The Wronged Princess - Book I (41 page)

Prince froze, locked in place, confusion rippling through him.

Where was Cinderella
?
Had they said her name
?
He scanned the perimeter of the crowd
. 
Arnald cast him a disgusted glance and stepped up to take his intended’s arm
. 
The grateful look she gave Arnald should have infuriated Prince
. 
Instead, h
e
found himself
vaguely aware of
a
noise resembling the
snorting huff of a bull
,
sounding
somewhere
behind
—o
ne
that had seen the red cape
and was not so amused
. 
The only thing missing was the stomp of its front hoof prior to
its deadly
gorge
. 

S
ilence filled the
great
hall
. 
T
he herald
emerged
,
snagging his abrupt attention
. 
That odd tingle in the air that Prince had to seen fit to refer to as the “fainting possibility tingle” hovered
in
the ambiance
. 

Staunch horn
s blared in the
marked
stillness
.
A wave of expectant drama swept the room
. 
Prince found himself caught up as sure and as fervent as the mass of onlookers
. 
The ballroom took on a
visionary
sharpness
Prince had not experienced since the night he’d danced in the arms of
one
beloved
mysterious princess
. 
The air fairly cackled in suppressed tension
. 
Candlelight bounced from
wood
wax
ed
and
shined to a radiant brilliance
. 
Not even a rustling of skirts sounded
. 
T
he
t
rumpets
pealed in c
all of royal splendor, the crow
d waited
in eager
anticipation
of
his pro
nouncement.

Th
e herald
shuffled
to the forefront
. 
He c
lick
ed
his heels and
fell in
to
a
deep
respectful
bow
. 
“
Lady
Cinderella,
”
he declared
. 
Prince thought his heart
had bound
from his
torso
to
hit the
wood
floor.

Startled by the reverberation,
his hand flew to his chest
. 
Non
. 
The thud was
there
—e
rratic, beating fiercely
. 
He
spun,
and was surprised
to find
a bevy of
servants
scurrying
over
to assist Hilda
. 
She lay flat on her round and
full-bodied
face
. 
He pushed away the twinge of guilt,
and
relief
,
that it was not he who had succumbed to the dead drop swoon
. 

A vibrating hush fell over the room
. 
His ears rung in the silence
. 
The sense of moving through molasses
blast
ed
him
full force
. 

And then he saw her
. 
His
mysterious princess. But hadn’t the herald said
Lady Cinderella
?
Glitter filled the air.

Rich dark hair
, just as he’d imagined,
amassed in artistic magnificence
encircled
by a tiara of blinking diamonds
sat
atop her head
. 
Mounds of full
ivory
skirts
and petticoats
fanned
soft
silk behind her in a
n elaborate
train
as she made the slowest foray down the highest of grand balustrades’ known to man
.

Abject fear
met his
eyes
as she
began
her
descent
, b
ut he recognized
something new
. 
S
teeled
determination
registered in the tilt of her chin, in the glint of her focus
. 
Shimmering sparkles
that
saturated the air
, dissipated, as if a veil were slowly being lifted
. 
For weeks he’d been seeing through a fog-filled vision.

Elation swept through him
. 
He’d found
his love
.

The s
atin gloves
that
covered her arms
left
just a small portion of exposed skin
making his fingers itch with the want of touch
. 
He stepped forth, and a slight change
altered
her demeanor from fear to uncertainty
. 

His eyes feasted on
the
solitary teardrop diamond resting
at the base of her throat
. 
Her pulse beat in an
irregular
rhythm—the only sign of her terror he could
discern
. 
Prince moved into
a predatory glide
, from whence he gleaned
her
flicker of hope
. 
He
dare not take his eyes from her
. 
S
he would surely disappear
if he did
. 
His gaze drifted down to her feet as she raised her dress so as not to trip with each methodical step.

Dainty
glass
slippers
. 

