She saw a man who was struggling to squeeze through the door of the carriage. His coachman was staring at the man inside, looking pretty amused, and playing with a whip in his hand. The guest had very short legs, and a huge stomach. Eventually he slammed on the ground, ending up in a pile of mud and cursing loudly. Cindy couldn’t help herself, and laughed a little. The man swore a few more times, finally pulling himself back to his feet.
The guest looked like the sort of person that didn’t have much money, but Cindy knew he wasn’t a peasant either. She didn’t like judging people by the way they looked, but she did notice that he was quite clumsy and carrying a few extra pounds. He picked a large black hat up off the ground and put it back on his head.
“Hello, welcome to our home. How can I help you?” Teresa asked, suddenly appearing by Cindy.
She wore a very short skirt that her mother wouldn’t approve of, and was smiling at the stranger, fluttering her eyelashes.
Teresa had long ginger hair and a large jaw. Today Cindy noticed that she put an awful lot of makeup on to cover all of her freckles. Teresa must have realised that she wasn’t one of the most beautiful girls, but she wasn’t lacking anything in the chest area. Her boobs were large and she always wore revealing tops that showcased her cleavage.
The man jumped and nearly fell into the mud again, but somehow he managed to keep his balance this time around. Teresa giggled to herself, lifted her boobs with both hands and walked confidently towards the stranger. Cindy noticed that her stepsister didn’t really care if the man that she was just about to flirt with was good looking or not. She would try to seduce him either way. Nothing or no one had ever stopped her from having fun.
The large stranger’s eyes immediately went to her boobs and he smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. Cindy noticed that he was missing one front tooth and she shuddered with repulsion.
“Yes, I need to see Miss Ida, the milkman in town informed me that she lives here,” he replied, trying to make himself look decent, but failing. His clothes were filthy, covered in mud.
“Teresa, don’t just stand out there and look pretty. Invite our guest into the living room!” Cindy’s stepmother shouted from the porch, startling her.
“Please, please come in. My mother will be right with you,” Teresa quickly said, smiling.
Cindy shook her head and carried on with her work. Then she went to the kitchen. She still needed to cook dinner for everyone. She had no idea who the newcomer was and didn’t really care.
Her head was filled with thoughts about the ball, and she couldn’t concentrate on anything else. The ball was only a few days away and she needed to find a beautiful dress to impress Charles. Ida couldn’t just forbid her to attend; maybe in the past she’d let her dominate her, but not this time—Cindy was going to ball with or without her stepmother’s permission.
Sometime later when she was peeling the potatoes and singing to herself in the kitchen, her other stepsister Susan barged in looking flustered.
“Mother is asking for you. She told me to tell you to make yourself look presentable and not to keep her waiting for too long,” Susan stated, then tossed her black hair behind her and vanished before Cindy could ask her what Ida wanted from her.
Since that incident in the forest her stepmother barely exchanged more than a few words with Cindy. Ida couldn’t keep her in the attic forever. She didn’t have any help and since her father passed away she’d fired all of the servants. Cindy was the only one who was doing the daily chores around the house.
She quickly washed her hands and headed to the living room, smoothing her silver blond hair. On a good day, Cindy thought that she was pretty. She had a slim figure that she inherited from her mother, pale complexion and wide, azure blue eyes. Her friend Red, in the past, had told her that she needed to be more confident if she wanted to catch a husband.
Pamela believed that women shouldn’t be dominated by men in any way and Cindy liked the idea. At the same time, she wasn’t sure if she could be like Red. She wasn’t that self-assured.
Her purple dress was filled with stains, but she didn’t have time to change. Her stepmother was already waiting for her. Cindy used to have good clothes, amazing dresses that her father used to bring her from all of his travels. However, once her stepmother started treating her like a maid, Teresa and Susan took her dresses away, saying that she wouldn’t need them anymore.
