by Susan Ee
She darted a glance at the woods. Could she run faster than him? If not, could she win a fight with him?
He was taller than her now by at least a head. He had also filled out since the last time she saw him, so it wouldn’t be an easy fight, should things go there.
“Don’t,” he said. “I’m not going to turn you in.”
She wanted to believe him, but she could almost hear Silver asking if it was worth risking her life.
Cinder continued to walk with him while she thought about it, but she wanted to be out of his reach in case she needed to run. So she incrementally drifted away from him and toward the woods.
“You’ll have to pardon me if I’m not willing to risk my life on your word,” she said.
“Are you calling me a liar?”
Cinder’s breath caught. This was a dangerous game that she was playing.
“No, of course not, my lord. I wouldn’t dare insult you.”
“Oh, please don’t do that.”
“Do what, my lord?”
He sighed. “I liked it better when you were being sincere and thinking I was a bastard nobleman. It makes me feel swashbuckling, like a pirate.”
“Swashbuckling?” Cinder raised an eyebrow.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” He pointed to her eyebrow. “Do you know when was the last time I heard someone speak freely around me?”
She clamped her mouth shut so she didn’t say, “I don’t care.”
“The answer is never,” he said. “It’s surprisingly refreshing. Go on, tell me what you really think without the ‘my lord’ and the groveling.”
“Groveling? You know the last time I saw you, you were shorter than me.”
“Aha. That’s what I mean. Some honesty. And you may have noticed that I’m significantly taller than you now.”
“Not significantly.”
“Significantly. And don’t forget bigger. Stronger, too, obviously.”
“Do these things truly matter to you? Is that what the life of a noble is like? Because you might have trouble getting sympathy from the victims who are hunted by your kind on the full moon.”
He sobered. “You’re right. I can’t compare my troubles to most people of Midnight.”
“What kind of troubles does a person of your privilege have?”
“Well, I never go hungry or have to sleep out in the rain, but one political misstep can get you killed. It is nice to have a moment where I don’t have to play political games or fend off other people’s agendas.”
“Your brother seems to be free of other people’s agendas.”
“Gallant has to deal with politics and live by other people’s agendas as much as I do. It’s why he lashes out sometimes. He’s not a bad person, not really.”
“Yet you don’t trust him.”
He sighed. “No. Even my own brother can’t be trusted.”
“Why not?”
“There’s too much at stake.”
Cinder had no idea what he was talking about. She was curious, though. Who were these boys now turned men? What had happened after she’d left them standing over their dead brother in the forest?
“You can talk to me, you know,” she said. “I’m a nobody. No money, no wealthy family. No gossip will ever come from me to haunt you in your social circle.”
He looked up at the starry sky where the two crescent moons were just beginning to rise.
“Do you think that night will overtake the day so that the sun never comes out?” he asked.
“I hope not. We can’t live in the dark all the time. The king must know that. He’ll make day and night equal again soon.”
“You are naive. Do the commoners still think that the king has control over the moons and stars?”
“Sure. He released the crescent moons, didn’t he?”
Dante was silent for a few steps, as if debating with himself.
“No. He didn’t.” His voice was quiet.
“But—”
“Those crescent moons were called by someone else, something else.”
“What could have enough power to call the moons? Only the king has…” She looked at Dante with wide eyes as realization dawned on her.
Fairies.
She couldn’t help but look around at the dark trees lining the road.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Because I can’t tell anybody else. Because my brother still believes in the power of the king and can’t or won’t be open to the fact that the war goes on.”
“What? You too? You don’t look old enough to believe that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Only grandparents talk about how the Wild Wars continue. It’s like they can’t leave the war behind.”
“They’re right. The fairies are just taking a break from it. A break for them could mean a few days or a century. But the night is getting longer every month, and the king is getting more and more…”
He looked around to make sure no one was listening, even though they were the only ones on the road.
“More and more what?”
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said that.”
The three-quarter moon was above the horizon now. Behind it, the tips of the crescent moons peeked above the hills.
“You can talk to me,” said Cinder. “I’m only a stranger. It’s me who should be afraid to talk to you. You’re obviously a highborn who could order my death whenever you want.”
“Yet you do not fear me. You ask questions. You don’t drown me in insincere flattery. You challenge me as though you were my equal.”
She had a moment of fear. This was someone who was used to power, maybe more than she had thought. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage.
“It’s dark,” she said, “and we’ll never see each other again. So what does it matter that we speak freely? Even if we did see each other again, I’ll just be a servant girl, and you’ll never notice me.”
“Possibly, but I doubt it. You have a way of catching my attention.”
They were nearing the first houses of Midnight, where enough lights flickered through windows that he would soon get a good look at Cinder’s face.
It would be beyond foolish to let him see her in the light. He might not think he’d miss her in a crowd, but she was sure he would do exactly that so long as he didn’t get a good look at her.