How could he not have known
Cinderella
was his lost love
?
The last of the
Arnald’s words seeped in the consciousness of his mind:
Mayhap she's hidden r
ight beneath your nose, cousin
. 
He
glanced
to the beauty of her face
. 
The only thing missing in her appearance were the cinders on her cheeks
. 
A tremulous smile tilted h
er lips
. 
His gait lengthened.

He was the blasted prince, and charming at that
. 
There would be no one
to
disappear
this eve.
Not this time
, he vowed
. 
But
’twas
relief
that
assailed him when
met her
eyes
. 
Her smile turned knowing
. 
She was on a mission and he was her goal.

He stepped up as she stepped down, one blissful step at a time until he
had her
wrapped
in his arms
, ne’er to escape again
.
Let the gossips say what they will.

His mysterious
p
rincess
was
home
at last
. 

Prince touched his lips to hers in a fated seal
. 
But not before she whispered
with sound confidence
, “What were you thinking, my prince—trying my slipper on every maiden in the
k
ingdom?”

Epilogue I

Cinderella caught the eye of her new husband and gave him a secret smile and a quick wink
. 
He winked back
. 
Happiness soared through her
. 
She would ne
’
er tire of looking at this charming man
. 
He held her heart in the strongest of spells.

Her fairy tale come true.

Bits and pieces of conversation seeped into Cinderella’s spinning head
. 
She listened absently as
Essie and Cill
bickered
over George Berkley’s
An Essay Toward A New Theory Of Vision
. 
Apparently, it questioned the objectivity of perception
. 
She
shook
her head
, smiling,
as they hotly debated how the perception by sight and distance, magnitude and situation of objects of—well, she was not quite certain
. 
She tried to
follow
,
as their voices escalated into an argument that considered
the
differences between sight and touch, and anything common between the two
. 
’
Twas
confusing at best
. 

Their closeness brought her nothing but joy.

Cinderella
tossed two sugars into
a cup of tea
, no cream,
for Essie
,
and handed it to her
. 
Then
poured
Pricilla’s
who drank hers black. She snuck one cube to Marcel who hid in her pocket. He nipped her finger in appreciation.

How different her life might have
turned out
had
Essie not had such a dainty foot
. 
S
he marveled in silence
at such a miracle
. 
How lucky to find
such
two extraordinary sisters that may never have materialized.

Not to mention, the expanded-shoe wardrobe
. 
Things really did happen for a reason
. 

Epilogue II

Prince gazed lovingly at his new bride w
hile she laughed affectionately
at Esmeralda and Pricilla
. 
Her velvety brown eyes were full of mischief and happiness
. 
The change in her was nothing short of miraculous, he thought, shaking his head in disbelief
. 
’Twas curious her slipping a lump of sugar in her pocket, but they had the rest of their lives for answers
.

How marriage plans with Esmeralda had gotten as far as they had could only be described as astonishing
. 
Trying the slipper on every maiden he’d found in the countryside had not been one of his better ideas, he conceded
. 
Though in retrospect, he’d not only gained a warm and loving wife, but an exceptional Land Manager in Pricilla with such pragmatic skills
. 
Her dry wit and direct manner worked wonders in handling the diverse and multifarious tenants throughout
Chalmers
. 
Who
could have known
?

The havoc she wreaked over Arnald was just added benefit.

And, a brilliant accountant proved invaluable in Esmeralda with her mathematics wizardry
. 
N
ot to mention her weather changing abilities should the need ever arise
. 
A snort of laughter escaped him, drawing all three sisters, Arnald and Alessandro’s quick attention
. 
Prince smothered his laugh behind a quick cough and offered a small apology.

In his travels and single-minded way, it had never occurred to him the shoe could or would fit someone other than his “mysterious princess.
”
He made a mental point to take the time think
to
through solutions more thoroughly in the future
. 
The idea was preposterous that a glass slipper
sh
ould only be made
to
measure one person in
an entire
k
ingdom
.