Five minutes later, she entered the living room. Her stepmother was sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea in her hand. The male guest was opposite her, looking bored. Cindy thought that he was even more unattractive from her angle and wondered what kind of business her stepmother needed from him. The man had a wide head, was mostly bald, and looked to be around Cindy’s age or maybe just a bit older.
“You called me, stepmother,” Cindy said.
Ida narrowed her eyes at her and sipped the tea through her pursed lips. Her brown hair was tied up in a tight bun, and she wore a long black dress. In any other circumstances, Cindy would have to say that her stepmother was an attractive woman, but the sour expression on her face made her unappealing.
“Sit down, Cindy, there is something that I have to discuss with you,” she ordered.
Cindy obeyed her stepmother and sat down opposite her, placing her palms on her knees. The man stared at her with a stupid grin on his face, like he just won a prize.
“So, is this the girl? Very pretty, and young. She should adapt well to my farm. Although, she doesn’t seems very strong, my lady. It’s hard work, you know,” the man said and her stepmother sighed.
Cindy had no idea what he was talking about and for some reason she wasn’t eager to find out.
“Cindy, this is Mr. Londis and he’s looking to find a suitable wife for himself,” her stepmother stated. “We met in town and I suggested that you two should meet to discuss the further details of marriage. I believe that you will be perfectly suited to him.”
For a split second Cindy thought that she must have misheard her stepmother. She couldn’t have suggested what she thought.
A wife?
The man wanted a wife and Ida thought about Cindy.
She must be dreaming. Cindy couldn’t marry a man like that. First of all, she didn’t even love him and second of all, she didn’t even know him. It wasn’t even about his looks, but everything else.
She heard a giggle coming from the door behind her and noticed her stepmother exhale sharply. Cindy realised that her stepsisters were listening to what was going on in the living room. All of a sudden she felt nauseous and wanted to run back to her room.
“But, stepmother, there must be some mistake. I didn’t ask you to find me a husband,” she said. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Her stepmother shot her an annoyed glare and stretched her lips further.
“This isn’t up for discussion, Cindy. A girl your age should be settling down and Mr. Londis is available. He has a certain reputation in the neighbouring town. If you’re going to picky about it, you’ll never find a husband for yourself.” Ida said, sounding furious that Cindy was actually questioning her.
“Yes…uhm…there’s so much that needs doing on the farm I inherited from my father. And I’ve been looking for the right woman for so long. Maybe if your stepmother will allow it, I could take you away with me, show you around. My home is very nice, but requires a woman’s touch, a good homemaker,” Mr. Londis said, smiling and revealing some of his missing teeth. Cindy cringed.
This was a horrible mistake, an error on Ida’s part. She couldn’t possibly marry someone like Londis. What was her stepmother thinking?
That man was unattractive and not suited to her at all.
“Of course you can take her away with you. Cindy would love to see everything for herself, wouldn’t you, Cindy? I think this is a tremendous idea,” Ida said pointedly, raising her perfectly sculpted eyebrows, and Cindy thought she was going to throw up as the reality of the situation began looming over her.
“Stepmother, I don’t think I’m ready for such a huge step. May I speak to you privately?” Cindy asked, but her head was spinning and her thoughts were racing a mile a minute. She couldn’t possibly leave with this man, this stranger.
“Nonsense, of course you’re ready,” her stepmother snapped and then touched her head. “Oh, I suddenly don’t feel very well. Cindy, can you go and fetch me a glass of water. I think it’s my migraine flaring up again.”
Cindy wasn’t listening, but part of her stepmother’s request reached her ears. She stood up and left the living room as fast as she could. Her world was crashing down all around her, and she was losing control.
She nearly tripped over something, but managed to keep her balance. Then she heard giggling and noticed that Teresa’s foot was sticking out. She purposely tried to trip Cindy.
“It looks like Mommy is going to sell your arse to that fatty over there. I bet you can’t wait to suck him off, right?” Susan giggled and Cindy wanted to slap her. She wasn’t a violent person in general, but at that moment she felt a potent anger rising deep inside her stomach.
