“Do you see it?” I whispered, returning to my partner’s arms.
He drew me close once more. His touch made me tremble. This was just one more thing I’d stolen from someone else who belonged here.
I was a thief, but was I truly less than a lady? This ball might belong to every other woman, but I had other things. Precious moments that made my cheeks heat up. I recalled tickling my mistress’s foot, the intimacy of touching her toes, savoring the sight of the lovely shape of her ankle. These were pleasures none of these ladies would ever enjoy. I might never have known them myself if I’d remained a lady.
The music ended. A smile rose to my lips and spread across my face. I gazed at my dance partner one last time. Yes, he was beautiful, but he’d never be as beautiful as Ariella was.
As if in agreement, an enormous clock on the landing tolled the hour. It was already eleven. Had so much time passed so quickly?
“Thank you for the dance.” I gazed into the midnight-blue eyes of my partner. “I’ll never forget it.”
“Not many ladies would remember a dance or three.” The young gentleman studied my face as if it was a mystery that utterly absorbed him. It was impossible not to be flattered by the attention. “Or speak of them as if they’d never dance again after this night.” He raised my hand to his lips.
“As I said, I’m not exactly a lady.” I slipped my fingers out of his grasp. “This was my last dance as well as my first.”
I made a slight half bow to him. “Thank you for making it wonderful.”
He took two steps forward once I stepped back.
“Don’t go,” he said. There was an earnestness in those two words that made me freeze in my tracks. The stranger seized my hand and pulled me into his arms. Ah, his touch made me tremble, even now! I’d meant every word I’d said, but part of me was tempted to stay, to let the dance continue!
I thought of Ariella extending her foot to me. The clock chimed once more.
“I must.” I gazed in the clock’s direction. “It’s already eleven o’clock. I promised to leave before midnight.”
“Surely not?” His whisper tickled my neck and sent shivers down my spine. “You can spare another hour, can’t you? For your prince?”
“Your Highness.” I stared at his handsome face.
This was the prince my mistress despised. He looked so much like Ariella, right down to his smile. I could see where she might hate him or fall in love with him. It would be so easy to fall in love with him.
I thought of Ariella, the hurt in her eyes when she’d asked me if I wanted to win the prince’s heart. I could feel the flesh of her foot in my hands as if I were fitting it into her glass slipper. I felt the sides of the slipper hard against my own feet while I moved across the floor.
I took a deep breath and a step away from the prince. I bowed again, but continued to back in the direction of the doors.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness.” I closed my eyes. The sight of his handsome face was painfully tempting, all the more because it was like Ariella’s. I couldn’t betray her. As magical as tonight had been, all magic was meaningless without her. “It really is time for me to go.” With those words, I turned and fled.
The lights of the hall seemed too bright. Once more, they dazzled my eyes. I tried not to shove people out of my way, feeling like their laughter was caging me in, keeping me from returning to where I belonged. Somehow, I found my way to the stairs.
Faintly, I heard the prince calling out. The plump young man stood nearby, still surrounded by ladies. He glanced at me, bemused.
Flushing, I stumbled down the stairs, losing a shoe. My face was very hot. The laughter grew louder.
I’d just lost one of my mistress’s glass slippers. Memories of gently stroking her foot, coaxing it within the narrow confines of the shoe were overwhelming. I stopped and began searching the ground, but I couldn’t find the slipper.
A hand took my arm. I turned to see my fairy godmother, still wearing her coachman disguise.
“It’s time to go,” she said. “The magic will end at midnight. Your coach will turn back into a pumpkin.”
“I don’t care!” I cried. I got on my hands and knees, feeling all over the ground.
People murmured around us, but I ignored them.
“I lost one of my mistress’s glass slippers! I have to find it!”
“There’s no time for that!” The coachman grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. “We must leave now!”
“You don’t understand.” I struggled to pull free from the coachman’s grip. Wildly, I searched the floor.
People were staring, but I didn’t care.
It didn’t matter if I turned back into a cinders girl in front of all these people.
Putting on her glass slippers was the only true service I could do for Ariella. Without them, I was a complete failure. Without them, what would I be?
“No, you don’t understand,” the coachman hissed in my ear. “Even if those slippers didn’t exist, you’d still be important to your mistress.”
“What?” I demanded.
I turned to face the coachman, but I was growing dizzy. Was I actually going to swoon?
Spots mingled with the bright lights.
I struggled to keep my vision. I swayed on my feet, losing my balance. “How do you know that?”
I never heard the answer to my question. Darkness rushed over me as I fell. I don’t remember hitting the ground.
When I opened my eyes, the morning sunshine nearly blinded me. I was lying in my mistress’s pumpkin patch, still wearing the green gown. Only one glass slipper was on my foot.
“Oh, no,” I groaned. I sat up and looked down at the green dress, which was once again smudged. How was I going to explain the missing slipper to my mistress? Especially since I’d lost it dancing with the man she hated.
“Cinders!” Lady Ariella was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, staring at me.
I realized there were smashed pieces of orange gourd and sticky seeds scattered about my feet. On top of everything else, I’d squashed her favorite pumpkin.
