And so it begins again.

Here's one more chapter for you, loves, before school begins to get crazier.

I expect this will be the last update for a while…

Homework is starting to pile up and teachers are beginning to think about assigning projects all at the same time.

FUN!

Yeah, just kidding it isn't.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Definitely not mine. Although, some of it happens to be mine…but I'll let you read and find out what's different.

Dream Come True

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Chapter 10

- - -

The large clock in the castle chimed away at seven in the morning, and Cinderella was up and dressed before it finished the seventh BONG. It seemed like her whole room shook whenever those chimes went off. It's a wonder she got any sleep at all with it chiming away hour after hour.

"Cinderella!" her stepmother's voice called up.

So, she was already awake herself? Normally she had to wake the whole household and serve them breakfast. Her stepmother and stepsisters were never out of bed before nine a.m.

She hurried down the endless spiral of wooden stairs, but her stepmother was an impatient woman. Even as she reached the last landing before the door, her stepmother called her once more, irritated.

"Cinderella! Oh where is that--" she burst through the door and caught Lady Tremaine by surprise. "Ah, there you are."

"Yes. Is there something you need? I haven't made breakfast--"

"Where are my daughters?"

Cinderella was caught by surprise. What a silly question!

"Why, I think they're still in bed." She replied, confused.

Of course they're still in bed…they always sleep too late. And after they didn't even get back until one a.m., I doubt they'd be up.

"Oh, well don't just stand there. Go bring the breakfast up." she snapped out of her thoughts at her stepmother's command and nodded obediently.

Her stepmother was in an especially antsy mood, and Cinderella promised herself to stay as far away as possible.

She fixed the trays as quickly as possible, but all the while, she heard her stepmother's voice ringing loudly from upstairs.

"Drizella! Drizella!"

"What?" she yawned loudly.

"Get up! Quick. This instant. We haven't a moment to lose." her stepmother's heels clicked on the tile floor as she moved from Drizella's to Anastasia's room, where she shouted incessantly until Anastasia finally responded with a whine.

"Huh? Oooohhh…" she moaned. "What for? It's too early."

"Oh everyone's talking about it--- the whole kingdom. Oh hurry now. He'll be here any minute!" her tone changed to that of anxiety.

Cinderella knew the day would not go well, and quickly grabbed the trays and rushed up the stairs, continuing to listen to what her stepmother had to say.

"Who'll be here any minute?" Drizella slurred her words together sleepily.

"The Grand Duke. He's been hunting all morning."

Cinderella nearly dropped the trays, but managed to steady them on the railing of the staircase. She froze at the top of the stairs, afraid to move. No one noticed her.

"Hunting?" Anastasia was fully awake now.

"For that girl, the one who lost her slipper at the ball last night. They say he's madly in love with her."

Cinderella's heart thudded in her chest.

"The Duke is?" Drizella asked, her interest sparked.

"No, no, no, the prince." Lady Tremaine corrected her irritably.

Her mind clicked. Several things happened at once. First, she dropped the breakfast trays with a clatter, and secondly, a face appeared in her mind, blocking out all other memories.

A handsome face, hidden somewhat by dirt and grime, a few locks of hair falling across the forehead.

"You clumsy little fool! Clean that up, and then help my girls dress."

Cinderella moved involuntarily at her stepmother's command, her thoughts whirling.

He was dressed in shabby clothes, but there was something regal about him..

"Why do we have to get dressed?" Drizella complained.

"If he's in love with that other girl, why should we even bother?" Anastasia whined.

Abram was in fact…the prince himself.

"Now you two, listen to me! There's still a chance that one of you can get him."

"Huh?" both girls chimed in. "One of us? Why mother, what do you mean?"

He was still looking for the woman from the ball…

"Just this: no one, not even the prince himself knows who the girl is." Drizella and Anastasia moved forward anxiously, leaning close to hear more. "The glass slipper is their only clue. Now the Duke has been ordered to try it on every girl in the kingdom."

He was looking for her, but he didn't know it.

"…and if one can be found whom the slipper fits, then, by the King's command, that girl shall be the prince's bride."

"His bride?" Cinderella asked aloud, to her own surprise.

Abram would go as far as marriage? The thought struck her hard.

"His bride!" Drizella and Anastasia called out in horror, realizing how many things they wanted Cinderella to do for them before the Duke arrived.

"Cinderella, get my things!" Drizella called to her, but Cinderella stood where she was, her mind in a daze.

"Never mind her, mend these right away." Anastasia piled numerous clothes in her outstretched arms.

