Violet stood in the darkness of their back porch with a hooded cloak pulled tightly around her. It wasn’t frigid in the Tropical Kingdom at night, but it was cool enough to need the extra layer. She checked her pocket watch.Five minutes past midnight.
Disappointment doused her excitement. Roman had never agreed to meet her, but she’d hoped. Without his royal glamour, she’d never be able to pull this off becauseherglamour didn’t work on other fae. Violet told herself the fact that her plans were foiled caused her disappointment, not the fact that she wouldn’t get to see Roman outside of their weekly dinners. Yes, that must be it.
Violet thought back to her predicament. There had to be a way to make her plan work. She just needed to figure it out.
Roman materialized in front of her, and she jumped a foot in the air. His hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her scream. “It’s just me.”
The beating of her heart rivaled the speed of a hummingbird in flight. He dropped his hand and smirked. “You scared me half to death,” she whisper-yelled and shooed him down the back porch stairs. “We need to be quick. Glamour us both.”
He sighed and disappeared. “Done. Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?” She’d forgotten that she wouldn’t be able to see through his glamour even though it included her. Hearing empty air talk was strange.
“We’re going to the chicken pen in the palace farm,” she told him excitedly.
“Why are we going to the chicken pen?” Roman asked right as she bumped into the air in front of her.
Violet reached blindly until she felt a hard chest.Oh my.Quickly yanking her hand away, she tried not to look flustered. “We’re borrowing a few chickens.”
“Borrowingchickens?” His voice held an obvious note of skepticism.
“Yes.” She held out her hand, refusing to accidentally hit something she shouldn’t. “Take my hand so I know where you are.” His warm fingers wrapped around hers, and she dragged him toward the palace gates, stopping far enough away so as not to be heard by the guards. “We’re sneaking through the side gate.”
There were two entrances into the palace grounds: two large gates in the front for large groups of people, horses, and carriages, and a smaller barred door on the side for individuals on foot.
“How are we supposed to do that?” Roman sounded incredulous, and she wished she could see his face.
“You’re going to glamour the door to look closed while we walk through.”
“They’ll hear it,” he argued. “I can’t glamour sound.”
Violet dug into her pocket and pulled out a bottle of oil. “I’ll put this on the hinges, and we’ll go slow.”
He chuckled. “You’ve thought this through.” She grinned and nodded. The prince sighed. “Alright. Lead the way.”
At the gate, Violet carefully oiled the hinges, handle, and anything else she thought might make a sound, then glanced at the guard who stood sentry on the outside. As slowly as possible, Roman helped her open the gate and slip through. It was a miracle from the gods that her trick worked.
Their shoes made a slight noise as they tiptoed across the gravel and the guard looked around. Roman and Violet hurried down the path toward the palace farm, and once out of earshot, she squealed a little. “It worked!”
Roman appeared in front of her with a slight smile as he watched her hop up and down. “How are we going toborrowa few chickens? The guards will hear them when we take them through.”
Did he think she’d come unprepared? Violet dug into her other pocket and pulled out a bottle of liquid. “Night drops.”
He stared at her skirts with drawn brows before pointing at the bottle. “You’re going to drug them with a sleeping elixir?”
Violet tucked the bottle back into her pocket. “I thought you were braver than this.”
“This has nothing to do with bravery.” He waved his hand toward the farm behind them. “You’re drugging chickens and refuse to tell me why. This isinsanity.”
“We’re going to leave four of them in our school room.” She dug into another pocket and pulled out twine attached to a small potato sack. “I’m going to fill this with seed. We’ll rig the door so when it opens, the bag will dump out and the chickens will rush toward ourlovelyteacher.”
Roman stood, stunned, but before she could plead her case, he burst out laughing. It was her turn to cover his mouth. His body shook as she pressed harder to shut him up.
“You’re going to get us caught,” she hissed. Something wet and warm rubbed against her palm, and she yanked it back. “Did you lick me?”
His handsome smile lit up his entire face. “You’re something else, Violet Maekin.”
It sounded like a compliment, and she decided to take it as such. “We need to hurry, or we’ll be out here all night.”
Luckily, no one stood guard over the animals at night, and the farmhands didn’t arrive until dawn. They snuck through the pasture gate and hurried toward the chicken area. “How are you going to keep the bag from falling when we leave?” Roman asked suddenly.
