I don’t understand my reaction. It’s not as if I haven’t been around handsome men before. But something about these two fills me with a desire that is as surprising as it is overwhelming.
I force myself to avert my gaze. “Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Wait here.” I press down on Finn’s chest to push him onto his back. “You should lie down. You’re still healing,” I gently chastise. “I will be right back.”
I rush down the stairs to the kitchen and nearly run into the delivery man. “Your supplies are here, Ella.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
He grins, revealing a mouth full of several missing teeth. Each time I see him, he seems to have fewer and fewer. Poor man. I force myself to look up at his eyes, not wanting to stare. “Have you heard the news, Ella? The palace just announced a royal ball.”
“A ball?”
“Yes. And all eligible, unmarried women in the kingdom are required to attend.”
That’s... strange. “Why is that?”
He chuckles. “It seems the prince is in need of a wife.”
Hope fills me. “All unmarried women?” I ask, just to be sure I’ve heard correctly.
“Yes.”
My thoughts drift to my story about the prince who saved the girl from her evil stepmother. I can imagine how lovely such a thing would be: to be chosen by the prince and to live happily ever after, away from this life of indentured servitude that I’ve endured since my father died.
My stepmother took everything out from under me after his passing. Apparently, the authorities were quite happy to take her coin and look the other way as she cheated me out of my father’s will. She claimed she was doing it because I was not yet of age to attend to such things. Now that I am older, I know the truth.
I thank the delivery man and pay him his coin.
As I head for the kitchen to retrieve something for Finn, I wonder when my stepfamily will return. They went into the town earlier, and I’m sure they must have already heard the royal announcement about the ball. I imagine once they hear of it, they’ll probably spend a fortune on new dresses.
I have asked many times to have my rights to my father’s fortune back, but Griselda always has an excuse for why she still needs to handle everything for me. Unfortunately, I’m reasonably certain that she’s gone through most of the money my father left behind by now.
She says I should be grateful. That most orphans are tossed out onto the streets once their parents have died. I suppose I should be. At least, she cares enough not to have done that to me. Even if she and her daughters treat me like a servant, they still provide for me in a way. Without them, I’d have nowhere to go.
However, I can’t stop thinking about the royal ball. I’m glad for the material I’ve saved over the years. Most of it is scrap left behind by dressmakers when they’ve come to fit my stepsisters, but it’s enough to make something beautiful to wear to such an occasion, I’m sure.
As I search the kitchen for something for Finn and Cash, a familiar voice calls out. Dread trickles down my spine when I recognize the impatient tone of my stepmother.
Chapter 2
Ella
My stepmother stares down at me with a thunderous expression. “Where were you?”
“I was repolishing the floors in the guest wing,” I lie. She doesn’t need to know what happened. I’m not even sure I entirely understand it myself. Besides, she couldn’t have been home that long, or she would’ve been curious about who was at the door earlier when the delivery man came.
A sharp slap across my cheek knocks me back, and I hit the wall, banging my head sharply against it. I barely manage to stay on my feet as I grip the table beside me to steady myself. I place my hand to my face, as if that will somehow ease the sting, and lift my eyes to her in confusion.
“Do not lie to me!” she snaps. “I went to the guest wing to find you, and you weren’t there.” She gives me an icy glare. “Now. Tell me the truth.”
I open my mouth, not sure how much to tell her. After a moment, I decide to tell her where I was and not what happened. Besides, I doubt she’d believe me anyway. “I went to the forest. It’s my birthday,” I offer, cautiously. “I went to the place where Father used to take me to picnic when I was a child. Do you remember? When you were first married, you went with us as well.”
Her expression softens as she stares down at me. In my heart, I believe she did have love for my father, but he died so soon after their marriage there just wasn’t enough time for her to have felt much for me. Sometimes I wonder if she was upset at me because I always had reminded my late father of my mother, his first love, and how he lost her.
Yet I never understood how my stepmother could be so jealous of my late mother. I remember how in love they seemed shortly after their marriage. She had definitely captured my father’s heart.
“You know it’s dangerous out there.” She eyes my wrinkled dress. “Even for a girl such as yourself.”
Normally, I would argue. But this time, she’s right.
I could have been killed today. If it weren’t for the shifter twins, I would have.
She shakes her head and gives me a pitying look. Reaching out, she cups my cheek tenderly. The same one she just slapped not even a minute ago. The echoes of remembered pain whisper across my still stinging flesh. “My dear, sweet girl. You know nothing of this world. That’s why you must take great care and be cautious at all times. I wouldn’t want anything terrible to happen to you.”
She stares at me with
