“If I had known they were that important I would have never touched them. I swear. I’m so sorry.”
I searched her face for any trace of mercy. Anything that would help her remember me from our childhood. Anything that would keep her from reporting me.
Snow backed away. “I’m telling my stepmother. She’ll deal with you.”
I couldn’t let her do that. Queen Angeline was ruthless and would have a servant executed for doing far less. Stealing was simply not tolerated. I remembered an older servant who had been accused of pilfering golden candlesticks that had gone missing. She disappeared one day and no one knew what happened to her.
“Please, Snow. You have your earrings back so no harm was done. Like I said, it was all an accident. I was going to put them back. Please don’t tell your stepmother. She won’t understand.”
Her eyes locked with mine and for a second I thought there might be some recognition. Snow looked as if she might forgive me and let the whole thing go. I caught a glimpse of the sweet Snow I had once known. Then just like that, anger flashed across her face once again. “Everyone knows how important my mother’s possessions are to me.”
She turned on her heels and strode toward the door. I dropped to my knees and grabbed the hem of the beautiful blue dress she wore. It was the most humiliating, degrading thing I had ever done, but I had so much to lose in that moment. I had to put my ego aside. “Please, Princess Snow. Can’t we just act like this whole thing never happened? I’m so sorry. I will never take your things without permission again. I’ll do anything.”
She looked down on me and scrunched her face like I was a cockroach squashed beneath her shoe. “Get off me, thief.” She shoved me away cruelly and stormed from the room, yelling for the guards. I wanted to make a run for it, but if the guards had been called, I wouldn’t be going anywhere far. I sank into Snow’s plush white carpeting, wondering what evil punishment the queen would dream up.
She was notorious for her punishments. I’d heard rumors of her making people lie on a bed of nails or lay in a tub of scalding hot water. Inflicting pain was a favorite pastime of hers. The ladies in the kitchen said she even kept a torture chamber and consulted with rulers from different lands in order to create more wicked forms of punishment.
I wondered about Merna and what she would think of me. She would be disappointed for sure. The first thing she had taught me about being a servant was to never overstep my boundaries and that was precisely what I had done.
My heart sank as the sound of pounding feet grew louder. The door of Snow’s bedroom creaked open and a boy not much older than me entered. My shame kept me from looking at him.
He was quiet for a moment, watching me sob like an infant. Finally, he cleared his throat. “I must take you to the queen now.”
I rose and followed him down the long, narrow hallway to the Queen’s chambers. Taking slow, tiny steps, I attempted to put as much space between me and my punishment as I possibly could.
Before the boy opened the door, I looked him in the eyes. They were dark and warm. “Am I going to die?” I asked.
He shrugged with one shoulder and dropped his gaze to the floor. “I don’t think so, but the queen is very angry. You’ll probably wish you were dead by the end of the day.”
His honesty knocked the wind out of me as the doors to the queen’s chambers inched open.
I hovered in the doorway before the boy pushed me inside gently with the tips of his fingers against the small of my back.
“Leave us,” the queen ordered. She was hidden from view behind an elegant silk room divider.
The young guard nodded and backed out of the room, giving me a final pitiful look before closing the door behind him.
I had never been in the queen’s chambers before, but I had imagined what her room looked like. The pictures I’d drawn in my head were nowhere near as magnificent as the actual thing.
Her chambers were dark and dismal, the opposite of Snow’s room. Black and silver satin sheets and drapes were hung in intricate ways all over the room. Her ceiling was painted black like the nighttime sky.
“Well, don’t just stand there,” the queen said in her husky voice. “Lingering is rude, especially when you’ve been summoned. Reveal yourself.”
Reluctantly I placed one foot in front of the other and moved toward the queen. After what seemed like forever, I passed the room divider and saw her, perched in a gorgeous chair so tall it curved over her head like a flower petal. Snow stood to the queen’s right, her hands folded in front of her. I didn’t know how to feel about Snow. On one hand, I was sorry about having touched something that belonged to her deceased mother, then I remembered that I had none of my mother’s belongings while Snow had so many heirlooms. Why couldn’t she be grateful about anything she had? On the other hand, I was angry. Angry with Snow because this situation could have been avoided. There was no need for her to come and tattle on me and now, if I survived the queen’s punishment, I was going to lose my job and be tossed out into the streets. I would never see Merna again.
The queen intertwined her fingers, forming a triangle in front of her mouth and narrowed her heavily-painted eyes at me. “Cinderella, is it? What do you have to say for yourself, Cinderella?”
My name sounded like venom on her lips.
I cleared my throat and chose my words very carefully, knowing they had the power to change my fate in one way or another. I bowed my head. “I am so sorry, Your Majesty. I didn’t want to cause any trouble. I saw the earrings and thought they were so beautiful. I had never worn pearls before. I had every intention of returning the earrings to Snow’s jewelry box, but I forgot. When I woke up the next morning Snow was already upset about the earrings being missing so I was afraid to say anything. I promise you I wasn’t going to keep them. I was only looking for the perfect time to put them back.”