“There is no way I’m going to agree to marry that man. Your mother is crazy and I’m not an idiot. There’s a man out there who’s just right for me and it’s not him,” Cindy shouted, knowing her stepmother most likely had heard her, but she didn’t care anymore. She had had enough of being treated like she couldn’t make a decision for herself.
“Too bad that she already made a deal with him. Besides, the forest ranger is way out of your league, so you better start looking for a nice wedding dress. Your future’s already decided.”
Cindy clenched her fists, trying to breathe at the same time, and left the room before she did something she’d regret later. She wasn’t going to do what her stepmother wanted, even if she had to run away.
Chapter Three
Over the next two days, Cindy couldn’t stop thinking about Mr. Londis and the fact that her stepmother was rushing her into the marriage. She knew Ida and she realised that she wouldn’t simply let Cindy choose the man she wanted to marry. She needed to act fast, figure out a way to get out of this absurd arrangement.
Her stepmother didn’t mention Mr. Londis again, but Cindy wasn’t stupid. She was even considering running away to another kingdom or asking for help from someone else. Realistically, she knew that she didn’t have any money. Her father had left her the house, but Ida was still in charge of the whole estate.
Teresa and Susan kept teasing her about Londis, and she kept telling herself that she still had options. Charles was single, and there were other men in the village that were much more suited to her than Londis. She was going to get married either way, but only to a man she truly loved and cared for. Her stepmother knew that Cindy wouldn’t like Londis at all. She wanted to get rid of her anyway, and marrying her off was the perfect opportunity.
Things started getting a bit complicated when the next day Ida brought in a new cook and told Cindy to show her everything in the kitchen. It looked like Ida wasn’t wasting any time and Cindy really needed to talk to her about attending the ball. However, every time she tried, someone always interrupted her. And her stepsisters were sabotaging all of her cleaning duties, creating a mess and leaving a pile of dirty clothes for her to wash. She knew that Susan and Teresa were testing her limits, and they wanted her to snap, but she wasn’t planning to give them the satisfaction.
The day of the ball was approaching quicker than she anticipated and day after day Cindy had been coming back to her room exhausted. Ida was giving her more cleaning duties and also training the new cook/maid was extremely draining. She had no time for anything else. After all her daily chores were done, Cindy was too tired to even think about sewing a new dress for the ball. On top of that, she saw the forest ranger with Pamela at the market on Friday, and it crushed her even more. She didn’t understand what had happened. The two of them broke up, and Charles couldn’t have already forgotten about her.
Cindy was furious with herself and heartbroken, but she told herself that maybe he and Red were only friends. And after what happened between them, she was certain that he would choose to take her to the ball. They hadn’t talked about it, but Cindy knew once she showed up at his house looking beautiful, he wouldn’t say no to her.
The night before the ball, she found a storage box that hadn’t been used since her father passed away. She finally had something to work with. Some of the materials were in good shape, and she knew she could create something spectacular if she had a bit more time. She ran back to the attic once all of her work was complete and started thinking about the dress she wanted to create. After a few minutes she felt exhausted and knelt down to rest for a bit. Every muscle in her body was aching badly. She had lifted, carried, cleaned and mopped for hours while her stepmother had just been adding things that needed to be done.
Cindy closed her eyes and before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep, not even realising it was already dark outside.
The next day, bright beams of sunlight woke her up. She jumped to her feet, having no idea why she was still in her clothes, and not in her nightgown.
“No, no, I couldn’t have fallen asleep,” she whispered to herself, seeing that the old dresses from the storage were on the floor. She realised that last night she was so exhausted, she must have fallen asleep, kneeling down. She was ready to cry, knowing that her plan had fallen to pieces. The ball was starting in several hours and she didn’t even have a dress.
