*******Ella*******
Char brought a slipper out from his cloak, "It belonged to Ella, and will fit her alone."
A chair was brought.
"That's my slipper," Hattie said. "It's been missing for years."
"You're feet are too big," Olive blurted.
"Try it," Char told Hattie.
"I lost it because it kept falling off." She sat and removed her own slipper. I caught the familiar smell of her feet. She couldn't wedge her toes in.
"I'm younger than Hattie," Olive said, "So my feet are smaller. Probably."
They were bigger.
"Is there anyone else?" Char asked, looking around the room.
I stepped behind one of the taller servants and wished Char would just leave! The man in front of me sneezed and bent way over, everyone turned and saw me. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Char approached me.
"Lass," he said to me. "I won't hurt you, no matter what." He cupped his hand under my chin and tilted my face up to his. I wanted to catch it and kiss it.
As soon as we touched, I knew he recognized me. He looked into my eyes. I began shaking with fear and nervousness and love and all other emotions. There was something in his eyes. I could see he was trying to understand. I focused all my attention on not crying.
"That's only Cinders, the scullery maid," Hattie said. "Sire, would you care for a refreshment now you're here?"
"She's a scullery maid?"
"A scullery maid. Of no account. But our cook, Mandy, has cakes fit for a prince."
"Sit," he ordered me.
I sat. Char knelt, holding the slipper. I extended my foot and he guided it. The slipper fit perfectly, of course. What was I going to do?
His face was close to mine. He must have seen my terror. "You needn't be Ella if you don't want to be," he said softly.
He was so good.
"I'm not," I said. But in spite of myself, tears streamed down my cheeks.
I saw hope spread across his face. "That letter was rubbish. A trick." He glared at Hattie, then turned to me, his look probing. "Do you love me?" YHe still spoke softly, "Tell me."
An order. "I do." I was sobbing and smiling all at once. How was I going to give him up again?
Char was jubilant. His voice rang out. "Then marry me!"
Another order. I nodded and continued to weep. But my hand had found its way into his.
"Don't marry him, Ella," Hattie commanded, giving my name away once and for all.
I withdrew my hand. "I can't," I said. Perhaps Hattie would save us.
"Hattie, don't be a fool," Mum Olga snapped. "Don't you want to be stepsister to the queen and make her give you whatever you like?" She smiled at me. "His Highness is kind enough to want to marry you, Ella, my sweet."
It had begun. The curse would make Hattie and Mum Olga as grand as they wanted to be, and it would provide endless wealth for Olive.
"Char was looking at me with such gladness, and I loved him so. I was the cause of his joy and would be the cause of his destruction: a secret delivered to his enemies, a letter written in my own hand, a covert signal given by me, poison in his glass, a dagger in his ribs, a fall from a parapet.
"Marry me, Ella," he said again, the order a whisper now. "Say you'll marry me."
Anyone else could have said no or yes. This wasn't a royal command. Char probably had no idea he'd given an order.
But I had to obey-wanted to obey-hated to harm him-wanted to marry him. I would destroy my love and my land. They were in danger, and no one could rescue them. We were all doomed, all cursed.
Char was too precious to hurt, too precious to lose, too precious to betray, too precious to marry, to precious to kill, too precious to obey.
Words rose in me, filled my mouth, pushed against my lips. Yes I'll marry you. Yes, I love you. Yes! Yes! Yes! I swallowed, forcing them down, but they tore at my throat. A strangled noise erupted from me, but no words, not consent. He put a hand on my shoulder. I must have frightened him, but I couldn't see his face; my vision had turned inward to where the battle raged. I heard Lucinda's voice, "My gift to Ella is obedience. She will always be obedient." I saw Mandy telling me to eat my birthday cake. I saw SEEf leering at me and heard him. "No need to be persuasive with this one. It'd cook itself if we told it to." I saw Olive counting my coins, Mum Olga standing over me while I scrubbed the courtyard, Hattie wearing Mother's necklace. I'd eaten the cake, drunk the Tonic, given up the necklace, slaved for my stepmother, let Olive suck me dry. They'd gotten all they wanted of me, but they weren't going to get Char. Never. Never. Be obedient. Marry him. Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. The tears streaming from my eyes were acid, burning my cheeks. My mouth filled with liquid, bile and blood from biting my tongue, salty and corrosive and sweet. In spite of myself my mouth opened. Consent had won. Obedience had won.