Without warning, Cinder spun and ran into the woods. It was always a place she avoided, but they were on the border of town where the forest had less power. It seemed worth the risk compared to the alternative.
When she turned to look back, Dante was standing at the edge of the town’s lights, watching her run from him.
Chapter 27
Cinder didn’t run far. Everyone knew the woods was not a place to trifle with, even if it was close to town. If the wild fairies didn’t get you, there were plenty of other creatures that would. And that was on a night without a full-moon hunt.
So she stayed along the edge of the woods and watched Dante. He stood under the light of the moon, his broad shoulders cutting a darker shadow against the night. He seemed to be looking at the place where she’d disappeared into the forest.
“Who are you?” Frost puffed out of his mouth as he spoke, lit by the moon.
The wind carried his quiet words to her ears. Cinder didn’t answer and didn’t move.
Dante finally turned and walked back to his horse. She watched his riding figure disappear into the distance.
Her heart raced as she ran the rest of the way back to her stepmother’s house. She tried to think of everything but the two grown boys, but of course, she couldn’t think of anything else.
They had both grown into fine-looking men. It was easier to think about Gallant because she didn’t have mixed feelings about him. Dante was harder to think about, but he was also harder to get out of her mind.
He remembered her.
And he hadn’t turned her in to
be hung. Not yet. It would serve her well to remember that nobles played games that she couldn’t fathom.
Look at the king, for instance. He was said to have told his sons that whichever one of his boys was careless enough to be fooled by fairy glamour didn’t deserve to inherit the kingdom. That was why he allowed the captured fairies to be leased out to any woman who could afford one.
There was even a chance now that one of Cinder’s stepsisters could end up being married to one of them despite being a commoner. If the fairy was powerful enough, a prince might even marry her stepmother.
Wouldn’t the prince be angry about that when he found out that he’d been duped by fairy magic? This was the way the Dark King wanted one of his sons to fall so that he could choose the other as his heir. What kind of person played games like that with his own children?
Nobles and royalty, that was who.
Of course, it was also said that the Dark King never intended to die. That rumor was more believable. People said that was the root of his obsession with capturing fairies. It would take a very powerful fairy indeed to keep a person from dying, a fairy more unusual than a pure soul raised in a dark kingdom.
That night, Cinder fell asleep with the face of Dante on her mind. He had recognized her. After years of trying to forget what happened, her past was coming back to haunt her.
She dreamt of killings and hunts and full moons. Of blood flowing down her hands and not knowing whether it was hers or someone else’s. She dreamt of Silver’s granddaughter, Ruby, calling out to her for help and not being able to find her in the deep, dark woods.
The next day, Cinder rushed downstairs before the sun rose. Exhausted and overworked as usual, she was late for training at Silver’s cottage.
“Why do you stay here?” asked the fairy.
Cinder had almost forgotten about her. Lalyn was dressed in pink chiffon with too many bows. Cinder recognized it as one of Tammy’s old dresses. The bottom of the dress reached barely below the fairy’s knees. Her scuffed calves and ankles showed below the hem.
“Oh, you poor thing,” said Cinder. “Shall we do something about that dress? We could take the bows off and maybe cut the chiffon? It’s bound to rip with everyday wear.”
“Why do you not murder them in their sleep?” asked Lalyn. “Or poison them with their breakfast? Stab them repeatedly with the kitchen knives?” She seemed genuinely curious.
Lalyn casually picked up a kitchen knife and ran her finger along the edge.
“You are much stronger than them with all the work that you do.” Lalyn’s ethereal eyes seemed mesmerized by the blade. "You run and lift heavy soup cauldrons while they lounge all day. You know how to wield a knife. I’ve seen you. Why do you let them be your masters when you can rule by force?”
Cinder thought about that. On her worst days, she’d had fantasies of doing evil things to her stepfamily, but she never took them seriously. She had no doubt that truly bad deeds would haunt a person for the rest of her life.
“The world is full of horrors. I don’t need to add to them.”
Lalyn shrugged, putting down the knife. “It’s horrible for less than an hour, then the rest of your life is free of horrors. Well worth the price.”
“I’m not going to murder my family.”
“They’re not your family. You merely live in the same house.”
“They are my stepfamily.” At least, that was what Helene had told Cinder when her father died. And they were the closest thing to a family she had, weren’t they?
“Only in the way that servants and slaves are members of the household.”
“It wasn’t always this way. My father used to spoil me.” Cinder smiled wistfully.
“Where is your father now?”
Her smile dried up. She didn’t want to answer that. Helene had said that he married her so that Cinder wouldn’t be alone when he was gone.
“Has it never occurred to you that they may have killed him for whatever reasons people use to commit such an act?”
It hadn’t ever occurred to her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard of such things happening. In the Dark King’s land, these things happened with alarming regularity.
But her stepmother wouldn’t do such a thing. She may be a horrible bully, but she was no killer. Wouldn’t Cinder know if there was a killer under her own roof?
