-Cinderella-
"You're being too rough with it!"
Hilda was the foreign chef that Lady Tremaine had hired for the night. She was standing over Ella, watching her as she whisked egg whites.
She made a special show of slowing down her whisking, but it still wasn't enough.
"Oh, give it here, useless!"
Hilda stepped forward and pulled the bowl out of her hand
Ella gritted her teeth and moved to polish the silver. She hadn't been screaming with joy when she learned the Prince would visit, but she had been excited. That is until her life had become significantly more difficult with all the extra chores.
The moment he sent his letter afirming that he would be dining with them, Lady Tremaine wrote a long list of jobs that needed done before the prince blessed them all with his presence. It was overwhelming to add a weeks worth of work to her normal work load and expect it all to be accomplished in three days.
Ella had worked through the nights cleaning by candlelight, her fingernails were softened from three days of hard scrubbing, and her shoes had accumulated so much extra wear that they were now only held together through tree sap and twine.
The morning he was arriving she finished her list, but that was when Hilda and Bertraine showed up.
Bertraine was going to be a stand in butler for the night. His duties were greeting directing and serving. He hadn't even spoken to Ella, but Hilda did that enough for the both of them. Hilda specialized in meals fit for a king. She was a hard woman without a lot of sympathy who had no trouble setting Ella straight to work and keeping her on task.
Hilda whacked her all day and screamed barely understandable instructions at her until the sun began to fall and Lady Tremaine entered the kitchen in prepataion for the dinner.
Ella's eyes widened when she saw Lady Tremaine wearing her mother's rubies. Her stepmother had given the impression that all the family heirlooms had been sold to pay off her father's debts.
"Is the food ready Hilda?"
"Yes, Lady Tremaine."
"Good, the prince is expected soon, so keep everything warm." Hilda nodded and turned back to the burners while Lady Tremaine zeroed in on Ella.
"Ella."
"Yes, Lady Tremaine?"
"Follow me to your room."
Ella almost shook with releif. Finally the three days of torture were over. There was finally nothing more her Stepmother would do to her for the night. She didn't even ask her to wait on Anastasia or Drisela. She led Ella up the stairs to the tower of her room and ushered her inside.
She paused at the door and spoke to Ella in a low voice.
"You will not meet the prince, you will not make a single noise, and you will not so much as light a candle in your room. Do you understand me?"
It was a threatening speech, but it was wasted on Ella who was already fighting herself to stay conscious.
"Yes, Lady Tremaine."
Lady Tremaine pulled a key from around her neck and moved to shut the door.
"You'll be locked in in case you get any funny ideas. Don't forget what happens when you disobey me." She said, and she was gone.
The lock sounded when she shut the door and Ella was left in the dark. She laid on her bed trying to imagine what a prince would look like.
-The Prince-
"This is it." He told Derrick as they drew nearer to Bellview
Charles had expected to feel excited. He had already met with the other two families down the road. Cinderella was not among any of their households. She had to be here.
"Was this a bad idea?" He asked his friend.
"What? Springing on the girl you hold a torch for that you're the most eligible bachelor in the whole country? No, I wouldn't say that's a bad idea at all."
"Somehow, none of that makes me feel any better."
"Well if she gets too terribly upset when she finds out you're the Prince, I wouldn't admit that you set all this up yourself. Have the decency to pretend to be shocked."
"Just in case everything does go completely wrong, I'm going to need your help."
"What am I supposed to do?" Derrick asked.
"You know, if I say anything stupid or if everything unravels, you need to steer the conversation to neutral territory."
"And what is neutral territory at a dinner table with an old woman, a set of crazy twins, and the supposed love of your life?"
"I don't know, but you'll figure something out. I trust you."
Derrick scoffed. It wasn't an easy situation in any meaning of the word, but the invitation was already accepted and they were already there.
Bellview was quite the sight at night with all the lanterns lit and the tower hanging darkly over the house.
