The Wronged Princess - Book I (40 page)

Strings, horns, wind instruments and percussion pounded sounds of Mozart through the walls indicating a ball in full swing
,
interrupting her self-inflicted sarcasm
. 

“Follow my lead,” Pricilla instructed
. 
“We shall do things just as planned.
”
Cinderella marveled at Pricilla’s calm demeanor, shaking her head with the wonder.

Esmeralda nodded in
eager
agreement.
The lump in Cinderella’s throat constricted any sound forthcoming
. 
Their confidence in this debacle was astounding
. 
She felt like one of the statues in the gardens – Thanatos, Greek god of death, she decided, as an odd remote detachment took hold of her body
. 
Her silence
,
taken as concurrence
,
had Pricilla inclining her head—not unlike Queen Thomasine—to the waiting footmen.

The doors to the ballroom swung
wide. The music tapered
off
to a slow death
. 
There was naught for it now
. 
Cinderella prayed her shaking knees would
not succumb to the overwhelming fear gripping her
.

Pricilla paused at the top of the grandiose staircase just behind the herald.
Cinderella could make out the drop of the red flags as trumpets
that framed
each side of the doors were lowered after
a
resounding blast.

“Lady Pricill
a.
”
The herald’s
bellow filled the hushed hall
. 
A grim determination filled
Pricilla
’s eyes and she
stepped through the doors and out of sight
. 
If Cinderella could manage not to cast up her accounts, she knew she would
ever
believe Pricilla the bravest soul.

Cinderella heard her sharp gasp
. 
They were done for now
. 
She
closed her eyes waiting for the blast of accusations
. 
T
hey’d somehow been found out
. 
She knew it was too good to be so, she thought, breath held
. 
But
non
, that did not make sense, she reasoned
. 
She and Essie were
the ones
who’d traded gowns…and no one had seen them as yet
. 
Cinderella
opened her eyes to see Pricilla’s back
. 
She was surprised by a
series of muted oohs and ahs.

Cinderella’s attention snapped to with
the staid footman’s return
. 
O
ne last look of encouragement
met her
from
Essie
before Essie
handed him the
note
per
Pricilla instruct
ions
. 
B
rows beetled
,
he read
. 
His stoic expression
moved
from
her
Essie
. 
Cinderella’s
battle to stave off the fluttering apprehension was slowly losing ground
. 
They could surely not pull off this feat
. 

The scene took on a peculiar ménage.
She caught a
barely perceptual shrug
before
he
delivered their message to the herald
with nary a word or
glance
back
. 
Cinderella tightened her hold on
Essie’s
hand and met her furiously blinking
eyes
. 
T
he
slight updraft
was unmistakable
.

“Lady Esmeralda.
”
The
herald’s
bellow thundered through
out
the hall
,
bounding off the wooden surfaces.

The breath rushing from Essie simultaneously matched her own
. 
They’d made it through one more obstacle
. 
Essie
’s
reassuring squeeze
missed its mark
before
she disappeared
into oblivion leaving Cinderella
standing
alone with
her fears.

And hope.

*****

“Darling, you are pacing like a nervous cat
. 
Whatever could be troubling you?”

As if his dear
m
amán
did not know
. 
Prince was ready to howl at the moon. Her regal and calm manner did not help
. 
In fact, it only served to annoy him further.

“Come dear, the formal announcement shall be made soon and all will be well.
”
She pa
t
t
ed
his hand as if he were a toddler of two
. 
His gaze flitted round the ballroom, the panic threatening to consume him.

He’d like to know how she managed to remain so composed
. 
How
anyone
could remain so unruffled
. 
He supposed it was too late to toss himself onto the jagged rocks off the cliff from her hidden alcove
. 
Alas, the wi
ndow was too high, regardless.

The usual pleasure
he took in the stra
in
s of Mozart
pulverized
his reserve into the taut strings of a pianoforte
. 
He’d already suffered through several dances
. 
E
very effort
it took
Prince
to maintain
his
placid mask
. 
The wish for sudden silence overwhelmed him.

And then
—it did.

The music grinded to a halt, the bow
screeched across
a single violin string
,
scream
ing
its last agonizing note in perfect accord with his stilled breath
.

