Charm (A Cinderella reverse fairytale) (Reverse Fairytales Book 1)

by J. A. Armitage

“What?” Elise’s voice rose considerably again, causing the three of us to check around us to see if we were being overheard. The closest guard didn’t even look in our direction. She lowered her voice back to a whisper. “You know who did that?”

  “No. He didn’t do it. My father is using him as a scapegoat because he was nearby at the time, but he didn’t do it.”

  “Who is he?”

  “His name is Cynder, and up until the night of the ball, he washed the dishes in the kitchen at the palace.”

  “You are in love with a guy who cleans dishes?”

  “He’s so much more than that,” I replied defensively.

  “No. I love it! You are in love. I am in love. It’s utterly wonderful. I can’t believe my big sister has found someone too. I bet he’s amazing.”

  I always admired her innocent optimism and joy of all things, not to mention, only seeing the good in the situation and being able to block out the bad stuff.

  “He’s on the run, Elise. He’s being hunted for a crime he didn’t commit, and when the police find him, they’ll kill him without a trial. In the meantime, I publically have to choose between three men, one of which is your boyfriend, and privately, I’m being forced to pick the one I like the least.”

  “Oh,” her face dropped when she thought of the implications of it all. Her fairytale happiness was not shared by me.

  “Can’t we speak to Father and tell him? I’m sure he’d listen. He was great when he found out about Leo and I.”

  “No!” cried out Leo and I at the same time.

  “The king was fine with us because it fit in with his plans,” he explained. “If he wants Charmaine to marry Xavier, having me out of the running helped his cause, and as long as we are discrete and don’t let it slip to the press, our being together won’t be a problem. You are right, Charmaine. Something is going on, and we need to find out what. Maybe then, we can begin to help the Magi fight back against oppression, and maybe we can help your boyfriend too.”

  It’s funny how my heart soared at hearing someone calling Cynder my boyfriend. In a way, I guess he was the closest thing I’d ever had to one.

  “If I tell you something, I need to be able to trust you.”

  Leo smiled. “I think we are a little past that point, don’t you? Don’t worry. Whatever it is, we will keep your secret.”

  “Cynder is in town. I need to see him. I was hoping you’d let me come with you tonight when you go out to feed the Magi.”

  I could see a light bulb go on in Leo’s mind “So that’s where you went last time. I did wonder.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry. It was the only way I could think to get out of the palace.”

  “Elise has been going with me over the past couple of nights, but the more, the merrier.”

  “Actually, I think it would be better if just the two of us go.”

  “I can do this!” said Elise indignantly.

  “I know you can, but we are being watched. If father thought it was you going out with Leo, he’d not ask any questions. I was hoping to wear your clothes and pretend to be you. That way if he sees me, he won’t question it.”

  “Why would he question it? You’ve been out with Leo before.”

  “Things have changed.”

  “I agree,” said Leo. “Besides. I was beginning to think it’s unsafe myself. When I started going out to feed the Magi, I held back that it was the Magi I was feeding. I told people it was the homeless. In the last month or so, I’ve seen an increased police presence. They’ve let me go about my business for now, but I’m sure that won’t be the case forever.”

  “So you’ll take me with you tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  That night, Elise gave me some of her clothes. She dressed much more girly than me, so with a hoodie on over the top of a cute dress, I could easily pass for her. She gave me a quick hug before I left and promised to lock my bedroom door behind me. That way, if anyone came to find me, they’d assume I was in bed.

  The journey out of the palace was unhindered, and as before, the guards at the end of the staff driveway let us out without question. Leo agreed to help me get to Cynder before going out into the community with the food, but when we got to the street with Cynder’s house on it, there was a policeman there, just a few feet away from Cynder’s door.

  “What now?” I whispered in a panic.

  “He is just on duty. It’s a coincidence that he’s by Cynder’s house. If he thought Cynder was there, he wouldn’t be looking so casual. I’ll go and distract him so you can get into the house.”

  “Thanks.”

  I stayed in the shadows as Leo approached the policeman. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was enough to make the policeman follow him, leaving the coast clear for me. I ran to the house and bounded up the stairs to the top floor where Cynder was waiting for me with open arms.

  “Quick. Come through.”

  I followed him through the hidden doorway and up to his apartment. When he stepped out of the shadows, I gasped. His face was covered in bruises. Some were old and had yellowed, but a bruise and cut around his right eye were fresh.

  “What happened?”

  “The police found me up north. I was put in a cell and beaten. I thought they’d kill me, but they starved me and beat me instead. I’ve been there for weeks. Last week, one of the guards didn’t lock the door properly, and I escaped. I came straight here. A friend of mine put that ad in the paper. I had to see you.”

  I kissed him then, but he winced. His face was so swollen that I’d hurt him.

  “I don’t have any ice for the swelling. I have food. Here.”

  I passed him all I’d managed to take from the kitchens. He took it gratefully and began to rip chunks out of the bread. It was such a contrast to the last time I saw him where he cooked me dinner. He looked so thin.

  “When was the last time you ate?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied between mouthfuls. “Two, three days ago.”

