She allowed herself, for a moment, to think of her future with Alfred. She pictured herself beside him, dressed in regal clothes, acting the part of a princess. Strangely, though, that very thought made her nervous. She wondered why the bats would return to her stomach so quickly…

And then she would be queen. With this realization, Sioni stopped walking. How could she, a girl from a tower who’d barely even experienced the outside world aside from this terrifying adventure, be queen? She unwound her hair from around her waist, where she had been wearing it as a belt since her walk alone through the forest. She unfastened the ribbon at the end of the braid, unfurled her hair, and let it hang to the ground. It was long, wavy from the braid. She caught a glimpse of herself in a shop window at the side of the street.

She didn’t look like a queen. She looked like a girl who could conquer the woods, a wild woman who had tamed a unicorn and escaped a witch, but not a lady.

She hurried to catch up with Ridda.