When she glanced at the clock she saw that it was nearly eleven a.m. She was surprised that no one had barged into her room, telling her that she was already late with her duties. Cindy went downstairs and realised that her stepmother and stepsisters must have left early to pick up their dresses from the shop in town. Cindy had a lot of work today, but this was the perfect opportunity to create her dress for the ball. She didn’t hesitate this time, and picked out whatever she could from her stepsisters’ rooms. Teresa and Susan had lots of dirty dresses scattered around the floor and Cindy assumed that they wouldn’t miss some old forgotten clothes, so she took what she needed.
She found her sewing kit in the cupboard that used to belong to her mother and started making a dress for her first ball. In the past, she used to make dresses for her dolls; her father had brought someone from town that showed her how to use the sewing machine.
Cindy didn’t care that the house wasn’t cleaned and that the cook was waiting for her in the kitchen. Her dream was finally coming together and she wasn’t going to waste any time this morning. Finding a suitable husband, someone other than Londis, was tops on the list of her priorities.
Several hours later, her dress was ready and Cindy was extremely proud of herself. She kept staring at the silver material, imagining dancing with a real prince. Eventually, her stepmother and stepsisters came back, but they didn’t even pay attention to her. Ida looked stressed about last minute errands that she needed to run, while Susan and Teresa were running around, panicking that they were going to get to the castle too late. None of them had men who would accompany them to the ball. Cindy knew that they were hoping the prince would notice them standing alone in the crowd of other women.
She started cleaning to keep her mind off the fact that she still had to talk to Ida to get her permission. The sun was slowly setting and her stomach was suddenly in knots. She didn’t know how she was going to get to the ball in the first place. Cindy looked anxiously at the window, thinking she might be to be too afraid to leave the house on her own.
“Cindy, come here right away. I need you to curl my hair,” Teresa called from the other room. Cindy was happy to help her. She had her dream dress ready to go, and she knew that she could sneak away from the house after Ida and the girls left. Her plan was coming together nicely.
“Oh, I really hope that the prince won’t be a spoiled brat and he’ll actually dance with us. There will be other ladies there, but after all, we do come from such a good family. We’re
bound to hit it off,” Teresa was saying to Cindy, wearing a very bright pink dress while putting powder on her cheeks. Cindy was curling her hair, nodding, but her mind was elsewhere.
“He might choose me for sure,” Susan stated, rolling her eyes at her sister’s words while brushing her hair.
They started to argue about who was better looking. Soon, just as Cindy predicted, their argument turned into a catfight. The girls were shouting at each other while Cindy wondered if she had shoes that would look good with her dress.
“Ladies, we are leaving in five minutes,” Ida said, walking into the room all of a sudden. Her eyes automatically moved down to Cindy who was just about to sneak upstairs to change too. If everything went according to plan, she would get to the forest ranger’s home. She wasn’t sure if he was back together with Red or not, but she was still convinced that he would take her to the ball. Cindy still shivered thinking about the way Charles had kissed and touched her. Their connection and chemistry was real. “Cindy there’s a little present waiting for you upstairs in your room. You’ve been working really hard over the past few days and I wanted to reward you. I have your invitation to the ball, and I think you should come with us.”
Cindy looked at her stepmother like she’d grown a pair of horns. She couldn’t believe Ida would notice her hard work. Maybe she wasn’t that bad after all and wanted her to have a good time at the ball. She couldn’t believe that her stepmother had just thanked her. That had never happened before.
“Thank you, stepmother,” Cindy mumbled, feeling really happy that everything turned out so well. She didn’t want to go against her stepmother wishes and run away to the ball without her permission. Besides, she was too afraid of the dark to go on her own.
She ran back upstairs to change into her new dress, but when she got there she saw her dress was completely torn apart. No. This is just a bad dream. Blood rushed to her ears. Tears slipped down her cheek as she picked up the pieces that she had carefully sewn for hours. Everything was ruined. She couldn’t save it. The door to her attic room was unlocked most of the day, so anyone could have walked in there.
Vampire King (Adult Fairy Tale, Cinderella #1) Page 3