Cinderella

Dinner Party

-Cinderella-

"You are being too rough with it!"

Hilda was the foreign chef that Lady Tremaine had hired for the night. She was standing over Ella, watching her as she whisked egg whites.

She made a special show of slowing down her whisking, Hilda just rolled her eyes and reached forward, grabbing the whisk.

"Oh, give it here, useless!"

Ella smiled tightly and moved to polish the silver. The moment the Prince's confirmation arrived, her life had become significantly more difficult.

Lady Tremaine wrote a long list of jobs that needed to be done before the prince blessed them all with his presence. It was overwhelming to add a week's worth of work to her normal workload and expect it all to be accomplished in three days.

Ella had worked through the nights, cleaning by candlelight. Her fingernails were softened from three days of hard scrubbing, and her shoes had accumulated so much extra wear that they were now only held together through tree sap and twine.

The morning he was arriving she finished her list, but that was when Hilda and Bertraine showed up.

Bertraine was going to be a stand-in butler for the night. His duties were greeting directing and serving. He was stand-offish and aloof, but Hilda talked to her enough for the both of them. Hilda specialized in meals fit for a king. She was a hard woman without a lot of sympathy who had no trouble setting Ella straight to work and keeping her on task.

Hilda whacked her all day and screamed barely understandable instructions at her until the sun began to fall and Lady Tremaine entered the kitchen in preparation for the dinner.

Ella's eyes widened when she saw Lady Tremaine wearing her mother's rubies. Her stepmother had given the impression that all the family heirlooms had been sold to pay off her father's debts.

"Is the food ready Hilda?"

"Yes, Lady Tremaine."

"Good, the prince is expected soon, so keep everything warm." Hilda nodded and turned back to the burners while Lady Tremaine zeroed in on Ella.

"Ella."

"Yes, Lady Tremaine?"

"Follow me to your room."

Ella almost shook with relief. Finally, the three days of torture were over. There was finally nothing more her Stepmother would do to her for the night. She was not even expected to wait on Anastasia or Drisela. She led Ella up the stairs to the tower of her room and ushered her inside.

She paused at the door and spoke to Ella in a low voice.

"You will not meet the prince, you will not make a single noise, and you will not so much as light a candle in your room. Do you understand me?"

It was a threatening speech, but it was wasted on Ella who was already fighting herself to stay conscious.

"Yes, Lady Tremaine."

Lady Tremaine pulled a key from around her neck and moved to shut the door.

"You will be locked in here, in case you get any funny ideas. Remember what happens when you disobey me." She said, and she was gone.

The lock sounded when she shut the door and Ella was left in the dark. She lay on her bed trying to imagine what a prince would look like.

-The Prince-

"This is it." He told Derrick as they drew nearer to Bellview

He had already met with the other two families down the road. Cinderella was not among any of their households. She had to be here.