So This is Love (Disney Twisted Tales) - Elizabeth Lim Page 0,102

to the king. Nothing about burying King George’s wish to permit magical persons back into Aurelais, or about poisoning his own sovereign.

But as Cinderella looked through the papers, she stopped. She had never seen the duke’s handwriting before, yet it looked familiar. Neat with a careful flourish—and the seal he used on his documents looked like something she had seen before.

She frowned, searching her memory. Where, oh, where had she seen it before? She’d been with Louisa, sewing—ah!

Digging into her apron, she fumbled for the scraps of paper she had found while helping Louisa mend clothing in the seamstress room. She’d forgotten to toss them away.

The seal was the same. The handwriting the same.

But where was the rest?

“Can you help me find this?” she asked Bruno, letting him sniff the scrap she’d found. After a moment, his nose twitched. Then, nose to the ground, he quickly edged out of the duke’s office toward the bedchambers, where he stopped in front of a wide wooden closet.

“In here?”

The dog’s grunt confirmed the answer to her question.

She swung open the duke’s armoire, scouring his clothes until she found a row of hanging trousers, each with identical satin stripes. She started searching through their pockets, but Bruno was faster. He bobbed his nose at a pair at the end of the row, and Cinderella unhooked it from the rack.

There.

Something crinkled against her fingers. Daring to hope, she pulled it out, and there it was! The rest of the missing page. Piecing the scraps together, she held the papers against the window. “ ‘I have a need for a concoction that will cause grievous pain—enough to make one consider stepping down from his responsibilities,’ ” she read aloud. She gasped. This was it—proof that Ferdinand had been poisoning the king!

The front door to the duke’s chambers creaked open, and Cinderella quickly stuffed the pages into her pockets.

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady?”

Under the glare of the duke’s attendant, Cinderella shot to her feet, hiding the document behind her back. “I’m . . . I’m cleaning His Grace’s—”

“What’s that in your hand?”

“It’s . . . n-nothing.”

“You . . . you look familiar. You’re—” Before the attendant’s suspicion could grow any further, Cinderella dashed out of the duke’s chambers into the hall. She was in such a hurry she didn’t look ahead . . .

And ran straight into the arms of the Grand Duke himself.

“You’re a clever one, escaping the royal prison—I’ll give you credit for that,” said Ferdinand. “But you’ve made a great mistake returning to the palace. Your time is up, my child.”

He clapped, and the guards rounded on Cinderella.

She twisted away from them, holding up the papers she had taken from the duke’s office. “These! These are proof that the duke is a traitor!”

The guards hesitated, glancing at the duke with uncertainty.

“You would listen to her lies?” Ferdinand lashed out. “Useless, all of you.” He seized her arm, snatching at the papers she’d found, but Bruno snarled, pouncing on the duke and gnashing ferociously at his legs.

The duke kicked Bruno aside, pushing him toward the guards. He tugged at the collar of his shirt, looking flustered. “Get those papers!” he barked at the guards. “And arrest her!”

Reluctantly, the guards advanced, but Cinderella dug her heels into the carpet, her eyes steely and cool and daring them to come for her. She held up the papers she’d found, reading as loudly as she could, “ ‘I have a need for a concoction that will cause grievous pain—enough to make one consider—’ ”

“Stop her!” Ferdinand shouted.

The guards tried to seize her arms, and Cinderella twisted away, bolting for the royal audience chamber. She’d gotten as far as across the portrait gallery when, suddenly, Duchess Genevieve appeared on the other side of the hall.

“What is the meaning of this?”

Immediately, the guards halted, and the Grand Duke recoiled at the sight of the king’s sister. “Stay out of this, Genevieve,” he warned her. “The girl is under arrest.”

“For what crime?” entered a new voice.

Charles! Cinderella’s heart swelled when she saw him emerge beside his aunt.

“For what crime, you ask?” Ferdinand blustered. “She’s a sorceress, Your Highness, a danger to the kingdom—”

“Enough,” commanded Charles. “The only danger to the kingdom is you.”

“Come to your senses, Your Highness. She’s cast a spell on you. Y-y-you aren’t yourself.”

The prince wasn’t listening anymore. He turned to Cinderella, relief flooding his eyes as he took her hands in his own. “I knew that letter wasn’t you. But when I saw the