"Oh, no, not until she irons my dress!" Drizella threw the dress on top of the growing pile of clothes. The clothes in her arms were weightless. She herself was weightless, floating on air.

"Uh, uh, uh…" Anastasia waved her hand in front of Cinderella's eyes, "What's the matter with her?" she put her arms on her hips and glared angrily at her.

"Wake up, stupid!" Drizella's words did not phase her one bit.

"We've got to get dressed!" Anastasia shouted loudly in Cinderella's ear.

"Dressed." she repeated the word flatly, and suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, dropping all the clothes on the floor. "Oh yes. Oh, we must get dressed. It would never do for the Duke to see me--" she turned quickly and made her way for the door to the attic stairs, oblivious to everything but her own thoughts.

"Mother! Did you see what she just did?" Anastasia screamed. "All my clothes!"

"Are you going to let her walk--" Drizella began.

"Quiet!"

Cinderella was so absorbed in her own thoughts, she didn't even notice the pronounced clicking of her stepmother's heels behind her. She danced gaily into her tower room and approached the mirror, laughing at the silly grin that spread on her face. She closed her eyes and imagined the man before her, Abram…the prince.

He had danced with her, and her alone. He loved her, wanted to marry her--but it wasn't her he would be expecting. Gwyn had been a lie, but he had seemed to care…yet she knew not whether he truly loved her, for why else would he fall so easily for a pretty maiden after one evening?

She opened her eyes as a sudden creak of a footboard startled her from her thoughts. Movement in the mirror caught her attention. She gasped as she saw her stepmother reaching in and grabbing the door handle, the key in her hand.

"Oh no! No, please!" she turned and ran to the door, but it slammed in her face, the lock snapping into place. "This isn't fair! You can't keep me up here, oh please!" she banged on the door fruitlessly, hearing her stepmother chuckle as she made her way down the staircase.

She sank to the floor, sobbing. It just wasn't fair…the one time something good happened to her, it had to be taken away just as quickly as it had come in the first place. She put her hand over her mouth and let the sobs rack her body.

Cinderella wiped her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest, hopeless. She pictured the prince standing before her. She closed her eyes and willed herself into the garden.

She remembered his kind smile and his goofy grin when he laughed, the same one she'd seen in the garden the day he helped her with the chores.

The sound of an approaching coach was heard outside.

"Whoa!" the coachman stopped the carriage outside the front door.

Cinderella ran to the window and saw an extremely short and balding man carrying a pillow covered in a silk cloth. She knew exactly what was on the elegant pillow the man held, and she even had a match to it sitting in a locked drawer in her dresser.

She watched as the Duke slowly stepped out of the carriage and moved towards the door with difficulty, yawning tremendously as they approached the front steps. Cinderella went over to her door and pressed her ear against the keyhole. Everyone downstairs was in an uproar. Everyone, that is to say, meaning Anastasia and Drizella.

"Oh mother! Mother! He's here, he's here!" Anastasia screamed with delight.

"The Grand Duke!" Drizella piped in.

"Oh, do I look alright? I'm so excited, I just don't know what I'll do."

"Girls!" her stepmother interrupted them. "Now remember, this is your last chance. Don't fail me." she threatened as the door was opened.

"Announcing his imperial grace, the Grand Duke." the royal postman shouted.

"You honor our humble home."

Cinderella pictured her stepmother taking a large, sweeping curtsey, and smiling with all her might. She scoffed, and pressed her ear harder against the door, eager to hear the goings-on downstairs.

"May I present my daughters, Drizella…Anastasia."

"Your Grace." Anastasia crooned.

"Oh yes. Charmed, I'm sure…" a tired and raspy voice replied.

"His Grace will now read a royal proclamation."

"Ahem." Cinderella heard the rustling of a scroll unrolling, and the Duke continued in a monotone voice. "All loyal subjects of His Imperial Majesty are hereby notified by royal proclamation in regard to a certain glass," he stopped, yawning, "slipper. It is upon this day decreed--"

"Why that's my glass slipper!" Drizella shrieked with excitement.

"Well, I like that, it's my slipper--" Anastasia was interrupted by a firm voice.

"Girls, girls! Your manners!" she changed her tone to the consistency of thick honey, "A thousand pardons, Your Grace. Do continue."

"Yes quite so. Uh, uh, uh oh yes. It is upon this day decreed that a quest be instituted throughout the length and breath of our domain the sole and express purpose of said quest to be as follows to wit. That every single maiden in our beloved kingdom without privilege or exception shall try upon her foot this aforementioned slipper of glass and should one be found upon whose foot said slipper shall properly fit--" he stopped, yawning violently.

