Title: the lie that has always been my name
Disclaimer: not my characters; Christine Heppermann
Warnings: somewhat darkish
Pairings:
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 305
Prompt: Any, Any, A Hard Knock Life (Annie)
Jocelyn listens to her stepsisters' music lessons, humming along as she mops the entryway. She practices the steps she's seen them performing in their dance lessons as she prepares breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner. She sneaks books from Madam's library and reads by ember-light after her 'family' have all retired to their magnificent rooms.
She is caught but once with a book, becoming a far better thief after that whipping.
Never has Jocelyn understood why her 'family' hate her so, but she understands that Madam is trying to break her and she refuses. She could leave but this is her father's house, her mother's house, and if she goes, who will care for it?
And so she stays, slaving away for petulant heiresses and a woman who will never be satisfied, teaching herself with the barest knowledge, and she will not let herself be beaten.
.
(When she dances with the prince, she sees them in the crowd, gaping. When her foot fits the glass slipper, she hears them shouting, but she does not look away from the prince's eyes. When she marries the prince; when she is crowned queen—her 'family' is not there.
Her mother's house is a wedding gift to her favorite attendant, a sweet girl who will treat the house as it should be treated.
There is much her husband does not understand, but he is kind. Easily led with caresses, with kisses, with demure gazes from under her eyelashes.
Jocelyn's stepmother tried to break her for reasons Jocelyn does not understand until an entire realm loves her. Instead, Madam made her far stronger than she otherwise would have been.
On the fifth anniversary of her marriage, Jocelyn has flowers sent to the hovel Madam had been graciously given when turned out of Jocelyn's mother's house, with a note conveying her gratitude.)