The Dark Forest: A Collection Of Erotic Fairytales(61)

Ella pondered her stepsister’s words. “I suppose you’re right.” There was some truth in Anastasia’s statement she would need to reflect on later, but for now, there was a more pressing matter to deal with. “So you’re really being serious? You’re going to help me?”

“I am. I’m going to get the ticket out of Mom’s room somehow—she doesn’t watch me as closely as she does you—and then I’m going to lend you some of my clothes and you can ride with me.”

A wave of excitement began to rise in Ella’s chest, but then another thought quashed it as quickly as it had appeared. “Don’t you think your mother will notice I’m gone?”

“Oh.” Anastasia’s face sank. “I really hadn’t thought of that.”

It took Ella about two minutes to make up her mind. “You know what? Let’s go anyway. We can sneak out and will be gone before she notices.”

“But she will notice that we’re gone,” Anastasia protested.

“Yes, but so what? What’s she going to do? Punish me?” Ella was unable to contain her bitter smile. “Quite honestly? If I get to go tomorrow, I don’t care what she does to me afterwards. She could quite literally kill me, and I still think it would be worth it.”

“Really?” Anastasia pushed her dark hair out of her eyes. “But what about me? Do you think she’ll punish me, too?”

It’s a risk I’d be willing to take, Ella thought, but instead she said, “What’s the guy’s name?”

All at once, the light was back in her stepsister’s face. “Joshua. Oh, Ella, he’s just… he’s so…” she trailed off.

“And his friend? My date?” Ella still couldn’t believe what she was saying. She’d never been on a date before.

“Oh, um, Gregory, I think.” Anastasia wrinkled her nose. “He’s blond. Tall. But don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything with him.”

“I should hope not!” Ella suddenly felt giddy, the way she had when she’d been permitted a small glass of champagne last Christmas. Griselda had been in an unusually generous mood. “Besides, I prefer dark-haired men.” She thought wistfully of Zainon. Will I really see him tomorrow? Be in the same room as him? Breathe the same air?

“Oh, so do I. Josh has lovely hair. Brown curls, and this little dimple on his chin—”

“He sounds very nice,” Ella interrupted, “but we really don’t have much time. So we need to start planning. Do you have any idea how you’re going to get that ticket? Because if you don’t, I’ve just thought of something that might work…”





Chapter Two





Ella’s heart was beating so hard she could barely breathe. Although, she thought on reflection, that might also have had something to do with the corset she’d been forced to wear. Anastasia had insisted that it looked ‘absolutely amazing’ and made Ella’s already slender waist almost impossibly small. On her stepsister’s advice, she had added a short black skirt—’to show off those long legs’—and even let Anastasia turn her long, blonde hair into a cascade of ringlets. She still treasured a few items she had been given to remember her mother by, which included a pair of high-heels which fit her small, narrow feet perfectly. She had waited until she was outside the house before putting them on, however, as they didn’t want to risk Griselda overhearing their escape.

“This is Joshua,” Anastasia was saying, putting a possessive hand on the lanky youth beside her. “And this, Ella, is Gregory.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ella said, sticking out her hand awkwardly.

“You too,” he said, equally awkwardly.

He wasn’t bad looking for a blond guy, but compared to Zainon, whose saturnine, gorgeous face Ella had been staring at for the better part of two years, Greg looked young and pale.

“We’d better go if we want to make it in time,” Joshua said, opening the car door. “Ella and Greg, you can ride in the back. Get to know each other better.”

Ella ignored Anastasia’s exaggerated titter and clambered in, resisting the urge to pinch herself. In less than an hour, she would see him. Actually see Zainon Matthews. She was so lost in thought that she barely even noticed Greg getting in beside her.

“You look nice,” he ventured.

“Thank you.” She stared pointedly out of the window, hoping he would take the hint. To her relief, he seemed to; no further attempt at small talk was made.

As Anastasia and Joshua continued a murmured conversation in the front, Ella leaned back and closed her eyes, allowing the music Josh had put on to wash over her as she tried to take deep, steadying breaths—as deep as her black lace corset would allow—and prepare herself for what she had no doubt would be the greatest night of her life.

It had been surprisingly easy to obtain Ella’s ticket from Griselda’s bony clutches. Anastasia had merely told her mother that she’d misplaced her own ticket—”I can’t find it, Mom! I don’t know where I had it last!”— and squeezed out a few tears, and after a half-hearted show of fairness during which Griselda had sought Ella out to confirm that she wouldn’t really finish her chores on time, the woman had indeed handed the ticket to her beloved daughter.