Who Gets My Billion-Dollar Slipper?

Chapter 2

Under the expectant gazes of the other three, I found the magic mirror, polished its surface, and asked, "Magic Mirror, who is the prince's true love?"

The mirror's dark surface gradually brightened. When the image finally came into focus, it showed the Hart residence.

Diana frowned. "The four of us are the only people living here. So it really is one of us!"

I asked, "Magic Mirror, can you show us exactly which person it is?"

Unfortunately, the glass went dark again. Apparently, that location was as specific as the mirror could be.

I said anxiously, "It seems his love really is one of us."

We looked at one another, seeing the same fear in every pair of eyes.

If we hadn't all retained our memories of the previous four lives, none of this would have made any sense.

Chloe trembled from head to toe. "If it really is one of us, why did he kill all four of us—and in such cruel ways?"

I drew a deep breath as the only possible way out suddenly came to me.

I looked at them with determination. "I may have to go to the castle and see the prince. Wait here for me."

With the other three watching in admiration and gratitude, I set out for the castle.

They didn't know that I was more bewildered than any of them.

The prince and I were still secret lovers.

He had confessed his feelings after the first night of the ball. Then he'd led me through a hidden passage in the castle, taken me to his chambers, and poured out his love for me.

Following the route I remembered, I easily found my way to his room.

When he saw me, he froze for an instant before his expression returned to normal. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

The prince's gentle face blurred into the terrifying image of the madman who had stabbed me to death in my previous life.

I clenched my hands, suppressed my fear, and stepped forward. "Am I the woman you want to marry?"

The prince paused. Something strange and unnatural flickered in his eyes. "We're in love. Don't you know how I feel about you?

"Of course I took the glass slipper to your family for the sake of my love."

Smiling, he pulled me close, slipped an arm around my shoulders, and held me intimately.

But I caught the loophole in his words.

He had said he intended to marry his love. He hadn't said his love was me.

My heart pounded, but I kept my smile. "Then who is your love?"

The prince abruptly fell silent and stared at me with flat, unreadable eyes. "How could you not know? Why would you even ask me that?"

I thought he would keep dodging the question, but then he said, "Who else could it be but you, Evelyn Hart?

"As long as you want it to be you, it will be you.

"Once you marry me tomorrow, I promise I'll make you happy."

His eyes overflowed with devotion, with no trace of anything else.

Ever since we had begun our relationship on the first night of the ball, he'd treated me wonderfully.

When he learned that my stepmother and stepsisters often bullied me and had seized my father's estate, the prince had been heartbroken on my behalf.

He held me close and kissed my hair. "I'll never let anyone mistreat you again."

The prince had given me jewels, diamonds, gold, and even deeds to land. He'd already prepared the royal decree that would grant me a title.

More astonishing still, such a noble prince even cooked for me.

I, too, had once believed that I was unquestionably the woman he wanted to marry.

But I had also watched his face twist with savagery as he roared and drove his sword into my heart.

"How dare you take her place and marry me? You aren't her!

"You're nothing but the daughter of a powerless earl. What makes you think you're worthy of me?

"Yes, we had a fling, but how dare you dream of replacing her and becoming my wife?"

I jolted back to the present. The prince cupped the back of my head and pressed a kiss to my lips.

It took all my strength not to shove him away.

Yet that single kiss made me think of a possibility so wild—and yet so perfectly logical—that it took my breath away.

I stared at him in disbelief. "Your love is—"

The prince didn't let me finish. He covered my mouth.