Charles and Derrick approached the door and dismounted their horses. A servant approached them and held out his hand for the reigns.
"My Lords." He said with a deep bow. "I am Edwin Bertrain, the butler of Bellview. Please, allow me to take your horses."
They both passed him the reigns and waited as Bertrain took them to the stables and returned swiftly.
"Evening, good sir. How fares the household?" Derrick asked, breaking the awkward silence as they followed the man up the entrance stairs.
"Everyone is most excited by your Lordship's visit."
"It is our pleasure to be invited." Charles said.
The old home was clearly in some disrepair. There were signs of upkeep that had been long neglected. A lot of old family estates often were inherited by people who didn't have the means or care to keep the property afloat.
It was too bad. Bellview held a lot of old charm that too many manors lacked.
The butler led them up the stairs to through the door. Charles looked around, expecting to see her coming down the stairs or around a corner. Derrick stood next to him grinning at him like a fool.
"This is the parlor, you may take a seat while I fetch the mistress of the house." Bertrain said before leaving them alone.
"You look like you trampled over a puppy on the way here." The duke said, digging his elbow into Charles' side. "If I didn't know you any better I would say you were scared." Derek baited.
"I'm not scared." Was all he said while reaching up and adjusting his overcoat.
He didn't have the chance to add anything because Lady Tremaine swept in at that moment.
"My Lord Prince, Grand Duke, welcome to my home."
She curtsied low and they both returned her gesture. Charles stepped forward and grabbed her hand in a gesture of friendship. If this was her familt, or her mistress then his most important duty was to make the perfect impression.
"Lady Tremaine, the towers of Bellview are as welcome a sight as our beautiful host. You honor us in your invitation."
Lady Tremaine had always given off a cold and superior vibe, but her demeanor was night and day as she blushed.
The butler took all three of them to the dining room and poured them each a glass of brandy.
"You will have to forgive me Lord Prince, but I must find my daughters and bring them down. They must have lost track of the time while working fastidiously on their many talents."
Lady Tremaine left them alone in the dining room and Charles was begining to feel a very real sense of dread about the night. Now that he was reacquainted with Lady Tremaine he remembered why she was someone he often avoided.
"There's only five dinner placings." Derrick commented low enough that Bertrain couldn't have heard.
Charles didn't bother responding. He didn't need the duke to point out what he had been thinking already.
"As far as my count is, that's one Lady Tremaine, two twin daughters, and us."
"Yes, I can count Derrick, thank you."
"So, your mystery Lady must be a servant. She probably stole one of her mistresses dresses and stole away to the ball."
"And if she is?" Charles asked sharply.
Derrick put his hands up in his defense.
"I'm just trying to prepare you for when she comes out of the kitchen to serve us dinner. I don't know what kind of neutral conversation topic I can use to make that any less awkward."
Charles didn't dignify him with a response. They stood in silence until the doors opened again.
Lady Tremaine entered first followed by her two daughters.
Lady Tremaine was dressed in a long dignified plain dress, much befitting the a Lord's window, where as her daughters were dressed much more excitedly in large cake top dresses in matching tinsel material one blue and one pink.
Charles and Derrick both set their drinks on the table and briefly met eachothers eyes in panic.
One of the reasons the prince had not accompanied his father to any of his dinners was because of the look in women's eyes whenever he drew close to them. It was the look of a predatory animal who had locked eyes on their prey.
It was those excited predatory eyes that now surrounded the prince and the duke. Even Lady Tremaine was staring at them like they were the night's dinner.
"It isn't hard to see why rumors circle about the beauty of this family. I'm pleased to see they weren't rumors at all." Charles said politely.
He had been trained in diplomacy even in the heart of panic, which is all he felt at the moment. He took turns taking Anastasia and Drisella's hand while they nearly collapsed under his grip.
"We were surprised to receive your missive Lord Prince. Do you often make dinner appointments with important families?" Lady Tremaine asked.
