Linda broke them apart and harried the footmen over to the cellar stairs. “Wait in the kitchen,” she ordered. “Take the frogs with you – run the sink for them.”
Alone with Ella, she studied her critically before aiming her wand at the old trough Ana had installed, thinking it hilarious Ella should eat from a pig feeder. A flash of light and the trough turned into a bath filled with steaming, frothy water.
“Don’t just stand there dear, get in it.”
Another flash and Ella was naked, her ragged dress in a pile by her feet.
While Ella bathed, wishing she had the time to luxuriate in it, Linda waved her wand at a tattered blanket and turned it into a soft, white towel.
“Come on dear,” she chided, “We haven’t got all night.”
The towel was super-absorbent, and in no time at all Ella stood clean, dry and naked before her.
“Underwear?”
Ella shook her head. “My last pair of knickers gave up the ghost months ago.”
Linda cackled. “Never mind. It makes for much easier access.” She pointed her wand at the stinking, ragged dress festering on the floor. This resulted in the largest flash to date, forcing Ella to close her eyes. When she dared open them, she gasped.
“Oh wow,” she said, gazing in awe at her reflection in the full-length mirror Linda had created from a candle. Her hair shone with health and was piled high, golden ringlets framing her subtly made-up face. It was like gazing at a familiar stranger.
Her ragged dress had been transformed into gold silk. The tight bodice had an integral brassiere that pushed her small breasts up, giving the illusion of cleavage while the skirt hooped out and down to her ankles like a shimmering meringue.
“Are these glass shoes?” she asked, tentatively admiring her feet.
Linda beamed.
“They’re very pretty but won’t they be a nightmare to dance in?”
“Yes they are glass and no they won’t be a nightmare. They’re molded to your feet. You’ll find they make an excellent weapon if Christell kicks off.” Rolling her eyes at Ella’s quizzical expression, she said, “Take one off and look at the heel.”
Ella obeyed.
“Press the largest diamond – carefully now, we don’t want any blood. Not yet anyway.”
Her curiosity increasing, Ella did as she was told. The heel came off in her hand. On closer examination, she saw it was a perfectly formed, perfectly lethal, dagger.
“If you keep your finger on the diamond, it extends in length,” Linda said.
“This might come in handy when the undead show up,” Ella commented drily.
Linda shook her head. “Sorry dear, but this lot are only good for five hours – once midnight strikes, the shoes will turn back into slippers.”
Ella’s face dropped. “And my dress will turn back into rags?”
“Never fear, Linda’s here.” Her fairy godmother smiled wickedly, before waving her wand again. In a flash a suitcase appeared. “Take that with you and keep it in the carriage while you’re at the Ball.”
“What’s in it?”
“The clothes from Christell’s wardrobe.”
“Brilliant.”
“And a bag of gold coins from Christell’s bureau. That should set you up nicely. Now it’s time to get you to the Ball…”
“There is one more thing,” Ella interrupted with a cheeky grin. “Any chance you could zap the spots on my chin?”
***
Anticipation thrummed through Ella’s veins as the carriage approached the towering red-bricked palace. The stars out twinkling in the clear night sky appeared brighter than usual, illuminating the four enormous towers. She didn’t know what she was more excited about – seeing the looks on Ana and Christell’s faces when they caught sight of her, or seeing James. How wonderful that he would be able to see her looking her best rather than like someone who’d been dragged through a gooseberry bush backwards.
Before they could cross the bridge over the moat, which was surrounded by alert soldiers, they were stopped and asked for identification. Luckily Linda had anticipated such a move and had magically produced an exact replica of Ella’s invitation. The original had no doubt long been burned to a cinder.
Approved, the footmen led the horses over the bridge and into the courtyard. Itchy, who still had a couple of stray whiskers on his now human face, helped her down from the carriage, which looked remarkably like a giant pink pumpkin. After hugging him, Scratchy and the froggy-looking horses (she could only hope no-one stared too hard and noticed their extra-long tongues flicking out to catch flies), she was escorted through a high archway and into the palace.
“I hope I’m not too late,” she said, doing her best to quell the butterflies that were rioting in her stomach.
“They are still making the introductions,” her escort, a somber looking, highly decorated soldier, said, before briefing her on what to expect when she entered the ballroom and what protocol dictated she do.
She expelled a breath in relief.
It took all her restraint to maintain decorum and not skip along the seemingly never-ending corridor.
Finally it hit her.
She was free!
She was free from Christell, Ana and, to a lesser extent, Izzy’s malignant control.
And in a few moments she would be with James, the man who had captured her heart.
They reached the end of the corridor and stepped through an arched double doorway and into the ballroom. Ella’s escort handed her invitation to another decorated soldier while she stared in wonder at the beauty of it all.
The queue of eligible maidens awaiting introduction to the Prince still snaked back a good distance. As she made her way slowly up the aisle for her own official introduction, she could not resist craning her neck, eager to find James and capture his attention. She thought she spotted Christell gossiping with another maiden’s mother, but the ballroom was so crowded with beautiful young women and eagerly awaiting soldiers that it was hard to get a good fix on any particular face.
