‘So, my dad said there haven’t been any fairies in the kingdom for more than a hundred years,’ Joderick said, traipsing behind Brian as they scoured the marketplace. At each and every stall, Joderick was supposed to distract the stall owner while Brian searched for Cinders. So far they hadn’t found anything other than some interesting pyramid-shaped soaps, a pair of cufflinks made out of stardust and a strong telling-off from a man selling feelings.

‘A hundred years?’ Brian asked. ‘Well, that’s tosh, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t know,’ Joderick replied, struggling to keep up with her. ‘Is it?’

‘Cinders has been there in the last hundred years. Her mum was there in the last hundred years. I was there last week. I’m not sure your dad knows what he’s on about, you sweet idiot.’

Joderick beamed at the insult. He was so used to everyone sucking up to him all the time, it was quite a refreshing change to have someone call him an idiot. Not very nice perhaps, but for Joderick it was different.

‘I suspect he might be keeping secrets from me,’ Joderick admitted. ‘But I don’t think my dad would tell lies.’

Brian marched on, shaking her head.

‘Lots of people do things they know they shouldn’t because someone they trust told them to,’ she said. ‘Before you met Cinders, did you think all fairies were evil?’

Joderick thought about this for a moment. ‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘I did.’

‘And why did you think that?’

‘Because everyone says they are,’ Joderick reasoned.

‘And there you go,’ Brian replied, pausing to look underneath a golden violin stall. ‘What if everyone told your dad fairies were evil and that they hadn’t been in the kingdom for a hundred years? If he believed them and didn’t try to find out for himself, he wouldn’t know he was telling lies, would he?’

Joderick marched behind her with a furrowed brow. It was a lot to think about.

‘I found a map hidden in his desk, along with a painting of a lady,’ he told Brian, casting his eyes back and forth at all the magical, marvellous things for sale in the market. Glove puppets that could talk for themselves, strap-on wings that actually flew, a book that read itself out loud. He was finding it harder and harder to understand why his father and his grandfather had been so determined to keep magic out of their kingdom.

‘I don’t think he wanted me to find them,’ Joderick said.

‘I should say he didn’t,’ Brian agreed. ‘Most people don’t hide things they want other people to find, especially maps, and especially, especially paintings of ladies.’

‘And I think there could be other things he’s hiding from me,’ Joderick added.

‘And I think you’re not as green as you are cabbage-looking,’ Brian said with a smile that faded quickly from her face. ‘Oh, doodleflip, there’s that pesky goblin again.’

The prince looked round quickly to see the short man, this time wearing an even bigger and fancier hat than before.

‘That’s an awfully big bag of gold he’s carrying,’ he said, noticing a few stray coins spilling out of the top of the sack he carried over his shoulder. ‘Are all goblins as rich as him?’

‘No,’ Brian replied, squinting at the goblin to get a better look. ‘And, the last time I checked, he wasn’t remotely rich either. Something’s going on here.’

Joderick’s newly neon-green eyes lit up with excitement.

‘Shall we follow him?’ he suggested.

‘I think I know where he’s going,’ Brian said with a sigh. ‘But let’s keep our distance. I really don’t want to speak to him unless I have to. Honestly, he loves talking about himself and I don’t have the patience for it today.’

The prince nodded and followed close behind his new fairy friend with his skin blue, his hair silver and gold and his identity hidden in plain sight.