Cinders: Necessary Evil (Magic Mirrors Saga Book 1)

by Sky Sommers

  He looked so sincere, with adoration in his eyes that I said I’d think about it. He said that, of course, if I were to go, I was welcome to take a chaperone.

  If John marries me, we can have as many babies as we want to make up for the lost one. And women do lose babies even after a few months of carrying them. So, if I can’t bring myself to tell him the truth before we’re married, I’ll have to pretend I lost it after we’re lawfully bound. Of course, he’ll have to give up Betty for good. I’m sure Father would be happy with the news of my betrothal, even if I haven’t finished school yet.

  The main question is - if John loves me, can I love him back after everything that he has put me through?

  Most importantly, do I want him at all, without the baby? Sure, there would be no awkwardness on our wedding night because he was the one who made me a woman, but those slobbery kisses… I don’t know. It’s nice to be loved, but as long as I remember myself, I have always wanted to marry someone I love who would love me in return. Love should go both ways.

  I told him I would think about it.

  Thursday, May 2nd

  Mellie told me not to be stupid thinking about whether I love someone, but to take what is being handed to me on a silver platter. She even offered to be my chaperone and said if we went on the weekend, then I wouldn’t miss school and wouldn’t even need to tell my parents. That, in fact, I shouldn’t tell them. Not until I had good news to tell.

  Father is away on a research trip, so that’s easy. Nobody to tell anything to. As for Grace, she’d be happy if I got married and flew the nest, but she might have things to say about Mellie and I going away together and I can’t be bothered to hear any of it, so…not telling it is.

  John has been away from school, so he hasn’t had the opportunity to walk me to classes, but he has been sending sweet notes this whole week, saying he is thinking of me or that my beauty inspires him to look forward to our future and he sends me single flowers that I am to put in my hair.

  He acts like he still cares about me, but I don’t know. For the past three weeks I’ve seen him with Betty. Maybe they have had a fight again. But then, why does he want to introduce me to his father and ask for my hand in marriage?

  Mellie pointed out that there are no other takers and I might as well go for it if I wanted to leave home and be married to an aristo.

  Simon is not talking to me, Matthew is taken, and Serge I don’t want. With John I would be marrying the man who made me a woman.

  Mellie swore I wouldn’t have to make up my mind if I didn’t want to, that we could just enjoy our trip and she could see for herself what John and his aristo father were all about.

  It’s settled then. I’ll tell John that Mellie and I will go to the seaside with them this weekend and hope for the best.

  Friday, May 3rd

  I’m writing this while the men - yes, plural - have nodded off in the carriage.

  The first surprise - a nice one - was that John’s father already likes me! He complimented my hair and good looks and told John how envious he was that his younger version had secured the favour of a beauty such as I and then…I think I saw him wink at me, but maybe I was mistaken. Do barons wink?

  The second surprise - not so nice - was Godmother. She made quite a spectacle, nearly tripping over herself rushing over and gushing over meeting John’s father, Baron DeVille who, apparently, she has dreamt of meeting for years. She winked at John and asked, ‘Is this the same John I have heard so much about?’ I tried to keep smiling when she kept prattling about how happy she was for the both of us and that this must be true love and that we are a perfect match, hinting that she was hoping that a marriage would ensue.

  It was so embarrassing.

  John’s father put on a brave face and pretended he was interested in meeting her. He looked happier when Mellie said she just came over to say hello.

  That’s when I realised she wasn’t coming with us…

  I pulled her aside and told her I needed a chaperone. She told me that the man of her dreams had re-appeared and that she needed to see him. I asked her how could she put her personal life before mine. She did look a little ashamed and promised, nay swore to follow us to the seaside with her companion.

  Mellie said having no chaperone would look like I had already been approved by John’s family and that this was a coming out of sorts, similar to an engagement being announced and me being introduced to high society as John’s bride.

  I couldn’t help shake the feeling that despite all her promises to help me, all Godmother wanted was an introduction to John’s father.

  Now, I’m left to my own devices in the company of two men.

  My parents don’t know where I am. I told Father I was going to spend the weekend at my Godmother’s.