"Yes, all the time. I feel as though it is my duty as the Prince to hear every voice and know how the people feel." Charles said. He heard something that sounded very much like a snort coming from the duke behind him. Charles was sounding too much like his mother for his own liking.
"For that reason," he added, "I wanted to ensure that I had a chance to speak to every member of your household."
"Every member?" She asked, her eyebrows went up in confusion.
"Yes, I feel like it is very important to listen to every voice in the kingdom. Wouldnt you agree?"
Lady Tremine smiled tightly revealing that she very much did not agree, but she nodded her head anyways.
"Of course, my Lord Prince."
"By the time the night is over I would very much like to meet all the staff and every member of your family who lives here."
Lady Tremaine looked around guardedly. Anastasia and Drisella turned to eachother and then to their mother, waiting for her response. Lady Tremaine's lips curled into a smile.
"You've now met my two daughters several times, you've met Bertrain, our butler, and the only one you have yet to meet is our cook."
"Your cook?" He asked. Hope filled his voice and his heart. He couldn't imagine anything more charming.
"Yes, she's in the kitchen preparing dinner now. I can let Bertrain know to bring her out with dinner if that pleases you." She said.
"I would very much like to meet the cook." Hopefully the cook would want to meet him.
"Very well, it will be done. Bertrain, bring out the first course and let the cook know that we would like her presence in the dining room for a brief moment."
"Yes Lady Tremaine." Bertrain said before escaping through the kitchen door.
He plastered a smile on his face and when they all sat down for a meal he prayed that Cinderella would come through the door. He didn't care if she was a servant. He didn't even care if everything she said was a lie. He felt surrounded on all sides.
Lady Tremaine clapped and the doors opened and the prince's heart sunk when he didn't recognize the face. He stood from his seat and put on a good show of meeting the cook. She was a short burly woman who looked decidedly unkind.
"You wanted to meet me?" She asked througha thick accent. She looked as confused as everyone else around the table were.
"Yes, it's just something I like to do everytime I visit someone's home. I like to meet the staff and make sure there is nothing you're in need of that the crown could do for you."
The woman had no idea to respond to him and he realized that he hadn't even left her with a proper question.
"Is there anything the crown can do for you?" He asked half-heartedly.
"No. Thank you, but I have everything I need." She said slowly.
"Well thank you for your input Hilda. I'm sure the Prince appreciates your thoughts and the meal."
Derrick and Charles both echoed her sentiments and Hilda left the room quickly leaving silence behind her.
"You'll have to forgive us for not having many servants. We're a family more attracted to the simple way of life." Lady Tremaine said.
"No need to apologize Lady Tremaine. I've always had the greatest respect for the simple things in life." His cousin said, "simple is better I always say. Simple meals, simple dresses, and simple estates. I love it all."
Lady Tremaine narrowed her eyes. She probably detected Derricks thinly veiled mockery. Bellview could never be called simple, the meal they had just been served looked like it should have come with instructions, and the twins dresses looked far to formal for any dinner.
"Simple has it's uses, but my daughters are very versatile in all ways of life. My Drisella can play the harpsichord and sing while Anastasia plays the mandolin beautifully. You simply must listen to them play after dinner."
"We wouldn't want to take up any more of your gracious hospitality." Derrick said.
"No, it's no trouble at all. In fact, they've prepared something just for the both of you as a special treat!" Lady Tremaine said it like it was a done deal, and Charles gritted his teeth. In all the ways he imagined the night falling apart, he couldn't have even imagined this. If all accounts were to be believed, he was no closer to finding Cinderella.
-The Fairy Godmother-
She could have kissed the Prince for this little scheme he had cooked up. Charles and Ella were in the same house without any magical aid. Of course, Ella was trapped upstairs, and Charles was trapped at a dinner, but this was something the Fairy Godmother could work with.
