Cinders: Necessary Evil (Magic Mirrors Saga Book 1)

by Sky Sommers

  What make-up? I hardly wear any.

  New clothes are good. I will need a new dazzling dress that would stand out.

  The hair comment worries me a bit. A lot, actually. They can try perfecting my long blond hair, but how, I don’t know. I’ve hued the tone to be the right kind of honey-coloured caramel for years… Maybe they mean a new and different hair-do that nobody has worn before? Ooh, wouldn’t that be exciting!

  Grace told me point blank I will NOT be modifying the dress. I was about to tell her that Nick was more taken with me being different from the ladies of the court than like them, but thought it futile. I seriously hope her miracle workers know fashions that are in one word - ethereal. Otherwise, I’m toast.

  I also need to think of my own plan. E or F or whatever it was. Give me time, just give me time. If Nick won’t have me, I can still run away and live on my own.

  Plan A is pretty evil, though. I didn’t expect this from my stepmother of all people. Of my Godmother, yes. Of Grace, no.

  Grace also insisted I should have elocution and acting lessons to complete my transformation.

  Why I can’t just go to the palace and be me and explain that I never drugged Nick, is beyond me. The Beast seemed to think Nick wouldn’t listen. Maybe he doesn’t listen to his parents? But he did listen to me at the ball…

  Maybe I can somehow turn my transformation to my advantage? If he doesn’t recognise me and doesn’t take an interest, I can see him one last time, change my name and go live as I please anywhere I like?

  Chapter 27. The Truth

  Grace

  The next morning, before I can call in the cavalry, the GODmother walks through our kitchen door in a puff of smothering perfume.

  I groan. It’s too early for this.

  ‘Missed me?’ she asks.

  ‘Hello to you, too, Mellie. No, not at all,’ I reply. ‘This is not a good time.’

  She huffs, ignoring me. ‘Where’s Elizabeth? I want to speak to her this instant! I have news.’

  So does she.

  Without asking for permission, Mellie trudges up the stairs.

  Five minutes later I hear a high-pitched squeal.

  I hear stomping and Mellie’s sickly sweet perfume fills my kitchen again.

  ‘What I want to know is when are you planning to drag Ella in front of the king?’

  A blunt axe.

  ‘Not drag, but she is going to attend a ball in one week.’

  ‘At a ball? Whatever for? If she’s up the duff and it’s a royal baby, your best bet is to go and see the king and take her with you. That’s what I would do.’

  ‘Did Ella tell you about what we plan to do?’

  ‘No. As soon as I heard her news, I came down to find out how do you plan to get her what she deserves?’ she says. ‘So, you have a plan?’

  ‘Nobody ‘deserves’ to be queen, in fact, some people might consider she deserves what she got. Can you imagine what her life would be like if she bullied the prince into marriage?’ I ask, hoping the light would dawn.

  ‘How do you propose to do it then?’ She asks and I tell her.

  ‘You think making her pretend to be someone she is not will have a higher rate of success in attracting the prince?’ she sneers.

  ‘What do you want for your…’ daughter, ‘GODdaughter, a coerced marriage based on the truth or a happy marriage based on the boy falling in love with her when she catches his attention?’ I incline my head and let it sink in.

  ‘Oh,’ Mellie chews it over, biting into one of the apples nobody offered her. ‘I assume you are helping her because you want to be rid of her.’ Mellie says in between bites.

  A statement, not a question. Lovely.

  ‘Why aren’t you helping her?’ I parry. ‘Ditching her to go off with your beau, putting stupid ideas into that girl’s head that she should pass the baby off as someone else’s… that’s responsible. Have you ever considered just,’ being her mother, ‘asking her what SHE wants?’

  ‘It’s not like you are being honest in your scheme either.’

  ‘Yes, but would you want to risk setting her up to be hated or tolerated? Why make her have such a tough life?’ I ask.

  She shrugs again, ‘I grew up to be tough, left home at fifteen...’

  Left in a huff over something, I’m sure.