  We’re going to be just walking around, enjoying the sea air and good company, right? What could go wrong?

  Chapter 14. Real Fairy Godmothers

  Grace

  I make sure Henry is sitting safe and snug against me and take the reins. It’s going to be half a day’s trip back and forth. The household will just have to tend itself. Thank goddesses it’s Sunday and we don’t have guests coming tonight.

  I left a note for Peter that we’ve gone to Ailmsworth, not specifying the ‘we’. He’s on a research trip and should get back any day now, but he might be back today. I hope to be home before him, so I don’t have to answer a zillion questions about why I had to go there. I won’t lie if he asks me, but if he doesn’t ask, there would be no need to tell. If I can fix it.

  If I can’t, I’ll tell him and we’ll weather the consequences of Ella’s behaviour together.

  I wait until I’m well out of the village before calling my fairy godmother for help.

  A real fairy godmother. Not like Mellie who just calls herself that.

  ‘What I wouldn’t give to have a delicate innocent virginal flower to raise,’ I grit my teeth as I steer the landau. Which is just a fancy word for an open carriage.

  I look up at the skies and plead, ‘A little help, Loretta? Pretty please?’

  Minutes later, I hear ‘Why virginal? It’s not like she’s yours to keep anyway, we are all here…’

  ‘Just on loan,’ I finish the sentence and look at my right shoulder where a pixie clad in goth boots with a cut-off taffeta skirt and jet-black hair sporting a single purple streak is sitting pretty.

  ‘Hello, Loretta, so glad to see you!’ I whisper and turn over my other shoulder to smile at Henry who is holding on to the seat with one hand and to the reins with the other.

  ‘You called?’ the pixie asks.

  ‘Yes. I know I’m too old for godmothering, but you are, officially, my Agency-appointed fairy godmother, and my …daughter,’ I squeeze the word out, trying to mean it, ‘is in a bit of a pickle, so I need some help.’

  ‘Has she asked for help, dear?’ Loretta enquires.

  ‘No, but…’

  ‘Then how do you know she needs it? Maybe she doesn’t?’ the pixie suggests.

  ‘She’s an underage girl gone off with an underage male AND his father to the seaside and has been there all weekend. Without a chaperone! The grown-up who is supposed to be her guardian has egged her on, doubtlessly labouring under the misapprehension that this feat will get our Ella married off. Instead, it will just get her ruined. She’ll be brandished as a tart! Because goddesses know what has already happened. ’ I say sotto voce, occasionally smiling at Henry.

  ‘Doesn’t Ella already HAVE a Godmother?’ Loretta asks and yawns.

  ‘That’s the thing, her Godmother only acts like one when it suits her. She’s the one who encouraged Ella to go down the wrong path!’

  ‘How do you know it’s the wrong path?’ Loretta asks.

  ‘I’ve just had this conversation with Grizelda. In which universe is being left to the whim of n
ot one but two males who can easily overpower you a good intro for impending nuptials? Even if she gets a few gifts for the weekend of…ahem…fun, it’s rather unlikely the boy will marry her afterwards.’ I squeeze out through gritted teeth. ‘The old goat is already married.’

  ‘Do you know… maybe Mellie has a right to…’

  ‘A right to what? Prostitute her own goddaughter?!? I don’t think so. I’m furious with Mellie and at the whole idiocy of it and just… How. Stupid. Do. You. Have. To. Be. To. Believe. This. Is. A. Good. Idea.’ I bite out the words, struggling to smile this time. Henry starts to whimper at my side.

  ‘Lighten up, you’re scaring Henry,’ Loretta says.

  ‘Look, are you going to help or not?’ I hiss. ‘I want you to help ME help Ella. Just this one time!’ I spit out. Henry starts to cry. I inhale, closing my eyes for a second, kiss the top of his head and squeeze him closer, saying on an exhale, ‘Sorry, baby, mummy didn’t mean to raise her voice. Mummy is just upset with Ella. We’re going to go see her real soon. And look - a butterfly! See it fly!!!’

  When everybody and by everybody I mean me has calmed down, I turn back to Loretta, who is still sitting on my shoulder, dangling her combat-boots.

