Chapter Five
As the King walked out the main entrance to the palace and prepared to meet up with the Captain and a few of his men in the courtyard with the horses, his face assumed a grim expression. Ella's reaction to that seemingly small incident once again caused those feelings of shock and outrage to flare up. As he neared the gathering of men at the foot of the long outside staircase, he made up his mind. He knew exactly what he had to do and there was no way he could put it off any longer. He mounted his horse and when everyone was ready, they all set off.
About two hours later, they reached the forest they would have to get through to get to the house. As they set out on the path that would lead them there, the king's face took on a grim expression. All the way there, he had been going over in his head just what he would do and say to them when he saw them again. He knew that by the time the meeting was over, that something monumental would have taken place.
Finally, they could see the house coming into view. As they came to a stop in front of the house, one of the soldiers dismounted and went up the door to announce that the King was outside and wished to speak with the lady of the house. As the King and his captain dismounted, the door opened, to reveal Ella's stepmother.
As she opened the door and spotted them, her eyes grew so large, it would have been comical under different circumstances. But when she opened her mouth to speak, her voice was steady when she said "Your majesty! Please….come in."
The King and the captain followed her inside and were led into the sitting area. The stepmother tried to maintain a façade of calm by asking if her guests wanted anything but the curt "No, thank you." From the captain quickly put a halt to that.
For a moment, the king simply sat and surveyed first the room, then the woman sitting across from him. Everything looked normal enough. There were paintings and pictures on the walls, the furniture was tasteful, if a bit dark, the rugs on the floor were colorful and expensive. It all appeared to be how a normal family with some wealth would furnish their home.
And yet, the longer he examined the room and the woman sitting across from him, with her hair tastefully done up, her velvet and silk dress in dark green and black, he could see less and less the normalcy that they pretended and more and more of the cruelty of the monsters that they truly were. Finally, when he could stand it no more, he spoke.
"I ought to have you executed for what you did to Ella."
As he said this, the stepmother gave a sharp gasp and she grew white as a sheet. Beside him, the captain had sharply looked over at him. He was prepared to follow his king's wishes, whatever they may be but he couldn't say he wasn't surprised at this declaration.
The king, however, had never taken his eyes off of Ella's stepmother. Just as she was about to open her mouth to beg for her life, he lifted a hand and silenced her.
"But, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to have mercy on you. So instead, you and your daughters will pack your belongings and leave this house, and leave my kingdom. And if I ever hear that you've returned here, then, I promise you, we'll both regret my letting you live in the first place. Is that clear?"
"Ye- yes yes. Your majesty." All pretense of calm long gone by now, it was a wonder that the stepmother was even still conscious. She had grown dangerously pale. Her dark dress now made her skin look lifeless like a corpse.
As the king rose to leave, he said "I suggest that as soon we leave, you start packing. You have two days to get out. I won't have you still around when Ella and I begin our lives together."
Turning, he started to walk out the sitting room in order to go to the main door and leave but just as he reached the archway, he stopped and turned back.
"There's one question I'd like to ask before I leave. Not that it will change my decision any but still, I'd like to know."
The woman turned and looked up at him, waiting.
"Why? Why did you treat her the way you did? What could she have possibly done to make you hate her so much?"
The stepmother turned to him, even with her pail skin and ashen expression, she still managed to show some anger at the mention of her step daughter.
"Why? You want to know why? Because she thought she was better than me! Than my daughters! That little peasant girl! She didn't know her place! She should have been grateful that we took care of her as long as we did! That ungrateful little-"
"ENOUGH!" The king's chest was heaving. He was so mad he couldn't think straight. His hands were balled into fists and his jaw ached, he had it clenched so tight. A vein in his forehead throbbed. He wanted nothing more than to go over there and throttle her. It was a wonder he hadn't done so already. It was probably because he was so angry and shocked that he couldn't move.
"You….. you monster! You made that woman's life a living hell! You tried to destroy someone with such a beautiful spirit, such a loving soul… all because you failed to be a good mother and teach your children the right morals and values? All because you were jealous. Of a child! You disgust me."
The King turned away from her and prepared to leave. "You have two days to get the hell out. You had best be gone by that time." Then he walked right out the door followed closely the captain.
Still furious beyond comprehension, he walked back out to the horses and mounted his steed by rote. After just sitting there for a while, the captain asked if they should set out for the palace, to which the king replied "Not yet."
