So This is Love (Disney Twisted Tales) - Elizabeth Lim Page 0,80
of horsehair. But she didn’t mind.
“Politics doesn’t have a smell.”
“Oh, it does. I could never even hear the music because someone was always trying to get Father’s ear.”
“Someone like the Grand Duke?”
“It was Ferdinand ninety percent of the time,” admitted the prince.
The mention of the Grand Duke made Cinderella’s mood somber. She leaned forward, trying to relish in the music of the overture.
“Something’s troubling you,” Charles observed. “Tell me.”
She bit her lip, glancing at the costumed ballerinas waiting offstage. A few of them were dressed as fairies. “Can I ask something of you?”
“You may ask anything of me.”
“My fairy godmother told me that magic was once a part of everyday life here in Aurelais. But now she and her kind have been banished. I’d . . . I’d like to help her return.”
“Then we shall,” Charles promised. “I’m supposed to begin attending the council meetings shortly. I will bring it up the first chance I’m able.”
Warmed by his answer, Cinderella started to reach for his hand, then hesitated. She didn’t like the thought of keeping anything from him. “My godmother also told me that the king banished her kind because of . . . what happened with your mother.”
The prince’s brow knit with confusion. “What happened?”
“You don’t know?” she said softly.
“She was sick—many in the kingdom were. She and Father sent me to the countryside that winter so I wouldn’t fall ill.”
She swallowed. “My fairy godmother said that your mother ordered all the royal physicians to leave the palace and treat those in need. That she joined them, and when she became ill . . . it was too late. The Grand Duke blamed her death on the kindness and selflessness that the fairies blessed her with when she was born. And then . . . he convinced your father to exile all fairies from Aurelais.”
Charles’s jaw tensed. “I never knew,” he said at last. “Every time I asked my father, he refused to speak of her. Her death hurt him so much.”
A couple of ladies sitting a row ahead turned to look at them.
Cinderella touched Charles’s hand and lowered her voice. “I understand if you’ve changed your mind about wanting to help.”
“No, I haven’t. My mother was the kindest person I ever met, and there isn’t a day that I don’t miss her.” Charles inhaled a ragged breath. “But from everything she ever told me about magic, I know that it doesn’t make your choices for you. She would never have wanted my father to banish the fairies. She would never have let him unfairly persecute hundreds based on . . . on lies.”
The prince turned to her. “Come with me to the next council meeting. I’ll do whatever I must to convince my father to change the law. You can ask your fairy godmother to testify—”
“No, it isn’t safe for her. Not with the Grand Duke here. He was helping his father take advantage of yours back then. Surely he wouldn’t want things to change now. But . . . I will advocate for her, if I can.”
“Why am I not surprised that Ferdinand would have something to do with this?” Charles gritted his teeth before giving her a small smile. “Don’t worry, Cinderella, we’ll have a word with him.”
Cinderella squeezed his hand. “Together.”
“Together.” Charles clasped her hand over his. The ballet was about to begin. “Now I want to tell you something. I promised to show you the world, but I can’t promise we’ll have many nights like this, with just the two of us.”
“No royal guards watching and listening to everything we say and do?” she joked, but Charles’s face was still sober.
“I thought about what you said—that Aurelais has never had a commoner for a princess.” Charles squeezed her hand. “You will be the first.”
Cinderella exhaled. This had also been weighing on her heavily. “I don’t know the first thing about being a princess. How to walk or talk or—”
“Protocol and etiquette are overrated,” Charles interrupted, trying to reassure her. “Who cares what fork should be used for asparagus or olives or oysters? Or how one addresses a baroness versus a countess? But if that’s what worries you—all the rules can be learned. What can’t be learned is the happiness your laugh brings to those around you or the way your eyes dance when you smile.
“It’s no small thing I ask of you,” he continued. “And I would understand if you changed your mind. Or if you need more time.”