But I clamped my hand over my mouth. My yes was stillborn.
I remembered Char at Mother's funeral, waiting for me while I wept, grieving for Mother too. I hear his promise at the menagerie. "And soon I'll catch a centaur and give it to you." I saw him binding SEEf's ankles. I saw him, buttonless doublet flapping, bow to the Father after we'd flown down the stair rails. I saw the ball and King Jerrold beaming at his son, the hope and future of Kyrria.
Say yes and be happy. Say yes and live. Obey. Marry him.
I began to rock in my chair . Forward, the words were about to come. Back, I reeled them in. Faster and faster. The legs of the chair thudded on the tiles and pounded in my ears. Marry him. I won't. Marry him. I won't.
Then I lost sense of all of it. I went on rocking and crying, but my thought burrowed within, concentrated in a point deep in my chest, where there was room for only one truth: I must save Char. For a moment I rested inside myself, safe, secure, certain, gaining strength. In that moment I found a power beyond any I'd had before, a will and a determination I would never have needed if not for Lucinda, a fortitude I hadn't been able to find for a lesser cause. And I found my voice.
"No!" I shouted. "I won't marry you. I won't do it. No one can force me!" I swallowed and wiped my mouth on my filthy sleeve. I leaped up, ready to defy anyone.
"Who would force you?" Char sounded shocked.
"No matter who. I won't, I won't. They can't make me, no one can make me. I won't marry you."
"Ella, go to your room. His majesty can have no further need of you."
Char said, "I have great need of her."
"Hush, Hattie!" I said intoxicated with my success. "I don't want to go to my room. Everyone must know I shan't marry the prince." I ran to the door to our street, opened it, and called out into the night, "I shan't marry the prince." I turned back into the hall and ran to Char and threw my arms about his neck. "I shan't marry you." I kissed his cheek. He was safe from me.
He turned my head and kissed me on the mouth. The kiss swept through me, and I clung to him, trembling. Char pulled away.
"Why won't you marry me? Why not, if you love me?"
"I'm cursed. You wouldn't be safe if I were your wife." What was I saying? I hadn't told anyone about the curse since I was eight. Mother had forbidden it. Had someone told me to?
No one had. Then why.
I wasn't going to marry Char, that was certain. He looked so handsome, smiling from our kiss, then frowning in confusion, a smudge of my soot on his nose. I wiped it off. Saving him made him more mine than ever.
Could my refusal mean the spell was broken? I'd defied Char's command. And Hattie had sent me to my room but I was still here. I had told my secret, but I felt no dizziness, no pain.
"You're free. The curse is over, love." Mandy was at my side, hugging me. "You rescued yourself when you rescued the prince. I'm that proud and glad, sweet, I could shout."
I had been able to break the curse myself. I'd had to have reason enough, love enough to do it, to find the will and the strength. My safety from the ogres hadn't been enough; zhulpH's rescue hadn't been enough, especially not with guards about; my slavery to Mum Olga hadn't been enough. Kyrria was enough. Char was enough.
Now it was over. Ended forever. I was made anew. Ella. Just Ella. Not Ella, the slave. Not a scullery maid. Not Lela Not Eleanor. Ella. Myself unto myself. One. Me.
I tore off the rag that covered my hair. Then I curtsied to Char.
"When you asked me for my hand a few minutes ago, I was still too young to marry." I looked up at him and saw a smile start. "I'm older now, so much older that not only can I marry, but I can beg you to marry me." I knelt and took his hand.
He didn't let me kneel before him. He pulled me up and kissed me again. I took that to signify his consent.
Okay that was fun. Not. I copied six pages onto here! Well I know you're all thinking, oh happy ending, but you're wrong! What about Lela and Mandy and Drakin and Lord Vladimere and Matthew? So there will be one more entry in this. I hope you've enjoyed it. Ciao!