  ‘Will you please help me?’ I ask her.

  She nods, ‘Ok. I can help by checking where she is.’

  ‘I already know where she is. Ailmsworth.’

  ‘Do you know where?’

  ‘You have me there. No, I don’t.’

  Loretta nods, ‘I’ll pop by the Agency and find out.’

  Minutes later, the pixie is back. ‘She’s touring the shops in the town square.’ Loretta says materialising on my shoulder.

  ‘Thank you, Loretta!’

  ‘It’s another hour’s ride. Do you want me to keep you company? Vent some more?’

  I chuckle, ‘Vent? I guess. I can’t talk freely in my own house because there are always too many ears.’

  ‘Then vent away!’

  Silence settles.

  ‘Well, that was efficient,’ Loretta smirks.

  I shrug, ‘I’m just not into complaining. Much.’

  ‘Yes, you’re just into doing.’

  I shrug, ‘Ever since I was twelve, I have been relying on myself to make things happen. I guess that translates into…making things happen for others as well.’

  The pixies squints at me, ‘I think the Bosses, both of them, mislabelled you. You’re not a guardian of magic, I think you’re quite a decent fairy godmother. Must come from experience.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Where do you spend most of your time?’

  The kitchen.

  ‘Who does most of the cooking and cleaning?’

  Duh.

  ‘Who gets the most grief from a step-something?’

  ‘Your point being?’ I ask.

  ‘Your experiences as an Ella make you a perfect godmother,’ Loretta beams at me, mischief in her purple eye.

  ‘Did you just call me an Ella? As in Cinderella?’

  Henry nestles into the crook of my arm. Bless, he’s nesting for a doze-off.

  ‘You can’t be serious!’

  ‘I’m dead serious. Just as I am about you being excellent fairy godmother material. I remember how well you looked after the newbie goddesses on Earth…keeping them out of mischief and out of the way of the olden goddesses…most of the time.’

  I laugh. ‘You mean when you and Gabriel tried to convince me that I was the guardian of magic or some such thing when it involved being a good friend to some amazing ladies with superhuman powers?’

  ‘Goddesses, not ladies, but yes.’

  I laugh again. ‘Living with Della meant mostly living by myself. When she wasn’t gallivanting all over the world in search of stories to report and interesting places and people to shoot, she was inviting everybody she knew to our place for a party or she would be at Jason’s having steamy…khm…you know.’

  ‘Sex?’ Loretta offers. ‘I always meant to ask you about that. Some of the scenes that I see on my 16 priority screens seem to go horribly wrong because the girl or, on occasion, the guy sends up a prayer for help. So, I was always left curious about what the big fuss was about.’

  I roll my eyes. ‘I am NOT talking sex with my fairy godmother, thank you very much!’

  ‘We might have to talk about it when we get to Ella since that was the main cause of you asking me to help, wasn’t it?’ Loretta bats her eyelashes and I laugh again.

  ‘Me scaring a teenager half-senseless about sex is one thing. Me explaining the mechanics and sensations to you is quite another. How many dates have you had during the time you’ve been at the Agency? I seem to recall you used to date…’

  ‘Yup, both times in the last decade were an epic fail. The only thing more annoying than pixie men are fairy men. Ugh!’ Loretta shuddered.

  ‘So, it never came to… you know what?’ I ask and Loretta shakes her head.

  ‘Nope. Not for the lack of trying, though. I mean the men, boys, whatever, the species is pretty quick from meet to marry, we are talking hours, not even days, so they did try it on, but how can I marry anyone when I’m a Watcher for guardian angels and away most of the time? I can’t be with the fairies losing track of time when we’re as short-staffed at the Agency as we are. No amount of time freezing would cover fairy frolicking, you know how their feasts last for days. I don’t have that kind of time to kill! And since no marriage, then no sex. Which is why it’s still a mystery to me.’

  ‘You should have tried Tinder,’ I mumble and instantly regret it.

  ‘Tinder? What does kindling a fire have to do with dating?’ Loretta asks.

  ‘Nothing. It’s an app people who don’t have a lot of time to date use on Earth for quick hookups. So I hear…’ I say.

