The Wronged Princess - Book I (31 page)

He let out a resigning sigh
. 
Non
, her consuming hatred of Cinderella stifled any union of that sort
. 
And, short of sudden death he
foresaw
no graceful way
from
the situation.

Two hours later, Prince
pounded his vexation on a fencing post, making great strides in his efforts
. 
“What am I to do about this betro
thal ball?” Prince posed to Arnald
. 
He
slammed the hammer on the post sending it
deeper
into the ground
. Each whack sealed
the debacle in which
found himself,
facilitating the complication
s
of
the most important decision
his life
. 
He could feel the moisture glistening
off his body, muscles rippling fiercely with each swing
. 
He welcomed the unseasonably brutal sun.

“You could stage your own siege,” Arnald suggested
. 
He hammered
away at another post several feet over.

“
’Tis
obvious I cannot marry the chit,”
Prince
continued
. 
The misery of
a future with Earline
threatened to unman him—a disaster of his own doing
. 

“Or your own kidnapping.”

“She is not
so
bad, I suppose
. 
And her eyes do
seem to
have lost some of their wind power,” he mused aloud
. 
But to marry her
when I love another
?
Non
. 
There
must
be another solution
. 
Ideally, he would have found his mysterious princess by this time, but each hour that passed pushed th
at
promise more hopelessly out of reach
. 

His lips tingled unexpectedly at the thought of touching them to Cinderella’s hand and he missed the post altogether with his next propulsion
. He
stumble
d
forward like a clumsy oxen
. 
With a forearm, he swiped the sweat from his brow
. 
Unfortunately, not the picture it brought to mind.

“That is because you do not make her nervous any longer,” Arnald pointed out ruthlessly
. 
“What about fainting again
?
That appeared to work well.”

Prince cast a glance over his shoulder to Arnald
, coming out of his reverie
. 
“Did you say something?”

*****

The hours moved into days and Cinderella was amazed to find how natural
her
relationship with Pricilla and Essie progressed
. 
To her absolute astonishment, if her opinion differed from one of the other two, then a word battle ensued before they were soon laughing it off
. 
Her meek behavior, though not completely absolved, was sure to be a thing of the past soon.

It was not perfect, of course
. 
She was the first to realize there was
much to the
past to be forgiven, but for the first time
in her life
she felt a connection, as if they were truly her sisters
. 
Most importantly, she was not destined to the isolated existence that seemed so prevalent just days before
. 
At least until they realized she was the mysterious princess
, she grimaced
. 
Then they would hate her for sure
. 

And Prince
?
Would he resent her
, as well,
for deceiving him
?
Would h
is family?

She swallowed tears
. 
’T
was
not the time
she’d
blubber
ed
like a fool.

Arm in arm with Essie, they made their way down the path toward the Eros pond
. 
For some reason Cinderella found comfort in
the silly statue’s
presence even if Essie was destined to marry the love of
Cinderella’s
life
. 
For certainly, Prince was he
. 
But at what sacrifice?

The sun beat down on her new
fashionable bonnet
,
forcing droplets of perspiration to gather
at
her nape
. 
They meandered slowly along waiting on Pricilla
. 
What could be keeping her?

"What on earth?" Essie sputtered, spinning
. 
Pricilla's footsteps pounded down the path
. 
"You sound like a herd of horses, Cill.
”

Pricilla’s
breath
s
came in short stilted gasps
as she pulled up grabbing Essie’s arm, bent at the waist
.

"You best take care, Pricilla, before you cause
Stepmamá
an apoplectic seizure
. 
Or yourself
. 
What is that contraption in your hands
?
And where in heaven's name did you find it?" Cinderella had a bad feeling.

“’Ti
s a silver stick, see?" She
rose slowly, and
held it out turning it at various angles
. 
It is the strangest thing."

"What do you mean?" Cinderella
dreaded the answer as a deep foreboding took hold
.

"It sort of quivers when I
tilt
it just so.
”
She demonstrated by grasping the slightly widened end.

"Mayhap it just looks like it quivers due to its sparkled and shiny exterior." Cinderella eyed it warily
. 
But sure enough, a small yet discernable tremor emanated from the skinny stick jiggling Pricilla’s fingertips.

"Quivers!" Essie snatched it from Pricilla's hand
. 
"Oh, my,"
Essie
breathed
. 

An odd shiver of apprehension snaked over Cinderella's skin
. 
"Where did it come from?
”
Cinderella whispered.

