-The Duke-
The Duke had not wasted any time going from place to place. He knew where the Prince was and was proved correct when he caught Charles leaving Bellview.
They both reigned their horses to a stop.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am trying to avoid getting tortured by your mother. You need to come with me back to the castle."
"What happened?"
"I do not know everything, but somehow your mother got it in her head that you were closeting yourself away with one of the twins. Your mother invited them over for tea, and now they are convinced you have promised them your hand in marriage."
"Why would my mother believe that?" Charles asked, dumbfounded.
"The only place you will get answers is the palace. I only know what she threatened to do to me if I do not get you there now."
Charles looked back to Bellview, but Derrick could not allow him to waste another moment.
"Please, I am begging you, Charles. My life is on the line." Or at least his hand and Derrick was very much attached to his hand.
"I promised her that I would see her today."
"Wait till tomorrow. Bring her a gift to apologize. I will go with you myself to apologize on your behalf. I will do anything. We need to leave. Now."
Charles shook his head, but he finally relented.
"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can come back and find her."
-The Prince-
He had knocked on the door at Bellview for an hour. There was no sign of movement or sound. He promised to find her, and he intended to fulfill his word. He would knock on Lawrence Seaver's door and ensure that he had kept his word and ended their engagement. If she was there, he did not want to know. He did not want to see her happy without him. The truth of their relationship settled in. He was having doubts. Words that Derrick had voiced earlier rang through his head. Perhaps he had made an error. Perhaps she was content with marrying Lawrence Seaver, and he had ruined her happiness.
Doubts continued to prick at him as he rode towards the castle with Derrick. The next time he saw her, he would lay everything at her feet. His title, his affections, his offer of marriage. He would not let her slip through his fingers again. For the sake of his own sanity, he needed to speak before it was too late.
"You can stay back if my mother scares you," Charles said to Derrick when they reached the castle and dismounted their horses.
"and miss the show? There is nothing you could do to keep me from coming with you."
Charles sighed. Anxious to get over the headache that waited for him. The moment he walked through the doors, every person in the room stood from their seats and turned to him. His mother looked furious, but his eyes were drawn towards Lady Tremaine, who regarded him with a cold sort of superiority.
He faced her head-on. He could not prove anything, but he suspected that she was the reason he had not met with Cinderella. She stood proud like a woman who knew all the answers. He was intent on proving her very wrong.
"Mother, what is this about?" He asked, crossing the room to stand next to her, across from Lady Tremaine and her two daughters.
"Derrick, did you or did you not promise your hand in marriage to the woman who fits that slipper?" His mother asked. Straight to the point. No small talk or leading questions. He turned to Lady Tremaine and wondered what she had done to get his mother to forgo all formalities.
Everyone in the room angled around Drisela. The slipper on her foot caught his eye to the glass slipper. His eyes narrowed. There was only one place they could have gotten that slipper. He wondered briefly what else they had stolen from Cinderella.
"I did." He said simply.
His mother let out a hoarse cry, and Charles looked over to Lydia, who threw her hands up in the air, "Do not look at me! I did not take the slipper again. That is the match!"
Charles looked again at Lady Tremaine. She met his eyes easily with a smug smile.
"Do you intend to honor your promise?" Lady Tremaine asked.
The Queen stepped between them. "This talk of marriage will stop immediately. There will be no such engagement. I forbid it!"
"Charles, this is my fault. You do not have to follow through with this." Lydia said at the same time.
He did not look away from Lady Tremaine's gaze, "yes. I will honor my promise. I will marry the woman who fits that slipper."
His mother had gone from yelling to unintelligible outbursts and into horrified silence.
"We have all come to an understanding then." Lady Tremaine said. Even her daughters had begun to smile victoriously.
"We have not come to any understanding Lady Tremaine. I have established that I will marry the woman who fits that slipper. Your daughter has managed to fit the shoe, but there is another."
"Another?" His mother squeaked out.
"Another?" Lady Tremaine echoed with her eyebrow raised.
"Another." He emphasized.
"Please, if there is another who fits the slipper, bring her here, and Drisela would be happy to let her try it. You will find that the slipper does and has always belonged to my Drisela."
His frustration fueled his anger. The lies were sinister on their own, but in the context of the woman he had grown to know and care for, Lady Tremaine's behavior was despicable.
"You forget your station, Lady Tremaine. I am not beholden to you or your daughters. I am not some puppet you can manipulate to play the fool. I am the crown Prince. We both know the woman who I offered my hand in marriage. This imagined farce will stop now."
Lady Tremaine's face twisted into rage. Her smile became sharp and eerie.
"You are making a mistake." She said in a voice that sounded too much like a threat.
Charles forgot himself for a moment and took one threatening step toward her before having to hold himself back.
"You are the one who has made the mistake of coming here today. Your deception will not be forgotten easily."
Lady Tremaine's eyebrows raised, and her nostrils flared when she drew in a deep breath. She turned on her heels and left the room. Her two daughters quickly followed suit without another look over their shoulders.
"I will see you very soon," Charles yelled after them.
"What a crazy old biddy!" Derrick said the moment the door slammed shut. "Did she really think she could just steal a slipper and worm her way into the royal family? Good luck with your future in-laws Charles. Nigh on diabolical."
His words sparked fury in the Queen, and she and Lydia both rounded on him.
"What did you say?" She asked Derrick.
Derrick looked between Charles and the Queen, realizing that he had made a mistake. His hands shot up in defense.
"I think this is more of a family-type conversation. I should leave."
Derrick looked over to Charles, wide-eyed and fearful. Charles nodded towards the door, and Derrick made his retreat.
"You will explain every word you said to that woman. Right now."
