The Stepsister Scheme

stare. “He’s a pigeon.”
    “They saved my life.”
    Talia shook her head. “I saved your life. They distracted your stepsister long enough for me to get here.”
    Danielle looked at the open door. “How did you—”
    “No time. Stay here with your birds, Princess. The guards will be here very soon.” She slammed the door behind her when she left.
    Danielle fought to keep from shaking as she climbed to her feet and peered out the window. Far below, Charlotte sprinted across the courtyard. She had dropped three stories from Danielle’s window, but she ran with only the slightest limp.
    Danielle inspected the pigeon’s wing. The bleeding didn’t look too serious, but she still fought the urge to seek out the king’s surgeon for help. Instead, she set him gently on the middle of the bed. For most of her life, her stepsisters and stepmother had kept her locked away. She refused to let Charlotte confine her now.
    “Thank you, my friend,” she whispered. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Wiping her face, she hurried out the door after Talia.

    Beams of golden sunlight illuminated the corridor as Danielle raced toward the stairs. Startled guardsmen lurched out of her way. One called out to her, but she ignored him.
    Up ahead, Talia had already disappeared down the staircase. Danielle grabbed the folds of her gown with her free hand and ran faster.
    By the time she reached the courtyard, Danielle’s heart was pounding in her chest and she had begun to sweat. Far ahead, Talia whirled, one hand slipping up her sleeve. Her expression changed to annoyance when she recognized Danielle.
    “I told you to wait, Princess,” Talia said, in a tone nobody had dared use to Danielle’s face since the wedding.
    “She’s my stepsister,” said Danielle, still running. “And I won’t have your death on my conscience. Go and tell the guards what’s happened.”
    Talia ran alongside Danielle. “I sent the guards to watch you . Which they’ve obviously failed to do.”
    Neither woman slowed. Danielle could see Charlotte pulling herself up on to the roof of the chapel. How she had climbed the stone walls, Danielle had no idea. Probably the same way she had survived the drop from Danielle’s bedchamber.
    Talia pulled ahead of Danielle as she sprinted through the garden, stooping once or twice to snatch something from the soil and earning a curse from one of the gardeners. Danielle did her best to keep up.
    The sun illuminated Charlotte’s form as she climbed to the peak of the chapel roof. Arms outstretched for balance, Charlotte walked toward the steeple.
    By now, several people had emerged from the chapel to point and stare. Two guardsmen rushed from the northwest tower.
    At the top of the steeple, a wooden cross decorated with silver towered over the chapel. The inlaid metal still gleamed, despite being almost twenty years old. Charlotte stretched one hand toward the cross. Danielle wasn’t sure what she hoped to accomplish. If she could pull herself up, she might be able to jump to the north wall of the castle, but the guards were already closing in. She would be trapped.
    Talia drew back one arm and hurled a round, green object toward Charlotte. Danielle saw another in Talia’s left hand, and recognized it as an unripe tomato. The first tomato caught Charlotte on the side of the head.
    Charlotte’s hand slipped from the cross. Her arms whirled as she tried to regain her balance. She started to fall, then leaped.
    “Charlotte!” Danielle shouted.
    Crenellated stonework rose to shoulder height on either side of the walkway atop the wall, making the jump even more difficult. Charlotte started to fall, and then it was as if the air itself gathered to lift her. Wind whipped her hair as she drew up her legs to land neatly in one of the gaps between the stones. She hopped down onto the walkway and turned back and forth. To Danielle’s eye, she appeared frightened.
    “Easy there, girl,” shouted one of the guards.
    Charlotte turned away, staring out at the sea below.
    Another guard approached from the northeast tower. “Nothing there but a long drop and a messy death on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, lass.”
    Danielle reached Talia in time to hear her mutter, “Sounds good to me.” Talia raised her second tomato.
    “Wait.” Raising her voice, Danielle called out, “Charlotte, they’ll kill you if you try to fight.”
    Charlotte began to laugh. She wiped her face on her sleeve, then spread her