“They must suspect by now that it was a setup,” Elle whispered into her phone. “I mean, you and the others were right there at the correct moment, ready to catch him. They can’t possibly think that was a coincidence.” It was Saturday morning, and after gathering all the breakfast dishes and cleaning the kitchen, she’d hurried up to the attic to answer a call she was expecting from Dex. They tried not to speak in specifics. No names or places. It wasn’t something Elle would have considered, but Dex was worried someone might be listening.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sure they must—Wait, why are you whispering?”

“I’m not whispering,” she whispered. “Just … talking quietly. I don’t want to disturb my family.”

“Oh. Okay. Anyway, yes,” he continued. “They probably suspect something. But if they want you badly enough, that won’t stop them from trying again. There’ll probably just be more of them next time.”

“Which means you need more people on your side as well.”

Dex sighed. “That isn’t possible. It’s just the three of us. Nobody else knows about this.”

“What if you tell—” She stopped, reminding herself about the ‘no specifics’ rule. “We need to talk in person again,” she said.

“Elle!” Meredith’s screech reached all the way up the stairs and through the closed attic door.

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” Elle said.

“Okay, I’ll text you about meeting up somewhere.”

Elle switched her phone off and shoved it beneath her mattress before hurrying downstairs. She rushed into Meredith’s bedroom, where Meredith was standing in front of her mirror in a plain, cream-colored dress. Sienna sat on the bed with a tablet in her hands. “Is everything okay?” Elle asked.

Without looking around at her, Meredith waved toward a wet patch on the carpet. “There’s a mess over there.”

“Oh. I see.”

Meredith met Elle’s gaze in the mirror and narrowed her eyes. “So you need to clean it up.”

“Yes, of course. What is it?”

“Jeez, it’s just water. The wind blew the curtain and knocked my glass over or something. Why does it matter what it is?”

“I’ll help you,” Sienna said before Elle could get herself into trouble by explaining that it was useful to know whether soap was needed or not. Sienna scooted to the edge of the bed. “It’ll be quick. I’ve perfected the sponge charm with—”

“Don’t,” Meredith snapped, spinning around and glaring at Sienna. “It’s Elle’s job to clean. Don’t waste your magic.”

“It’s fine,” Elle said to Sienna. She hurried to the kitchen and returned with a small towel. “Where’s the dressmaker?” she asked as she crouched down and pressed the towel against the carpet. “I thought I heard someone arrive a few minutes ago.”

“Ohmygosh, you are so behind the times,” Meredith said. “They don’t send actual people anymore to do measurements and quotes and things.”

“Well, some of them do,” Sienna corrected. “The ones who cost a lot. The ones who work for recognizable designer names. But we can barely afford the fee to get a quote from people like that, let alone an actual custom-made dress.”

“Yes, okay, but the people who send the magic sample dresses are just as good,” Meredith said. “And besides, all you’re getting is a ready-made, store-bought dress, so you don’t get to judge my dressmakers and their process.”

“Whatever,” Sienna said with a shrug.

“Is that a magic sample dress?” Elle asked, nodding at the dress Meredith was wearing. She refolded the towel and pressed it into the carpet again.

“Yes. And there’s this book that comes with it …” Meredith moved to her desk and lifted a large hardcover book into her arms. “You can select different styles.” She turned several pages before touching something, and her dress changed instantly from a simple sleeveless shift dress to a ballgown with a tight bodice and a huge poufy skirt. “Ooh! Cool, right? And then the second half of the book has all these fabric samples.” She flipped to where the paper pages became fabric pages of different colors. She touched one, and the stiff cream fabric became a softer glittery purple.

“That’s actually really pretty,” Sienna said begrudgingly.

“Yeah. So then I send my style choice and fabric choice back to the dressmaker—and the dress itself records all my measurements—and then the dressmaker sends a quote for how much the dress will cost. Easy peasy.”

“That is quite cool,” Elle admitted. The wet section of the carpet was now a barely visible damp patch, so she stood and balled the towel in her hands.