Char brought a slipper out from his cloak, "It belonged to Ella, and will fit her alone."
A chair was brought.
"That's my slipper," Hattie said. "It's been missing for years."
"You're feet are too big," Olive blurted.
"Try it," Char told Hattie.
"I lost it because it kept falling off." She sat and removed her own slipper. I caught the familiar smell of her feet. She couldn't wedge her toes in.
"I'm younger than Hattie," Olive said, "So my feet are smaller. Probably."
They were bigger.
"Is there anyone else?" Char asked, looking around the room.
I stepped behind one of the taller servants and wished Char would just leave! The man in front of me sneezed and bent way over, everyone turned and saw me. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Char approached me.
"Lass," he said to me. "I won't hurt you, no matter what." He cupped his hand under my chin and tilted my face up to his. I wanted to catch it and kiss it.
As soon as we touched, I knew he recognized me. He looked into my eyes. I began shaking with fear and nervousness and love and all other emotions. There was something in his eyes. I could see he was trying to understand. I focused all my attention on not crying.
"That's only Cinders, the scullery maid," Hattie said. "Sire, would you care for a refreshment now you're here?"
"She's a scullery maid?"
"A scullery maid. Of no account. But our cook, Mandy, has cakes fit for a prince."
"Sit," he ordered me.
I sat. Char knelt, holding the slipper. I extended my foot and he guided it. The slipper fit perfectly, of course. What was I going to do?
His face was close to mine. He must have seen my terror. "You needn't be Ella if you don't want to be," he said softly.
He was so good.
"I'm not," I said. But in spite of myself, tears streamed down my cheeks.
I saw hope spread across his face. "That letter was rubbish. A trick." He glared at Hattie, then turned to me, his look probing. "Do you love me?" YHe still spoke softly, "Tell me."
An order. "I do." I was sobbing and smiling all at once. How was I going to give him up again?
Char was jubilant. His voice rang out. "Then marry me!"
Another order. I nodded and continued to weep. But my hand had found its way into his.
"Don't marry him, Ella," Hattie commanded, giving my name away once and for all.
I withdrew my hand. "I can't," I said. Perhaps Hattie would save us.
"Hattie, don't be a fool," Mum Olga snapped. "Don't you want to be stepsister to the queen and make her give you whatever you like?" She smiled at me. "His Highness is kind enough to want to marry you, Ella, my sweet."
It had begun. The curse would make Hattie and Mum Olga as grand as they wanted to be, and it would provide endless wealth for Olive.
"Char was looking at me with such gladness, and I loved him so. I was the cause of his joy and would be the cause of his destruction: a secret delivered to his enemies, a letter written in my own hand, a covert signal given by me, poison in his glass, a dagger in his ribs, a fall from a parapet.
"Marry me, Ella," he said again, the order a whisper now. "Say you'll marry me."
Anyone else could have said no or yes. This wasn't a royal command. Char probably had no idea he'd given an order.
But I had to obey-wanted to obey-hated to harm him-wanted to marry him. I would destroy my love and my land. They were in danger, and no one could rescue them. We were all doomed, all cursed.
Char was too precious to hurt, too precious to lose, too precious to betray, too precious to marry, to precious to kill, too precious to obey.
Words rose in me, filled my mouth, pushed against my lips. Yes I'll marry you. Yes, I love you. Yes! Yes! Yes! I swallowed, forcing them down, but they tore at my throat. A strangled noise erupted from me, but no words, not consent. He put a hand on my shoulder. I must have frightened him, but I couldn't see his face; my vision had turned inward to where the battle raged. I heard Lucinda's voice, "My gift to Ella is obedience. She will always be obedient." I saw Mandy telling me to eat my birthday cake. I saw SEEf leering at me and heard him. "No need to be persuasive with this one. It'd cook itself if we told it to." I saw Olive counting my coins, Mum Olga standing over me while I scrubbed the courtyard, Hattie wearing Mother's necklace. I'd eaten the cake, drunk the Tonic, given up the necklace, slaved for my stepmother, let Olive suck me dry. They'd gotten all they wanted of me, but they weren't going to get Char. Never. Never. Be obedient. Marry him. Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. The tears streaming from my eyes were acid, burning my cheeks. My mouth filled with liquid, bile and blood from biting my tongue, salty and corrosive and sweet. In spite of myself my mouth opened. Consent had won. Obedience had won.
