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Ella’s back hurt from standing as straight as the stone walls of the palace, but she refused to slouch. Her eyes scanned the room, alert as always. Danger could come at any moment, and it was imperative she notice it before something harmed the prince. Jacqueline was always telling her to relax, that she didn’t need to be on her guard all the time, but Jacque was just a seamstress - what did she know about Ella’s job as a knight?
Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Ella’s head snapped to the entrance of the throne room. Her fingers tightened imperceptibly around the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. The other guards called her paranoid. She called it being prepared.
“Cinder!” A cheerful voice rang out through the hall as the doors swung open, and Ella simultaneously relaxed and tensed up. Not danger…but not safety either. As the prince bounded up the steps to her position on the dias, Ella sank into a deep bow.
“Your Highness,” she greeted smoothly. “I’m delighted to see you returned from your hunting trip safely.”
Kit scoffed, running his hands through his hair. “Would’ve been more fun if you were there. I still don’t see why you couldn’t come.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “Do you not realize how scandalous it would be for me to go on a hunting trip with fifteen males? My reputation would be ruined!”
“Pfft, you’re hardly a girl, Cinder.”
And that was the problem, she thought as her heart gave a familiar pang. He would never see her as anything other than one of his knights. He barely even saw her as female, much less princess material. Meanwhile, she’d been in love with him from the moment she’d lay eyes on his stupid grin and floppy hair and sparking blue eyes…
The doors swung open once more, interrupting whatever story Kit had been rambling on about. Ella kicked herself for not noticing the footsteps. She was supposed to be protecting the prince, not swooning over him like some lovesick maiden…what if it was an assassin? Her fears were unfounded, for a portly old man trundled in, throwing his arms wide.
“Kit, my boy! You’re home!”
Ella sank into a bow once more as Kit embraced his father. Her stoic mask, which had mostly disappeared during her conversation with Kit, slid back into place and she faded into the background unnoticed. A statue, as all guards were meant to be.
“How was your trip?” King George bellowed. He was the type of man who only knew one volume - and no one dared tell a king to be quiet. His next statement was accompanied by waggling eyebrows: “Did you meet any ladies?”
Kit threw his hands up. “Father, I was in a cabin with the other men the whole time. Where would I have met a girl?”
“You could’ve rescued a damsel in distress from a raging boar, sweeping her off her feet in a knightly fashion!” King George grabbed the Grand Duke and forced the lanky man into a dip. The Grand Duke was used to the king's antics and merely sighed.
Kit, however, was unamused. Ella knew he was sick of his father’s constant needling to find a wife.
“Father, I just don’t think there’s anyone out there for me-” Kit tried, but King George waved him off.
“Nonsense, nonsense, she’s out there somewhere! But how to find her, hmm, that’s another question entirely. After all, you can’t be expected to meet every girl in the kingdom…AHA!” At this, he punched the Grand Duke in the arm so hard he almost fell over. “I’ve got it!”
Kit took a wary step back. “Father…”
“We shall host a ball!” The king clapped his hands gleefully. Ella suspected if she was closer she would see a maniacal glint in his eyes. “And we will invite every eligible girl in the kingdom so you will finally meet the perfect woman!”
“But-” Kit started. He was ignored as his father skipped away, shouting about all the preparations that had to be done. Ella didn’t miss the way his shoulders slumped in defeat. The doors slammed shut behind the king, but Kit remained where he was, staring blankly at the wall.
Hesitantly, Ella stepped off the dias. She never, ever broke protocol, but he looked so lost…
“Kit?” she asked, lightly touching his shoulder to announce her presence. When he met her gaze, the look in his eyes nearly broke her heart.
“A ball with every girl in the kingdom,” he whispered. “Why can’t he see that I don’t want this?”
“Maybe you’ll truly find the girl of your dreams, Kit,” Ella suggested, but she knew they were empty words.
Kit just shook his head. “I should go tend to my horse.”