She had no idea how tired the Duke must be by this point after traveling over the whole kingdom. The Duke's voice faded so much that even after pressing her ear painfully to the door, she could not hear even the slightest peep. A few phrases floated up to her door, but most was lost as the voice crackled with exhaustion.

"His Royal Highness, our beloved son and heir…the noble prince…noble prince will humbly…upon banded knee beg request or if need be implore said maiden…her hand in marriage. Whereupon, should the aforementioned maiden look with favor…happy couple pledge their troth--" the Duke paused, catching his breath, his voice strengthening, "and in due course upon the inevitable demise of His Most Gracious and August Majesty, the King succeed to the throne to rule over all the land as King and Queen of our beloved kingdom. Ahh, so be it…" his soft voice stopped abruptly.

Cinderella closed her eyes and pictured the fatigued Duke plopping into a high-backed, over-cushioned chair, his royal postman fanning him with the scroll. She yawned painfully through the lump in her throat and thumped her head against the door gently, letting it roll forward onto her knees as she fell into a fitful dazed state of thought. She wasn't sure whether she actually fell asleep, or how much time passed, but she knew she hadn't slept through the Duke's visit, for it was more than twice as loud downstairs when she lifted her head again.

"Why can't you hold still a minute?" Anastasia shouted at the royal postman.

"Oh my word! Enough of this." the Duke shouted over the din. "The next young lady, please?"

Drizella shrieked with excitement. Many sounds of struggle ensued, and at some point, someone fell against the piano keys harshly, the melodious notes jarring with Drizella's shrieks.

"Oh of all the stupid little idiots! I'll do it myself. Get away from me. I'll make it fit." Drizella grunted with effort, and then laughed triumphantly. "There."

"It fits!" her stepmother cried aloud.

"It fits?" the scraping of chair legs signaled the Duke standing in surprise. "Oh, at last--oh, oh no! Don't drop--"

Cinderella's stomach lurched as she guessed Drizella had been over-zealous with her attempts at stuffing her large foot into the slipper. She heard the Duke stumble and fall, crying out with a shout of relief.

"Oh Your Grace! I'm dreadfully sorry. It shan't happen again." Lady Tremaine spoke with a disappointed tone to her voice, but Cinderella heard no traces of apology.

"Precisely Madam!" the Duke fumed. "Now." he paused, seeming to straighten himself. "You are the only ladies of the household, I presume?"

"There is no one else Your Grace."

Cinderella's fists clenched tightly at her stepmother's words. Oh what she would do to that woman!

"Good day! Good day." the Duke spoke quickly, seeming to be in a hurry to leave.

She ran over to her dresser and fumbled with the key to her drawer in a fit of panic. She opened it with a quick twist of the key and pulled the slipper out, holding it fondly between her hands. Her attention was drawn to the window as the slam of a carriage door echoed against the stone walls of the house. She ran to the window and looked down far below at the carriage and watched the footman step onto the running board with caution.

"Wait! Please wait! I'm up here, please help!" she screamed until her throat was sore, but her voice did not reach the ears of those so far below.

She set the slipper down on the dresser, grabbing a hairpin as she made her way to the door. Cinderella dropped to the floor and immediately began twisting the hairpin in the lock fruitlessly. She was frantic, and her hands shook with the effort to keep a grip on her makeshift lock-pick. Cinderella nearly had the lock open as the hairpin slipped completely through the keyhole, but something on the other side of the door swatted at the spiked end of the pin. She cried out in surprise, and the yowl of a cat answered her in mocking tones.

No…of all times, why must he come now?

"Lucifer!" she shouted. "Oh, Lucifer, you leave right this instant or I'll…I'll--" she was locked behind a door. She found that making threats wouldn't help, but what else was she to do?

The Duke's carriage was kept waiting only by the prolonged apologies of her stepmother at the door.

The cat took another swipe at the keyhole, nearly knocking the pin out of place.

"Lucifer, you leave this instant or I swear--when I get out I'll give you a swift kick and pull all the hair off your tail! Oh, you mean cat, you--" He let out a dissatisfied yowl, and soft padding was heard down the stairs. She had no time to feel triumphant.

One last twist of the hairpin and the lock finally slid back into place. She ran to the dresser and stuffed the glass slipper in an apron pocket before bolting out the door.