“It is. I guess you can stay if you want,” Meredith added imperiously. “I doubt you’ll ever get to experience something like this yourself. You may as well watch me.”

How generous of you, Elle thought. She looked at Sienna, who didn’t bother hiding her rolling eyes. Suppressing a smile, Elle asked, “Where’s your Mom? I thought she’d want to be here for this.”

“She was supposed to be back by now,” Meredith said, “but I guess her coffee date went on too long or something. She was meeting Mrs. What’s-Her-Face with the giant mole. You know how she can talk forever.”

“Yes,” Elle said with a nod, though she had no idea who Meredith was talking about.

“Is this everything?” Sienna asked, looking up from Meredith’s tablet. “All the articles you have about the prince? ’Cause this is a lot. I don’t know when you’re going to have time to read it all before the ball.”

“No, that’s just one of three folders. And what do you mean I won’t have time? I’ve read most of it already.”

“Oh. But … don’t you have college courses you’re supposed to be doing tons of reading for?”

“Yes, but obviously this is more important. What do you think of this style and color?” Meredith turned to the right and then the left, admiring her form-fitting ruby dress from all angles. Aside from a few small pieces of opaque fabric that covered the important bits, it was made mainly from sheer lace.

“Too sexy,” Sienna said immediately.

“No such thing,” Meredith answered.

“Yes there is. You don’t want to look like you’re wearing lingerie.”

“Don’t I?”

“No,” Sienna and Elle said at the same time.

“But I want to grab his attention. This might be the best way.”

Elle bit her lip. She and Sienna needed to prevent Meredith from grabbing the prince’s attention, but it was going to be difficult if she insisted on walking into the palace wearing little more than underwear.

“Why don’t you ask Mom when she gets home?” Sienna suggested.

“Obviously I’m going to ask Mom as well. Her opinion is way more important than yours.”

Sienna sighed and returned her attention to the tablet. Elle crossed the room and sat beside her on the bed. “So you’ve memorized all this random stuff?” Sienna asked. “His favorite color and hobbies and …” She brought the tablet closer to her face. “Is there seriously an article about how he likes his eggs cooked?”

“Yes. Medium poached. There are articles about everything, Sienna. Mostly from the past two years, ever since Prince Remy died and everyone started talking about Prince Chevalier instead. But one of my other folders has all the articles I could find from when he was younger.”

Elle leaned back on her hands and watched Sienna swiping through articles and photos. She remembered when the older prince had died. There’d been a huge show of mourning, but it wasn’t long before all the gossip turned to Prince Chevalier, the new heir to the throne.

“He’s only twenty-three,” Sienna said, zooming in on some smaller text. “Why is his father so desperate for him to marry? Surely he’s still got time.”

“No idea.” Meredith tapped her book and changed her dress style yet again. “It’s probably some royal thing we don’t know about. Thou shalt be married by age twenty-four or something.”

“Seriously? That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth, and you say a lot of stupid—”

“Sienna! If you’re going to be mean, then get out of my room.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Sienna swiped the screen again. “Why aren’t there any recent photos of him? I can’t find anything where he’s more than like … ten years old.”

“Quite a cute ten year old, though,” Elle added, leaning forward to get a look at the fair-haired boy.

“Oh my gosh, don’t you ever pay attention to any of the gossip?” Meredith asked.

“No,” Sienna said.

“It’s because of his illness. It’s bad luck to photograph fae who are seriously ill. It, like, condemns them to eternal sickness.”

Elle met Sienna’s gaze. Sienna rolled her eyes again, and Elle bit her lip to keep from laughing. Did Meredith honestly believe all the stupid things she said?

“That’s the main reason all my friends are so excited to go to this ball,” Meredith continued, swaying her hips and swishing her many-layered tulle skirt from side to side. “None of them think they’ll actually be chosen. They just want to see what Prince Chevalier looks like. I, however, don’t actually care. I just want to be a princess and live in a palace.”

Sienna opened her mouth, but the sound of the front door banging shut interrupted whatever she was going to say. “Must be your mom,” Elle said, standing up. Salvia wouldn’t be happy if she caught Elle ‘lazing about’ on Meredith’s bed. It would be better if she thought Elle was patiently waiting to serve one or both of her stepsisters.

