Halia: Daughter of Cinderella

by Armitage, J. A

  I shot Thomas a grateful smile, guilt tugging at me for tricking him. “Thank you, thank you so much.”

  The warm sun on my face and the breeze in my hair was the sweetest sensation as I skipped down the streets toward Daydream. Lorenzo and Mikka were waiting for me inside.

  “Are you all right?” Lorenzo pulled me into a hug only to release me a second later to examine me. “Has—”

  “I’m fine,” I reassured him.

  “It’s good to have you back.” Mikka swung her legs, sitting on the bar. “I would’ve been pissed if those useless Fontaine sisters won.”

  A throat clearing sounded, and I turned to find Abigail in a booth behind me. She rose and strolled toward me. “I believe you have something for me,” she said, not bothering with niceties.

  “What does it do?”

  Her lips curled back into a soft snarl. “It’s none of your business.”

  She was right, telling me what the moonstone was hadn’t been part of our bargain. I pulled it out. “You promise not to hurt Arcadia with it?”

  Abigail let out a tinkling laugh, which was identical to the sound Acacia made when she laughed. The hairs on my arms stood. “Yes, I promise,” the faerie drawled. “Not everybody wants your precious Arcadia. There are so many more beautiful places in the universe.”

  I felt the truth of her statement, and even though I didn’t appreciate the derision she showed for my home, I was glad that she didn’t want to dwell in my city. I handed her the stone, and a moment later, it disappeared into the inside of her cloak.

  “Call on the fairy godmother,” I said, afraid she’d go back on her promise now that she had what she wanted.

  Abigail showed her teeth. “Very well. You better ask her everything you need to know because I won’t call on her again.”

  My mind was a mess as I prepared to meet the godmother. Abigail closed her eyes, her lips moving silently. An invisible wind blew her blonde strands back, and her alabaster face radiated the way only a fae’s skin could.

  A popping sound disturbed whatever trance Abigail was in. Her eyes flew open, and next to her, appeared a hunched old lady with fine, white hair.

  The old woman glanced between the four of us but focused on Abigail. “Fae child, why have you called me?”

  Abigail jerked her head toward me. “This one has questions for you.” With that, the fae headed toward the exit. Relief swept through me that she wouldn’t be privy to this conversation. Fae were fickle and self-serving creatures. She might be working with us today, but tomorrow she might once again be on Acacia’s side.

  The fairy godmother turned to me. “Why have you called me, child?” Her voice was neutral, but there was a spark of recognition in her gray eyes.

  “You know who I am,” I breathed.

  “There’s a lot I know,” she replied vaguely. I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t.

  Afraid that she could disappear at any moment like Mrs. Woods had, the godmother who used to conceal the golden rings in my eyes until I turned eighteen, I got to the point.

  “We’re searching for Queen Ella. Officially, she disappeared a few weeks ago, but I’ve seen her since then working in the kitchen of Madam’s Boarding House. She allowed the owner, Mrs. Fontaine, to call her Cinder. Queen Ella used to be the stepdaughter of Mrs. Fontaine. I don’t understand why she abandoned her husband to work as a kitchen maid. Then, a week ago, she vanished completely. No one has seen her since.”

  There was so much pain on the godmother’s face, but she didn’t reply.

  “Please, we need to bring the queen back to her rightful place. Bad things have been happening in Arcadia since she abandoned the king. I’m sure her goodness can restore the peace.”

  “It’s more complicated than that.”

  I stepped forward. “Just tell us where she is. We’ll do the rest.”

  Godmother’s gaze swiped from me to Lorenzo to Mikka before she shook her head. “I can’t. My goddaughter doesn’t want to be found.”

  “Why? What does Mrs. Fontaine have on her that is so bad? If her stepmother threatened her, why didn’t she go to the king? Why on earth would she ever return to that monster after getting her happily ever after?”

  “To protect the ones we love, we’ll do anything, even if it isn’t the right thing to do.”

