Once Upon a Marigold (20 page)

"Okay," Ed said. "About Queen Mab..."

People eager for the ribbon cutting thronged the riverside terrace of Swithbert's castle. As they milled around, they could talk about nothing but the changes of the past year—so many that it was hard to believe it had been only a year since they had gathered here for Marigold's weddings to Magnus and then to Christian.

On this day every person in attendance was wearing one of Marigold's fragrances, now in full production by the ladies of both kingdoms of Zandelphia and Beaurivage. Once she'd been able to leave the castle and explore the forest, she had found many species of exotic flowers that made her scents much
more complex and interesting. The demand for them was spreading throughout the known world—and adding revenues to both kingdoms' treasuries.

"Hello, Sir Magnus," Lady Buffleton said. "How are you? Your new manor house is about finished, I see."

"Yes, my lady," Magnus said. "I've been doing some of the work myself. I built a special room where I work on my maps—and some of them are pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself. I'm selling them to both Queen Mab and Tooth Troll Limited," he added proudly. "No one ever gets lost now." He handed her his card, designed with a little map of his estate. "I have p-mail, too," he said, pleased to be so modern.

All the local kingdoms were linked now by a p-mail system established by Christian—with the aid of Walter and Carrie and their offspring—who, now that he was King of Zandelphia, wanted easy communication with Swithbert, Ed, Tatiana and Willie, and a bunch of new friends, too.

"P-mail," Lady Buffleton mused, impressed by how relaxed and pleasant Sir Magnus was. Funny—she'd always thought of him as a nervous sort. Her unmarried daughter came to mind. Perhaps the two of them ... She was interrupted from her matchmaking thoughts by King Swithbert strolling by and greeting her. "Oh, Your Majesty," she said to him, "I must say, the new decorations to the castle are simply—well, they're absolutely, well..."

"Oh, I know," Swithbert said. "Not everybody thinks baby teeth make good building material, but it
is
my castle, and I think they look splendid. We've been able to pave over almost all of the north turret with them since Ed opened up his Tooth Troll operation. Ed's eight brothers are helping him—nepotism is a troll tradition, you know. Same as royalty. And having Ed living here has really livened up the place. He's a fierce snipsnapsnorum player. I owe him a fortune, which is remarkable since we both cheat. Excuse me, I have to talk to Marigold."

Marigold and her sisters had been admiring Calista's and Eve's newest Norfolk terrier puppies from their best litter yet. They thought its success had something to do with their improved states of mind since they found out that they didn't have to be queens of Zandelphia. The puppies were four fat furry bundles on silver leashes. They had rolled and tumbled and played so much that their leashes were tangled, and the sisters were down on their knees trying to unsnarl them.

"Are you almost ready, Marigold?" Swithbert asked.

"As soon as I get this pup freed," she said. "Ah, there." She stood, dusting off her skirt. "Is Christian ready?"

"Waiting at the river." Swithbert signaled to the trumpeter, who blew a loud
ta-ra ta-ra
that silenced the throng.

"Time for the ceremony to begin," Swithbert said. He led the way down the stairs, through the castle, out the front gates (where Rollo was back on duty again, quite chastened after a few months in the dungeon for misusing his authority against Christian and Ed, and then receiving a medal for helping recover the lost heir of Zandelphia), across the drawbridge, and around the side of the castle to the river's edge. There Christian stood waiting, admiring his creation.

Marigold slipped her hand into the crook of his arm. "It's beautiful," she whispered into his ear, the one in which he wore his diamond earring. "I'm so proud of you."

"It
does
look good, doesn't it?" he said, putting his hand over hers. "And I can't think of anyone I'd rather have christen it."

Across the river hung a splendid new bridge, which Christian had designed and helped build. He called it a suspension bridge, and its arc was so clean and graceful, it made you stop and stare and think of
things that weren't bridges at all, like eagles and courage and love.

As soon as all the people were assembled, Swithbert and Christian stood side by side and signaled for silence.