I opened my mouth to attempt to offer a reasonable explanation.
What came out was, “Gaaahhh!”
My mistress tried to look stern, but her lips twitched. “Well, I see you found a way to amuse yourself even if you didn’t go to the ball.”
“No!” My ability to speak returned, although my words came out in a mixed jumble. “I mean, yes! Sorry! Your pumpkin! Your slipper!”
The weight of what had happened sank in. I’d lost one of my mistress’s glass slippers.
“Never mind.” Ariella waved my words away. As if they meant nothing. As if our little ritual of putting on her slippers was nothing. “I can grow another pumpkin. Besides, the glass slippers never fit me anyway.”
“No!” The fierceness of my own voice surprised me. I got to my feet. “Your slipper wasn’t broken, just lost! I’ll get it back!”
Ariella stared at me. “How?”
“I’ll search for it!” I’d lost it at the palace. The slipper had to be somewhere around the stairs on the palace grounds. “I just need to get to the palace!” The moment I said those words, I clapped my hands over my mouth. I’d just admitted I had been there.
“You lost one of my slippers at the palace?” Ariella stared at me.
I wondered if she was going to shout at me or slap me. At the very least, she’d demand what I was doing there.
“I…” An excuse, I needed to think of an excuse for why I’d been at the palace. I could say I’d been looking for her. I could say I’d been trying to bring her slippers to her, but I’d been forced to wear them. What kind of an excuse was that?
“I…um…ended up at the palace…um…unexpectedly. In the slippers.” I winced at my own words. All right, they were true, but they didn’t even make a proper excuse.
Ariella gazed at me for a moment longer. “All right.” She turned her back. “I’ll summon the carriage. We’l
l return to the palace and look for the slipper. Claude can distract the prince.”
I’d expected to be scolded. Not this. I stared at her retreating back before hurrying after her.
“By the way,” she said, over her shoulder, “you’ll need to be cleaned up if we’re going to the palace. Your smudged dress will never do.”
I looked down at the dress, which was more smudged than ever. My hair was a tangled, dirty mess as always.
My mistress didn’t say anything more about it. She took me to her own quarters. I wondered if she’d summon another servant to clean me, but she stripped me down herself.
I could feel my cheeks heating up while I stood without even undergarments.
Ariella brought a basin of clean water and a rag to me. With her own hands, my mistress washed away every trace of dirt on my body. Each stroke of the cloth felt like a caress. This made my flesh tingle, more than any flattery the prince had uttered.
My fairy godmother had been right. Every woman should dance once in her life. The dazzling lights of the ball could never gleam like a single droplet of water clinging to Ariella’s wrist as she wrung the towel out. A prince’s teasing whisper against my skin could never make my heart race as the sensation of my lady’s fingers rubbing against my skin through the rag.
Ariella didn’t say a word once I was clean. She simply went and fetched her own comb.
Gently, she ran it through my hair, untangling each lock. Every inch of my scalp seemed to quiver with each pull of the comb. Each accidental touch of her fingers made me tremble. My mistress still wouldn’t speak or even look at me until she started searching for clean undergarments.
“The top drawer,” I murmured, when I realized she meant to dress me in her own clothes.
“I know,” she said, without turning to even glance at me. “I’ve watched you do the same thing often enough.”
Before I could say anything or even just bow my head, she went over to her closet where her finest dresses were.
“No,” I whispered, before I could think better of it. “Those are your dresses. You mustn’t put me in one of them.”
“I must if you’re determined to return to the palace in search of that glass slipper,” my mistress replied. There was no anger nor censure in her voice. “Pick out whichever dress you’d like.”
“You’ve already given me a wonderful dress.” The words spilled out as if they’d been summoned. “I don’t want to ruin another one. Not to mention, I’ll look ridiculous in your fine clothes.”
“You won’t.” My mistress shook her head. “You’ll look lovely in whatever you choose. Just choose well.”
She opened the door and stood to the side, waiting.
It was her wish for me to pick whatever I’d be wearing to the palace.
Part of me was ready, as always, to respond to her wishes.
The rest of me was reeling from the words that had just spilled from her lips.
She’d told me I’d look lovely in whatever I choose. She believed I could be lovely. Me, the clumsy cinders girl.
Ariella lowered her head, but there was an odd gleam in her eye.
I’d seen it before, but my mind rebelled at revealing where.
My cheeks hot, I took a shaky step forward and peered into the familiar closet.
There were gowns of blue silk, yellow, black velvet, and white lace sewn into delicate floral patterns.
There was also a green frock coat with tails, which might have belonged to a man. It looked very familiar.
I remembered my fairy godmother from last night.
Too clearly could I recall the green frock coat and tails she’d dressed in.
I managed to avoid gasping out loud.
I grabbed hold of the doorknob of the closet to steady myself.
My mistress was avoiding my shocked stare. Her face was void of expression, but her eyes still gleamed.
She was amused by my reaction, with her usual sense of mischief. It was a mischief I’d recognize anywhere, even if I didn’t remember it at once.
A boldness within me responded to that gleam, which I hadn’t realized I possessed.
I decided to confront my mistress in that manner which invited punishment or attention.
