Page 50 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

“On your way home?” Oliver asked.

“On my wayhere.”

“I don’t understand. Why did you return? Is your attacker here?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! I’m not returning, I amhere now. Not for the first time, of course, because I’ve been here before—oh, dammit, you know what I mean!”

“I’m afraid we don’t.”

Rick’s brow furrowed and he exchanged a concerned look with Brendon. He stood and walked to the man’s side, ducking to avoid being smacked by those swinging arms. “Take a deep breath, Good Wizard, and explain slowly.”

“Itold you! We don’t havetime!”

“If there’s time for you to be vague, there’s time for you to take a seat, drink some water, and start from the beginning.”

The man glowered at him, bushy white eyebrows meeting in the middle. “Very well.” He sat in the chair Davina had offered him and snatched up a glass of water, tossing back half the contents before slamming it back on the table. “I received Prince Fitzroy’s letter and immediately knew something had gone wrong with the timeline.”

“What do you mean? What went wrong?” Rick asked.

“The quest!”

“What about the quest?”

“The fact they were planning one at all!”

Brendon cleared his throat, drawing the man’s attention to him. “Were they supposed to choose marriage over a quest?”

“Of course they were! I performed the marriages myself: Prince Treasure to Princess Angelica; Prince Maximus to Princess Genevieve; and Princess Delilah to Princess Gwendolyn.”

The twin princesses widened their eyes and exclaimed in unison, “I’m already engaged!”

“You are notsupposedtobe, don’t you understand? Someone interfered with the timeline. That same personattacked me, stole my robes and mybeard”—he seemed most offended by this point—“all to impersonate me!”

“Are you saying that you are not the Good Wizard who met with our children yesterday?” Julia Gloom demanded.

“Why would anyone go to such trouble to send our children on a quest?” Virgil Calamitous asked. “So long as they complete it, the Kingdom Defense Spell remains intact.” Then he paled with worry. “They will complete it, won’t they?”

“I don’t know!” the Good Wizard howled. “I don’t know this timeline! My past is unraveling. The future is a mystery. The world is unknown.” He rocked back and forth in his chair, muttering to himself, “Chaos, chaos, they have created chaos. Who knows what foul magic they will fuel with it?”

Rick wanted to race out the door immediately, but he needed more information. “Do you have any idea who attacked you?”

The Good Wizard continued mumbling and rocking as if he didn’t hear the question.

With no better ideas, Rick slapped the Good Wizard hard across the face. The man’s jowls wobbled from the impact.

The Good Wizard grabbed his cheek and scowled at Rick. “Why did you do that?”

“To snap you out of your cryptic muttering long enough to get a straight answer. Who attacked you? Was it an evil mage?” Rick could only think of one reason why someone would send their children on a quest: it was a trap.

“What? No, of course not. Evil mages cannot enter the Desolated Lands.”

“One bypassed the spell before.”

The wizard glowered at Rick. “Those were completely different circumstances.”

“Pretend they weren’t.”

The Good Wizard’s gaze grew distant. “To commit these acts, they would need to be evil, but to bypass the spell, their intentions need not be pure, only neutral …”