Free Microsoft Word - Cinder-Marie_Sexton.doc by Dawn Page A

arrived at the palace the next day. Jessalyn and I were each assigned rooms. I was surprised to find that mine wasn't in the servant quarters as I'd expected, but in the main wing. It was vast and sumptuous. The curtains were 87
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    velvet and the sheets were made of silk. It was luxurious to the extreme. Jessalyn was outraged when she found out, mostly because I was closer to Xavier than she was. I knew it annoyed it her to no end. The entirety of my worldly possessions only filled one drawer of the massive armoire. I felt completely out of place.
    My assumption that the prince had peers at the
    palace was quickly dispelled. True, there was a large group of young men and women who attempted to follow him and dote on him and catch his attention, but he managed to avoid them more often than not.
    "They're not my friends," he told me when I referred to them as such. "They'd each throw me to the wolves in a minute, if I wasn't my father's son."
    For his part, Xavier seemed to have resigned
    himself to marriage. He spent most of his time with Jessalyn, planning the wedding.
    Jessalyn's resolve to keep me away from the prince was stronger than ever. For four days, she kept me busy from dawn until dusk. She sent me on errands that kept me running from one end of the palace to the other. She sent me to town, sometimes three times in a day. She sent servants to find me and issue orders. Several times the orders were to undo what I'd just spent the whole morning doing. There was no rhyme or reason to her instructions, 88
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    save one: keep me from Xavier. And at that, she succeeded, for the better part of four days.
    Late on the fourth day, I returned from town with a new shawl Jessalyn had commissioned just as she and Xavier were finishing dinner.
    "It's absolutely the wrong size," she said when I showed it to her. "And I specifically told her to use the green, not the blue. You'll have to return it tomorrow."
    I barely even heard her. I couldn't take my eyes off the prince.
    He was smiling at me, that bright infectious smile that made me feel like I could fly.
    "It's good to finally see you, Eldon. How have you been? Are you adjusting to palace life?"
    "You too, sire. I mean, Xavier. Of course." I was stammering like a fool. I took a deep breath and said, "I'm good."
    "You look well."
    "Thank you, sire. You look…" I wasn't sure how to finish. The common platitudes were all wrong. He didn't look well. His eyes were dull. Although the smile he gave me appeared to be genuine, the one he turned on Jessalyn was fake. I could see the strain of the impending marriage in the slowness of his movements and the tightness around his eyes.

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    He looked miserable.
    He raised his eyebrow at me. "Don't call me 'sire'."
    "Yes, sire."
    The corner of his mouth twitched, as if another true smile were trying to break free.
    "Cinder," Jessalyn said, shoving the shawl back into my hands, "this is unacceptable. Take it back now. Tell her I won't put up with shoddy work. If she can't do it right, I'll take my business someplace else."
    Did she see the way the prince looked at her? Did she see the way he suppressed a frown?
    "Surely it can wait until morning," he said.
    She shook her head. "I intended to wear this to the engagement party the day after tomorrow," she said. "It's her own fault for getting it wrong."
    And so I took myself back to town to inform the
    poor seamstress that my cousin had changed her mind about both the size and color, but was too arrogant to admit it.
    The next day, I had a plan. I scheduled my tasks
    well. I timed everything perfectly. I picked up the new shawl early, but waited until the prince's dinner with Jessalyn was ending to present it. I let myself quietly through the dining room door. They were talking, and neither of them seemed to notice me.

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    "I can't believe they served us fish," Jessalyn complained.
    Xavier blinked at