Page 100 of Legacy of Glass
Chapter31
Olivia
Olivia floated through the corridors, her fingers tracing her tingling lips. Julius had kissed her!
They had been interrupted before words of love could be exchanged, but she had seen the truth in his eyes. Why had she doubted his feelings all this time? She had been too cautious of her own heart and had let that caution hold her back. But now there need be no more barriers between them and no need to break the betrothal.
She glided through the door to her suite, shutting it behind her. As expected, Mildred was back in her nest, still quivering with the stress of the last hour.
Olivia hurried over and flung her arms around the mouse’s neck. “Thank you, girl,” she breathed into her fur. “You saved me.”
Mildred squeaked, and Olivia let her go. “Sorry,” she said with a giggle, her joy and relief still overflowing. “That was too tight.”
Olivia wandered toward the middle of the room, wondering how long Julius’s parents would keep him. The situation with Zane was a complicated tangle, so it was possible it would take some time to sort out. But no matter how late it got, Olivia wouldn’t go to bed. She was confident that Julius would come looking for her when he was finished, regardless of how long he took.
Her eyes fell on a silver tray on the low table between the two sofas, a folded note resting on top of it. Her heart leaped, her mind racing straight to Julius. But a moment’s reflection was enough to realize it couldn’t be from him. It must have been left in her room earlier and overlooked when she discovered Zane searching her bedchamber.
The note didn’t take long to read, and only a few lines turned her idle curiosity into shocked horror. The swirling script tangled and shifted in front of her eyes. She had to be reading it wrong. Break their betrothal? Julius to marry Marigold? No! It was impossible.
Olivia collapsed onto the closest sofa and forced herself to read the note again, going more slowly this time. Every bit of her earlier joy soured, turning to jagged shards in her gut.
No matter how many times she reread it, the words were there in undeniable ink. The king and queen had released Olivia from her betrothal. There was to be another ball that very night. Julius was to marry Marigold after all.
But Marigold was no more likely to agree to such a scheme than Julius. There had to be some mistake.
Olivia leaped to her feet. She would find Julius immediately, and he would explain everything. Surely, it was all one big misunderstanding. That had to be it. She would?—
The door to her suite wouldn’t open. Olivia tried the handle again, rattling it loudly. When it still wouldn’t budge, she banged on the wood and called out. No one answered.
Olivia stepped back, her stomach surging and her breath catching. She had been locked in. There was no other explanation.
She looked down at the note again. The wordballstared back at her. There was to be a second ball, and this time the king and queen weren’t going to let Olivia interfere with it.
The soft tap of a knock made her startle.
“Is someone there?” she called, trying the door again.
Still locked.
The knock came again, but this time she realized it hadn’t come from the door in front of her. It had come from behind her.
Olivia spun around in confusion and stared at the window. A mass of fiery curls was pressed against the glass, visible despite the setting sun.
Stumbling, Olivia rushed to the window and wrenched it open.
“Help me in,” Marigold said between pants, reaching her hand toward Olivia.
Dazed, Olivia grasped her wrist and hauled her over the windowsill and into the room. Marigold collapsed on the ground in swirls of silk. She was wearing a full ballgown, her hair piled artfully on her head.
Olivia leaned through the open window and gaped at the distance below. “You climbed all the way from the ground on those vines?”
She pulled her head back into the room and shook her head at her friend. Apparently Marigold’s time in captivity had done little to curb her wild streak.
“Actually, I only had to climb from the floor below,” Marigold said. “It turns out my family’s apartment is directly below yours. My parents think they’ve cowed me into submission, so they let me retreat into my room alone to get dressed for the ball.”
“I just found this note.” Olivia thrust the paper at Marigold. “What is going on?”
Marigold read the note in grim silence before telling Olivia all about the scheme concocted by her parents and the king and queen.
