Life in the palace

Lylie had spent most of her life talking, but for once, she was speechless.

Well. Almost.

“You want me? To be your maid?” she repeated, blinking rapidly as if she had misheard. “Me? Lylie Foster? The girl who talks too much and doesn’t know when to shut up? The girl who got banned from the market for arguing over the price of potatoes? That girl?”

The princess’s lips twitched in amusement. “Yes, that girl.”

Lylie squinted. “Are you sure you don’t mean someone else? Maybe the other girl you bumped into on the way here? Someone more… dignified? Graceful? Quiet?”

“I don’t want someone quiet.”

Lylie huffed. “Well, good, because I don’t do quiet. Even in my sleep, apparently. My stepsisters say I talk to myself at night. I mean, I wouldn’t know since I’m asleep, but—”

The princess held up a hand, barely suppressing a laugh. “That’s exactly why I chose you.”

Lylie’s mouth opened, then closed. Then opened again. “Wait. I don’t understand. You like that I talk too much?”

“More than you know.” The princess smirked. “You are refreshingly honest. And I need honesty.”

Lylie frowned. “Honesty for what exactly? Because if you need someone to give you real opinions about those ridiculous puffy dresses nobility wears, then yes, I am your girl. But if this is some sort of trick, I—”

The princess rolled her eyes. “You are exhausting.”

“Trust me, I hear that a lot,” Lylie muttered, crossing her arms.

The princess studied her, then tilted her head. “So? Will you accept?”

Lylie’s mind raced. A job in the palace? Away from Malvin? Away from her stepmother and father?

She straightened, forcing herself to look serious. “Will I get paid?”

The princess arched a brow. “Obviously.”

“Will I get to eat palace food? Because let me tell you, I am tired of stale bread and whatever excuse for soup my stepmother makes.”

The princess chuckled. “Yes.”

“And please see to it that my mother gets a proper burial.”

“Done.”

Lylie gasped dramatically. “Oh my gods, I might actually cry.”

The princess laughed. “I take that as a yes?”

Lylie grinned. “Your Majesty, I would be a fool to say no.”

And just like that, she traded one kind of chaos for another.

Life in the Palace

Lylie quickly discovered that working in the palace was… an experience.

For one, it was huge. She had nearly gotten lost three times on her first day alone, and that was before she realized there was an entire west wing she hadn’t even seen yet.

For another, the other servants weren’t exactly welcoming.

“She talks too much,” one of the maids whispered as Lylie passed by.

“She’ll get herself in trouble,” another murmured.

Lylie huffed. “Oh please, I’ve been in trouble since birth. Trouble is basically my twin sister.”

The others stared at her, clearly unsure of what to do with her.

She didn’t mind. She had bigger problems—like the fact that Princess Ayanna was nothing like she expected.

Lylie had assumed a princess would be graceful, elegant, and impossibly sophisticated.

Instead, Ayanna was chaotic.

“Lylie, I need you to help me escape the palace for a bit,” Ayanna announced on her second day.

Lylie blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Escape. Leave. Flee. However you want to put it.”

Lylie put a hand on her hip. “Princess, I may be new here, but I’m pretty sure that’s against some kind of royal rule.”

Ayanna rolled her eyes. “Rules are meant to be broken.”

Lylie scoffed. “That’s what criminals say before they get arrested.”

The princess smirked. “Are you going to help me or not?”

Lylie exhaled loudly. “You are going to be the reason I get thrown in the dungeons, aren’t you?”

Ayanna winked. “Probably.”

Lylie groaned. “Fine. But if we get caught, you take the blame.”

And that was how she found herself sneaking the royal princess out of the palace before dawn.

If only she had known then that this was only the beginning.