A small voice said that her stepmother hadn’t known that she lived with a killer of a nobleman. That was what Cinder was, wasn’t she? A murderer. It may have been justified to save her friend, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d killed someone. And she did it right in front of his brothers.
Dante’s face popped into her head again. She brushed it aside, although a misty residue remained in her mind.
“Stop making mischief,” said Cinder as she headed out the door. “We all have our reasons for being stuck where we are. That doesn’t mean we’ll be stuck here forever.”
Lalyn’s mouth twitched as if she was amused. She looked regal even in her hand-me-down dress as she watched Cinder leave the house.
Chapter 28
Cinder and the fairy were busy for the remaining day. They cooked and cleaned, make dresses and accessories, listened to the stepsisters chatter endlessly about the upcoming ball. Much speculation was churning among the females in town about when exactly this momentous ball might happen.
“I can’t believe they haven’t announced the day yet,” said Darlene as she tried on another necklace made by Lalyn.
“It’s part of the fun,” said Tammy, trying on yet another pair of shoes.
Cinder only half listened to the gossip and speculation. Half the time, she was marveling at the fashion magic that such a bedraggled fairy had. Lalyn had clearly seen many balls in her day, because her fashion sense was impressive. The girls were already talking about buying her for good when they became queens and proper ladies.
The other half the time, Cinder fretted over the upcoming full-moon hunt. This was the biggest hunt of the year, and people speculated that the ball would take place either the day before or after the royal hunt. It would be just like the Dark King to pair such a bloody spectacle with the biggest romantic event of a generation.
The next morning, the date was finally announced. The princes’ ball would take place on the night of the hunt.
“How can that be?” asked Tammy as she jostled her way through the market.
The whole family had come with Cinder to the market so they could hear the announcement that everyone suspected. There were even wealthy merchant ladies in the crowd today. Everyone was talking about the ball as they walked along the stalls.
“The ball will begin in the late afternoon,” said a broad lady to her daughters. She was bejeweled and powdered the way a proper lady should be. She and her daughters made Cinder’s stepfamily look like peasants by comparison.
“I have it on good authority that the ball will began early enough to ensure introductions and a proper supper before midnight,” said the woman. “Midnight will initiate the royal hunt this year. The men will go off and do their beastly best at midnight to do whatever it is that men do in the forest on a full moon.”
“But that’s such a short ball, Mama,” said one of her daughters. She wore a confection of soft blues and yellows. “The biggest event in my life and it’ll be over in just a few hours?”
“How are we to impress the princes when we’ll barely have time to be introduced to them?” asked the other daughter. She wore a matching confection of greens and silver.
“Nothing to worry about, my sweetings.” The grand lady patted her daughters. “We’ll make sure you’re first in line to be introduced to the princes. After that, you can be sure that the ball will continue after the hunt. The men will be back, you mark my words. They always come back to their true ladies, and this will be no exception.”
The girls looked worried and so did Cinder’s stepsisters.
“Chin up, ladies,” said the grand lady. “This is the o
pportunity we’ve all been waiting for, and we have the advantage of having the best fashion fairy in the land. Your father made sure of it.”
“How do we know that’s truly the case? Papa has no fashion sense whatsoever.”
“Because, my dear little sweeting, your papa and I pulled some strings and acquired our fairy fresh from a hunt. The fresh ones have the most power, you know. No worn-out, dirty slave for us. Those are for tourists and amateurs.”
The ladies walked slowly down the market stalls.
Cinder’s stepsisters looked crestfallen.
“Is that true?” asked Darlene. “Do we have a second-rate fairy?”
“I’m so tired of having second-rate everything,” said Tammy. “Why couldn’t Mama marry a wealthier man?”
“Perhaps Mama will.” Helene looked annoyed with her girls. Her face had fewer lines than it had only a couple of days ago. Her sagging neck was becoming firm, and her lips were fuller than Cinder had seen them in years.
“Oh, Mama,” said Darlene. “Perhaps you’ll find a fat merchant at the ball who will shower you with gifts.”
“And who can afford to shower all of us with gifts,” said Tammy, giving Cinder a sly look. She never did like Cinder’s father and made sure Cinder always knew it.
“Perhaps I’ll do better than that,” said Helene. “Come along, girls.”
Cinder knew from the fairy that Helene had greater ambitions than catching herself a fat merchant. She pressed Lalyn every moment to make her younger, more youthful in every way—her skin, her hair, her muscle tone. She was slimming down to her girlish figure. By the time the full moon rose, Helene would seem as young as her daughters.
But everyone knew that a fairy’s glamour would only last a day. The only way to keep it was if the fairy recast the glamour each day. She could also improve on it if she added to the glamour before it wore off.
The old stories said that even if the greatest fairy used powerful layers of magic over a period of time, the final glamour would still only last a day unless it was recast. There were children’s songs written about it from the days of old, when people and fairies exchanged commerce.