Hi everyone! Here's chapter three for you. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Chapter Three

The Next Morning

The next morning came quickly for Ella. She was used to waking up early back at home to prepare breakfast for her stepmother and step sisters and it took her a moment to realise that this room was neither the dark, cold lonely attic where she had been confined to, neither was it in front of the dying fireplace. When she realized that she would never again have to sleep in front of the fireplace just to keep warm at night, or wake up early to start off her day as a servant for her adoptive family, a slow smile spread across her face.

She was at the palace. This was her home now, since she had agreed to marry the King and spend the rest of her life by his side as his wife and Queen. These thoughts brought a sense of comfort and peace that she had not known in a long time and due to this, she was able to close her eyes and fall back to sleep, seeing that it was barely dawn anyway.

When the King awoke, it was with a sense of satisfaction and of purpose. For one thing, those thoughts and feelings from the night before about Ella did not fully dissipate throughout the night. In fact, he had woken in the middle of the night, with his heart racing, and the feel of her soft lips and luscious body on his mind. The King had felt a bit overwhelmed. Like most everyone else, he had discovered his budding sexual maturity as a teenager and had in due time begun to explore it in the privacy of his own room. However, it was another thing entirely to have those kinds of thoughts and urges that included someone else.

After attempting to ignore it and go back to sleep, then giving up on that idea after tossing and turning for a while, Kit realized that he'd have to….. take matters into his own hands, as it were. He slowly eased off the loose pants he'd worn to bed and took hold of his already engorged member. Things progressed smoothly enough, until in the throes of passion, his mind conjured a picture of Ella, flushed and out of breath, lying on his bed, wearing nothing but those dainty glass slippers. Kit gasped as all of a sudden he felt that familiar coiling in his gut and then his passion erupted. His chest heaving, Kit opened eyes he didn't even realized he'd closed and stared wearily and in awe at the ceiling. After cleaning himself off, he got back into bed, and within minutes, he fell back to sleep.

Now, awake the next morning, the King's mind again drifted to the amazing, extraordinary creature who'd agreed to become his wife. Kit couldn't wait til they got married. He was so excited to spend more time with her. However, as he got out of bed and moved to the bathroom to take a shower before calling in the servants and allowing them to help him get dressed, his joy was interrupted. All at once, Kit remembered what Ella had shared with him the day before regarding her stepmother and step sisters and his shock at what they'd done to her returned.

As he got ready for the day, he sent one of the servants with a message to the Captain. He was to meet with him immediately after breakfast in the private study to discuss the matter. The King also sent a few more servants off with other messages. A couple of them were to go help Ella get dressed for the day and another one was sent with a few messages to be delivered to certain establishments in the kingdom and provided a much lighter note to the morning so that by the time the king was ready to meet Ella and have breakfast with her, he had a spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye.

What finally awoke Cinderella was not the hour of that day but rather a knock on her door. Opening her eyes and sitting up slowly, Ella called out to ask who it was.

"We've come to help you with your bath, Miss Ella," Was the reply. Help her with her bath? Why on earth would she need someone to help her do something she'd done on her own all her life? Opening the door, Ella found two maids outside, who both curtsied upon seeing her.

"Good morning, may we come in?" one of them asked. Ella stepped back to allow them inside, but when the same one asked if she could draw a bath for her, Ella's face took on a bewildered expression and she asked the maid why would she need her to do that?

"It's the King's orders madam. We were sent to help you get ready for breakfast."

"Oh," she replied. Now though Ella couldn't see the point in it- after all, she'd never needed help taking a bath before- although to be fair, she'd always been the one to draw a bath for her stepmother and step sisters- she decided to allow them to help her get ready, especially since she didn't know if they would get in trouble for not following orders.

"Shall I draw you a bath, madam?" one of them asked.

"Call me Ella, please. And yes, that would be lovely."

While one of them went to the adjacent bathroom and began to fill up the tub, Ella turned to the other maid and asked her name.

"I'm Jane, Miss Ella, and she's Katheryn, but we just call her Kate."

Ella smiled and said she was pleased to meet their acquaintance.

When the tub was full, the two maids moved to help Ella get undressed. After a mild moment of discomfort, she allowed them to help her disrobe, but firmly told them that she was more than capable of giving herself a bath. To forestall any more protests, she suggested that they could help her in other ways by maybe tidying up the room, which would also be a big help to her, and so they wouldn't get into any trouble for not following orders.

After bathing, Cinderella emerged from the bathroom with a robe on and belted at the waist. She found that the two servants had made short work of making the bed and tying open the curtains in the room. As she moved over the bed, she saw that they were both waiting for her and that a new dress had been laid out on the bed. The dress was a beautiful pale yellow, with short sleeves. After a moment's confusion, Ella realized that not only was this meant for her to wear, but that the two maids, no, that Jane and Kate were waiting for her to allow them to help get her dressed. Once again however, Ella protested, but finally she gave in and allowed them to lace up the back after she had put on her slip and then the dress.

"Would you like us to help you with your hair, madam?"

Ella would have declined and just simply brushed out her hair herself and put in a simple braid as usual, but she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the large mirror of the vanity table. Ella had never taken much interest in her appearance, but seeing herself in this, to her mind, grand, elegant dress, she realized that it would probably be a good idea to try to pay at least a little more attention to her appearance… giving that she was to become the King's bride…

"Yes, please," Ella replied. Jane indicated that she should sit by the vanity then proceeded to gently towel off the remaining water from Ella's hair. Then she began to brush it out. In the end, Jane settled for styling Ella's hair into a bun, with some of Ella's hair swept to the front, and then she tied a yellow ribbon around the bun. Afterwards, they helped Ella put on her shoes, and informed her that the King would be waiting to have breakfast with her.

"Oh! Indeed?" Ella asked excitedly. A large smile broke out on her face at the thought that she would be seeing him again for breakfast.

"Yes mada- er Miss Ella. Kate can escort you to the dining room, if you'd like."

Ella agreed and after checking her reflection once more in the mirror, she thanked the two maids and allowed Kate to escort her to the smaller dining room. She was so excited. She felt like a new person in this dress and she hoped that Kit could see how well she cleaned up. Finally they reached the smaller dining room and another pair of servants opened the doors for her to step through. Ella thanked them and stepped in and immediately her eyes landed on her handsome Kit seated at the head of the table with his head down. As she drew closer, she noticed that his demeanor was somewhat stiff. She wondered what was wrong.

Ella began to walk towards him. Out of the corner of his eye, Kit caught the movement of something yellow. As he looked up and saw Ella, his eyes widened. Beautiful. Was all he could think.

A/N: How was it? Did you like it? I'm trying my best with it. I'm also really excited to see where this story will go. I have an idea of the end goal of course but what happens between now and the worlds "The End" well….. We'll see won't we? Reviews would be greatly appreciated.