The queen smirked. “That’s a likely story. How are we to know it’s true?”
I took a deep breath, hoping my next words wouldn’t come back to bite me. “I thought it would be like the old times when Snow and I were little girls. She would let me borrow her things and she never minded. I always took good care of her possessions and returned them.” I looked to Snow, hoping she would agree. “Remember when we were younger and we used to play together?”
“What are you going on about? We never played together.” Snow looked down on her stepmother and frowned. “What is she talking about?”
The queen shrugged. “I have no idea, Snow. There is no way under God’s blue sky that you would have been permitted to play with a servant girl, especially one so filthy looking. I completely understand why you’ve been given the name Cinderella. You would probably have to scrub for a year to not look like you’ve rolled around in filth.”
My cheeks burned with shame.
Snow looked down on Queen Angeline with disappointment. “Stepmother, what does any of that have to do with my earrings?”
The queen rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to explain how ridiculous she sounds telling such a story.” Her gaze locked into mine. “Girl, you have broken one of the cardinal rules of serving in the palace. You do not take or touch things that don’t belong to you. How are we supposed to trust you to have full access of our home?”
I knew I would get nowhere with the queen. There was no good in her. I’d known that since I was a little girl. I focused on Snow. “Snow, you have to remember. You must remember all the times we played together. For years. We were best friends. We even called ourselves sisters.”
She blinked, watching me like I had two heads. That was when I lost it. “Come on, Snow! I know five years is a long time but it’s not long enough to forget the friendship we had. Why are you doing this?”
Even if Snow didn’t remember, why was the queen pretending she didn’t? If anything, she would remember how opposed she was to our friendship.
Queen Angeline sighed. “Enough of this. This urchin has already claimed enough of my day. Snow, as a
ruler, you must be able to dole out appropriate punishments when needed. People need to know that we have laws and rules for a reason. Certain people need to be used as an example to the others.”
My throat felt like sandpaper. I needed a drink of water but I knew better than to ask for one. Straightening my shoulders, I waited for Snow to deliver my punishment. There would be no more humiliating groveling. Whatever punishment she had for me, I was going to take like a woman.
Snow scrunched her beautiful face, deep in thought. She didn’t look so angry anymore. “Stepmother, I believe her when she said she was going to return the earrings. I think she should be paddled and returned to the kitchen for the rest of her employment.”
Queen Angeline scoffed. “You call that a punishment? That’s not a punishment. A punishment must hurt and cause pain to be effective or what’s the point? You are simply giving her permission to do the same thing again.
I swallowed hard, hatred for the queen burning within me. Snow’s face whitened slightly. I hadn’t even realized that was possible—for her to turn even paler. She started to speak but the queen cut her off. “You must be harsher. Put your personal feelings aside. You can’t make decisions like this based on emotions.”
Snow nodded. “Okay, I guess she should be fired then and banished from the palace.”
The queen’s mouth curved into an evil smile. “Fine, if you can’t do this right, I’ll do it myself. I’ll have the guards bring Cinderella down to the furnace room.”
Relief washed over me. The queen was sending me to live in the place I had first been discovered. That was a far easier punishment than any I’d imagined. At least I would still be in the palace with Merna.
A burly guard dragged me by my forearm down the narrow, winding staircase that led to the furnace room. Old memories came flooding back. A pile of hay occupied the corner where my tiny bed had once been.
Two men stood before the furnace, stoking the hot coals with pokers. I had no clue what they were doing and Snow’s confused expression told me that she didn’t either.
An eerie orange glow danced on the walls and the heat almost suffocated me. The temperature was much more brutal than I remembered.
The queen addressed her stepdaughter, speaking of me as if I wasn’t there. “Do you know what’s in that furnace, Snow?”
She shook her head, giving the furnace a sidelong glance.
The queen continued. “Shoes made of iron. They are unbearably hot. Cinderella is going to wear those shoes until she can’t take it anymore.” She smiled proudly. “I thought it up myself.”
My blood went cold. She had to be joking. I’d heard of people being punished in barbaric ways but for trying on a pair of earrings? Not even Queen Angeline would do that and surely Snow wouldn’t let her.
Snow shook her head incessantly. “No, Stepmother. This isn’t what I wanted. I just wanted her to get a simple punishment. Not all this. It isn’t worth it.”
The queen ignored her as she moved toward the furnace, watching the men with a wicked gleam in her eye. “Are they ready?”
One of the men, looking sullen and gray stoked the coals a final time. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
The other man stepped away from the fire, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Your Majesty, I can’t even tell you how hot those shoes would be, but no one would survive wearing them.”
Queen Angeline smiled as if turned on by the thought. “Exactly.” She took one last look at the fire and snapped her fingers at the guard who had brought me down.
He moved behind me, pinning my arms behind my back, making it impossible for me to move. I squirmed, but I clearly wasn’t going anywhere as hard as I tried.
