Anastasia Tremaine; my dear stepsister. Less than a year after I married Prince Kit, we were already starting to make amends with each other. I knew she, and even my older stepsister Drizella were suffering under Lady Tremaine, so I felt the need to help Anastasia find love in the form of a dashing young baker called Scott; in the hopes of getting Anastasia out of her mother's grip. To my relief my efforts paid off. Though Lady Tremaine eventually caught onto Anastasia's defiance and tried one last time to whisk her back into her plan to climb back up the social ladder, Anastasia had the courage to put her foot down and break of ties with her mother. All Lady Tremaine could do was mope back to her chateau with Drizella and try to rethink her plan, while continuing her abuse of Drizella behind closed doors. Anastasia thanked me wholeheartedly for getting her together with Scott, and I, refusing to hold anything against Anastasia, embraced her and reassured her 'Dreams DO come true!'. Anastasia was now happily assisting her new partner with his work in the bakery, and I occasionally stopped by to see her. We were no doubt becoming closer. However, Anastasia's remorse was still preying on her mind, and she knew she could never have openly expressed it under Lady Tremaine for fear of suffering the same fate as I did. Eventually, around a month after she broke of ties with Lady Tremaine, Anastasia finally took the opportunity to write a letter to me. With her mother finally off her back, my poor stepsister was now keen to explain everything to me, because she knew her actions under Lady Tremaine had caused me much anguish, but decided that my mind would be eased if I had a little more insight.
And the following morning, after Anastasia first wrote her letter, I received it. As soon as I saw the name on the envelope; 'ANASTASIA TREMAINE', I knew at once it was something about our past. I slowly took the letter out of the envelope and gently placed it on the table; Kit and I were having afternoon tea and so he took the opportunity to read it as well. I knew Anastasia would have a lot to say in this brutally honest message since she was now firmly back in control of her own life. The letter read as follows:
'Dear Cinderella.
I've decided to write this letter to you to let you know who I really feel about you.
You giving me the courage to break off ties with my mother inspired me to reach out to you and express how I truly feel about everything I've done to you.
I was only really doing those things because I honestly don't think my mother was much better towards Drizella and I than she was towards you. And having seen the baker I can't help but feel I've been tempted by false promises of riches, power and love. I never intended to climb the social ladder; all I wanted was someone to love me for who I am.
Added to which, I can still distinctly remember a number of occasions when Lady Tremaine threatened to either hit me with her cane or lock me in your room with you if I didn't punish you. So my mother's tactic in using me to destroy your happiness and climb the social ladder was to hold the stick in one hand, and a FALSE carrot in the other.
I never truly meant to do any of those awful things to you. I was just scared about what Lady Tremaine might do to me if I chose to stand up for you. You must understand that I've never really had a truly good parent figure in my life. Lady Tremaine was abusive towards me behind my father's back and I was warned to keep quiet about it otherwise I would pay the price dearly. And his untimely death was a blessing in disguise for my mother. And I honestly felt powerless to stop her from marrying your father, because I knew what was coming, but I knew mother could just abuse the three of us en masse.
You must understand it took me a HELL of a lot of courage to tell you because I was (and honestly still am) worried you might not believe me. I just want you to know how truly sorry I am for everything, and a little bit more about what I was that way. I hope we can one day fix a date in the palace to talk all of this over so we can heal our relationship, because having seen you reach out to me, I know you might be keen to patch everything up.
Yours faithfully,
Anastasia Tremaine'
As I read this letter I could feel my rage and horror at Lady Tremaine building slowly but surely, along with my concern for not only Anastasia, but also for Drizella. Only now was the true extent of Lady Tremaine's cruelty starting to become knowledge. I'd always had a feeling that Anastasia had a heart of gold on the inside, and that she'd also been abused herself, but this letter was not only confirmation of that, but also a shocking revelation about how much Anastasia had truly suffered under her mother; even before she married my biological father. After I finished reading the letter I broke down a little. 'Oh, Anastasia...I'm so sorry', I sniffed as I wiped my tears away with a handkerchief. Kit was also in shock to discover how much Anastasia had been punished by her mother and could only say 'I couldn't possibly have imagined that your stepsister has suffered *that* much, Cinderella'. 'Frankly, neither did I', I replied wistfully. 'I honestly think we should find some way to protect Anastasia and her partner from her mother. There's a danger that she could go after Anastasia again after disobeying her', Kit added. 'Don't worry, I'll speak to the King about it later. Oh...And speaking of Anastasia, I think I ought to write my reply. She ought to know that she still deserves our support', I said trying to smile again. I gave Kit a gentle kiss on the cheek and then set about writing my reply. I knew I'd also have quite a lot to say about what Anastasia and I had to go through since I lost my father...