XOXOXOXOXO
Ella had an absolutely wonderful day. She could honestly say that this was one of the best, most fun days she's had in a while. She spent most of the day either in the kitchen or in the large dining room with Marco, going over the menu for the wedding.
In between tasting the dishes, Marco kept her entertained with stories from Kit's childhood which had her reeling with laughter.
"My," Ella gasped in between laughs, "Kit certainly was a rambunctious child."
'That he was, my dear, that he was. But you know, he turned out well in the end. He's already making a fine king. And now with you here, we will have a noble queen as well."
Ella once again felt her face heat up. It was all still so new to her. The idea that her life could change so drastically from one extreme to the other, it was almost too good to be true.
Finally, they had come to a satisfactory agreement on the menu for the wedding reception. The only left to decide on was the wedding cake. When Ella mentioned it, Marco asked her to allow him to take care of it, saying that he wanted it to be a surprise for them. It would be his special gift to the couple.
Touched by the gesture, especially since she realized that Marco was doing it for her as much as for Kit, even though he'd only just met her, she could do nothing but agree and thank him profusely for his kindness.
"Think nothing of it, mia bella. Now you run along. I will take care of everything here."
XOXOXOXOXO
Ella went back to main ballroom and asked the servants there if the King had returned. After finding out that he wasn't back yet, Ella decided that she needed to do something to take her mind off of missing him. She made a quick beeline back to her room.
After rifling through the closet, she found a few garments that would work for her and quickly stripped out of her fine yellow dress in order to don the other garments, which consisted of a cream riding pants and a light blue blouse with a matching jacket. She also made sure to change to more comfortable shoes. After leaving her room, she made sure to inform the servants that she would be taking a ride outside the palace, then she went out through one of the side doors of the palace. Finally, Ella came to where she wanted to go: The royal stables.
As she approached the stable doors, one of the stable hands came out to greet her. After explaining the situation, the young man asked her to wait there and went inside. When he came back, she saw him leading behind him a beautiful grey mare by the reins.
After he helped her mount the horse, Ella thanked him. Then she gave the horse's flanks a gentle kick and urged it into a canter up to the palace gates. When they had passed through, Ella increased the pace to a trot. Finally, when she was clear of the majority of the town and other buildings, Ella urged the animal into a full-on run down a path that led into the woods. It felt so good to be riding again.
Although it had only been a couple of days since she'd last been on a horse, it had been a while since she'd really been able to just enjoy riding. She loved to feel the breeze in her face and hair, the rocking motions of the animal actually helped to soothe rather than jostle her. Taking a ride through the woods like this was so peaceful and nice. It was even more enjoyable because it was one of the things she and her parents used to do when she was a little girl, before her mother died. 'Perhaps Kit would like to take a ride with me one day. I'll have to ask him.'
For now though, Ella was content to enjoy the soothing sounds of nature, the warm sunshine on her back, all by her lonesome. She allowed the animal to slow down a bit. No sense in rushing. She had all afternoon to be out here, as Ella didn't expect the king to be back for a while. And she wanted to bask in every minute of this trip.
XOXOXOXOXO
As Ella finally returned to the palace a few hours later, she was in a wonderful mood. It truly had been a wonderful day. The only thing that would make it better was if she got to have dinner with Kit and spend some time with him afterwards. She found she was quite looking forward to that part.
After she dismounted her horse and left it in the care of another stable hand, she was on her way from the stables to the main entrance to the palace. Rounding a corner, she saw up ahead what appeared to be a group of soldiers who had just come back from a trip, given that they all had steeds. Then her face lit up as she spotted Kit among them. She looked to quicken her pace and raised an arm to hail him, but stopped short. She was near enough now to see his body language. That rigid posture and clenched fists… something was definitely off.
Ella decided that the best thing to do would be the leave him be for now. Perhaps he was just tired? In any case, if it were something bad, now would definitely not be a good time to bring it up. So went in another direction and entered the palace through one of the side entrances. She would wait until dinner when she saw him and determine from there if she should bring it up or not.
A/N: There you go! Chapter five is done! I realise it's moving a bit slowly. Sorry about that. It was supposed to be one chapter representing one day but that's not happening…. I'll try to speed things up a little but in some circumstances I dislike time skips so don't expect the next chapter to start with "It was the day of the wedding." No no. None of that. Also, I realise that Ella is always initiating the kisses and such but I want it to be sweet and with Kit it wouldn't be…. Sweet…. Lol.