“Very well, I choose this.” I pulled down the green frock coat with tails.
I removed the coat from its hanger and tossed it to her, as if she was the servant and I was the lady.
The look on my mistress’s face was priceless as she caught the coat.
She stared at me, for once completely speechless.
It was an effort not to giggle, but I managed.
“Well,” I said, with utter gravity. “If the prince is as lecherous a lout as you say, it would be better if I dressed as an additional footman, instead of a lady or even your maid.”
“Indeed,” my mistress said. She regained her composure as if she’d never lost it. “You’d better get the matching breeches as well if you’re to be a footman.”
“Yes, milady.” I lowered my eyelashes so she couldn’t read the expression in my eyes.
I found in the closet green breeches, which matched the coat perfectly. Exactly like the ones the so-called fairy godmother had worn.
I withdrew them from the closet, noticing a cloak and hood as well. They were the same ones my fairy godmother had worn when she first appeared.
I didn’t say anything about any of this. I closed the closet door.
My mistress found stockings and slippers for me that matched the breeches and tunic. She helped me into them. The breeches were tight but fit. They made me plumper than I actually was, but I could pass for a boy, even if I was a lady-faced boy.
“As I thought, you look lovely,” my mistress said, although her lips were twitching.
I wasn’t quite certain what kind of a game my lady was playing, although I knew now a game was being played. “Shall we go to the palace?”
Claude joined us in the hallway. He gave me the slightest glance of reproach, but most of the displeasure on his face was reserved for the mistress.
She smiled at him in return.
A carriage was waiting for us outside. It was much plainer than the carriage I’d ridden in the night before to the ball. Plus real horses pulled it, instead of ghosts.
Claude helped us inside before assuming the driver’s seat. It was to be only the three of us visiting the palace. It was a relief to realize how small and private this expedition would be.
Claude was a much better driver than the footman/godmother had been. No wonder, since I doubted my footman drove carriages very often. He pulled us up, not right at the palace entrance but to the side of the massive gray edifice. How forlorn it looked in the daylight without all the lights.
The steps I’d climbed were visible from our vantage, the same ones where I’d lost the slipper. The marble was still lovely, but I wasn’t as entranced by it as I had been.
“The prince isn’t an early riser,” Claude said, glancing around at the entrance. Clearly, he was uneasy at being there. “You’ll have a little time to look for whatever you lost, milady.”
“It’s my cinders girl who’s lost something,” my mistress said, glancing at me before she disembarked from the carriage. “One of my glass slippers.”
Claude stared at me.
I lowered my head, avoiding his gaze. I hopped out of the carriage, unaided, stumbling when I did.
“I promise I’ll get it back,” I said, studying my feet.
Claude glanced from me to the closed doors. “The palace staff may have picked it up, already.”
“Picked what up?”
The mistress stiffened at the stranger’s voice, as did the footman. Both turned to bow to its owner.
The prince. It had to be the prince. I turned to face him. No, it was not the man who’d nearly swept me off my feet.
The plump young man I dimly remembered being surrounded by women at the ball stared at me with muddy brown eyes, red-rimmed with a lack of sleep.
He fixed his small, piggish gaze upon me.
“Who’s this pretty fellow who keeps staring at me?” the prince asked, waggling his dangling jowls into a pout. “What are you all doing here?”
“Forgive us, Your Highness.” My lady kept her eyes lowered with an unfamiliar submissiveness. “We’re here because I lost a glass slipper last night.”
“As if I could remember every lady’s slipper from last night.” The prince scowled, allowing his face to sag into thick, meaty wrinkles. “I can’t even recall even a single guest. I have the worst headache imaginable just trying to think.” He scratched his head, feeling at the top of his thinning scalp. “I usually have quite the eye for a pretty face. I’m sure there were some at the ball last night.” His scowl deepened, making his countenance akin to a pug dog’s. “You’d think someone spiked my drink.”
Claude avoided the prince’s eye. He twitched in a slightly guilty fashion, glancing at my mistress out of the corner of his eye.
Ariella kept her expression perfectly neutral. A stranger wouldn’t have noticed her lips moving. I saw the tiniest twitch in them, as if she was holding back a laugh.
“I can barely remember a thing. Everything is a blur from the moment I started to drink.” The prince was completely oblivious to the exchange of glances. “No one was at the ball at the time, at least not no one important. It was just servants. When did the guests start to arrive?” The prince scratched his head again before letting his pudgy hands drop to his sides. “I don’t remember who did what or even who danced with whom. Although I’m certain there wasn’t a man who dared to show a more handsome face at the ball than mine.” He jiggled his jowls in an attempt to be fetching.
“No, indeed,” my mistress said with the utmost gravity. Her lips were definitely twitching.
Fortunately, the only one who noticed was me. The prince was too wrapped up in his lack of memories to care.
“You’d think I’d remember some of the ladies, though.” The prince lifted his arms, only to flop them back to his sides. Raising them any further was too much of an effort. “I’m sure some of them were very handsome.” His scowl rearranged itself into a sneer. His flabby cheeks stiffened with arrogance. “Not that I’d marry any of them.”
Once Upon the Rainbow, Volume Two Page 14