Stealing Cinderella(26)
“Perfect!” Narcissa exclaims.
“In the meantime, I’ve organized for them to tour the palace grounds and see a few highlights around the city,” my mother says. “Then I thought if the weather improves over the next few weeks, we could take them out onto the yacht.”
“That sounds amazing.” Lavinia plays her role perfectly, vying for an Academy Award. “I can’t think of anything I’d love more.”
The steward appears with our tea and an assortment of finger sandwiches, scones, and pastries about the same time Magnolia enters the room. Unlike her sister, she isn’t quite as skilled at hiding her true colors as she forks over the silver heel.
“See?” Lavinia displays it with an unwavering confidence that she’s fooling everyone. “Just like the other one.”
“Is it?” I challenge.
She holds my gaze as her mother lets out a nervous laugh. “Well, they did have to add some additional crystals, since the others had fallen off.”
“It’s a lovely shoe.” My mother nods. “I’ve never seen one quite like that.”
“I don’t suppose I have either.”
My words leave an unsettling silence in the room, which my mother quickly covers by asking the steward to pour the tea. After selecting our preferences and filling our plates, I sit through another hour of conversation, answering questions and nodding along as Lavinia and her family attempt to charm the queen.
“I have to leave,” I interrupt the women as my watch signals the new hour. “Calder and I have a sporting match we promised to attend this evening.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize.” My mother frowns. “Both of you?”
“Yes,” Calder covers smoothly. “Thor has been invited to do some sport shooting over at the Eriksen estate, and I said I would join him as well.”
“I see.” She sets down her teacup. “Well, Thor, please do let me know about your schedule this week. I like to plan ahead, as you know.”
Her words cast a gloomy shadow over the room. My mother doesn’t like to plan ahead. She’s always been known for her lively spirit of adventure. But the truth is, she doesn’t want anyone to know how advanced her cancer is, and the only way she can control that is to organize everything around her.
“I’ll let you know.” I kiss her on the cheek, and Lavinia rises, expecting a similar farewell. I dismiss her with a nod.
“Lavinia, Narcissa, Magnolia. Until next time.”
13
Ella
I wiggle my fingers against the restraints, attempting to bring some blood flow back to my limbs. It feels like hours have passed, but the clock on the mantel is too far away to tell for certain. Several times, I’ve considered screaming for help, but the fact that nobody came to my rescue during my great escape this morning makes me believe I’m in a part of the house that isn’t easily heard.
The quarters I’m in, as Thorsen called them, consists of a bedroom, a bathroom, and an office. Each room is decorated in shades of white and gold, and it’s surprisingly light and airy. Every piece of furniture seems more expensive than the last, and I can’t imagine what the rest of the estate must look like. But right now, I’m more concerned about all the instruments of torture around me. Whips and paddles and ropes of varying lengths. Half of the room is outfitted like a tool shed with strange apparatuses carefully hung from hooks. Beneath those, a white apothecary cabinet spans the length of the entire wall. It would have been convenient if I had noticed those things this morning before I heard the door unlock. But in my rush, I grabbed the first thing I could, which turned out to be a bedside lamp. When I close my eyes, I can still recall the sickening thud it made when it came in contact with Thorsen’s skull.
I’ve never hurt anybody in my life, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so horrified as I was when I saw the blood dripping from his temple. But I was little more than a wild animal at that point, fighting for my life. My freedom. Whatever waited outside these grand walls for me.
Then he came in here and flipped everything on its head with his offer. It was so much money. So easily disposable to this powerful man, like it would mean nothing for him to write those checks every day. But it comes at a cost to me. To my soul. And I still can’t believe I said yes.
For the entirety of his absence, I have debated whether I’ve lost my mind, swinging wildly from one extreme to the next. I should tell him I changed my mind. But every time I consider that I imagine the sanctuary… gone. Olivia bankrupt. Animals without homes.
Is it really so awful to give myself to this man for two months? The same man I dreamed about in this way? I’ve already imagined him inside me. I’ve considered what he’d taste like, how his hands would feel on my body when he touched me.
I don’t have to like him to enjoy his touch, right? And it’s easy to reason that he couldn’t do anything worse than what I’ve already experienced at the hands of Narcissa and her daughters. He could hit me, bruise me, torment me, and it wouldn’t be anything outside the realm of what I’ve already lived. But he can never truly hurt me. Not where it counts. Not if I steel myself to withstand whatever challenge he throws at me. Except, the truth is, I don’t know what to expect from this wicked prince. Because I have never been touched by a man; the kiss he gave me this morning was my first. It was dark, and it was violent, and still, shame lingers within me as I squeeze my thighs together and feel the sticky residue of my arousal there.