He laughed and one of his hands brushed her waist.
Suddenly embarrassed, she backed away.
He adjusted the buttons on his waiter’s uniform, as if he’d just finished dressing. “Where are you headed?” he asked.
“I was looking for you.”
“That’s quite a coincidence.” His bright smile caught the glow from a gaslight. “Because I was looking for you.”
“You were?” Her grin spread down to her toes. “You must be busy. I don’t want to bother you, but I wanted to thank you for your all your help and . . .” She paused, then continued, “. . . I wanted to see you again.” Her cheeks burned and she was thankful for the dim lighting.
“I wanted to see you, too.” He brushed a hair back from her face. “I have a message for you from the royal wizard.”
“You know the royal wizard?” Ty did get around.
“I heard him tell the prince he was impressed with your performance today, and wants to train you.”
“Oh, I saw him back at the courtyard.”
Ty ran a hand through his curls. “Fabulous. I knew you’d do well.”
She tried to keep her feet on the ground, but they wanted to leap and skip and dance. As for her arms, they wanted to throw themselves around Ty again, so she pressed them into her sides. “I’d give anything to take his lessons.”
“Cinderella, you don’t need to give anything. You just need to show up. He wants you—on full scholarship.”
She looked down and brushed one of her shoes along the stone floor. She couldn’t tell him about the huge obstacle still standing between her and the royal wizard’s lessons.
He put his hand softly on her arm, just below her elbow. “You’re in. What’s the problem?”
She lifted her head. “My stepmother. She’s very strict. I’m not sure she’ll let me.”
His hand slid lightly down her arm until he was holding her hand, and her entire body tingled. Even if her stepmother turned her to stone tonight, she’d die happy.
No, she told herself. She didn’t want to die. Not if it meant never feeling this way again. It was greedy, but now that she’d had a taste of whatever was buzzing inside her, all she wanted was more.
“I’m sure she’ll let you go.” The calm, reassuring sound of Ty’s soft, deep voice made it easy to believe him, so she decided not to argue. She couldn’t explain why he was wrong without endangering his life.
“Once you’re a trained wizard,” he said, “what will you do? What are your dreams for your life?”
“Dreams?” She hadn’t allowed herself the luxury.
“Close your eyes,” Ty said softly and moved closer toward her. So close she could feel his heartbeat. “Imagine yourself doing anything you want. What would make you most happy?”
Cinderella tried to slow down her galloping heart to allow herself to think clearly, but his thumb rubbed her hand softly, and the tiny gesture gave her a rush of adrenaline. Banishing the tension and fear perpetually stored in her shoulders, she took a moment and dreamed.
Eyes closed and with the comforting warmth from Ty, she exhaled a long, slow breath. “First, I’d like to sleep in one day, just to see what it feels like.” She smiled. “And I’d like to travel around the kingdom, see faraway places.” She’d been so sheltered to this point, the freedom of travel was beyond appealing. Happiness trickled up inside her. “And I’d like to be a great wizard and use my magic to help others and be a real ninja warrior so I could save people from thieves and make sure no one in the kingdom ever practices black magic or is forced into doing anything they don’t want to do.” She had to stop to catch her breath.
He laughed. “Those are great dreams.”
She opened her eyes and laughed, too.“I know it’s a lot. I’m not really so greedy.”
“Not greedy at all.” He tipped her chin up with his finger and kissed her. His kiss was gentle and soft, but she felt it right down to her toes, and her knees turned to jelly. He caught her waist.“You are a remarkable girl, Cinderella.”
“Remarkable? No. There’s no one more ordinary than me. I’ve lived my entire life—” She stopped herself. “I’ve been sheltered, a servant. Before I met you I’d barely left the house where I work. But what am I saying?” She shook her head. “You’re a servant, too. You know how it feels not to have choices.”
“No choices?”