"Wait!" she called desperately. "Wait for me!" her cries echoed uselessly in the stairwell. She nearly flew down the spiral stairs and fumbled clumsily with the doorknob once she reached the door.

"You!" her stepmother screamed as her eyes fell on Cinderella's approaching figure from inside the music room.. "Anastasia, Drizella--Stop her!"

Her stepsisters moved towards the door to block her exit, but she was much swifter and faster. She breezed by them, taking the opportunity to stick her tongue out at them in passing, reveling in their shocked expressions.

Her stepmother screamed at her, but for once, she felt wonderful. She felt unafraid to disobey, to defy her stepmother. She let her legs guide her through the gate and down the road after the carriage that was just picking up speed.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Stop the carriage! Wait for me!" the coachman turned his head and reined the horses to a halt. "Your Grace, please." she rapped on the carriage door, and the Royal Postman opened it, slightly dazed at the sight of Cinderella, disheveled and panting, in front of him.

Anastasia and Drizella were close behind her and jumped in front of the postman.

"Pay no attention to her!" Drizella put a hand behind her and shoved Cinderella rudely.

"It's only Cinderella." Anastasia said after a few panting breaths.

"Our scullery maid…" Drizella wheezed.

"It's ridiculous, impossible!" Anastasia spewed after catching her breath.

"…who does all the chores." They both continued until the postman was so confused, he was simply lost for words, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"She's out of her mind."

"Yes, just an imaginative child--"

"Madams!" the Duke shoved his head out from behind the postman, and cleared his throat collecting himself, speaking directly to Anastasia. "Madam, my orders were every maiden." he shoved the postman gently out of the carriage, stepping down after him. "Come my child." he beckoned to Cinderella. The postman reached into the carriage and pulled out the silk pillow that held the shoe.

"Grab the slipper!" her stepmother's voice called from a distance. Anastasia and Drizella pounced like dogs, and each grabbed one end of the shoe.

"It's my slipper!"

"No, I touched it first, it's MINE!" they tugged and pulled until their faces turned red.

The Duke and the postman shouted and reached a hand in to grab the slipper, but each time the girls pulled just out of reach. Anastasia yanked the slipper from Drizella's hands and held it up high out of reach. Drizella jumped up and swatted at the shoe, knocking it clean out of Anastasia's fingers. The postman shouted as he jumped forward, the Duke burst into tears, and Lady Tremaine ran most ungracefully towards them, but the shoe fell with a harsh tinkling of shattering glass against the muddy road.

"Now look what you've done, you clumsy oaf!" Anastasia jumped towards Drizella and they both toppled to the ground in a fierce catfight. The postman kneeled to the ground and thumbed through the pieces uselessly.

"Girls, girls!" Lady Tremaine yelled uselessly.

Cinderella seemed to watch everything separately. First, she saw her stepsisters who yanked each other's hair and bit one another, her stepmother who was nearly blue in the face with shouting, the postman, pitifully kneeling on the ground pushing around shards of irreplaceable glass, and lastly, the Duke who was the most pitiful of all.

Exhausted to the brink of fainting, he merely stood, his face in his hands, and wept bitterly for all the wasted work he had done that day. Cinderella stood, and found her mind as placid as the sparkling fountains at the palace. As placid as smooth glass…as smooth as a glass slipper. The slipper! She reached over and touched the Duke's shoulder.

"Your Grace, perhaps if it would help--"

"Oh, no…nothing can help now." he sniffed and wiped the tears from his face.

"But you see, sir," she reached into her apron and pulled out the clump of rags, unfolding them gently, "I have the other slipper."

"My dear maiden!" the Duke shouted with joy, and clapped his hands, staring at the sparkling shoe before him.

All other noise and commotion stopped. Drizella and Anastasia froze instantly, and her stepmother looked at her with sharp, glinting eyes, her mouth open in horror. The postman took that as his cue and invited Cinderella to sit on the carriage step where he took the shoe gently from her hands and slipped it onto her bare foot.

"A perfect fit!" he shouted.

"Driver, take us to the palace at once." the Duke helped Cinderella into the carriage and stepped in after the postman.

"Well ladies," the Duke said to the three frazzled figures standing in the mud, "I hope you have learned your lesson."

And with that, he shut the carriage door in their horrified faces.

- - -

Cinderella was bumped and jostled inside the finely furbished carriage, and though the Duke spoke in soft excited tones, she did not register a word he said.

Her emotions were as uneven as the ground the coach wheels rattled against. Her heart fluttered excitedly with anticipation, but her rational mind cried out in protest.