Ella could only watch him go, wishing her heart was as stone as the rest of her.
~o0o~
The moment she opened the door to her childhood home, the shrill screams of her ever-squabbling stepsisters burst any excitement Ella had at returning home. As she wiped the mud from her boots, Anastasia ran past with a pile of silks, followed by Drizella waving a parasol threateningly. Thankfully, neither girl seemed to notice her arrival.
Ella’s efforts to make it to her room without being confronted by her stepmother were unsuccessful. The second her foot touched the first stair, a cold voice rang out behind her.
“Any news from the palace?”
Lady Tremaine stood swathed in silks and lace, the scent of rich perfume wafting through the air around her. Ella was acutely aware of her stiff uniform and tangled hair, as she always was in the Lady’s presence.
The question that had been asked was their daily battle, Ella refused to give up any palace secrets, though she knew her stepfamily would be ecstatic to hear of the ball. They’d find out in due time, and Ella would not play spy on those she was sworn to protect.
“No,” Ella bit out.
Lady Tremaine let out a (dainty) huff. “What use is that job of yours, then? And when can I expect to receive your next pay?”
Ella would argue that the second question answered the first, but knew better than to argue. “Friday.”
“Very well, then. I expect dinner on the table by six.” With that, she stormed away, skirts billowing behind her.
The last thing Ella wanted to do after a long day of work was cook and clean, but her job left her little time to cook and clean to begin with. She quickly changed from her guard uniform to an old dress and apron, then hurried down from her attic bedroom to the kitchens. And as she diced the vegetables, kneaded the dough, hung the laundry, and scrubbed the fireplace, she let herself dream of a different life. One where she wore beautiful dresses and attracted the attention of the prince at the ball.
~o0o~
The following day was a rarity- Ella had a day off on the same day as her two best friends. It also happened to coincide with the market, and the three of them spent hours wandering the stalls and catching up.
“Ella, you absolutely have to attend the ball!” Gus exclaimed. As a chef in the palace kitchens, he’d been informed to start preparing the menu. Similarly, Jacque had already been commissioned for Kit’s suit - though why he needed a new one when he had what felt like a hundred already was beyond Ella.
“No, Gus,” she said with a glare at her friend. They passed a vendor selling cooking herbs,n and Gus immediately turned around to peruse her wares. “I’m not going unless I get scheduled to work.”
Jacque groaned, fanning her face from the heat. “Ella, you just need to request the night off! You’re the only female guard- surely they’d allow it.”
“It’s a ball to find the prince a wife - there’s literally no reason for me to go.”
Both of her friends fixed her with unimpressed stares.
“Other than the fact that you’re in love with him?” Gus asked.
“Go back to your herbs,” she snapped, but there was no real heat in it.
“You’re deflecting,” Jacque said pointedly. Ella suddenly became very interested in a nearby pumpkin.
“Half the girls in the kingdom are in love with him. It means nothing,” Ella protested.
Her friend laughed. “They don’t talk to the prince on a daily basis. Kit literally has a pet name for you.”
Gus returned with his freshly purchased herbs and the trio moved on to the next stall. “It’s not a pet name - all the knights call me Cinder.”
Jacque did not look impressed with her excuse. “Ella, this is your chance to get him to see you as a potential wife, not a friend!”
Ella shook her head. “No, it’s not! If Kit hasn’t fallen in love with me over the past few years together, one night isn’t going to change anything!”
She ignored her friends’ pitying glances and focused on the silks draped throughout the textile stall they had stopped at. A shimmer caught her eye, and Ella shoved aside swaths of silk to reveal a sparkling silvery-blue fabric. Her breath caught, and her fingers gently stroked the fine fabric.
“Oh, that’s gorgeous,” Jacque breathed behind her. “What I wouldn’t give to make a dress out of that. And it’s exactly your color, El.”