Charles took a deep breath. There was so much that he was still in the dark about, but he knew that if his mother did not get answers from him, she would try and force them out another way. He would not risk Cinderella being caught in the middle of one of his mother's inquisitions.
"This would have made an easier conversation if it had come about naturally, but since I no longer have that luxury, I will just say it. I have been courting a woman. The same woman I danced with at the ball."
Lydia gasped with delight, and the Queen folded her arms and became stone-faced.
"I am confused. You say you have no interest in Lady Tremaine's daughters, yet my sources have informed me of your illicit trips to Bellview. Now, you say there is another woman. Explain yourself."
"I did not say I have no interest in Lady Tremaine's daughters. In fact, I am very interested in her third daughter."
Lydia laughed, "You have gone mad, Charles. What are you talking about? There is no one else."
"You are wrong. Lady Tremaine has two twin daughters through blood and one stepdaughter through marriage. I intend to marry her stepdaughter."
His mother laughed. The strained laughter turned to an awkward silence. Lydia was completely flummoxed by his revelation.
"There really is another Lady of Bellview manor?"
"Yes."
"No." His mother muttered quietly, and then she said it again with more confidence. "No. You will not be marrying anyone that comes from that family."
Charles grabbed his mother's shoulder to stop her from speaking about anything else that she would grow to regret.
"Do not forbid me this, Mother. You are missing the full story, but the full story does not matter. I will not be coerced by anyone in my choice of wife. If you think me so ill-suited to find my own wife, I can only think you will find me an incompetent king."
His mother's eyes widened. "No, it is nothing like that. Young love can be so temporary and blinding. I am protecting you!"
"In all my life, have you ever known me to be blinded by prettiness? Have I ever given you a reason to think I would be so enslaved by some unknown beauty that I give her my heart before I learned of her character?"
"No" His mother choked out. "but-"
"I know that my every decision has an effect on the well-being of those in this kingdom. There is nothing else that has been impressed in my mind so much as the weight of my responsibilities. When I say that I have found a woman I intend to marry, it means that I know, wholly, without a doubt, that I have found my queen."
His mother was shocked into silence at her son's declaration. The room started spinning violently, and all at once she dropped like a sack of potatoes. Charles caught her before she hit the ground.
"I hate it when she does that," Lydia commented.
"Help me bring her to the settee."
"No, get off me!" The Queen said, already back to consciousness and batting away both her children.
Charles stepped back.
"There is nothing you can do to change my mind."
Queen Letitia sighed. She was well acquainted with the stubborn set of his jaw and the unerring look in his eyes.
"Someone go get your father. You are going to tell us everything. From the beginning."
-Lady Tremaine-
Lyeman was sitting at his office when she stormed in, looking thunderous.
"Lady Tremaine! I thought we had canceled our standing appointment. Please sit!"
She had no interest in sitting down. She strode to the other side of his desk. He jumped from his chair and used it as a barrier between them.
"I will destroy you, Lyeman. I will take everything you have and turn you into a husk of a man."
He let out a panicked wheeze.
"Please, my Lady, tell me what has happened. We will solve this. I will solve this!"
"You have brought me nothing but ruin. I will not listen to you again!"
Lyeman was pressed further back. His mouth started working. His words were the only thing that would get him out of this.
"I am guessing the proposal with the Queen has fallen through. That is no matter. There are plenty of Princes in the known world. Perhaps relocation would be a preferable option. Mr. Seaver has given an interest in fully-"
"Do not speak to me of Mr. Seaver." She spat.
Lyeman paused. His face turned white. "Has he reneged on the deal?"
"Reneged? That man pretended he had never even spoken a word to me!"
Perhaps he could twist her anger.
"Perhaps your anger would be better served at his household!"
Her laugh was short and bitter. "Worry not, Lyeman. When I am through with you, I will destroy him as well!"
"Destroy? No, my Lady, please. There is another option."
"Tell me. Tell me what other ideas you have right now, or else I will take everything from you."
Lady Tremaine looked at Lyeman and saw him for what he was, a pathetic little weasel. She watched as he focused in a severe panic, trying to produce something that would save her. There was nothing.
She would be forced to do what she had done many times before, use the old book of spells passed down from her family to drain the wealth from Lyeman and then from Lawrence Seaver. There would be severe costs, but she did not care anymore.
"Cinderella!" He squeaked out. "She is still the heir of Bellview. She still has control over all the assets.
"There are no more assets." She said.
"No, there are still assets. We have drained every asset available to you as her guardian. Once she turned eighteen, there were dozens of bonds and investments that are only in her name and only available to her."
"How does that benefit me?" Lady Tremaine was already scheming herself.
"We will have to kill her, obviously," Lyeman said. "You are her guardian and next of kin. One death and you will finally inherit what was rightfully yours in the first place!"
"No." Lady Tremaine began to shake with barely restrained anger. She had not kept Cinderella alive this whole time due to sentimentality. She had tried to kill her right along with her father, but it was not possible. Someone had placed a powerful protection spell over her. Killing her would prove difficult and time-consuming. "We cannot kill her. Come up with something else, or it will be your head."
Lyeman considered for a moment before his eyes lit up again. "We do not necessarily have to kill her. We could simply sell her."
Lady Tremaine's face twisted into a smile, and Lyeman was propelled forward by her encouragement.
"There is a slave ship at the docks posing as a textile runner. We could sell her, fake the death certificate, and no one would be any wiser. She would be gone, and you would finally get everything."
Lady Tremaine stood. "Arrange it. I want someone at Bellview tonight to take her away."
She left his office just as quickly as she had barged in. Lyeman sagged into his chair. Another crisis had been averted. He only allowed himself a minute before he grabbed his coat and ran out of his office.
He needed to find those slavers. Quickly.