“Lady Ella Tremalow,” a deep voice bellowed.
With a start, she realized she was at the front of the queue. The King, Queen and Prince sat on a row of ornate thrones before her, bedecked in all their regalia. As was expected, she took five steps forward before lowering herself into a curtsey, an act as ridiculous in practice as she had expected it would be in theory.
It was only as she righted herself that she caught the eye of the Prince and almost fell over in shock. “James?”
Chapter Four
James was so shocked to see her his crown almost fell off. “Ella? What are you doing here?”
“I was invited, remember? Why are you sitting on that…?” Comprehension flittered across her beautiful face. And she did look beautiful. More than beautiful. She looked so ravishing it barely registered that she had been set free.
He was aware of his parents watching them closely though, and got to his feet to face them. He cleared his throat of the frog that had unexpectedly lodged in it. “Please excuse me for a few minutes, I need to discuss some matters with Ella in private.”
“Go ahead,” the King decreed.
Unfortunately Ella was not having any of it. “Why do you want to talk in private?” she demanded, making no effort to lower her voice. “Scared your parents and subjects will know you’ve spent the past fortnight masquerading as a commoner?”
James took hold of her wrist. He might deserve her anger but he was unwilling to have this discussion in front of his subjects. “Come with me and I’ll explain everything,” he murmured in what he assumed to be a placating voice.
For some reason, she seemed in no mood to be placated. She yanked her wrist out of his hold. “Do not touch me, you creep. What do you want to explain? How you strung me along for a fortnight while all along you were allowing your mother to plan a Ball for you to choose a bride?”
“It wasn’t like that.” He bristled at her accusatory tone. “I wante
d to tell you.”
“Then why didn’t you? Why did you lie to me?”
“I never actually lied,” he said, making another attempt to soothe her. “If you recall, I never actually said I wasn’t the Prince – you simply assumed I was a commoner.”
Thwack.
In the split of an eye, Ella’s right fist had connected with his left cheekbone.
The silence that echoed around the ballroom was at odds with the blood pounding in James’s head.
“Your arrogance knows no bounds,” she said with surprising dignity for a woman whose chest was heaving. “You’re a liar and a two-timing cheat and I want nothing more to do with you.”
Before he could respond to that dastardly twisting of the truth, Christell materialized as if from nowhere and took hold of Ella’s arm.
“It is time to take you home, young lady – you have caused quite enough of a scene for one day.” Turning to the King and Queen she curtseyed, somehow managing to retain her grip on Ella. “I apologize for my stepdaughter. As you can see, she is mentally unstable, which is why we so rarely let her out.”
His cheek smarting from Ella’s surprisingly powerful right-hook, it took a couple of moments for the stars ringing in James’s head to clear sufficiently and for him to realize what was occurring before him.
Ella’s face had gone bright red. From the set of her mouth and chin it was clear Christell had put a spell on her that bound her lips together.
“If anyone is unstable it is you,” he said, ice lacing his voice. “Kindly release my fiancée and break the enchantment that is preventing her from speaking.”
Approximately five hundred pairs of eyes widened.
“Fiancée?” Christell sneered, although he detected a certain amount of panic darting in those cold eyes. “Ella is not competent to marry. She is a compulsive liar and a dirty little…”
“Enough!” he commanded. “I will not have anyone speak in such a manner about the woman I love. I will tell you one last time – release my fiancée and break the enchantment or I will have no hesitation in ordering my soldiers to escort you to the dungeons.”
Even as she relinquished her hold, Christell continued to throw ice bonbons at him.
“And now the spell.”
She muttered something under her breath, her words followed by a quick inhalation from Ella, whom he placed a protective arm around.
James caught the attention of the head of his protection detail and made a quick beckoning motion with his eyes. Now that Ella had broken free of the enchantment that had kept her trapped within her home, he was free to do what he had longed to do since Ella had told him about her father.
“Christell Tremalow, I am arresting you for the murder of your husband, Baron Gordon Tremalow. Guards, take the prisoner to the dungeons.”
Ice ran through his veins when he saw the venom directed at Ella from her wicked stepmother. He fisted his hands into balls to stop himself from striking her. No matter how evil she was, she was still a member of the female sex and he would never use his hands against her or any other woman. But never again he vowed, would Ella be subjected to her poison.
The silence in the ballroom was replaced with the sound of excited murmuring voices as Christell was led away.
“Are you ready to talk now?” he asked, tipping Ella’s chin up and gazing into her astonishing eyes. The hate and fury that had seeped out of them mere minutes before had been replaced with something close to adoration, something that filled his heart with delight and made his chest swell with pride.
But then the adoration vanished and she scowled at him. “All right, we can talk – and you can tell me exactly why you referred to me as your fiancée when you haven’t even had the decency to ask me if I want to marry your arrogant self.”