  “Was she protecting the king? If Madam threatened to hurt him, certainly his guards could’ve prevented it.”

  There was a look of resignation on Godmother’s face. “There has been a lot of speculation about why the queen and king never had a child. Many believed that they weren’t able to have one.”

  Confusion spread through me at this turn in the conversation.

  “The truth is that the queen and king did have a child. It wasn’t their flesh and blood but rather a newborn they took in and which they gave up when the babe was only a few months old.”

  I felt my forehead wrinkle. “Why?” Even if the queen had been overwhelmed with a little one, she didn’t need to give it up. There were plenty of people who could help her at court. She didn’t have to lift a finger if she didn’t want, although I couldn’t imagine Queen Ella leaving her child with nannies.

  “The queen loved her child dearly and wanted to keep her, but she was afraid that if she did, the child would die. Ella’s stepmother learned about the queen’s daughter and promised she would kill the child.”

  “But weren’t Madam and her daughters imprisoned at that point?”

  “They were, but a few days later, someone broke them out, and rumors began to swirl that the stepmother possessed dark magic with which she could kill the child. Ella became certain that the only way she could keep her child safe was to bring it to a location where her stepmother wouldn’t search.”

  “So they hid the child in the countryside?” There was a princess out there. An heir. “We must find her and reunite her with the king. If Queen Ella hears her child is fine, she will return.”

  Godmother shook her head. “The child is not at any of the lords’ estates. The girl was placed into the Faustus orphanage.”

  My heart stopped beating. “How long ago was that?” My voice sounded weak, distant.

  “A bit over eighteen years ago. The girl would be eighteen and a few months old now.”

  Like Tia or me. My mind broke out into a mental jog as I considered every girl that had been in the orphanage and whether any of them were of the right age. They weren’t. The closest two were off by half a year each, which meant that either Tia or I was the princess.

  “I turned eighteen only a few months earlier, and so did my best friend.” A tremble siezed my body as I waited for the Godmother to respond, but all she did was nod. “One of us could be the princess,” I added.

  Still, Godmother didn’t respond, and I reached for her hand. “Please, I need to know. If you can’t tell me this, then at least tell me where Queen Ella is. Arcadia needs her more than ever.”

  Fairy Godmother shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid I can’t give you the answers you seek. I swore to my goddaughter to never reveal to her child who she was. As for your second question, I wish I could help, but wherever Ella is, a spell is hiding her, making it impossible for me to know where my goddaughter is.”

  Lorenzo took a step forward and spoke for the first time. “What about the disruptions in Arcadia? Will they cease once Queen Ella returns to her rightful throne?”

  The Godmother shook her head. “No, Queen Ella broke the last dark spell when she married the king. She was a good queen for eighteen years. Now it’s the turn of the next generation to rescue our kingdom from the evil that has befallen it.”

  “The princess is the answer,” I said quietly, a somberness descending over me.

  Godmother nodded. “The princess must follow her heart and embrace her courage.” The words were barely out of her mouth as the air around her shimmered, and she faded away.

  I lunged for her. “Don’t leave! There’s still so much I need to ask
you!” My pleas were in vain. She was already gone.

  I grabbed a table for support as tears began to fall from my eyes.

  Lorenzo embraced me and pulled me into his chest, his scent of fresh-cut grass and lemons enveloping me into a soothing cocoon.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he repeated while I sobbed.

  “All this time, Tia and I were at the orphanage, thinking we were unwanted when one of us was a beloved princess! How could this be? How could the queen have given up her daughter and not visited her once?”

  “You heard the godmother. Ella was terrified of her stepmother.”

  “Still, I don’t understand her choice.” I wiped away my tears and glanced up at Lorenzo. “I think I’m the queen’s daughter. Or maybe I’m just being selfish…what if we never find out whether it’s Tia or me?”

  “You will.” Lorenzo drew soothing circles on my back.

  “How? The queen gave her daughter up when she was only a few months old.”