For a moment, Ella let herself imagine wearing a gown of the dazzling silk, shining beneath the chandeliers of the ballroom. Dancing with Kit, the prince looking down on her with loving eyes. A crash sounded behind her and broke her out of her daydream. Gus was standing over a knocked over display with a sheepish smile, and the two girls shook their heads at their clumsy friend before helping him. Ella refused to take a last look at the fabric as they left the stall. It was no use pretending. She’d rather enjoy the day with her friends instead of swooning over a boy who would never love her back.
~o0o~
The next month passed in a flurry of activity as the palace prepared for the prince’s ball. Predictably, Ella’s stepfamily had freaked out upon hearing the news, and Ella had been assigned extra chores for failing to inform them beforehand. Gus and Jacque were significantly busier with their work, and Kit was more and more despondent as the ball drew closer.
Ella had mostly succeeded in tamping down her daydreams of going to the ball, and she was almost mad when the schedule revealed she wasn’t chosen as a guard for the night of the event. That meant she had no excuse to give Jacqueline when the other girl inevitably brought up the subject again. Surprisingly, though, her friend hadn’t given her more than a small nod upon hearing the news. It probably meant Jacque was hatching a plan.
That plan was not revealed to Ella until the evening of the ball, however. Ella was helping her stepsisters prepare for the ball, trying to ignore the memories of Kit’s disappointed look when he heard she wouldn’t be at the ball. She was sure he just wanted a friend for moral support, and she refused to hope otherwise.
“Ella, there’s someone at the door!” Lady Tremaine called. Naturally, the woman did nothing to get it herself.
To Ella’s astonishment, Jacque was waiting outside with a large box.
“What are you doing here?” Ella gaped. “Shouldn’t you be at the palace preparing for the ball?”
“Nah, this was more important. Can we go to your room?”
Ella nodded and stepped aside to let Jacqueline in. “My stepfamily should be leaving soon, so hopefully they won’t bother us.”
Once in the attic, Jacque clapped her hands together. “So. I’ve been working on a little something.”
“Jacque…” Ella warned.
“You need to go to the ball.”
“I really don’t,” Ella muttered.
Jacque ignored her. “And obviously, none of your current dresses are going to make the cut. Hence…”
The other girl dramatically lifted the lid of the box. Ella gasped as she caught a glimpse of the fabric inside. It was the one from the market, the silvery-blue that had been straight out of her daydreams.
“You didn’t,” Ella whispered.
Jacqueline’s grin was nothing short of wicked. “Oh yes I did. Now you have no choice but to go to the ball and win Kit’s heart!”
Ella bit her lip and looked to the floor. “What if…what if it doesn’t work? What if he’ll never love me?”
Jacque grasped her hands. “Then he was never the one for you, and we’ll get through it together. But you’ll never know if you don’t try. And if you don’t shoot your shot now, then you’re going to lose your chance forever.”
Ella took a deep breath and straightened. Jacque was right: it was now or never. She’d been fighting her whole life, and she could fight for the man she loved. Even if it meant braving a ballroom instead of a battlefield.
“Ok, I’ll go.”
Jacqueline squealed. “Yes! Gus owes me ten gold!”
“You guys bet on me?!” Ella’s exclamation was met with a cackle.
After waiting until Ella’s stepfamily had left (there was no way they’d let Ella go to the ball and steal their thunder), Jacque laced Ella into the dress. The seamstress had outdone herself. The shape was perfectly suited to enhance her figure, the cheer capped sleeves hinting at the bare skin of her shoulder. The fabric flowed out around her, swishing around her as she walked. For the first time, Ella felt like a princess.
“Thank you,” she whispered to her friend, tears in her eyes.
Jacque gave a soft smile. “Go get your man, El.”
Ella stepped forward, and Jacque let out a groan.
“What?” Ella asked, frantically searching for what might be wrong.
“El, you cannot wear those shoes with that dress!”
Ella stared down as if she could see her feet through the gown. “What’s wrong with my shoes?”
“They’re your boots!”
Ella failed to see the problem. “And? It’s not like you can see them.”