Feeling bold, she reached up to his face and closed her eyes at the feel of his strong, warm jaw under her palm, his cheek under her thumb. “I know what I most want to do once I’m a trained wizard.”
He bent his lips close to her ear. “What will you do?”
“I’ll find a way to earn enough money so that neither of us will have to work as servants. I’ll come to find you.”
Leaning down toward her, he said,“You’ll take me away from all this?” His words felt hot against her ear, but his tone was slightly teasing.
She leaned back. “You don’t believe me. You don’t think I can do it.”
He shook his head. “I believe you. I believe you can do anything you set your mind to.”
She raised her hand to touch the locket under her dress, and then tugged on the thin chain to pull it out.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It was my mother’s. She died when I was born.”
“I’m so sorry.” He touched her cheek. “It’s lovely. Almost as beautiful as you are.”
She blushed all over, feeling as if a hundred tiny lamps had been lit inside her. Running her thumbnail along the thin crack of the heart-shaped locket, she concentrated on her feelings for Ty and the locket snapped open.
“What’s inside?” he asked.
She tipped the locket into his hand to show him.
“It’s a heart.” He studied the small enameled heart as if it were a ruby. “How precious.”
He reached to put it back in the locket, but Cinderella shook her head. “Keep it, so you’ll never forget me.”
“I could never forget you, Cinderella.”
She felt something stir in her belly and heart. Was it love? She wasn’t sure, but it was certainly potent and seemingly magic. “It might be a while before I can see you again.”
“That would break my heart,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll see each other soon, but I will promise to keep this until then.” He wrapped his hand around the small heart, and then bent to kiss her.
Cinderella wondered if it would ever be possible to be happier than she felt this moment.
A loud gong sounded, and they pulled apart.
“I have to go,” Ty said. “The guests are coming into the ballroom. Please promise you’ll dance with me later.”
“You’re going to dance at the ball? Aren’t you working as a waiter?”
“Trust me,” Ty said. “I have a surprise. I don’t have time to explain now, but find me and we’ll dance.”
“I can’t go in there like this.” She ran her hands over the clothes Max had made for her, still dirty from the dust of the arena.
“It doesn’t matter what you’re wearing, you’ll be the most beautiful girl in the room.”
“Ty!” She slapped his arm lightly in jest to punish him for the tease, but it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her.
“If you’re really worried about your clothes”—he headed back toward the main hall, his hand in hers—“then stay up in the balcony. You can access it through a staircase that’s eleven more alcoves farther down the main corridor.”
“Eleven.”
“Yes. Wait for me up there. I’ll find you and we can dance in the shadows above the party. It’ll be better up there, anyway. More private.”
Cinderella’s body hummed with excitement. “I’ll wait for you there.”
They reached the main corridor and he ran off in the other direction, blowing her a kiss.
Cinderella felt lighter than ever and skipped down the tunnel, avoiding collisions with servants and counting the alcoves. She was going
to dance at the ball after all, even if no one would see her. Certainly not the prince.
She nodded to a waiter carrying two trays laden with fruit and strong-smelling cheeses, but she’d have time to eat later. She wanted to get up those stairs to the balcony and wait for Ty. Nothing had ever felt more important.
Cinderella leaned over the stone railing. The party was in full swing and the sweet sounds of the orchestra filled the air. The colors in the ballroom were breathtaking and time passed quickly as she admired the fabulous gowns and hairstyles of the dancing guests. So much time had passed that she started to wish she’d mentioned her curfew to Ty. If he didn’t come up here soon, she’d have to leave to get home to save Max.
Remembering the heat of his hand on her waist and his kisses, she shuddered at the thought of never experiencing that feeling again. It was time to take matters into her own hands and find him.
There were only two parts of the ballroom she had trouble seeing: the area directly below her, and the area where the prince was dancing with his female suitors. The girls were so tightly packed in a small circle around him, she’d barely caught a few glimpses of his crown.