“It sort of just rolled in front of me.
”
Pricilla shrugged
. 
She shot a mischievous grin in their direction,
and plucked
it
back
from Essie
. 
“It feels almost…alive.”

"Rolled in front of you, where?" Essie demanded.

"In the castle, silly," she said rolling her eyes
. 
Under Essie's fierce scrutiny, Pricilla continued
. 
Cinderella thought it a brilliant tactic
. 
"In a portion that may not be so inhabited," she hedged.

"Not inhabited?" Cinderella squeaked
. 
She could feel the panic closing her throat.

"Cill, you know we are not supposed to explore that area!"

"Oh, please, Essie, who will know," Pricilla huffed
. 
Pricilla narrowed her eyes on Essie
. 
"Unless
you
take it upon yourself to say something, that is."

Cinderella had a notion they verged on the edge of blows—again
. 
Someone had to do something
. 
"For the sake of heaven,
both
of you!" Cinderella exploded
. 
"Do you hear yourselves
?
This constant bickering is…is embarrassing
, not to mention annoying
.
”
Two gaped expressions turned on Cinderella that had the heat flooding her face
. 
Eyes squeezed tight, she place both palms to her cheeks
. 
"Oh…oh, I'm sorry."

Silence filled the air, when finally Essie barked out a sharp laugh and threw her arms about her
. 
"Oh,
Cinde
. 
We truly are sisters, now.
”

Tears burned the back of her throat
. 
Cinderella opened her eyes to see Pricilla giving her smile one could only refer to as self-deprecating
. 

"
Oui
." Pricilla was concurring
?
"When one takes comfort in raising one's voice to another as you have,
Cinde
, it does appear the relationship has truly evolved.
”
To Cinderella's complete and utter astonishment Pricilla reached out to hug her too, poking her in the side with her shiny stick.

"Umph," Cinderella grunted
. 
"Um, Pricilla, your new stick is poking me."

"Oh,
je suis désolé
, sorry," she said, standing back
. 
"Interesting little thing, is it not?
”
She swished it through the air creating a soft whistle.

The most astonishing thing happened
. 

Blooms sprouted in a rainbow of colors
. 
From the tips of the tree limbs, throughout the fields for as far as the eye could see
. 
The air fairly choked with the convergence of overbearing sickly fragrances
. 

That sick feeling of dread she'd experienced over her skin spread to a chill down her spine as she spun in a slow circle gaping at the wonder of it all
. 
When Essie collapsed in a heap on the stone bench facing Eros hand covering her open mouth, Cinderella chanced a peek at Pricilla.

Her mouth hung open too but her gaze was stuck on the silver baton in her hand
. 
"What the—"

"Cill!" Essie snapped as she happened to be the first one to come to her senses
. 
Cinderella could not take it in
. 
Periwinkles, thistle, daisies, goldenrods, orange jewelweed
. 
They sprouted everywhere with no end in sight
. 
Kept sprouting, in fact
. 
"Make it stop, Cill."

"I…I don't know how."

Cinderella had never heard Pricilla in such panic—
and
she was the sensible one.

"Wave the blasted thing," Essie commanded.

“Oh, of course.
”
She did
. 
In the blink of an eye the flow
ers faded away, leaving behind
the scented atmosphere,
which appeared
somewhat bland in the aftermath
. 
Pricilla stood immobile appearing as stunned as Cinderella felt.

"What…what happened?" Pricilla's voice trembled.

Cinderella had yet to find her own voice
. 
She swallowed hard and could not seem to keep her eyes from the stick in Pricilla's fingers
. 
The thing positively exuded a shimmering
effervescent
glow.

"I do believe
its
magic," Essie said, awed.

Pricilla dropped on the bench beside her
. 
"I do believe you are right."

"How does it work?" Essie's curiosity spilled forth
. 

There would be no stopping her now, Cinderella realized
. 
A certain terror gripped her, yet she could not pinpoint an accounting.

"How the devil should I know," Pricilla said softly
. 
She was clearly still shocked, bewilderment touching her tone.

"Try something else," Essie said
. 
Her
shock had blazed past, straight through to excitement.

"I have no idea what I did in the first place."

"We need to put it back," Cinderella squeaked out.

"Do be serious,
Cinde
. 
Surely, you are not adverse to a little fun?
”
Essie said, her eyes riveted to the object
. 
It had her mesmerized
.