The village was quiet, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

All the more reason to hurry.

With the wooden yoke stretched across my shoulders, I rounded the corner of the blacksmith’s shop. The water buckets dangling from either end of the yoke swayed slightly as I made my way down the dirt path that served as Derryton’s main street. A handful of shops marched along either side of the road, their windows covered with wooden shutters still locked against the night.

Except for Horace Alderson’s dress shop. Its windows boasted real glass that glowed a soft purple in the predawn light. Before his eyesight grew too poor for sewing, Horace had been dressmaker to the ladies of King Hubert’s court. Clever as a fox, he’d returned home to Derryton, paid the ladies from Sausberg to ship him their outdated dresses, and sold last year’s fashions to country women desperate for a sample of city life.

Water sloshed in my buckets as I slowed before the big window. Inside the shop, headless mannequins displayed beautiful gowns in bold colors. The deep reds and vibrant blues were trimmed in fur, feathers, and rows of stones that looked like real rubies and diamonds even though Mama swore they were paste. It didn’t matter. The light set them twinkling all the same. They were probably breathtaking under chandeliers blazing with candlelight. My simple gray dress was a sharp contrast to the finery from Sausberg.

A sigh built in my chest as I studied my reflection in the glass. I looked the same as always. Green eyes. Wavy black hair scraped away from my face, although a few stubborn strands had already escaped the knot I’d pinned to the back of my head. My hand, draped over the curve of the yoke, was red from scrubbing the cottage’s floor with last night’s bathwater. Even if Mama and I had the money for a gown like the kind Horace Alderson sold, I had no place to wear it. I lowered my head, my gaze falling to the toes of my leather work boots. They were only a year old, and they’d been costly. But they were plain. Ordinary.

Why can’t I have something extraordinary?