Cursed Beauty (A Fairy Retelling #1) (9 page)

Adelaide put her arm around Celeste’s shoulder and leaned heavily on her stepmother as the two walked along the castle wall, slowly crossing the distance towards the great staircase leading to the back of the castle keep.

“How did you know I was out here?” Adelaide asked.

“When I saw Merelyn at the ball, I knew you probably weren’t far behind. I thought perhaps you had taken one of Thalia’s dresses, and attempted to come to the ball as well. When I couldn’t find you inside the castle, I guessed you must be outside. Why are you outside?”

“I wanted to speak to Prince Julian. He has been nothing but kind to me, and I’ve treated him abhorrently. I wanted to apologize, but when I wore the glass slippers last night, he didn’t recognize me.  I couldn’t very well tell him who I was. He told me things, while I was disguised. Why didn’t you tell me that he had stood by my bedside all night long, the night my father died? I didn’t know until the prince told me himself.”

Celeste answered candidly. “Why would I?”

“Don’t you think I would want to know that? Don’t you care?”

“You don’t seem to understand the depth of the condition of my heart, Adelaide. The truth is, I don’t care. Caring about your feelings is just another way of showing love.”

“If you don’t care, why are you helping me and Merelyn? Why bother at all?”

“It’s as simple as self-preservation, Adelaide. If we can persuade Merelyn to get us close enough to the witch, there may be a way to break the spell that has cursed me for so long.”

“You want to use my friend as bait?”

“I want my suffering to end.”

Adelaide and Celeste reached the base of the stairs. “Come on,” Celeste urged her. “We can do this. Together.”

There was sweat on Celeste’s brow. Bearing Adelaide’s weight had been no small feat, and now she was willing to help Adelaide mount the great staircase and ascend to the top. Adelaide put her foot out and hopped up. The sound of someone quickly descending caused her to pause. Prince Julian was quickly making his way down towards her. Merelyn must have found him.

“Miss Adelaide, you’re hurt,” he greeted her. “Please, sit and rest while I fetch someone who can help.”

“No, Your Highness, there’s no time. I’m sorry to intrude on the party, but I must find my friend, Merelyn. It’s gravely urgent. Have you seen her?”

Confusion rippled across his brow. “Yes, I just spoke with her. She said that you were in the garden waiting to speak with me. I must confess that I am confused.”

“Please, Julian, my friend’s life is at stake.”

The prince didn’t flinch at the familiar use of his name, though Adelaide blushed as soon as the words escaped her lips. She didn’t look away, though, as his steadied gaze took in the seriousness of her face. He regarded her for a moment, looking deep into her eyes. Adelaide wondered if he would believe her. She hadn’t given him any reason to, and yet, here he was. In one swift motion, he lifted her into his arms, and began ascending the stairs. “I think this might be quicker than watching you hobble your way up to the top,” he explained.

Adelaide flushed even more deeply, knowing her birthmark would be more than obvious once they reached the lighted rooms of the castle. She almost protested, but agreed silently that this was much quicker than her sad attempt to scale the staircase. In just seconds, they were at the top, and Julian marched towards the ball, Adelaide still securely in his arms.

She wanted to scream for him to stop. The humiliation of being carried into the ball with her birthmark flared red as blood across her face, was more than she thought she could bear. Julian, however, didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest. She decided to take strength from that.

They scanned the room, pushing their way through mingling guests and onto the dance floor. Merelyn was not there. “I see my brother, just across the room.” Julian said. “Leon hasn’t left your friend’s side all evening long, but I don’t think he’s with her now. Surely, he knows where she is though.”

Adelaide hoped so. Julian thrust his way through the crowd, marching towards the Elder Prince. “Leon, where is Merelyn?” he asked, finally making his way across the room.

Leon turned around and startled at the sight of Adelaide in his younger brother’s arms. “What is this, Julian?” he said. “What’s going on?”