  “She’ll remember the color of your eyes once you remove your protective contact lenses.”

  I strained my mind, trying to remember if Queen Ella had seen me when the golden specks in my eyes were pronounced enough to almost create circles. Could I have worked alongside my mother without knowing it? I gazed up at Lorenzo. “You think I’m the princess?” Hope and trepidation thundered in my chest.

  “It doesn’t matter what I or anyone else thinks.” Lorenzo’s violet-green eyes softened. “You were right before. I can’t keep you safe. This is your mission.”

  Everything clicked into place, and I knew without a doubt that I was the princess. I was the protector of Arcadia, and when all of this was over, I would find out who the queen and king had adopted me from and what my first months with them had been like. Maybe I would finally have the family I always dreamed about.

  I swallowed hard. If the king and queen accepted me, my life would change completely. I wouldn’t just gain a family but also a title. I would be the princess of Arcadia, which would allow me to do great things for my kingdom and its people, but also place heavy responsibility and expectation on my shoulders. I might even have to give up my singing. Could the universe really be so cruel as to give me my family and take away my most precious possession in return? If that was the price, did I even want the queen and king to acknowledge me?

  “What if I’m not sure if I want to be a princess?”

  “Then, we’ll figure it out, as we figure out everything.” Lorenzo’s lips pressed against mine, and I melted against his body, molding my soft curves into his hard muscles. Time slowed, then stopped as I lost myself in the delicious sensation of his soft lips, his velvety tongue. Heat pooled in my abdomen, and I tugged on his silver hair, wanting, needing more of him. Then I remembered that Mikka had been in the bar with us and jerked backward, my breathing heavy. To my relief, Mikka was nowhere to be found. She must have crept upstairs sometime after the Fairy Godmother had vanished. After she figured out that Tia might be the princess. I needed to talk to Tia, but first, I needed to understand what had just happened between Lorenzo and me.

  “Only days ago, you said you didn’t want a relationship with me because I was holding back. Do you still feel that way? If you do, you need to stop kissing me, because my feelings are only growing for you, and I can’t keep it casual.”

  Lorenzo tugged a loose hair strand behind my ear. “I was never able to stay away from you, Halia. I wanted to protect myself by waiting for you to fully commit to me.” He shook his head. “But when you were seized by Victor and dragged away, I realized what nonsense I had spun in my head. The timing will never be perfect, just as relationships aren’t perfect. I don’t want to squander what we have or the time we have because I’m overly cautious.” A smile tugged on his lips. “There’s no time like now. Life is very fragile, and I want to enjoy every moment I have with you.” He chuckled. “I’m done being a stupid, stubborn demon. I’m ready to jump into this with both feet.”

  My chest expanded, and a chuckle rippled out of my throat. “I’m ready for you to stop being a stupid, stubborn demon as well.” I wrapped my hands around his neck and kissed him fiercely, not holding back any of the passion burning in my veins.

  When we finally broke apart, Lorenzo pulled a box with an envelope attached to it out from behind the bar. “From the royal competition.”

  Since we all had been sent black clothes last time with instructions to wear them, I wasn’t too surprised to receive another envelope and box. I opened the letter.

  Dear Halia Bright,

  Please be advised that due to certain circumstances the competition has been postponed to tomorrow at ten in the morning. Please arrive promptly. Do keep your hair and makeup natural and wear the garments provided in the box.

  With kind regards,

  Henry, assistant to Mr. Goodwin

  I gave Lorenzo the letter to read while I ripped open the box with a knife to find a white, long-sleeved blouse and black pants inside.

  “That doesn’t seem like performance attire.” The clothes were more appropriate to work behind a desk at a hotel than to wear on stage. “And why did they postpone the competition?”

  Lorenzo examined the contents of the box. “Postponing it for less than twenty-four hours is strange. As for the costume, maybe you’ll be expected to move around a lot.”