  I sat beside him and waited for him to eat his fill. In my mind, I’d imagined a romantic night filled with a delicious meal and candles. I’d skipped dinner especially, but seeing him so hungry made me realize that things had changed for him too. He needed the food more than I did. I took a couple of the raw eggs from the bag, and for the first time in my life, I cooked a meal. I chopped some peppers and tomatoes the way I’d seen him do and added some salt and pepper I found in a cupboard. Then I added the whole lot to a frying pan and along with some eggs, made an omelet. It ended up more like fried, mushed eggs, but it smelled nice. I placed it on a plate and handed it to him along with a knife and fork.

  He put down the loaf of bread he was chomping on and tucked in.

  “I’m sorry, it’s not very good.”

  “It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted in my life,” he replied, his mouth full.

  Seeing him in the state he was in was breaking my heart, and yet, just being near him filled me in a way nothing else could. It was the strangest feeling, a feeling of happiness and sadness rolled together. I also felt inadequate. I’d given him a plate of runny eggs, and in doing that, in just being here, I was probably risking his life.

  It reminded me why he’d left in the first place.

  “Why did you come back? There is a policeman outside your door.”

  “I needed to see you.”

  “But you could get caught. You could get killed. It’s not safe here, so close to the palace.”

  “It’s not safe anywhere anymore. Anti-magic feeling has pervaded throughout the kingdom. I saw them forcing Magi out of their homes in the north. They were burning their houses down and forcing them to take the dangerous trek through the mountains to the next kingdom. I’ve heard from a few sources that it’s the same in the south. We are effectively being driven from the land.”

  “That can’t be true. The south has loads of communities of Magi. My maid went to live with her aunt and uncle there.”

  “You
r maid is probably in another kingdom by now. Those that are trying to stay are the ones that are going into hiding, but I don’t think it will be long before they get caught either. I found out that a couple of months ago; there was a massive wand cull in the south. Those that didn’t give up their wands were sentenced to death. The Magi have nothing left to fight with.”

  “Can’t you do magic without your wand?”

  “No. We have the magic in us, but it’s channeled through our wands. The wands come from an elder tree in Thalia. It’s the only tree that produces them. I lost mine in the cell.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “We are going to dance.” I looked up into his eyes. The right was slightly bloodshot and yet he was still the most beautiful person I’d ever laid eyes on. He turned on a record player, and we danced. It was not the quick dances he’d shown me, nor was it the slow dance he’d taught me for the last dance at the ball. We just held on to each other, our bodies entwined and swaying to the somber record. When it came to a stop, we carried on dancing to our own music.

  An hour or so later, I knew I had to go. I’d agreed with Leo to meet him down at the front door, but I couldn’t go. If it was a choice between being caught out of the palace or leaving Cynder, I’d take all the punishment I had to. I couldn’t leave him. Not now. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.

  We fell asleep together on his couch. It was lumpy with years of people sitting on it, but I didn’t care. I rested my head on his shoulder while he twirled a lock of my hair around his fingers and sang me a sweet lullaby. His voice took me off to a world in which we could live side by side and no one ever had to pick a husband they didn’t want or go into hiding because of who they were.

  A sliver of light shone through the threadbare curtains signaling it was time to wake up. Cynder still slept peacefully, his chest moving up and down with each breath.

  I could have stayed watching him all day. I loved to see him looking so peaceful after everything he’d been through, but it couldn’t last. He was a fugitive on the run for blowing up a palace, and I was a princess set to marry a stranger in little over three months. In the entire history of impossible relationships, ours had to rank way up there. I kissed him lightly on his lips, trying to stay away from the bruising there. He opened his eyes and smiled up at me.

  “I dreamed you were here and you are.”

  “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

  “I love you my lucky charm.” He reached forward and kissed me again. This was so much more than the small kiss I’d given him. His bruised lips must have been hurting so much, and yet I couldn’t stop. When I was kissing him, the rest of the world didn’t exist. I would have probably stayed there forever if it hadn’t been for the sound of a bird calling. It sounded like the hoot of an owl. Cynder sat up immediately.

  “What was that? An owl?”

  “It’s my neighbor downstairs. He knows I’m here. The owl hoot is his way of telling me to open the bookcase. There might be trouble. Stay here.”

  My heart rate increased as he headed down the stairs to the lower landing. Trouble?

  I knew it was because of me. I shouldn’t have stayed the night. I’d put Cynder in real danger because of my own need to be with him.

  A second later he was back with another man. He was tall and slim and dressed impeccably in a gray suit. When he saw me, his eyes widened.

  “This is Mr. Frost. He was a friend of my parents.”

  Mr. Frost held his hand out to shake mine. “Call me Sam, please Your Highness.”

  I took the older gentleman’s hand and shook it. He turned to Cynder.

  “My, my. Of all the trouble you could get yourself in, I must say, you’ve far surpassed my expectations.”

  “What’s happened?” I asked. “Have the police been looking for Cynder?”

  “The police are looking for you, Your Highness. I came up to warn Cynder not to make any noise or look through the curtains because there is a citywide search for you. I can’t quite believe you have been in the apartment above me all this time.”