But I clamped my hand over my mouth. My yes was stillborn.
I remembered Char at Mother's funeral, waiting for me while I wept, grieving for Mother too. I hear his promise at the menagerie. "And soon I'll catch a centaur and give it to you." I saw him binding SEEf's ankles. I saw him, buttonless doublet flapping, bow to the Father after we'd flown down the stair rails. I saw the ball and King Jerrold beaming at his son, the hope and future of Kyrria.
Say yes and be happy. Say yes and live. Obey. Marry him.
I began to rock in my chair . Forward, the words were about to come. Back, I reeled them in. Faster and faster. The legs of the chair thudded on the tiles and pounded in my ears. Marry him. I won't. Marry him. I won't.
Then I lost sense of all of it. I went on rocking and crying, but my thought burrowed within, concentrated in a point deep in my chest, where there was room for only one truth: I must save Char. For a moment I rested inside myself, safe, secure, certain, gaining strength. In that moment I found a power beyond any I'd had before, a will and a determination I would never have needed if not for Lucinda, a fortitude I hadn't been able to find for a lesser cause. And I found my voice.
"No!" I shouted. "I won't marry you. I won't do it. No one can force me!" I swallowed and wiped my mouth on my filthy sleeve. I leaped up, ready to defy anyone.
"Who would force you?" Char sounded shocked.
"No matter who. I won't, I won't. They can't make me, no one can make me. I won't marry you."
"Ella, go to your room. His majesty can have no further need of you."
Char said, "I have great need of her."
"Hush, Hattie!" I said intoxicated with my success. "I don't want to go to my room. Everyone must know I shan't marry the prince." I ran to the door to our street, opened it, and called out into the night, "I shan't marry the prince." I turned back into the hall and ran to Char and threw my arms about his neck. "I shan't marry you." I kissed his cheek. He was safe from me.
He turned my head and kissed me on the mouth. The kiss swept through me, and I clung to him, trembling. Char pulled away.
"Why won't you marry me? Why not, if you love me?"
"I'm cursed. You wouldn't be safe if I were your wife." What was I saying? I hadn't told anyone about the curse since I was eight. Mother had forbidden it. Had someone told me to?
No one had. Then why.
I wasn't going to marry Char, that was certain. He looked so handsome, smiling from our kiss, then frowning in confusion, a smudge of my soot on his nose. I wiped it off. Saving him made him more mine than ever.
Could my refusal mean the spell was broken? I'd defied Char's command. And Hattie had sent me to my room but I was still here. I had told my secret, but I felt no dizziness, no pain.
"You're free. The curse is over, love." Mandy was at my side, hugging me. "You rescued yourself when you rescued the prince. I'm that proud and glad, sweet, I could shout."
I had been able to break the curse myself. I'd had to have reason enough, love enough to do it, to find the will and the strength. My safety from the ogres hadn't been enough; zhulpH's rescue hadn't been enough, especially not with guards about; my slavery to Mum Olga hadn't been enough. Kyrria was enough. Char was enough.
Now it was over. Ended forever. I was made anew. Ella. Just Ella. Not Ella, the slave. Not a scullery maid. Not Lela Not Eleanor. Ella. Myself unto myself. One. Me.
I tore off the rag that covered my hair. Then I curtsied to Char.
"When you asked me for my hand a few minutes ago, I was still too young to marry." I looked up at him and saw a smile start. "I'm older now, so much older that not only can I marry, but I can beg you to marry me." I knelt and took his hand.
He didn't let me kneel before him. He pulled me up and kissed me again. I took that to signify his consent.
Okay that was fun. Not. I copied six pages onto here! Well I know you're all thinking, oh happy ending, but you're wrong! What about Lela and Mandy and Drakin and Lord Vladimere and Matthew? So there will be one more entry in this. I hope you've enjoyed it. Ciao!