  ‘Oh, how very interesting. When I’m due vacation days, I might try it out,’ Loretta says.

  ‘You? Date on Earth? What about your size?’ I ask.

  Loretta shrugged, ‘I can be any size I want. Or colour. Or disposition. Although, my present sweet straightforward disposition is already perfect, I think.’

  I snort.

  ‘What? You don’t agree?’ Loretta asks. ‘Maybe dating human men is just the ticket to find out more about the dating habits of males in general, wouldn’t you say? How much worse can they be than pixies or fairies?’ She asks.

  ‘If you want the kind of experience you want, the human men are your best bet. Quite a few, I seem to remember, will go from meet to ahem…you know… in the space of a few hours and none of them would be bothered by marriage unless the girl forced them into it.’

  Loretta brightens, ‘Excellent! I will have so much fun with that fire-staring app, I’m sure.’

  ‘Yes, well, don’t have too much fun.’

  ‘I, personally like that you’re worried enough to go after Ella. You’re quite a decent stepmom, you know.’

  ‘I’m just trying not to get saddled with her for life,’ I parry. ‘Stepmothers have all the responsibility and zero on the love and appreciation,’ I mumble through my teeth.

  ‘Grace!’

  ‘What? It’s true. I’m expected to act like a mother and yet I can never measure up to even the Godmother. I can’t win. No matter what I do, no matter how nice I try to be, no matter what opportunities I create for them, it is never seen or heard or appreciated. By anyone.’

  ‘Her, you mean,’ my pixie godmother says.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Her, not them,’ Loretta says.

  ‘No, them. All of them. Ella and Hans and Greta. They take everything for granted.’

  ‘They are kids,’ the pixie admonishes.

  ‘They have also known adversity so they know what to compare against,’ I snap.

  ‘So, they should be grateful that now their life is be
tter with you? Be grateful that these kids forget the bad things from their former life so quickly.’

  ‘Hunh,’ I grunted. ‘Unfortunately the forgetting also extends to gratitude. It’s as if nobody ever taught them how to be grateful.’

  ‘Maybe they were taught to be very very grateful for everything they got and now they are free from that compulsion, they are simply enjoying their freedom and that the parental unit lets them be kids?’ Loretta says.

  I hunhed again.

  ‘Greta and Hans do help out at the restaurant. Greta tends the garden while Hans chops wood and tends to the broken things in the house. Greta even enjoys learning how to cook.’

  ‘Because Hans enjoys eating,’ I smirk.

  ‘It’s not them that you have the problem with, it’s Ella,’ the cunning pixie points out.

  ‘Hunh,’ I say again.

  ‘I think you’re taking the task of being an evil stepmother way too seriously. Educating, nagging, demanding. Have you ever considered just loving them? ALL of them?’ Loretta asks.

  I consider this for a moment. ‘I have. Considered it, I mean. Greta is easy to love. She is the most like me, besides Henry. Hans I am still trying to figure out. He keeps to himself. I don’t really know what he likes or dislikes half the time. I just know he loves food.’

  ‘You’re still in the thinking domain, not the feeling domain, honey,’ my fairy godmother shakes her head.

  I shrug, ‘With Ella though…I feel. And what I feel is not nice. Because I get nothing in return and I get the feeling that no matter what I do, no matter how much I give, no matter how nice I am, it gets sucked into a bottomless pit and I get to the point of going on empty because I don’t see ANY positive emotions, ANY gratitude, ANY quid pro quo. Nothing. NO return whatsoever of what I put in. At all,’ I explain.

  ‘So, just a typical teenager then?’ Loretta arches an eyebrow.

  I shake my head, ‘No, not quite. There is something about her… Sometimes she responds like she knows what I was just thinking and irks me to spite me. I recognise that bottomless pit because I’ve felt that deficit of love in my life after I broke up with my abusive ex, Victor. In my former life, way back when in London, on Earth. Until I started loving myself, no matter how nice my friends were being to me, no matter how supportive, I always winged and whined and took my friends for granted until my friends stopped doing those nice things. Hm, maybe things that Ella takes for granted need to stop…now there’s a thought…’