  So they already knew. I’d not only put Cynder in danger, but I’d put both Elise and Leo in jeopardy too.

  “Can she go down to your apartment?” asked Cynder. “You can say that you found her unconscious on the street last night and took her in. It was only this morning when you turned on your TV that you realized she was the princess. If you call the police straight away, there will be no reason not to believe you.”

  “Can’t I just stay here with you? I don’t want to go back. We could live here forever. No one will find us behind that bookcase.”

  Cynder came to me and stroked my face. “It’s not like before. I have no wand. The food you brought will only last us a couple of days. Three at most. If you go home, you’ll be safe. You might be in trouble for a bit, but if they think you were unconscious, they’ll take pity on you. After all, you are the heir to the throne.”

  “I can’t leave you.”

  He kissed me again, neither of us knowing if it would be our final kiss.

  “I’ll never forget you, but I have to go. Being near me is putting you in danger.”

  I wanted to tell him to go to Thalia, but I’d told him that the last time I’d seen him. That’s probably where he’d been heading when he got caught. I had no other advice and no other choice but to tell him goodbye.

  I felt something cold pressed into my hand. When I looked down, it was another silver charm for my bracelet, this time a tiny silver shoe. I kissed him lightly on the lips and on the inside I died.

  I followed Sam down to his apartment and lay on the sofa while he called the authorities. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable fallout of my actions.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The Royal visit

  The next week passed in a blur. Mainly because the doctor had prescribed me drugs for anxiety and sleeping pills, and between them both, I spent most of the week sleeping.

  Sam had called the police, who had duly taken me back to the palace. As my story and Leo’s had not matched in any way, my father wanted to put him into police custody for kidnapping. As soon as I found out, I told them that he was telling the truth and that I was just confused because someone had banged me over the head. I took full responsibility for going out with Leo, telling my father that I just wanted to help the homeless, and after a bit of begging, Leo was released, and I was prescribed a week’s bed rest and a great number of pills that Jenny forced me to take twice a day.

  In my more lucid moments, the guilt and fear washed over me, almost paralyzing me. I worried about Cynder, about Leo, about the Magi, and about my upcoming dates. No one had mentioned any more dates to me, but I knew they’d have to resume sometime. Just the thought of spending time with Xavier now had me in a full-scale panic. When Jenny came to my room and saw me, she’d just give me another pill, and I’d drift off for a few hours. After a week of this, Elise came to visit me.

  “I’m so sorry, Elise. How’s Leo? I feel so terrible.”

  “It’s fine. Leo isn’t mad at you. In fact, he’s been doing a bit of digging. He’s found out the name of someone who used to work in the palace at the time of our grandfather. Apparently, she was a good friend of Molly. They worked together here at the palace.”

  After a week of nightmares about Cynder, it felt refreshing to think of something else instead.

  “Will he go and speak to her?”

  “He set off two days ago. I wanted to tell you sooner, but Jenny told me you were too ill to have visitors. She’s been turning Luca away all week.”

  “She has?”

  “Yeah. He keeps asking me if you are ok like a lovesick puppy. I really think he likes you. It’s such a shame that you are ill.”

  “I’m not ill. I’m ashamed and terrified and sad. I’m also drugged up to the eyeballs and finding it difficult to keep awake. Will you tell Jenny that I don’t want any more pills, and that I’ll take dinner in my room? If you don’t mind bringing
it up, I’ll tell you everything.”

  “Sure!”

  She left and reappeared twenty minutes later with a silver tray with two plates on it. One for her, and one for me. She locked the door behind her and sat next to me on the bed.

  I quietly told her everything I knew, including everything Cynder had told me about the Magi being deported across the kingdom. She, in turn, told me what had happened to Leo the night I’d spent with Cynder. Apparently, he’d been caught giving food to a family of Magi. They’d been taken away, and he had been taken in for questioning. They’d questioned him about where Elise was, and when he refused to answer, they came looking for her. She was in her room, but they soon found out that I wasn’t. The guards on the staff driveway couldn’t remember if it was me or Elise that had left with Leo, so they were both fired, and Leo was kept in his cell until they got the call that I was at Sam Frost’s house. They wanted to keep him in the cell for good, but between Elise and I, he was let out. Apparently, my father didn’t want the negative publicity. He had been told to never go near the Magi again.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Elise fearfully. For the first time, this whole nightmare was becoming as real to her as it was to me.

  “We are going to find out the truth, and then we are going to do something about it.”

  “What can we do?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what we are going to have to figure out.”

  Elise told me she was on board, but I could see the apprehension in her face. She must have seen how the Magi were living when she went out with Leo, but in her world, nothing was ever wrong. I guess it was a wake-up call for both of us.

  Once the palace doctor declared me fit enough to get out of bed, on my parent’s orders, the dates started again. As Leo was away from the palace, I had Luca and Xavier to choose from. Part of me knew that I should have chosen Xavier and tried to get more information from him, but I couldn’t face it, so on the day of the next date, I picked Luca. On the morning of our date, Jenny came to see me.

  “You are going out for your date,” she began without even her usual “Good morning.”