Page 42 of Cinder's Trial
By late afternoon, the prince had held some meetings with government officials as part of the treaty talks that involved a trade deal that would see Corsica increasing its exports of wine and their specialty honey, plus waiving the need for visas for tourists. In return, the USA would be lowering the tariffs on the goods as well as setting up an embassy.
It should be noted I wasn’t part of those talks. I worked in a conference room that held a minimum of two Knights at all times. Levi’s orders. He kept popping in and out as I worked out the details of our upcoming test trial with the Cinderellas. Hannah had been observing the crowd and pulling some of the—and I quote—“Non-crazy-eyed hopefuls.”
Those selected were brought to the hotel bar and provided Hannah with their identification as well as answered some basic questions.
Why are you here? To marry the prince.
Do you have any weapons on you? Just my killer smile/body/personality.
Mind giving a sample of your blood? Sure.
Any answers that strayed from the above got sent back out to join those crowding the barricades.
To those who might wonder at the blood request, we wanted a baseline sample should any of them happen to shift into another dragon or something worse. The scientists would want to compare the before and after to see if they spotted any identifying markers.
All in all, a busy day and it wasn’t yet done. We had dinner before our experiment with the Ash-hopefuls. A dinner that left an already grim Levi looking practically carved in stone by the end of it. He might have helped with the planning, but he still didn’t like it.
The conference room we’d prepared had nothing that could be used as a weapon. However, it did have a window, unlike some of the inner chambers in the hotel. Levi had wanted a contained room, but Killian had argued, “If we get another dragon, I’d rather see it fly free than end up dead from our experiment.”
The prince won, and so we sat on one side of the room, at the head of the long table, flanked by Levi and Hannah, while potentials were brought in one by one.
The first to entered was Cindy-mae, a lovely umber-skinned woman with the most gorgeous eyes and shapely figure showcased by her pale yellow mermaid gown.
She entered with her head held high until she saw me. Then, like the old woman, her lip curled. “Begone, foul stepsister. Thou doth not belong here.” Cindy-mae had truly embraced the old fairytale, language and all.
Rather than reply, I let Killian take the lead.
“Hi.” He didn’t believe in formal address unless totally necessary. He’d even changed from his princely attire he’d worn all afternoon for the government officials to his casual clothes for these meetings. “Nice to meet you.”
The deep curtsy that Cindy-mae dropped into left me in awe. I probably would have collapsed if I tried one like it.
“Your Majesty,” she murmured. “I am honored you chose to meet me before the ball.”
“About that… Why are you here, Cindy-mae?” he asked bluntly.
“Why to marry you, of course,” Cindy-mae declared without hesitation.
“Why me? We’ve never met before now.”
“Because we’re destined to be together forever. For I am the one you have been seeking, and we shall live happily ever after,” Cindy-mae sang, swaying in place.
And this was what Hannah called not so crazy?
“Alas, I’m afraid that’s not possible. You see, I’ve already chosen my bride-to-be.” Killian turned to me with a smile. “I’ve found my true love, and we shall be wed at the ball.”
“You would choose my wicked stepsister over me?” Cindy-mae huffed. “But she doesn’t even fit in the shoe.” The woman bent down to pluck an impressively high stiletto and waved it. The glass caught the light.
“Why would she fit in your shoe when she has her own?” Killian plopped a golden slipper on the table, one bought from a nearby store in my size. “Darling, if you would?”
“Of course, sweetie.” We’d decided earlier to play the part of lovey-dovey couple. I placed my bare foot on the table, and he slid the shoe on.
“A perfect fit,” Killian declared.
Cindy-mae gaped. “But… I don’t understand. The ball hasn’t happened yet. How could you have her shoe?”
My turn. “We met at a discotheque last night. After a night of dancing, I lost it getting into a cab, and the prince was kind of enough to track me down to return it.” I smiled vapidly in his direction.
“You’re really going to marry her?” Cindy-mae’s lip curled.