Adelaide couldn’t help but compare his shock to the way he looked at her only the night before.
At least now I know how he truly sees me.
If yesterday Adelaide had doubted which brother she was falling in love with, this moment cinched it. One found her repulsive. The other was literally carrying her close to his heart. Her throat constricted with emotion, as she realized for the first time that she truly did love Julian. She did not dare believe for a moment, though, that he felt the same way.

“Leon, where is she?” the young prince demanded.

The Elder Prince tore his eyes from Adelaide’s marked face to answer his brother. “She just left a moment ago. That way,” he said pointing to the front doors of the castle. “She said she had to leave before midnight.”

The words had scarcely left his lips, when the midnight bells began to toll.

CHAPTER 9

Julian was glad to be in the kitchen, his arms elbow deep in dough and covered in flour. He had woken long before the sun had a chance to rise, though he doubted he had slept much at all. The strange events of the previous evening still weighed heavily on his mind. Pounding his fists against the rising bread dough helped him to think, and Mistress Gretyl didn’t seem to mind the help.

He almost hadn’t believed Merelyn when she first approached him and told him that Adelaide was waiting outside, hoping to speak with him. The last time he had spoken with the girl she had looked at him like a squashed bug she wished to wipe off her shoe. He couldn’t imagine what she might want to say to him, unless it was to tell him off. He had deserved it though.

Giving her the invitation to the ball had been pretentious of him. He’d realized that fully the night before when visitors from all over the countryside and neighboring kingdoms came decked in their finery. Though her father had served the king for many years, it was unlikely that she would have the means, or the reason, to possess clothing that would help her to fit in. No doubt his invitation only punctuated that fact, and served to make her feel even more out of place. Julian was mentally kicking himself as he left the ball to find Adelaide and apologize for his thoughtlessness.

Seeing her hobbling up the stairs, clearly in pain, wasn’t what he expected. Nor was the way she looked at him when she asked for his help. There was no anger, just a pleading for him to understand. She said Merelyn was in trouble, but there was a look in her eye made him feel that a connection had arisen, one which previously had not existed. He wanted to ask her more, but according to Adelaide, time was of the essence.

They had not been fast enough, though. Merelyn was gone. Julian carried Adelaide through the crowded room to the entrance of the ball, her stepmother trailing closely behind. Merelyn was nowhere to be found. “The slippers,” Adelaide said. “They’ve taken her.”

Merelyn had been wearing glass slippers, just as Leidy, the beautiful young girl with red hair had been wearing the night before. Hair like fire, just like Adelaide’s. Julian stared intently at her face. Adelaide held his gaze. Those eyes, like golden honey. He’d seen them the night before. Impossibilities clicked into place, incredulous as they seemed. “Adelaide? Or should I call you Leidy?” he asked.

“Both,” she whispered.

“Perhaps you might want to explain a few things?”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I suppose I do.”

Julian summoned for a carriage, and bound her ankle as it carried them down through the streets of town. She told him the strange tale of an old woman and a pair of magical glass slippers. Celeste was there also, relaying her part in the tale as well.

When the story was done, they sat staring at each other. “I need to get to Merelyn,” Adelaide said.

“No, it’s too dangerous. If that witch is still there, you’ll be in danger as well. Who knows the extent of her powers? I can’t allow her to hurt you.” the prince said.

“Please. It’s after midnight. If what Celeste has told us is true, and Merelyn is doomed to a similar fate, then it’s my fault. I gave her the glass slippers. It was I who persuaded her to wear them. I am responsible.”

“No,” said softly. “You were deceived. You cannot be faulted for that.”

She caught his hand in hers. His heart beat increased a little faster. “Julian,” she said his name. “Please.”

He couldn’t bear the desperation in her voice. “Alright, but only if I come as well. If Merelyn has changed, there is no telling what she might do. She may have gone mad with hatred, and she may blame you.”

