The Wronged Princess - Book I (28 page)

“Just take those,”
Stepmamá
snapped
. 
“Cinderella will certainly have no need for slippers threaded with gold.”

“Truly
?
Should I?” she gushed
. 
Cinderella
stifled a giggle, picturing
Pricilla
’s
eyes
rolling
skyward
. 
Behind
Stepmamá
, of course.

“Something odd is going on,”
Stepmamá
reasoned
. 
If one could call
Stepmamá
reasonable.

“What do you mean,
Mamá
?” Pricilla was almost as good an actress as Essie
. 
Cinderella
had to cover her mouth
. 
Laughing
would ruin everything.

“Why is the queen so insistent to include Cinderella, do you suppose
?
She has taken an unusual interest in her.
”
Stepmamá
’s
bitterness could not be subdued
. 
An uncomfortable silence
hung in the air
.

Alarm tingled over Cinderella.

“My dear, Esmeralda, I cannot forget that it was you, my darling…”

“Shush,” Pricilla interrupted increasing the theatrics with a melodramatic beat
. 
“We must leave
. 
If you are correct in your assumptions regarding the queen…” she trailed off.

“
Oui.
O
ui
, of course,”
Stepmamá
agreed quickly
. 
“I shall take care of
her
later
. 
Right now we have a betrothal ball to prepare for.”

The breath rushed from Cinderella’s body
, relieved
as their voices faded from the chamber. She hesitated a few moments more before
crawling
from beneath the massive bed
. 

An effervescent glow blinked from
the room and slowly dissipated
. 
She had the strangest feeling…“Fairy godmother?”
she called, softly
. 
But, only silence greeted her.

T
he door
stood
slightly ajar
. 
She shook out her skirts, willed her pound
ing heart to a normal rhythm, certain she’d ne’er feel normal again
.

Cinderella spun in a slow circle
. 
Each
day it
became
more and more difficult to confess her
true identity to her
newly found sisters
. 
T
he secret she harbored
would devastate their tenuous relationship
. 
Once more she'd allowed a golden opportunity to pass for the coward she w
as, and, alas, there was no one to advise her
. 
Tears filled her eyes
. 

For certain, Essie and Pricilla would forever hate her.

Chapter
24

“Hurry along,
Cinde
,” Essie prodded
. 
“A carriage awaits our presence.”

“I am trying, but all my shoes seemed to have vanished.”

“Your
shoes
!
What could you have done with your shoes?
”

Essie’s exasperation was as annoying as the fact that all of her shoes had, in fact, dematerialized
. 
Were the three of them not, the prior day, using her shoes as a diversion for
Stepmamá
?

Cinderella backed her head from the inside of the armoire to assess her stepsisters
. 
Essie paced the chamber on the far side of the large bed, before dropping to peer beneath
. 
Pricilla stood before the door
,
arms folded across her chest,
leat
her slipper
tapping
impatiently
.
Neither struck her as the guilty party.

“Well, I
…I
can
not go without my slippers,” Cinderella informed them
,
hands fisted at her hips
. 
A small bile of panic rose in her throat.

“You
shall
borrow a pair of mine,” Pricilla said.

Oh, now that was rich, Cinderella wanted to shout
. 
Pricilla’s foot had not fit her glass shoe, but
raising
that little fact
could land her with a knot on her head
. 

Unfortunately
,
Essie could and shot Pricilla a look of pure disdain
. 
“You have forgotten how large your feet are, Cill.
”
Sparks lit Pricilla’s eyes and Cinderella suddenly feared the repercussions with
an acute dread
of the past.

“
Merci
, Pricilla
. 
We…we could try,” Cinderella squeaked
. 
Anything to dispel the sudden tension.

To Pricilla’s credit she turned on her heel to stride from the room thus avoiding
an
inevitable
explosion
. 
Cinderella darted after her, careful not to engage in the unladylike act of running, leaving Essie to follow at her leisure
. 
She
found it disconcerting to scurry along in the wide halls in her stocking feet
. 

Cinderella
prayed they encountered no one
. 
She
glanced over her shoulder to see
Essie had less care for decorum as she raced
forward to catch them.