“We’re in here!” Meredith shouted. “Come and see the magic sample dress they sent over from Darcy’s Delightful Dresses.”

“In a minute,” Salvia called back. Her footsteps moved past Meredith’s bedroom to her own. Several moments of quiet followed before those footsteps rushed back out. Salvia raced into Meredith’s room and stopped at the sight of Elle. Fury burned in her eyes. “Did you take it?”

Instinctively, Elle raised her hands. “No. What? I didn’t take anything.”

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Sienna asked.

“The wish is gone.”

“What?”

“The wish. I picked it up from Apollo’s yesterday afternoon, along with the authentication certificate. They offered me a price, and I told them I’d need to think about it. Sometime between last night and right now, the wish has gone missing from my bedroom.” Her eyes returned to Elle. “And since there’s no sign of a break-in—”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Elle said, her hands still raised in surrender. She almost added that Salvia could search the attic if she wanted to, but that would be a bad idea. She might find Elle’s hidden collection of Essence.

“It was me,” Meredith said quietly.

“What?” Salvia’s gaze snapped toward her favorite daughter.

With her eyes fixed on the floor, Meredith said, “You told me last night that the wish was real and they offered a decent amount of money for it. I knew you’d probably want to sell it instead of letting me use it, so I—I took it and made a wish.”

“You used it?” Salvia demanded.

Meredith finally raised her eyes and met her mother’s gaze. She set her jaw. “I did.”

Salvia took in a deep, shuddering breath. “What exactly did you wish for?”

“When the prince sees me, he’ll want to marry me.”

“That’s what you said? Those are the exact words you used?”

“Pretty much. I said, ‘I wish that when Prince Chevalier sees me, he’ll want to marry me.’”

Salvia sighed.

“What?” Meredith asked. “Don’t you think that’s good enough?”

“I suppose it might work,” Salvia said, “if a first-tier wish is strong enough to grant something like that.”

Meredith folded her arms. “What were you going to suggest then?”

“I was thinking that perhaps we scour the entire catalog of wishes and find something we know would work for a first-tier wish, and somehow use it to our advantage.”

“That’s ridiculous, Mom. The catalog is ginormous. There aren’t enough hours between now and the ball to read every entry in the first-tier wish section.”

“That’s probably true,” Sienna murmured.

“I didn’t ask you,” Salvia snapped. “And what are you doing in here?” she asked Elle.

“I—I was cleaning.” Elle pointed at the faint patch on the carpet. “Meredith asked me to.”

“Well, you can both leave now. Meredith and I have important work to do. Give me that,” she added, snatching the book from Meredith’s hands. “Let’s see if we can make this work.”

Elle left the room without having to be told twice. Sienna’s quiet footsteps followed closely behind her. “This is a disaster,” Sienna whispered as they reached the kitchen. “The wish thing. What if it works? I don’t want to be stuck in a palace for the rest of my life with a mother who abuses me. And I know she’ll have plenty of other things to keep her busy while living in a palace, but she’ll still be able to hurt us. I know she will.”

“I know.” Elle pushed her hand through her hair. “I mean, you’ll probably still have enough freedom that you could run away at some point, but loads of people will recognize you by then. It’ll be so much harder.”

“And you …” Sienna shook her head. “I don’t think the king treats slaves very well.”

“I’ll probably be chained up like an animal. It’ll be impossible to earn more Essence and buy a wish.”

Sienna pressed her hands over her face. When she lowered them, her eyes were red and rimmed with tears. “Okay, so what do we do? Meredith’s made this stupid wish now. We can’t undo that.”

“You just have to make sure the prince doesn’t see her. If he does, the wish might work.”

“It’s going to be almost impossible to keep her away from him.”

“I know. But you’ll have to do whatever it takes. Even if she hates you for it. Even if Salvia sees you and ends up punishing me because of your actions.”

“Elle …”

Elle gripped Sienna’s shoulders and stared determinedly into her eyes. “You can do this.”