A/N: Hello all you lovely people! So, while The Wonderlanders is currently on hiatus (sorry about that) I felt I needed to post up something else in the meanwhile. Rumpelstiltskin is probably my favourite fairytale and I've always wanted to do a re-telling of it. Be warned though, this isn't an innocent tale of little men and greedy kings. This isn't a story of good vs evil. This is no fairytale...
Chapter One
It couldn't be happening, she couldn't believe it to be true. Surely she would wake up and find that it was all a dream. A nightmare.
She stood tucked into the corner of the window, watching as her Father loaded the last of their trunks and cases onto the carriage. Even that wouldn't be theirs for long. Her Father had found a buyer for it and he was driving them to their destination and then taking it back with him. The carriage, the house, most of their possessions: gone. Sold to pay for their new house in the city, or apartment, as Adrianna kept reminding herself to say. Not even a house. Just one floor.
She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Behind those lids, she could imagine that the room was just as it had always been growing up. Books lined on ever shelf, all whispering to her, waiting for her to take them down and lose herself in their tales. The library had always been her favourite room. When she was a child, her Mother used to say she could be found nowhere else.
For the first time in her life, Adrianna felt glad that her Mother was dead. If she had lived to see this, to see her husband and child fall into ruin, what would it have done to her? Her Mother had been the finest lady of any circle, and everyone agreed, not just Adrianna. She was still talked about, even now:
"…What a beautiful dress it was! It reminded me of one Anastasia Miller once wore to a ball in Bath. She knew exactly what to wear, did Anastasia!"
"…That new Opera show is scandalous! No one will take my word for it though, if Anastasia Miller were here it would be closed down, I'd bet my hat!"
Adrianna often wished she looked more like her. Her Mother had had a beautiful porcelain face, with high cheek bones and rich black curls. Her Father had a portrait of her hung over their mantlepiece. Adrianna choked and blinked to avoid the sudden surge of tears that sprang to her eyes. The portrait had hung there. For the past seventeen years it had hung there. But now it was wrapped up and strung onto the carriage outside. It was the only painting her Father hadn't sold, the one he'd refused to sell. Even though their had been numerous buyers who had asked for it.
"I didn't think I'd find you in here", came her Father's voice.
She coughed and blinked and made sure her eyes were clear of moisture before she turned to face him.
"What with all the books gone", he stuttered, looking sadly at the bare shelves around them. "I'd have thought you wouldn't be able to face it. You're braver then I thought".
"They're just books, Papa", she said simply.
Her Father smiled, amazed at the strength his daughter possessed. After everything that had happened this past month, all the changes she was having to cope with, she was still trying to put on a good show for him. She was so much like her Mother.
"Lindsey's downstairs, and the other servants are all waiting. Are you ready to say goodbye?" he asked.
Taking one last look, drinking in the memories the room held, Adrianna clutched the only book she had been able to keep and smiled at her Father.
"I'm ready".
The servants were standing in a line outside when the merchant and his daughter left the house. Edward walked along the line, shaking hands with each one in turn, offering thanks and last words of parting. Lindsey, who had been Adrianna's maid since she turned twelve and her closest confident, was in floods of tears. She had looked on Adrianna as a niece and had been with the girl right from her turn into womanhood, helping her through every tricky stage and struggle. Adrianna hugged her tightly and the woman sobbed into her handkerchief, sniffing so much she could barely get out the words to tell the young girl to write to her.
Adrianna walked the length of the line of servants after her Father, hugging each one in turn. The servants too had watched Adrianna grow up and Adrianna thought of them as an extension to her family, rather then hired help. Her friends had always criticised her for it, repeating again and again how servants were there to work, not to be friendly. Adrianna had pleasantly ignored them.
"I'm sorry we were not able to keep you on", her Father announced as they readied to board the carriage. "But I have met with your new housemaster and can assure you he is a good man".
Adrianna felt a pang in her heart. She was sure the new owner was a good man, but like all the other courtiers in this town he would no doubt treat the servants in the same brisk, unfeeling manner her friends did. Her heart ached for them.
"Are you ready Adrianna?"
Her Father was waiting by the carriage, holding the door open for her. Hoisting her skirts, she climbed inside and knelt on the seat, waving through the back window until the house was lost from sight.