“You cannot possibly wear her shoes,
Cinde
. 
They will be much too large for you,” she hissed.

“Perhaps, but
it
was quite ungracious of you to point out the fact in that manner,” Cinderella
retorted
. 
“Now she is furious and one of us will surely pay.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I shall handle the matter.”

“Like you just did
?
Sorry to disappoint you
,
but if I
must flop
round in
too-
large
of
shoes, I shall do so.
”
She took a deep breath
. 
“We’ve come so far, however tenuous.”

Essie crinkled her nose at the statement, but thankfully, let it slide
. 
“Where is
Mamá
, Cill?” Essie asked
. 
“We best not let her discover the three of us interacting
so
graciously.”

The statement had the desired effect
. 
Pricilla halted
so
abruptly in the middle of the wide hall
, Cinderella plowed into her backside
. 
She seemed not to notice
. 
“
Oui
.
Oui
, of course
.”

“What is it you
propose
we do now?”
Essie said, bumping into Cinderella.

F
unny how
she and
Essie
depended
on
Pricilla
’s fortitude
in
such
moment
s
. 
Her
natural leadership was infinitely clear
. 
It boggled one’s mind, but Cinderella was
more than
content to turn the entire matter over to the pragmatic Pricilla.

“I suggest one of us venture ahead ensuring she is no where round,” Pricilla said, her voice low.

“That is very wise
. 
I shall go,” Essie
volunteered
. 
“Wait here.
”
She shot forward, disappearing quickly
.

A sense of foreboding snaked down Cinderella’s spine as Pricilla turned to her with a contemplative air
. 
With careful circumspect Cinderella waited, wary
and watchful
.

“I seem to recall a statement uttered a few days past,”
Pricilla
said
. 
“One that has just
this moment
occurred to me.”

Cinderella clutched her skirt in tight fisted fingers, and listened for the scathing viciousness to which she was so accustomed
. 
But only guarded curiosity met her ears
. 
“What statement would that be?”

Pricilla tapped her chin with the tip of her forefinger before answering
. 
“That
you
had dainty feet too.”

Heat on her face,
Cinderella managed a nervous swallow
,
waiting to see where Pricilla meant to go with this thread of conversation.

“Wh
at, pray tell, should foster such a statement
?
I
do
believe the
comment
soared
straight
over Essie’s good senses.
”
Cinderella thought Pricilla said this more to herself.

“
Oui
…well, when my papá married and….and you and Essie…” She swallowed another lump
,
not quite sure how to express her words
. 
But Pricilla just stared, so she
had
to say something
. 
“When you and Essie moved in with Papá and I…she…she took possession of all my…my shoes…” Cinderella’s voice trailed. She shut her eyes because there was nothing more she could say
. 
She held her head high, waited for the crack of Pricilla’s hand across her cheek
. 
But after a long stretched silence when nothing happened she opened her eyes, to see Pricilla staring at her oddly.

“
Oui
, that is so, but we were all quite young
. 
I vow, i
t makes no sense.
”
Pricilla's shrewd and piercing gaze almost had her stumbling
a
confession but Essie hurried back round the corner
interrupting the moment
, the swish of her skirts
stealing
their attention.

“Come quickly,” she panted
. 
“
Mamá
was summoned by the queen so we must finish before she returns. There is no time to lose.
”

That set the three of them in motion.

Another lost moment, or a granted reprieve
?
Cinderella could not tell which. She could stand the agony not much longer, she realized, certain her health would fare better once she maintained a clear conscience. She took a calming breath to
still
already overwrought nerves.

Essie grabbed her hand and pulled her into a dead run, leaving Pricilla to scramble behind
. 
They made it to Essie and Pricilla's chamber without incident, and Pricilla darted to the large wardrobe and brought out a pair of leather half boots
. 

Cinderella barely contained her groan when she saw the size of them, but slipped them over her stocking-feet with nary a word
. 
They were huge.

Cinderella met Essie's eyes
,
begging her
silently,
to let it go
, but
Essie's compressed lips and furrowed brows promised otherwise
. 
"Cill
, y
our half boots are much too large
. 
Cinde
cannot possibly
stumble
round in those things
. 
Why, she might as well join the court jesters for
our evening
entertainment."