  ‘...Found a job and lodgings myself...’

  Aka someone, a grown up stranger took pity on you and took you in.

  ‘...Thought I found the man of my dreams, but he turned out to be a dud...’

  If he was such a dud, how come you had Ella with him? To trap him. Except he still walked. And how does it help Ella that you have been trying to rectify your mistakes through her ever since?

  A silence settles.

  By Mellie’s gaping I realise I must have said all of that out loud.

  ‘You know?’ She asks, her tone a bit less cocky than before.

  I nod.

  ‘How?’

  I shrug and offer a page out of Ella’s book, ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Grizelda!’ she hisses. ‘How much do you know?’ Mellie narrows her eyes.

  ‘All of it,’ I say.

  All of it and then some.

  ‘Impossible!’ She says, throwing back her hair, chestnut today.

  I’ve had it with you up to the wazoo!

  ‘Where shall I start...’ I wipe my hands on the apron and sit up straight.

  ‘The orphanage you run is not an orphanage, but you mismanaging your own flesh and blood...’

  She gasps and sinks against my sooty stove.

  My, what theatrics you have...

  ‘...You tried to get rid of Hans and Greta by leaving them in the woods when they were five and when, despite all odds, they found their way to Grizelda’s, you told lies about your own mother, no less, a kind woman who took them in and cured and fed them...’

  Mellie crosses her arms and her eyes are throwing daggers.

  ‘...And last, but not least, you forced your eldest daughter to seduce a nobleman, hoping she’d get pregnant and trap him into marriage and she’s been trying to find her ‘prince’ ever since.’

  She shrugs and raises her chin in defiance, just like Ella does when she is put out, ‘Worked for me, why not for her?’

  ‘Except, it didn’t work for you, did it, Mellie? You tried to trap Ella’s father and he left. He came back and you had the twins and still he didn’t stick around. So, you couldn’t handle it and left your children for MONTHS on end, while you were gallivanting gods knows where. Repeatedly. Yes, you came back, but as their aunt. They are your own flesh and blood, but you take away their toys, don’t feed them, let them sleep on the floor and send them our way whenever you can, while you tell everyone they are your godchildren and that you’re running an orphanage,’ I say.

  A silence settles as Mellie gapes. ‘What I do and how I treat my kids is my business,’ she finally spits out. ‘You know nothing about my life! Nothing about my man! Nothing about why I am the way that I am!’ she hisses.

  ‘Enlighten me,’ I offer.

  ‘As if,’ Mellie says. ‘But I tell you this - I am going to get my happily ever after. No matter what and no matter how, Oz and I will be together again.’

  ‘Maybe taking better care of his kids better would be a good start then?’ I say.

  Mellie huffs, ‘I do love them. I want what is best for them.’

  You have a funny way of showing it, sugar.

  ‘And what seems to be best for them is you.’ Mellie stares me down.

  ‘If that’s the case, you should trust me to do the right thing by Ella,’ I say and she huffs.

  ‘As for Hans and Greta - we can do it the easy or the hard way,’ I stand up.

  ‘Whatever do you mean?’ Her cat-like eyes focus on m
e.

  ‘They still gravitate towards you. They always will. Even though you evicted them. I bet you let them stay with you because you didn’t want to sully your hands with chores. You sent them to live with us permanently. I think it’s safe to say Peter and I have risen to the challenge. You can give Peter full custody.’ I say.

  ‘What makes you believe I’ll let them go?’ Mellie laughs.

  ‘You disappear at the drop of a hat. You don’t really want them staying with you. They have room and board here. They have beds. They get decent food. They like being here. Mellie, I’m trying to help you, even if it doesn’t look that way.’

  Mellie colours to her roots, ‘And if I decline?’

  ‘I will let everyone know Grizelda is not the wicked cannibalistic witch that you claim she is, but your mother and their grandmother. And the community will do the rest. First there’ll be people from the palace to inspect your orphanage to see what else you might have lied about. Then there’ll be people with pitchforks at your door to demand fair treatment for your own kids...shall I go on?’