How insulting to her gender that the girls were practically begging for a turn. Her life was pretty horrible as horrible went, but she couldn’t imagine sinking so low. Did these girls have no pride? And they were increasingly restless. Even from up on the balcony, the sound of rustling taffeta and tulle was deafening.
Suddenly the tight ring around the prince parted, and a collective sigh of disappointment fell over the girls. Either the prince had picked his bride, or he was taking a break.
In spite of herself, Cinderella watched as the end of the circle burst, and the crowd continued to shift to form a kind of funnel for the prince to walk through.
She saw the prince. Dressed in rich, dark purples, his blond hair was pulled back and tightly tied with a black bow low on his neck and held down on top by a crown—a simple ring of gold encrusted with small jewels. He reached the edge of the dance floor and looked up.
It was Ty. Her breath caught in her chest. What was he doing?
He smiled up at her and waved, and she looked back at him with questioning eyes. If he was impersonating the prince, he’d be caught and jailed when the real prince showed up.
Except . . . she raised her hand to her mouth. How could he impersonate the prince at the royal ball? Could he actually be the prince? All the horrible assumptions she’d made about the prince and the royal family raced through her mind. When she’d said those things, he hadn’t seemed offended, but that mischievous look he’d sported . . .
His eyes still on her, he blew her a kiss, and a collective gasp rose from the crowd. He couldn’t possibly have fooled all these people. He had to be the prince.
Every eye in the room looked up toward her, and she blushed. She wasn’t used to being under anyone’s scrutiny except her stepmother’s, and that scrutiny always held more coldness than curiosity.
Her stepmother. Panicked, she let her eyes drift from Ty to search the crowd, but then she looked back to Ty and calmed down. She was silly to be so scared. Even her stepmother wouldn’t use black magic at the ball, not in front of all of these people.
Ty gestured for her to come down, but she shook her head and pinched the shoulder of her ninja outfit to remind him of her attire.
He nodded and continued forward, the crowd parting for him until he’d moved nearly under the balcony. She hoped he was headed for the stairs, and leaned forward over the railing so she could watch him as long as possible, still not convinced her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. Her Ty was Prince Tiberius? The thought had never crossed her mind.
Ty disappeared from sight and she was about to step back down when someone grabbed her leg from behind and tipped her forward.
Headed straight for the ballroom floor many feet below, she grabbed for the pillars under the railing, but the stone stung her hands.
In shock, she let go and saw her stepmother backing away, the most evil grin she’d ever sported dressing her face.
Below her, everyone shrieked, and Cinderella tried to tap into her magic to slow herself down. But it was no use.
She landed in Ty’s arms.
“Now, that’s an entrance,” he said. “Are you hurt?”
She’d lost her wind, but shook her head as the crowd pressed in around them.
His thumb caressed her back as he held her. “You must have slowed yourself. You landed as light as a feather.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” But she felt so safe and warm in his arms, she didn’t want to let go. Her hands laced together behind his neck, near where his curls were constrained by the black ribbon.
“What happened up there?” he asked.
She bit her lip. “Why didn’t you tell me you were the prince?”
“Are you angry?” His eyebrows rose.
“Not angry, just surprised.” He’d misled her, but she realized that if he’d been honest from the start, they’d never have had a chance to get to know one another.
“That’s good.” His face softened in relief. “Because I have something very important to ask.”
“What do we have here?”
Cinderella stiffened at the sound of her stepmother’s voice.
Ty tightened his hold on her, but she pushed against him and he let her feet slip to the ground, keeping her close by his side.
“Your Highness.” Her stepmother curtsied.“I am so sorry that you’ve been bothered by this lowly servant girl.”
“Madam, I am not bothered by Cinderella in the least.” Ty laced his fingers through Cinderella’s. “In fact, I’m enchanted.” He raised her fingers to his lips, pressed the lightest kiss onto her knuckles, and Cinderella nearly burst with joy.
