CHAPTER 1: THE GIRL WHO SAW THE PRINCE KILL
The prince was searching the entire kingdom for the girl who had lost a glass slipper.
My stepsister Anna had stolen mine.
She told everyone she was the mysterious woman who had danced with Prince Adrian at the royal ball.
She had no idea why I was so desperate to get it back.
Because Prince Adrian had killed a man that night.
And I was the only witness.
“Anna, please! Give me back my slipper!”
I fell to my knees and grabbed my stepsister's dress.
Anna yanked my hair backward.
“Pathetic little orphan. You actually thought a prince would choose someone like you?”
My stepmother and younger stepsister, Claire, dragged me toward the wine cellar.
I screamed and reached for the glittering glass slipper in Anna's hands.
“Don't take it outside! Please! You don't understand!”
Three days earlier, I had somehow awakened inside a twisted American version of Cinderella.
At first, I thought I had won the lottery.
A palace. A ball. A handsome prince.
Then I saw what Prince Adrian really was.
I had gotten lost in the palace gardens after midnight.
That was when I saw him standing over Chancellor William Graves.
Adrian held a sword in his hand.
The Chancellor was already dead.
Moonlight reflected from Adrian's calm face as he whispered:
“What a beautiful night.”
I hid behind a hedge, shaking so violently that the branches moved.
Adrian slowly turned toward me.
“Who's there?”
I ran.
Behind me, his footsteps echoed through the palace.
Then his voice came closer.
“Oh. The beautiful girl who danced with me tonight.”
I looked back.
He was smiling.
His sword was still stained.
I ran down the marble stairs and escaped into the darkness.
But somewhere near the palace gates, one of my glass slippers fell off.
The next morning, the kingdom announced that Chancellor Graves had been murdered by an unknown assassin.
And Prince Adrian announced something else.
He was looking for his true love.
Any woman whose foot fit the glass slipper would become his future princess.
Women across the kingdom went insane.
Anna found my remaining slipper that afternoon.
And now she was taking my place.
The cellar door slammed shut.
I heard the lock turn.
Above me, my stepmother's voice suddenly became sweet.
“Your Highness's royal investigator is here!”
Then a cold male voice answered.
“Every woman in this house must try the slipper.”
A few minutes later, I heard cheering.
Anna's foot fit perfectly.
They didn't know the truth.
The slipper was enchanted.
It would fit anyone the prince wanted to find.
And Anna had just volunteered herself.
CHAPTER 2: THE FALSE CINDERELLA
For two days, I remained trapped inside the cellar.
No food.
No sunlight.
Only silence.
Then, on the third night, I heard screaming upstairs.
Not Anna's voice.
Not my stepmother's.
The screams belonged to strangers.
Soldiers.
I climbed onto an old wine barrel and pressed my ear against the ceiling.
Someone was walking through the house.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Then the cellar door opened.
A man stood above me holding a lantern.
It was Royal Investigator Rhode.
“Come with me,” he said.