“I did ask you. You said you couldn’t marry me because of Christell’s entrapment. That answer is no longer valid so you are free to marry me.”
“I meant you hadn’t asked me to marry you knowing you are a Prince.” Her nose wrinkled in distaste.
Smothering a laugh, he kept his arm wrapped firmly around her waist in case she should be tempted to bolt, and turned to his parents. “We will return shortly.”
His mother beamed, her face more animated than it had been in so long. “Take as much time as you need, darling. And when you return, you can introduce us properly to our future daughter-in-law, who, I can see, is going to be more than a match for you.”
His father simply rose to his feet and threw his arms in the air, capturing the attention of all the guests. “Ladies and Gentlemen, it appears our son has chosen his bride. We shall toast the occasion shortly but in the meantime let the dancing commence.”
***
Dazed after what had just occurred with Christell and still reeling with shock at discovering her beau’s true identity, Ella allowed James to whisk her away, through dozens of narrow corridors and up fleets of stairs until they arrived in the most lavishly appointed bedroom she had ever seen.
“Wow – is this your bedroom?”
“No,” he said with that infuriatingly smug grin on his face. “This is our room – or it will be when we are married.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “We’re not getting married, Prince Boy.”
“Yes we are,” he refuted, closing the gap she had created between them. “You and I are going to get married and live happily ever after.”
Before she could slap him, James dropped to one knee. All arrogance gone, he gazed up at her with real intensity. “Ella,” he began, taking her hand, “I know I never told you the truth…”
“You lied to me.”
He sighed. “Yes, indirectly I suppose I did lie but it was only because I was scared it would spoil things between us if I told you the truth. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you in the forest and I wanted to give you the chance to fall in love me, James, and not Prince Charming.”
“What? You think I’m that shallow?” she snapped, outraged he could think such a thing.
“Of course I don’t, not now, but don’t forget I didn’t know you, not then. For all I knew you could be as shallow and egocentric as most of the other women in this land. At least the ones I’ve, err, had dealings with. But you’re none of those things. You’re beautiful inside and out.” He flashed his white teeth at her. “Believe me, I can’t wait to feel how beautiful you are inside too.”
“Pervert.”
“So what do you say? Will you marry me?”
She longed to accept his proposal but she was damned if she was going to say yes. Not yet. Not until she’d let him stew for a bit. His ego could do with a bit of uncertainty. “I’ll think about it.”
James dropped her hand and reached down to cup her ankle. “Do I need to convince you?”
“And how are you going to do that?”
“I have means,” he purred, stroking the calf of her leg and pressing his head to her belly. “If we marry, we can make love as often as you want.”
A thick rush of heat swirled through her veins and spread out to her loins. She sucked in a breath. “You’re not playing fair,” she said, holding onto his head for support as her legs had weakened. Unable to resist she cradled his skull, raking her fingers through the thick, silky hair.
Slowly his hand traced up her leg, caressing her thigh. “You can stay here at the palace with me until we marry,” he murmured, planting kisses over the silk material covering her belly and nuzzling upwards until he reached the soft flesh of her cleavage.
“What about the undead?” she gasped, blinking to keep her vision. She gasped again as his wandering hand reached the top of her thigh.
He threaded his fingers through the pubic hair between her legs. “Very naughty,” he said with murmured approval. “And don’t worry about the undead. There has been a change of plan.” Slowly he inserted a finger into the velvety warmth. “Merlin will be here in the morning and will place an enchantment around the palace that will keep them out. Yo
u and all the other women and children will stay here until they have been destroyed.”
Ella was only half listening, too busy concentrating on keeping herself upright to respond verbally. When he found the nub of her pleasure, she gave in to the assault on her senses, whimpering as he rubbed it gently.
“Kiss me,” she said breathily, suddenly consumed with need for him. For all his subterfuge, she still hungered for him. “Please James, kiss me.”
Keeping his hand locked on her groin, James used his free hand to rip the top of her bodice open, freeing her breasts.
He eyed them appreciatively. “They’re perfect,” he said, before dipping his head and capturing a puckered nipple in his mouth.
Before she could collapse in a heap of pleasure, he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the huge bed, laying her down gently and finally capturing her mouth in a kiss.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Ella’s lips parted and admitted his tongue into her mouth, the hot taste of his breath sending further waves of excitement swirling through her being. This was what had consumed her waking thoughts and her deepest dreams for the past fortnight. This. This burning heat that had not existed until James had strolled into her life.
“Please, James,” she groaned as he dragged kisses around the lobe of her ear and down her neck. “Please make love to me. I’ve wanted this for so long.”
Bringing his face back to hers he kissed her again, dragging the skirt of her dress up around her waist. “Say you’ll marry me,” he demanded with an intensity she had never seen from him before, a savagery that would be channeled in a different fashion in the battle to save his people from the coming monsters.
At that moment she would have volunteered to fight the undead single handed if only he would do something about the burning ache that was throbbing in her core. For all her earlier anger, nothing had changed. She still loved him. She still desired him.
Once Upon a Twist Page 3
