Page 66 of Desperately Yours

Positive vibes only, I had to believe this was possible.

I drew in an uneven breath and counted it down.

One… two…

As though I wanted to sneak attack myself, I pushed off the wall, swinging forward just enough to gain inertia. I kept my shoulder tight against the trim and twisted around the outcropping and toward the window.

“Hey! There’s someone up there!”

“They’re breaking into the palace!”

“Get the guard!”

The hinged windows were closed, but as my body slammed into them, they proved they weren’t locked. I fell into the room, rolling head over heels on the carpeted floor until I came to a stop in a heap.

Floor. I wanted to kiss it. Had I ever been so in love as I was with a solid surface under my feet? Gratitude swelled in myheart as I felt the sturdy strength of the dark-blue carpeted floor beneath my palms…

My breath caught.

This wasn’t my chambers.

Using my palms, I pushed myself to my feet. None of my stuff was in the room, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t familiar. I’d been in here before, but only a couple of times. Still, I knew Sadie’s room and recognized her things.

My eyes locked on the one thing that didn’t belong in Sadie’s room. Near the door, surrounded by two wedding dresses of the purest white, was my ball dress. The audacity! Hadn’t she taken enough? She was going to raid my closet as well?

Anger surged in my heart at what she’d put me through. Was it petty that I wanted to smash anything that belonged to her, just to get some kind of revenge?

I didn’t have time. I gripped my top and gave it a tug as if to make myself presentable. That was a laugh after what I’d been through. I was lucky all my limbs were still attached. Staying around to fix myself up or cause a little mayhem simply wasn’t in the schedule and I couldn’t afford to risk it. I needed to get to the ball to be sure Sadie didn’t make a little chaos of her own. She was small, but with her skills, she was mighty.

My mind caught on the thought. In reality, she was only as powerful as her elixirs and brews. If I had a few of my own, wouldn’t I be just as powerful against her?

I started searching the room for a trunk or a box, something that would hide her stash. Under the bed, in the nightstand, in the trinket box on the mantle, all a bust. I crossed my arms over my chest, frustrated to be so close and yet not. I noted the chair in the corner, strewn with dresses Sadie had worn recently. She didn’t even bother to clean them up. What kind of queen would she make? I frowned. At least my room was clean.

But that was the weird part. The rest of the room was clean. Only her clothes were out. I cast a glance at the armoire against the wall. I’d fit my entire wardrobe in the massive piece, and yet Sadie left her clothes out, not even bothering to hang them up.

Unable to shake my suspicion, I crossed the room and pulled back the doors on her armoire. Glass rattled within, and I understood why. Hundreds of bottles lined the shelves within the armoire. Small vials, much like the ones I’d seen in the tower, stood silently waiting like soldiers at attention. Sadie’s arsenal that was meant to take Nolcovia to their knees. Each row of colored liquid had a sign at the front.

Burn Remedy

Sleep Aid

Tranquilizer

Mood Enhancer

I continued to search for the label I could use against her. There had to be something that would…

My fingers locked around one that would change everything. It would cause more damage to Sadie than I could have hoped possible and if I dared use it, there would be no coming back.

Time had run out. I needed to put my plan in action. I closed the doors on the armoire and started for the hallway to hurry to my room where I could access the secret passageway. I made it almost all the way to the door before I glanced back at the dress I’d created with my own two hands. Could I really leave it here for her? But what was the alternative? Changing into it and bursting into the ballroom to declare my love for Fitz?

It actually sounded a lot better than my other plan.

A princess was only as valuable as her crown, but by another token, a foreign party crasher might only look as beautiful as her ball gown.

Michaela

Ikept the stolen goods clutched against the folds of my dress and dashed into the hall. Since I’d been spotted on the ledge, it was only a matter of time before the guards started swarming the hall. I dashed around the bend that separated my chamber door from Sadie’s. As I wrapped my grip around the latch, gratitude swelled in my heart that this wasn’t one of the times I’d snuck out and left the door locked.

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