The men removed the iron shoes from the fire with tongs and placed them side by side on the floor. They glowed a fiery red as spirals of smoke wafted from them. The smell of embers burned my nostrils. The guard pushed me toward the shoes and as hard as I struggled against him, there was no freedom. In fact, he tightened his grasp. The queen yelled at the men to get the shoes on my feet. I kicked at them as each of them grabbed hold of one of my feet. They guided my feet into the shoes, burning the flesh off their own hands in the process.
The entire time Snow screamed for them to let me go as the queen yelled for her to be quiet. Finally, the shoes went on my feet and it was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. I screamed and thrashed as the hot metal seared into my skin. Pain shot through my entire body and a burst of white exploded before my eyes. I caught a few glimpses of the queen looking on. She wore a satisfied smile. Snow was a crying heap on the floor. I didn’t feel sorry for her at all. This was all her doing. She didn’t have to tell on me and this was the result. In that very moment, I hated her. I would never forgive her for killing me. The last things I saw were the men staring at me with pity in their eyes and my skin red and blistered. After that, there was darkness and nothing.
7
My eyes opened to a darkened room. There was little light, but from what I could see, the room was bare and almost empty except for the bed I lay in and an old wooden dresser. On top of the dresser sat a tray with a glass of water and a few bread rolls.
I tried to remember what had happened to me and what I was doing in such a foreign place. I closed my eyes and it all came rushing back like a raging river of nightmares. The burning shoes. They’d hurt so bad I thought I had died. Even then, the pain was alarmingly present. I moaned and rolled my head to the left. A young servant girl stood there. She gasped and headed toward the door.
“No, wait,” I said, but she was gone.
A few moments later the door opened and Queen Angeline sauntered in wearing a skin-tight blood-red dress. The sight of her brought vomit to the back of my throat. Why was I still alive and what plans did she have for me?
I clutched the thin white sheets on the bed as my feet throbbed with pain. The queen dismissed the servant girl with a quick snap of her fingers and the two of us were alone.
I swallowed hard as she towered over me. She studied me for a few moments before whipping the sheets off my body. I saw my feet for the first time. They were completely covered with bandages which were soaked through with blood.
The queen pretended to wince. “Oh, that’s a shame.”
I imagined that while I slept she had spent plenty of time looking at my bandaged feet, admiring her work.
The extreme pain I’d felt while wearing those shoes came rushing back to me. I thought I had died in that furnace room. Why was I still alive? Had Queen Angeline come back to finish me off?
“This was a new punishment,” she said. “I wanted to try it out. I think I’ll keep it.”
I said nothing, but closed my eyes and waited for her to finish me off. That was obviously what she wanted to do.
The queen chuckled to herself. “You hate her, don’t you?”
I tried to swallow but my throat was too dry. “Hate who, Your Majesty?”
“That vile creature, Snow. All of this happened because of her, you know.”
No, this happened because of you, but I knew better than to say that aloud.
The queen sat on the edge of my bed and stroked my hair even though it was damp with sweat. “I do remember you. I remember when you used to come up to the upper levels of the palace to play with Snow. For years, no?”
I nodded.
“And she has forgotten all about you. Don’t take it personally. That’s the way she is. The entire world believes her to be a sweet, gentle princess, but I know her better than anyone. I raised her since she was a mere toddler and despite how I tried to guide her into being a good person, it just doesn’t take.”
I wondered how the queen would show anyone how to be a good person when she was the worst person I had ever known. Although I wanted to agree with her about Snow, I knew better than to speak ill of the princess.
Queen Angeline shook her head. “I only pretended you were lying to stay on Snow’s good side. You have no idea how vicious she can get when someone
disagrees with her.”
I almost laughed out loud. Was the queen really trying to portray herself as a victim and Snow as some monster? She must not have thought much of my intelligence.
“Anyway,” the queen continued. “I mended you up the best I could, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Your feet look like mounds of raw, shredded meat. You’re certainly in no condition to walk.”
My throat tightened. If I was in no condition to walk, I was in no condition to work and the palace would have no use for me.
The queen cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips. “I can fix it, you know.”
“Fix what?”
She gestured toward my feet with the wave of her delicate hand. “I have access to the best healers in the land. I can have a remedy made up for you immediately.”
I’d heard of people who could heal almost every ailment, but things like that came at a steep price. “What do I have to do for it?”
Queen Angeline grinned, her teeth glistening like diamonds. “Smart girl. Anything worth having has a price. If you want the remedy, you must do something that will benefit the both of us. I need you to find Snow White.”
Her words weren’t making any sense to me. “What do you mean you need me to find Snow? Where is she?”
The queen shrugged. “That’s what I would like to know, dear.”
“What? Did she run away or something?”
The queen raised her eyebrows. “It appears that she has.”
“Why would she do that?” When we were younger, Snow had always threatened to run away to rid herself of her horrible stepmother, but I never actually thought she would go through with it.
The queen shrugged again. “You know as well as me.”
“Wait, how long have I been asleep?”
The queen rose, walking across the room with her hands folded behind her. “Five long days. Merna has been up to see you a few times.”
Forever Ella: The Everly Girls Book 2 Page 4