  ‘You’re being unfair... You don’t know the half of it…’ she pouts.

  ‘Honey, I’m female, that pouting thing don’t work on me. As for unfair...do you think it’s fair that a seventeen-year-old is told to whore around until she finds a rich enough guy to trap? Do you think it’s fair your own children sleep on the floor when they are at yours - I heard them talking about it and I don’t think Greta lies. Do you think it’s fair that in ten years the twins have never had fish as a meal? Do you think it’s fair that you made Hans and Greta hate their grandmother?’

  She pouts again.

  ‘Do you think it’s fair that they love you and one of them used to hate me?’ Well, I hope Ella hates me a little less now.

  Mellie shrugs and smiles another insincere smile, ‘A mother’s love...’

  A cat would be a better mother than you!

  Out loud I say, ‘GODmother, for all they know. Their MOTHER abandoned them.’

  ‘Disappeared. Perhaps to return at an opportune moment.’

  ‘And explain away your absence how? Being held prisoner by a wicked warlock?’

  Mellie turns on the megawatt smile.

  Damn, I really shouldn’t give her any pointers.

  ‘Mellie, these kids are not stupid. They might feel unconditional love for you as their aunt who took them in when life was tough, but they also feel conflicted about the bad things you do. Sooner or later they will decide the bad things outweigh the good where you are concerned. Don’t you see you will eventually alienate all of them? In your new guise as well.’

  ‘And you having full custody will change that how?’

  I sighed, ‘Us having custody means they will all have one steady home, not move back to yours every time you need them. Most conveniently for you, they can love you from afar. You can still come and shower them with gifts and attention when you like. You’ll still be dear to them. Even more so with the gifts and few and far between happy visits. And you can spin this any way you like. Oh poor me, my GODchildren were taken away by their father who never lets me see them? Or somesuch nonsense. I don’t care. I’m used to being the bad guy. Bottom line - your life will be easier and they will keep loving you. And we’ll deal with the hard stuff.’

  She chews on her lower lip. ‘Still, what’s in it for me?’

  ‘I’m not giving you money,’ I say.

  ‘Fine! But I can come dine for free once a month...’

  ‘A year.’

  ‘A quarter!’

  ‘Twice a year.’

  ‘Deal!’ She squeals.

  ‘Can I have it in writing?’

  ‘In writing?’

  ‘In writing.’ I scribble down our accord on the parchment I keep for shopping lists and read it out loud.

  ‘I promise not to beckon them. I will wait until they want to come and visit and when they do, I will make an effort to be home and be pleasant. I will also get them new beds.’

  I hand over the quill and she signs.

  ‘Thank you!’ I say.

  She laughs, ‘What are you thanking me for? You have no idea what you just did. You just made your life hell.’

  ‘You mean it’ll be hell once they get their abilities?’ I ask.

  Mellie almost misses the chair sitting down.

  ‘You…you know about that, too?’ she whispers and I nod.

  ‘I also know your charms don’t work on me,’ I add. ‘So, don’t waste your time.’

  Mellie sits up straight. ‘You know, I always thought you were a powerful witch, with the cooking and being close with the king and even my own kids liking you even though you’re a stepmother.’ She says like she has tasted bile. ‘Don’t you judge me! You don’t know anything about my life.’

  ‘Unlike you judging me?’ I ask.

  ‘You have no right,’ a single tear wades its way down her cheek as she morphs into a faded Indian-looking beauty. She is a dead ringer for Aishwarya Rai, if it weren’t for the silver-streaked raven hair and far far too much make-up. ‘When I was fifteen, I left home and ran into a nice gentleman twice my age who was travelling to Ailmsworth for some sun and fun. He was kind enough to pay for my coach fare. When we stopped at an inn overnight, he invited me to join him for some savouries and wine and when I woke up the next morning, gone was the gentleman, the coach and my virginity. Ella was born nine months later to the day. I thought I’d never see him again, but…he turned up at Ella’s fifth birthday, showered her and me with gifts and I thought he was back for good. The next morning, he was gone again and eight months later I had the twins.’

