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CHAPTER 24
~Rose's POV~
I was still smiling when I reached the top of the stairs.
The kind of smile that curled slowly, sweetly, like poison slipping into tea. One I'd learned from her.
Every word Mother had whispered earlier replayed in my mind like a wicked lullaby.
"Start weak. Look ill, pale. Faint a little in the hallway, and collapse in front of the right people. And if that doesn't draw their concern? Escalate it. Fall down the stairs if you must."
I'd left the house this morning on fire with satisfaction. Spring wouldn't know what hit her. The pepper-laced powder, the uniform soaked in her humiliation—I'd even scented it faintly with rose oil to hide the scent.
Everything had been set just right. All she had to do was be her usual, stupid, goody self and slip right into the trap.
And then poof—red eyes, stinging face, sudden screams, maybe even fainting in the hallway, hahhaa.
It was the perfect birthday present.