Prince found himself cursing that wish
he’d been so suddenly granted
. 
For with the silence came the end of
the
pursuit of his true love and the beginning of a new life with Ethelina
…a life without his mysterious and beautiful princess
. 
The room took on a curious opiate view
. 
Where he saw ten candles now appeared at twenty.
’
Twas
not one pair of eyes each patron sported but
quadrupled that
. 
By all that was divine, could the grounds not open up to save him?

Alas,
non
. 
As
the future king
, his fate was sealed.

He drew himself up and moved to his place beside
Mamán
,
Papá
and the monstrous Hilda
,
as was his expected due
. 
What else could he do but prepare for the inevitable
?

There
would be no
turning back now
. 
The ballroom
’s
dreamlike facet
became reality, his destiny, even as the champagne he’d sipped furled in his belly
. 
Flames in the hundreds of candles stretched into sharp points, the whispers poignant following the sudden hush
. 

The atmosphere leaden with heavy fragrance threatened to suffocate him
. 
But like their guests, his eyes moved to the doors at the top of the stairs, dread constricting his chest of breatha
ble air
. 
The doors swung open
;
the herald stepped forward
. 

“Lady Pricilla,” he bellowed.

Prince swallowed a large lump, the reprieve minimal
. 
It was only a matter of time,
non
?
He watched as Pricilla pushed forward
,
head held high, prepared for battle
. 
His eyes narrowed
. 
In his short time with the
se
sisters, he’d learned something from them
. 
And something was amiss
. 
He would stake his life on it
. 
Her transformation was breathtaking
,
he was forced to admit
. 

Her visible flinch had Prince wondering if she’d been suddenly burdened by Ershelda’s fluttering eye affliction, but she recovered quickly enough
. 
But h
e would swear she appeared surprised by his presence
—yet—
on closer inspection her gaze went past him to her
own
mother
. 

Truly, odd
. 
O
ther issues
crowded
his thoughts
. 
Concerns
of more import at the moment that had nausea roiling through him
. 
The sensation of swooning hovered
.

He watched her descent, adopting a facade
of detachment
.
She stepped forward, her hand outstretched
. 
His lips brushed her
fingers,
and for once he was
grateful for
Alessandro
’s attendance
as
he
escort
ed her aside
.

From his
peripheral vision
he
caught
Hilda frantically fanning herself, dabbing a proud tear
. 
His own
mamán
,
wore
a small frown.

In hindsight, he should have confirmed the kidnapping, or least
ways
, the choking from his cravat
. 
Mayhap,
Arnald’s remark
was said in jest
,
but the trepidation he
was experiencing
was
coming to culmination as the moment of the formal announcement loomed
. N
ot unlike the eye of a hurricane
. 
He squelched
a
wince from such an apropos correlation
. 

Cinderella would be next
. 
There was comfort in the thought of courage he would find in her soft dark eyes
. 
A sorry consolation, but consolation, nonetheless
. 
Sparkles colored the air as they so often did when she was about
. 
His lips tipped slightly
,
thinking of thick dark hair that refused to hold a fashionable curl
. 
The theatrical delivery on the Eros and his personification of love, she’d handed him when she wore the rags of a servant girl
. 
He stuffed the hysterics that threatened to burst through
. 
The thoughts were…traitorous
. 
Why could he not have considered Cinderella
?
His affection for her rivaled that of his mysterious princess
. 
A mysterious princess who seemed to have disappeared without a trace
. 
Dark brown eyes filled his inner vision, merging with that of…
non, non
.
’
Twas
impossible.

Prince
braced himself in rigid readiness, though fear clenched his insides as walls closed in
. 
Rather than convincing himself of wedded bliss, he focused on how entertaining
the
changing weather
could be
when
and if his bride might have some hand in the phenomenon
. 

Before his thoughts could run to more worrisome matters, his future bride had waltzed through the doors, head
also
held high, eyes
unblinking
. 
The sense of something awry barely pervaded him
. 
She looked beautiful
ensconced
in scores of deep emerald silks, threaded with shimmering gold.
The
enhanced brilliance of her copper locks
,
coiled in an elaborate coiffure
, was stunning
. 
She trained her gaze on him as if daring him to shake her composure, meeting his eyes in belligerent splendor
. 
A soft knowing smile touched her lips on her slow descent
.