  ‘This doesn’t explain why you left them and are pretending you are their godmother.’

  Mellie lowered her eyes, wiping away her tears, ‘He came back. Ten years later. This time, I said I wanted to go with him and he was ok with it. We went away for a long weekend, leaving Ella to look after the twins. He took me places and showed me things that were out of this world and it seemed we did so many things in just one weekend. Except…I guess we really did go out of this world, because when we came back four days later, four months had passed here and my children didn’t recognize me anymore. They had forgotten me. The emotional bond between us had been severed. I don’t know how. Or why. Otherwise, they would have seen through my glamour .’

  An emotional bond…

  ‘Your glamour works on strangers. Your kids used to see you for who you were. But once the emotional bond is severed, your gift works on them, too?’ I ask.

  For a second, I spy sadness drooping the corners of her mouth and then Mellie rights herself again and shrugs. ‘Love. Not just any emotional bond. It has to be love. It was gone in just four months!’

  This doesn’t explain why I can see her metamorphosis. On occasion. Maybe it’s not just love. Maybe Mellie doesn’t know everything about her gift.

  ‘I bet it was my mummy dearest who did something to them so they wouldn’t love me anymore! The witch!’ She hisses.

  Honey, by the looks of it, you accomplished all of that all on your own.

  I nod, ‘Out of curiosity, when you came back, why did you say you were their Godmother? Did you try to get some of that love back? Is that why you took them in?’ I ask and she nods. ‘Until you realised Ella had developed the ability to read minds and she would be able to read yours and you…’ kicked her out, ‘sent her to live with Peter and I?’

  She nods again.

  ‘Why are you telling me all of this?’ I ask.

  ‘So you wouldn’t just take Grizelda’s word for it. I thought maybe if you knew my side of the story…’

  There is always a good reason for people acting the way they do.

  I nod, ‘Is the father of your children still in the picture?’

  Mellie sticks up her chin, ‘If I have anythi
ng to say about it, then yes.’

  ‘That’s why you disappear at short notices, leaving the twins with us…’

  I get another nod.

  ‘And you have no idea what abilities the twins may develop?’ I ask.

  ‘You would need to ask my mother about my father, seeing how I’ve never met him,’ Mellie bites off.

  Oh lordy, magical folks running amok in this Magic Kingdom, impregnating careless, imbibed damsels...

  ‘Don’t you worry about Hans and Greta. We’ll deal with their abilities when and if they surface.’

  * * *

  After Mellie is gone, I hear sniffling.

  Ella looks at me from the archway, her face blotchy from tears.

  ‘How long have you been there?’ I ask.

  ‘Long enough.’ She wipes her nose. ‘She sold us for food,’ Ella says looking up at me, as if waiting for me to contradict her.

  I don’t.

  ‘Tea?’ I offer. ‘We still have half an hour until your make-over appointment.’

  ‘I heard everything,’ she says.

  I pour the peppermint tea I had prepared and I hand her the cup. She looks like she’s still taking it all in.

  ‘Human godmothers, even if they call themselves fairy godmothers can be a bit…limited. If you’d like, I can talk to a real fairy for you?’

  Ella looks startled. ‘A fairy? Really? As in children’s fairytale books?’

  I nod. ‘Well, they are usually much more...helpful. And kind. And don’t make you do things against your will.’

  Now she nods. ‘Ok.’

  We settle into a good silence.

  ‘Good talk?’ I ask and for the first time ever Ella smiles at me, ‘That’s not exactly how I pictured finding my mother, but today...it’s been liberating, in a way, you know? Deep down, I always knew what she was like, I guess. More of a child than I am with all her childhood traumas...’

  I raise an eyebrow.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll milk her for everything she’s got,’ Ella says from the doorway, raising her chin.

  I sigh.

  Pre-programming. It sucks.

  It’ll take years to undo the damage.