “My precious gold!”

Cedar reached the window and threw Ash out into the dusky sky.

“Elowen!” Ash yelled as he fell. “Elowen! ELLE!”

His use of her nickname tugged at her heartstrings. What had she done?