Adelaide agreed, and the Prince relayed a new destination to the driver. The journey was short.  Merelyn’s home was in the center of the village, and they reached it quickly. Adelaide tried to walk, but the pain was still excruciating. Julian put his arm around Adelaide’s waist, and her arm around his shoulders. He felt the warmth of her body so close to his, and found it difficult to concentrate on the task ahead.

Merelyn’s home was completely dark. How much time had passed so far since the midnight bells had chimed? Thirty minutes? More? “We should check the back,” Celeste suggested. They walked through the narrow alley to back of the home and found Merelyn there, sitting alone on the ground. She was rocking back and forth with her arms wrapped around her as if she were trying to physically keep herself from falling apart.

“Merelyn!” Adelaide called her friend’s name with relief, but Merelyn did not answer, look up, or stir in any way other than to continue rocking back and forth. Adelaide called her name again. Merelyn did not respond. She seemed lost within herself.

Adelaide sat down beside her friend, and held her, rocking back and forth together in silence. Julian awoke Merelyn’s parents and told them what the witch had done. Adelaide couldn’t bear their looks of despair. Would their daughter ever be the same?

As soon as Adelaide entered the carriage for the ride home, the weight of her friend’s fate pressed down, suffocating her. She couldn’t stop the steady stream of tears running down her face, nor did she really want to. Celeste looked as distraught as Adelaide felt, but could offer no comfort. Julian pulled her into his arms, making soothing noises as he stroked her hair.

“It’s alright. It’s going to be alright.”

Adelaide knew that wasn’t true, but didn’t have the strength left to argue.

* * * * *

“You do realize that we want that bread to rise when you’re done punishing it, don’t you?”

Mistress Gretyl’s rough voice retrieved Julian from his memories of the night before. He pulled his fists out of the mounds of sticky dough. “My apologies Mistress.”

“Is something vexing you boy?” His silence affirmed the cook’s guess. “Well, then,” she said, “punch away.”

Julian did so. Gladly.

Adelaide didn’t remember falling asleep. She hadn’t thought it would be possible to do so with so much anguish in her heart. Merelyn was trapped in a shell of her former self, and it was her fault.

When they arrived home, Adelaide couldn’t bear to sleep, or even sit in her room alone. She decided to stay in the kitchen, where memories of Merelyn were clearly everywhere. Sometime during the night, she finally cried herself to sleep in front of the fire. She awoke covered in cinders.

Adelaide stretched out her legs, and pulled her body against the kinks in her back caused by sleeping on the cold, hard floor. Though her ankle was still sore and swollen, she was able to walk on it. She staggered over to her bedroom door. She stepped one foot in the room, and stopped cold. In the middle of the floor sat a pair of shimmering, glass slippers.

Fear seized her heart. Her head whipped around, scanning the room for the witch, but it was empty. The old woman was nowhere to be found, but Adelaide knew she wasn’t free. Those shoes were for her. She slumped to the floor.

It was some time before she could stand again. Being stalked by a witch put a vice grip on her heart. Adelaide found, though, that her fear was giving way to something stronger. Anger.

She wrapped the glass slippers in a cloth, tied the ends tight, and carried the bundle outside. She tossed the pack on top of an old tree stump, and picked up her father’s maul. It was heavy, used only for splitting wood, but it would probably work fine for crushing glass slippers into sand.

Pulling deep from the anger inside her, she lifted the maul above her head, roared a deep cry of pain and brought the maul slamming down on the bundle. Again and again, she chopped at the slippers, yelling and cursing as the maul slammed against the chopping block.

The exertion of shattering the slippers into tiny shards finally took its toll. Beads of sweat rolled down her brow, and into her eyes. She wiped them away, dropped the maul to the ground, and began to carefully untie the cloth. The last thing she wanted was to cut her hands on a splinter of magical glass.

It loosened, and she opened the bundle. Inside were two, magical glass slippers, completely unharmed and intact.