  I cringed. I certainly hoped they hadn’t prepared an expensive choreography for us. I was a singer, not a dancer, and I would be severely disadvantaged in learning complicated steps when I had never taken a dance lesson before.

  I closed the box, wishing Tia was here to make a funny comment or cheer me up. Tia. Tia had been missing the whole time. If Mikka had gone up to her to relay what the godmother had said, the girls should’ve been down a long time age.

  “Where is Tia?”

  Lorenzo’s face pinched, reflecting the worry I felt. “I was so focused on getting you back—”

  “She was the one to drop off Abigail’s note, right?”

  Lorenzo nodded. “She was supposed to come back afterward.”

  I rushed upstairs and tore open the door to my bedroom. It was empty. So was Mikka’s.

  Lorenzo cursed behind me, and I whirled around. “What?”

  “We were in the bar the whole time since Abigail left. Mikka had to deliberately take the back door to not tell us that she was leaving.”

  “Why didn’t she tell us?” I asked as I took the stairs two a time, darting toward the exit.

  “The mating bond. When it snaps into place, it’s very primal and leaves little room for reason or logic.”

  That stopped me in my tracks. “Mating bond?”

  “When a demon finds his mate and after they consummate their relationship, an invisible connection forms between them.”

  “But, Tia isn’t a demon.”

  “She can still be Mikka’s mate.”

  I pushed away the questions this new revelation brought, and asked, “Where do we search for them?”

  Just then, the door to Daydream flew open, and Mikka stormed inside. Her white hair was disheveled, her black eyes were wide, a vein in her neck pulsed violently. She was nothing like the cool and collected half-ice demon I had met. “She’s gone.” Her words came out as an animalistic growl. “The fae took Tia.”

  Conclude Halia’s story in Goddess of Harmony

  Goddess of Harmony

  1

  5th August

  As I ascended the stage with the other remaining eleven candidates, I vaguely noticed that the other performers had received much nicer clothes. Like me, their garments were black and white. However, while I had been given a simple white shirt and black slacks, other singers wore impressive floor-length gowns with complicated lace designs complemented by elegant gloves and big headpieces.

  My outfit stood out in a bad way, making me the most boring contestant to look at, but I could barely summon any outrage or even annoyance at that. Who cared why I had been given such a di
sadvantage? I didn’t care about being sabotaged or winning the competition. How could I when my best friend was gone because of me?

  As I waited for the competition to begin, I went over and over what I knew about Tia’s abduction, which wasn’t much. Tia had delivered Abigail’s letter to me in prison, then she had vanished.

  My friend would never have gone away of her own free will. Someone had snatched her. But who? One of the fae after discovering that Abigail had betrayed them? The leader or Madam Fontaine, whose boarding house was getting shadier by the minute.

  At first, I had been convinced that Tia had been snatched to hurt me, but since I hadn’t received any demands so far, I wasn’t so sure about that any longer. Either way, whether Tia had been taken to be used against me or because she had been at the wrong time at the wrong place, I needed to find her. Unfortunately, combing through Arcadia with Lorenzo and Mikka last night hadn’t given us any hints to her whereabouts.

  With no trace of my friend, I wished desperately that I could turn back time to when people had started disappearing in Arcadia. If I could, I would tell Tia to leave. She could’ve gone anywhere, found a bar job in a safe city. Or, at the very least, I would tell her to stay away from me. All of this was my fault. I should’ve never been so reckless and allowed her to get tangled up in the city’s magical politics. What had I been thinking, asking her to deliver messages between myself and Abigail? Did I really believe that making her my envoy to the sly fae could end well?

  Deep down, I had always known that there would be retribution to pay, I just never took the time to really think about the consequences, and now, it was too late.

  In the best-case scenario, Tia was still alive, probably being tortured for information, or weak from the fae draining her of the tiny bit of magic she possessed as a human. I prayed she hadn’t landed in the leader’s hands who could suck out her life essence and make her a crone overnight.