"Welcome to the Zandelphia-Beaurivage Bridge, linking our two kingdoms in friendship and commerce," Christian said. He didn't mention the ingenious devices that, in the event of an invasion, could make the bridge collapse, rendering it useless to enemies—and then restore it to its proper shape when the danger had passed. Survival depends upon acknowledging reality—and on keeping the necessary secrets.

Swithbert went on, "You're all invited to walk across the bridge to have a cool drink and sweetmeats at the cave-castle of King Christian and Queen Marigold of Zandelphia and then cross back over for feasting and entertainment at my castle in the beautiful, peaceful kingdom of Beaurivage. So, as soon as Marigold cuts the ribbon, let's go!"

Before an excited crowd (which included the blacksmith, who had been knighted for the outstanding deed of leaving the pieces of his failed flying machine stored in the dungeon, and Queen Mab, who was looking rather pushed out of shape, though quite
a bit better rested), Christian handed Marigold the sharp dirk he kept in his boot, and she severed the purple ribbon across the end of the bridge as neat as you please. Then she linked arms with her father on one side and her husband on the other, and they started across.

"This time last year," Swithbert said, "if anybody had told me that I'd be a widower having the time of my life, and that my precious Marigold would be queen of the kingdom next door—"

"And that her castle would be a magical crystal cave that made her feel as if she were living inside the stars," Marigold added, "and that she'd be married to her best friend and the love of her life—"

"And that he'd be a
king,
" Christian continued, "and someone whose inventions were in great demand, and that he'd be married to the queen of his heart, and be the happiest person in the world—"

"We'd have said that person was a lying lunatic!" they said in unison. Then they laughed all the way to the end of the bridge.

Once they reached Zandelphia, Christian and Marigold looked into each other's eyes. She said, "As long as we're with each other—"

"We know we're in exactly the right place," he finished.

The entrance to the cave had been fancied up, as befits a king's alternate residence, and a riverside terrace to match Swithbert's had been constructed next to the waterfall from which Christian had first seen Marigold. Of course, all Ed's collections had been moved into Swithbert's dungeons, so the cave didn't look quite as it had a year before. It was now more magnificent than ever, comfortably furnished and glittering extravagantly in the summer sunshine. The royalty taking tours of this alternate castle began to wish that they, too, had thought of living in a cave.

Marigold and Christian were already responsible for starting several other trends—such as watching the sunrise in their pj's (this one died out quickly as most royals didn't want to get up that early), eating vegetarian, wearing a single diamond earring, and using part of their residence as a home for unwanted children (this died out pretty fast, too, as most royals didn't really want to be bothered). Of course, for Christian and Marigold, these weren't trends at all—they were just the way the new king and queen of Zandelphia wanted to live their lives.

One trend Christian hoped would die out, at least with Marigold, were her awful jokes. Now that she could get out and about, she was hearing more of them, but they were all as bad as the ones she'd heard
from the stable boy. Although he had to admit that he rather liked one: What side of a dragon has the most scales? Why, the outside, of course.

The sun shone in golden spears and birds sang cantatas as the guests drank lemonade and ate larks' tongue pâté and honey tarts. Marigold and Christian and Swithbert stood together with Calista and Teddy, Eve and Harry, Tatiana and Willie, and their frisky and adorable assorted children, watching the guests pack away the free refreshments. Slightly off to one side, Ed stood with Wendolyn, the red-haired troll maiden. Her father had had a sudden change of heart regarding Ed when he learned about Tooth Troll Limited, and the fact that it was operated out of King Swithbert's castle, not to mention that Ed now had an ODD Medal. They were each as happy as they could ever remember being in their entire lives.

They couldn't know that the next day would bring news of a woman who, one year ago, had been fished out of the river many miles downstream, half drowned, wearing one bow-toed silvery shoe, clutching a sopping ferret, and suffering from amnesia. It seemed that she had recently regained her memory.

C
ARPE DIEM EVER AFTER.