She spelled the mice to retrieve the key to Ella's room and then she helped in opening the door, making sure to stay invisiblefrom Ella's eyes. Ella sat up in her bed as the door mysteriously drifted open.
The door let in the sounds of voices and cutlery waft up from the dining room and Ella sat up, interested, but she didn't leave her bed. She saw no point in risking her stepmother's anger over something as trivial as seeing a Prince.
She was sitting there. Unmoving. The Fairy Godmother sighed. The Prince had gotten himself this far, the least Ella could do was meet him down the stairs. After a few moments where Ella remained in her position, the Fairy Godmother decided that something needed to be done.
She couldn't force Ella up and get her to walk downstairs, but she could control the power of suggestion and use it to sway her.
Ella was wrapped in a wave of magic. The suggestions to head downstairs and see the Prince overwhelmed her. Her mind whirled as she became obsessed with the thought of doing the one thing she knew she shouldn't do.
Her mind was already there. Following the stairs to take a small peek. Ella stood from the bed forcefully, crossed the room, and close the door quietly. She hoped that the closed door would be the end of her stupid fantasies. And she was right.
The Fairy Godmother stood outside her room, in shock. Everything was in place. Her perfect opportunity was slipping away.
-The Prince-
"Before we all get carried away with the night's events, I have met every person who lies in Bellview right?" Charles asked. There was no diplomatic way to ask that question so he just blurted it above the lull in conversation.
Anastasia and Drisella looked up at him suddenly. Their eyes held all the surprise of their mother's voice.
"I'm not sure what you mean Prince Charles. I'm afraid you may be dealing with a slow memory. You have met every person who lives in Bellview. There is no one else. Unless you count the ghosts!" She let out a sharp laugh and her two daughters laughed with her for a moment.
"All jokes aside, I meant what I said. We are a simple family and we don't need much thanks to the ingenuity an grace of my two daughters."
"It's just the people I've met then?" He asked desperately, forgetting all diplomacy for a moment.
"Yes." She said, a little too sharply. "If you need another reminder, I can reintroduce you if you would like."
"That won't be necessary." He said.
Anastasia and Drisella, for the first time, were looking away from the prince straight into their meals.
"Lady Tremaine, is that tapestry a family herloom?" Derrick said, pointing at a tapestry on the side of the dining hall.
Everyone turned to look at it and Derrick winked at Charles.
"No, it's been it's been in Bellview for generations."
Derrick went on to talk about his great love of tapestries, which was all greatly exaggerated, but it had gotten all of them back to their meals and not glaring over the dinner table.
The dinner didn't get much better from there.
Nothing made sense. Everything from Cinderella's absence at every home he had visited to Lady Tremaine's insistence that there was no one else who lived there. Through the night Charles asked about visitors to Bellview, and even asked them about deliveries they had received in the last week, but there was still no answers.
It had become apparent that Lady Tremaine was interested in nothing but marrying one of her daughters to the prince which turned the entire dinner into a spectacle where she encouraged her daughters to him in every conceivable way.
When dinner was over they were ready to bolt, but Lady Tremaine still insisted they stay and enjoy a brief musical performance by her daughters. The performance was longer than anyone could consider brief, but finally they used every excuse in the book to leave.
"That was dissapointing." Derrick said once they were far away enough from Bellview.
"That is an understatement."
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
"I'm going to meet Cinderella on Friday, and pretend none of this happened. If she shows up, maybe I will just tell her the truth."
"She might live at Bellview yet." Derrick said.
"I was painfully clear with my questions. Do you think Lady Tremaine could have forgotten who lives in her home?"
"No, but things were off. You might have been too busy feeling sorry for yourself to realize it, but nothing felt right about that dinner. They are all... odd people to be sure, but they way they reacted to you asking about the other members in the house hold was downright hostile. Even the twins couldn't look you in the eyes. I think you're actually right Charles. There is something going on around here."