I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 37

Now that was a surprise, "He hasn't returned home yet?"

"No," he shrugged, "he said he wanted to be sure that you were well before returning home. He said something about powerful allies." I smiled as Luca continued, "Speaking of allies, the witches of Spiora have sent a gift to wish you a speedy recovery." He gestured to a box sitting across the room, before his expression darkened, "No word from Geistreich, of yet."

I grimaced as well. The king had likely not taken the deaths of two of his sons lightly. The third, his middle child could very well have been involved in the scheme as well. Luca and I had discussed that possibility the night before, when our conversation had taken a heavy turn. The vampire king might very well have approved of it, for that matter. The princes had, after all, admitted to having a role in the death of Luca's parents.

Now we wondered if the treaty Gianluca had worked so hard on since before we had met might already be set to break. Might have been doomed for it from the start

I forced what I hoped was a carefree shrug to break the tension, "I won't hold my breath for a gift from them."

He smiled and leaned forward until his lips were pressed to mine, and I forgot all about dark cells and evil princes.

~*~

Eden assisted me in bathing and dressing around my still-healing wound. I had wanted to wear a long sleeved dress to hide the ugly bandages, but she had refused to allow it. "It is far too warm today for long sleeves, luna. Besides, short sleeves would make it much easier to change the dressings on your wound."

I had grumbled, but allowed her to ease me into a violet day dress with swirling silver embroidery along the hem, then sat patiently while she twisted and pinned my hair back in an elegant knot. Luca found me again when it came time to go downstairs, and I leaned heavily on the arm in my hold, still so very weak.

My family was already in the grand entry when we arrived there. And they rushed to my side, though their steps slowed when Luca pulled me into his side as if on instinct to protect me from their advance.

Evelina appeared from nowhere and swept me into a tight hug before I could react. "Thank The Goddess that you're alright," she breathed. Frozen in shock, it took a moment to return the hug. Luca had told me that his sister had been inquiring about my health constantly, but that didn't mean I had believed him. I had always thought that I was just someone she had begrudgingly come to accept would be a part of her brothers life, never thought for a moment that the beautiful princess might have actually come to care for me. 

She withdrew enough to give me a once over, then with one last gentle squeeze of my shoulders, she released me. Her brother was at my side in an instant.

I squeezed his arm once, to let him know that I would be alright, then stepped away, wobbling a little on weak legs. My mother pulled me into a hug, and my siblings joined in, none patient enough to wait their own turn. Ash joined last, a strange look on his face. When the group pulled apart, he held me a moment longer to murmur in my ear, "You need to stop scaring me like this, Rosie."

I extracted myself from his grasp, shooting him an apologetic smile, "I can't let you have all of the fun."

Lily pulled me away then, reaching up to adjust a pin in my hair that had come loose in all of our hugging. As she was hard at work, Prince Kristof appeared from the hallway, and crossed the room to stand before us.

He smiled at me before he looked to my sister, wearing a sapphire dress that had been custom made for her on her last visit, with hair curled in loose ringlets down her back. It seemed to take a great effort to tear his silver gaze from her as he addressed me, "It's so good to see you recovering so well, Rose, when I heard what happened to you, I was quite concerned. On behalf of the kingdom of Morand, I would like to formally condemn the actions of Prince Eric and Frey and wish you our best."