He fell in love so quickly…how can you be so certain he will accept "Gwyn" again? The thought had plagued her every waking moment since the ball.

Yet she had been so certain of his feelings the previous year in the fall. Could it all have been an act?

Her mind raced with questions, but the carriage soon came to a halt outside the castle entrance, and an overwhelming sense of dread filled her as she was helped down the metal steps to the ground.

She glanced at her appearance. Her cotton dress was faded from hours in the sun with dirt stains left from long periods of time spent kneeling in the dirt. She wore no shoes, as she often did in the summertime, and her sun-tanned feet and legs were soiled with smudges of mud from running after the carriage.

One radiant shoe shone in the morning sunlight, and it clung to her foot. She bent down and quickly removed the shoe, clutching it to her chest with a trembling hand. She would need it as proof she had really been that dazzling maiden from the ball.

Cinderella felt absently up to her hair and touched the cloth that covered the top of her head and tied at the nape of her neck. Her brown locks of coarse hair had expanded with the sweat and the heat. Her face burned with embarrassment as she was forced to enter the sparklingly clean palace on the arm of the still-chattering duke.

"And I believe you aren't listening to me, are you?" he said after noticing her distant expression.

"Where might I find the prince?"

She was ready to accept Abram's polite refusal and forget she ever met him.

"He has some important business to attend to at the moment, but he shall return as soon as he can, Miss." The duke lifted his eyeglass and examined her sudden change of face.

Cinderella looked down at her feet and the shining marble floor beneath them, feeling a glare of resentment from a passing maid.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but might I wait in the garden? I do not feel…ah…well."

She needed an excuse, any excuse, to escape the palace. The scrutinizing gaze of the head servant burned her face, and with the Duke's consent, she quickly led herself up the carpeted stairs and through the door.

After convincing the royal guards she did not need their escort, she jogged around the side of the building to the garden, morning dew from the grass splashing against her bare feet.

With a sigh of relief, she slowed her pace and sat down on a stone bench, drinking in the sights around her.

The garden was twice as pretty in the daylight than in the moonlight. The sun glittered against the spray of water from the fountains, and the morning light shadowed each detail of the immense statues that towered above her. The green leaves of the willow trees swayed in the morning breeze, waving as if in greeting.

She felt almost at home in the garden, sitting on the very same bench she'd shared with Abram--or whatever his real name was.

A soft step behind her caught her attention and she stood suddenly, her eyes falling on a familiar figure.

"Gwyn?" his brow furrowed in confusion at the sight of her.

She felt every muscle in her body clench, restraining the sudden urge she had to run swiftly into his arms. Cinderella had thought herself prepared for this very moment, but she soon felt her confidence shatter as his dark eyes observed her with surprise, but not a shocked surprise, more relieved.

"Abram, I--I'm so sorry…" her voice failed her as she stood and took a few steps toward him holding the glittering shoe out at arm's length.

He looked at the shoe through squinted eyes, the sun glinting off the glass viciously, but beneath his grimace, she saw a sudden flash of realization.

She stepped back as he took it from her hand.

He stared into her face for a moment with the oddest of expressions, his carefully combed hair falling forward across his brow. The front of his tailored jacket was unbuttoned to reveal thinner but still finely sewn fabric beneath. Cinderella was sorry to see he was forced to wear long pants and a jacket even in the heat of summer. As the prince, she supposed he had to keep certain airs about him.

His gaze became increasingly disconcerting, and she began to turn slowly away.

"Wait."

He said only one soft word, but it was enough to make her start and return her gaze to his pleasant face.

"It's Alaric."

"Pardon?"

"My name. Prince Alaric Mondemar." he stepped forward and held out his hand in greeting, as if they were meeting for the first time.

She placed her trembling hand in his.

"Cinderella Devinport."

"Cinderella…" he tried the name a few times out loud, each time sounding more pleasant and melodious than the first.

Before she could pull her hand from his grasp, he pressed her hand firmly, his eyes imploring her to stay.

She allowed him to lead her to the stone bench.

He placed the glass slipper next to him on the bench and grasped her calloused hand between his two hands gently.

"I guess we both lied, didn't we?"

Cinderella's legs itched to move.

"In more ways than one, apparently." Her voice trembled slightly as a sudden lump formed in her throat.

He opened his mouth, startled, and began to speak, but she cut him off, pulling her hand quickly from his grasp.

"I'm sure you have more important things to do than talk to a scullery maid!" The sudden flare of anger and hurt that flared in her mind startled her, and she stood quickly.

