The Decoy Princess Read Online Free PDF

smith’s for a new one for me? I’d be ever so grateful.”
    My voice was entirely reasonable, hiding my sudden flush of worry for what my mother would say if she found out. It had sounded like a good idea at the time, and it was my crown, drowned it all. I was tired of being told what I could and couldn’t do. One would think that being a princess meant making your own decisions, but I never got a say in anything, always bending to do what was proper, what was expected. And I was weary of it. My thoughts drifted to the picture of Garrett hanging in the receiving room. Oh, I was so weary of it.
    Heather stood with her hands on her hips, waiting. She wasn’t supposed to leave the grounds unchaperoned, and I’d have to sweeten the deal for her to risk it. “I’ll tell everyone you’re cloistered away sewing,” I offered, recalling her unending prattle this morning had been exclusively about her latest suitor, and how long it had been since she had seen him. Alone. In the spring air. Wink, wink. Nod, nod.
    Sigh, sigh.
    My shoulders slumped. If I couldn’t follow my desires, at least she could. And maybe she’d tell me about it in the morning. “Take as long as you want,” I added. “I can get out of my dress tonight by myself.”
    I couldn’t—at least not without hurting myself—but I knew I had won when a sound of anticipation slipped from her. “All night?” she questioned. “You won’t tell anyone I’m gone?”
    I nodded, relieved the price of Garrett’s knife wouldn’t be a lecture from my mother but an evening of sewing buttons back on my dress when I popped them off to get out of it tonight.
    “Oh, pig feathers, it’s a deal!” she said, licking her thumb and extending it. I did the same, and we pressed them together, sealing the bargain with spit as we had when we were giggling fools keeping secrets. Apparently not much had changed.
    She looked to the door, clearly eager to be gone. “I hear there’s a new fish in the solarium’s pond,”
    Heather said as she picked up the basket in which she had brought me my noon meal. “Very pretty. You should see it. All glittery with black and green…”
    Black and green. The same color as the uniforms of Garrett’s guards . I met her grin with my own. I would have been surprised had she not known where Garrett was.
    Standing by my door, her smile faltered. “You aren’t really going to force an introduction, are you?”
    Seeing her troubled brow, I shook my head, bowing yet again to what was expected of me instead of what I wanted. Chu, I was so weak of determination, it was pitiful. But to do more than steal a look at Garrett would be a severe breach of etiquette. “No,” I said. “Just look.”
    She gave me a satisfied nod and tugged open the door. Leaving it propped for me, she sashayed down the hallway with her empty basket on her arm, giving each sentry she passed a flirtatious hello, her mind obviously on—er—other things. I headed the other way, getting only cursory greetings until I turned the corner since most of the guards were watching Heather. All I had to do was get to the solarium before Kavenlow intervened. And he was gone for the day.
    Nervousness began to creep up my spine like a wolf spider, and I gathered up my skirts so I could move faster. The halls were bright with noon, and my father’s soldiers posted at the corners were wearing their best uniforms of gold and blue. They looked j unusually dapper. I gave each a nod as I passed, and got more than a few encouraging winks in return. We had grown up together, and I felt as if they were overly protective brothers. They I knew where I was headed, but only Kavenlow or my parents had the authority to stop me.
    Anticipation tingled to the tips of my toes when I found four guards at the door to the solarium. Two were unfamiliar, dressed in the well-appointed uniforms of black and green that I had seen in the streets.
    Lavish hats with drooping black feathers sat perched upon