Chapter 76

Approaching the southern kingdom’s guarded border, the team hides in a covered wagon. Evie and Trystan’s new intimacy is evident, while Winnifred—Winnie—the Enchantress’s daughter, reluctantly takes up the wand and glass slippers needed to breach the barrier. Clare coaches Winnie, whose unstable magic briefly misfires, amusingly adorning Kingsley before steadying.

As Winnie fits the slippers, Evie draws out Winnie’s history: after the Enchantress’s arrest, they had moved south and accepted a commission meant as a “reversible” punishment. Winnie warns enchantments are unpredictable and reveals her intuition-like magic, unsettling the group with pointed insights. She eyes Alexander suspiciously, hinting he is “not all that he appears,” before a stumble triggers the wand to open the glowing barrier.

The wagon rolls into Lily Pad lands. At the gate, Arthur encounters Sir Allen and learns an execution is imminent. Arthur invents a healer’s pretext about dreadful smells from executing magical beings, convincing the guards to raise the gate and inspect a “wobbly wheel,” creating a window for the stowaways to slip past.

While knights busy themselves outside, Arthur signals, and the team darts from the wagon, rushes through a nearby door, and descends into a dark basement. Inside Lily Pad Castle, Kingsley—haunted by memories of a utopian facade—finally returns home, with the group poised to confront the royal court and the Enchantress’s fate.