She let her legs run freely away from the garden, away from his face and the fading sound of tinkling glass. She knew not where she was running, but she would not stop. Cinderella passed the gates and ignored the shouts of the gatekeepers as she trotted past. A familiar fork in the muddy road, the flashing of trees, and the sudden sound of swaying grass in the breeze...

Cinderella had come to the same field she and Delbert had visited many times before, and she stopped at the tree, leaning against it heavily with the effort of running. She panted, trying to fill her lungs with the muggy morning air.

Alaric's hurt and startled face flashed before her eyes, and she sank to the ground as the realization of what she had just done finally hit her.

She'd run away from the most wonderful man she knew, a man that possibly loved her, but she hadn't stayed to find out. Instead, she'd merely retreated, unable to hide the ache she felt.

Tears fell down her face, bitter tears. Through a haze of salty teardrops, she saw a figure approach. She blinked away the moisture from her eyes, but it returned just as quickly when she saw him.

Alaric had followed her, but she didn't have the strength or the will to stand and run. Cinderella closed her eyes, softly commanding her body to cease its trembling.

"Gwyn."

She lifted her head and looked at him suddenly, opened her mouth to correct him, but he shook his head and bent down next to her.

"Do you remember our promise?"

She nodded her head silently.

"I kept my end of the bargain."

"You…no, Sir, you did not." her voice cut harshly through her tears.

He opened his mouth to protest, but she held up one hand to silence him, continuing with a shaking voice, sitting board straight.

"I was a lowly servant, and I still am. I did not play a part, but you--you are a prince! You toyed with my heart and I…" she wiped the tears from her face, looking into his eyes with a clear gaze. "I fell for your trick."

"Oh, no, madam it was no trick!" He reached out to touch her, but recoiled his hand slowly. "You see, I fell for you, too. I meant to tell you the truth--I did, truly--but I was too content to enjoy your company as someone who didn't have obligations. I could not bring myself to ruin what we had with a title of royalty. And it took me a long time to realize the hurt it would cause when you found out…"

His voice faded as an expression of longing passed over his face.

"But at the ball--" she squeaked, her posture relaxing slightly.
"Oh, I was an utter fool, a fool, not to recognize you! You were so changed, I--but surely you did not recognize me…?"

"I did, but only after the ball."

"Oh…" he bent his legs and sat back on his heels, looking so childish that Cinderella could not suppress the beginnings of a smile. "How can you ever forgive me?"

She looked into his pleading eyes, her tears all but gone, and studied him for a moment. Something wasn't right…She reached a hand up and combed a few locks of his hair across his damp forehead. It suited him.

Cinderella felt a smile spread across her lips as she sat for a moment, letting her words pass to him without having to say anything. Alaric seemed to rest easy under her gaze, and he leaned forward, placing a hand on her cheek.

The same familiar jump of her pulse and the tingling of sparks flew down her neck. She closed her eyes and reveled in the warm touch on her face, the sigh of the wind against her stubborn hair. She opened her eyes as a crunch in the dirt caught her attention. Alaric's face was merely inches from hers, his eyes intent upon her.

Cinderella's cheeks burned as she felt herself gravitated towards him in the thrill of a first kiss.

A kiss from a prince…

She could easily fit in a fairy tale.

They parted, and Alaric moved to lean against the tree, pulling her to sit across his legs, her head against his chest.

"I've been waiting to kiss you for a long time." he leaned his head atop hers and sighed contentedly.

"And you wouldn't have if you hadn't chased after me. I must have been out of my mind!"

"Not out of your mind, just flustered, maybe. Angry for a reason." his breath blew against her hair as he chuckled slightly. "You've never looked more beautiful."

She looked up at him quizzically. "When, at the ball?"

He shook his head, a smile bringing a sparkle to his eyes.

"Just before I kissed you."

Cinderella smiled and met his lips, feeling ten times as beautiful as she had been in the enchanted dress at the ball.

- - -

At last they meet!

This chapter was hard to write.

Especially the ending…

But fear not, loves! There shall be more chapters to come.

I will not leave you here, as the cartoon did, but go even more in-depth. Who knows how long this story could last?
And indeed I do hope you enjoy the chapters to come.

(But don't get your hopes up, cause there might only be two more, at the most.)

So sorry to crush your hopes, love, but this story will not be everlasting, unfortunately, because eventually I'd run out of material, now wouldn't I?

Yes indeed.

Please leave reviews, lovies!

I adore you all.