“You are too kind,” her stepmother said, glaring at Cinderella. “For surely this servant girl nearly killed you with her clumsy fall.” She grabbed for Cinderella’s other hand. “Allow me to escort her from the ballroom. Certainly she took a wrong turn to arrive here.”
“Madam, I assure you there is no need.” Ty tightened his grip on Cinderella’s hand.
“Then at least let me find her a suitable gown.” Her stepmother’s fingernails dug into Cinderella’s flesh as the woman tugged on her arm. The crowds pushed in, eager to see the scene.
“Wait,” Cinderella said. “You will tear me in two.”
“I wouldn’t want that.” Ty dropped her hand.
With that, her stepmother yanked her away, and Cinderella looked over her shoulder toward Ty, but the crowd had already filled in.
“What is the prince thinking, wasting time with a servant?” Her stepmother threw her voice, so the words sounded as though they were coming from several feet away.
“Yes, why dance with her, when our daughters have yet to meet him?” This time, her stepmother threw her voice in the opposite direction. “Scandalous! Where did that urchin come from? How did she get in here?” Her stepmother continued to throw her voice, creating the illusion that many women shared the idea that Cinderella should be thrown from the room.
Soon, other mothers joined in with cries of dismay and forced their daughters toward Ty, making it impossible for him to break through the crowd without physically knocking some of the young women and their mothers aside. Soon, Cinderella couldn’t even locate him among the huge pack of taffeta, tulle, and tenacity.
Her stepmother continued to drag her out of the room. “You stupid, presumptuous girl.” She glared so hard that Cinderella feared she might burst into flames from the hatred. “How did you break my spell to get here?” She lunged forward and took Cinderella’s chin in her hand, squeezing hard. “You inherited your mother’s magic, didn’t you? I knew I should have killed you years ago. But no, I had to be kind, had to let myself worry what my real daughters might think.”
Cinderella pulled out of her grip and resisted the urge to rub her jaw where her stepmother had gripped her. “Oh, please. You just kept me alive hopi
ng I knew where my mother’s wand was.”
“Where is it?” her stepmother demanded.
“I’ll never tell you. And yes, I do have magic skills. In fact, the royal wizard wants to train me, and he’ll find out about your black magic and—” Panting, she realized she’d shown too much of her hand.
“You ungrateful, horrible child.” Her stepmother spun Cinderella and threw her up against the wall just outside the entrance to the ballroom.
Shards of terror crept up and down Cinderella’s spine.
“You need to be punished for ingratitude and disobedience. Let’s see . . .” Her stepmother pressed the end of her wand into her cheek. “Oh, I have a good idea.” She flicked her wand back through the open doors to the ballroom and a blanket of gray sparks spread over the room and fell onto the crowd.
Cinderella didn’t see anything happen. “What have you done?” She’d been sure her stepmother wouldn’t risk black magic in front of so many people, but she appeared to have been wrong.
“Just cleaning up your mess.” Her stepmother stepped forward, pressing Cinderella into the stone wall behind her. “No one. Not one person. Not even the royal wizard will remember meeting you today. Not one of them will even remember you exist. And I put in a little extra for the prince.”
Cinderella crumpled under the weight of her stepmother’s words.
When she’d woken this morning, all she’d cared about was winning the lessons so she could escape, but now the thought that Ty might forget her was too much to bear. She pushed off the wall past her stepmother and ran into the crowd, looking for Ty, surprised her stepmother didn’t stop her.
“How rude,” a woman dressed in emerald said as she brushed by.
“Who let you in?” a man said in disgust, grabbing her shoulder.
She struggled in the man’s grasp as she called, “Ty! Over here!” Heads turned toward her, and the crowd parted to reveal Ty at its center, another girl in his arms.
He stepped forward, wondering who’d called him.
She smiled, but he looked straight through her. It was as if he didn’t see her, couldn’t see her. She froze in her tracks, trying to process what was happening.
Cinderella: Ninja Warrior Page 21