“That’s not the point! You can’t wear your uniform boots with a ballgown, you just can’t! Don’t you have anything else?”
Ella thought her friend knew her well enough not to ask such a dumb question, Why would Ella have any shoes suited to– oh.
The swishing of her dress and the clunking of her boots covered Ella’s quickening breaths as she knelt down to the loose floorboard next to her bed. She pried it open, holding back tears at the sight of her most prized possession: her mother’s glass shoes.
Her mother had always told her they came from a fairy godmother, and that they were spelled to only fit their owner. Ella had never dared to try them on. Even after her mother was long gone, they still felt like hers. She didn’t know if the ownership had passed on, and she didn’t want to lose the connection to her mother. But…if she was already brave enough to go to the ball in the first place, she could do this too.
Ella held her breath as she unlaced her boots and slowly slid her stockinged foot into the slipper. They fit perfectly, as if they were made for her. Quickly putting the other slipper on, Ella stood. Jacqueline was watching with a soft smile.
“Perfect,” she said. “Now you’re ready to ensnare the heart of our prince– if you haven’t already.”
~o0o~
Ella rushed down the steps, tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t do it. Kit hadn’t even recognized her. His voice echoed in her ears, who are you? As if he hadn’t spent years with her by his side protecting him.
“Wait!” he called out behind her, chasing her down towards the courtyard. “I don’t know your name!”
The words were a knife to her already broken heart. She pushed herself faster, wishing she was wearing her uniform instead of this stupid, stupid dress… her heel caught on her hem and Ella went tumbling down, the glass slipper sliding off and landing on the steps with a clink. Heart pounding, she glanced up to see Kit closing in, unhindered by his clothing as she was. She scrambled to her feet and left the fallen slipper behind, silently apologizing to her mother’s spirit. She couldn’t let Kit catch her; couldn’t face him again.
The pounding of her feet against the gravel was accompanied by the clock tower chiming midnight. She’d only been at the ball for an hour, then. So little time for everything to go so wrong.
Her carriage was waiting right where she’d left it, and she hurled herself inside, shouting for the driver to go, go, go. And as the horses carted her away, she caught a glimpse of Kit on the stairs, clutching her fallen slipper as if it was a lifeline to her.
~o0o~
Jacqueline was half asleep on Ella’s bed, but she sat up straight as Ella slammed the door open.
“Why did you make me go?” Ella shouted through her tears. “Why did you give me hope?”
Jacque hurried to fold Ella into her arms. “What happened? Did you see Kit?”
“Oh, I saw him alright,” she said bitterly. “We danced, and everything was perfect. The candlelight, the music…it was everything I dreamed it to be. We joked and laughed, and for once I could be myself instead of being just his guard…and then it turned out he had no idea who I was. How little must he think of me to not even recognize me!”
Jacqueline clutched Ella tighter. “I’m so sorry, El. I really thought-”
“It’s not your fault,” Ella mumbled into her friend’s hair. “Thanks for the dress.”
Now that the adrenaline of her escape was wearing off, she just felt…tired. She wanted to climb under a mountain of blankets and cry until her broken heart felt a little less shattered.
“I’ll stay,” Jacque promised. “And tomorrow we’ll go out and buy one of those stupid tapestries of Kit’s face and throw Gus’ kitchen knives at it, and I’ll make sure to dress him in green at the next event– he looks horrible in it.”
“What did I do to deserve you?” Ella wondered.
~o0o~
Sadly, they were not able to complete Jacqueline’s Ultimate Broken Heart Revenge Plan (Ella thought it needed a shorter name, Jacque disagreed) the day following the ball. Because the universe hated her, Ella had to work. Which meant she had to spend the whole day with the man who had unknowingly broken her heart.
When she arrived at the palace, everyone was in a tizzy. Apparently, the prince was losing his mind over some random girl who had run from the ball, leaving only a glass slipper behind. Ella tried to pretend as though this was a surprise.
Kit looked up as she entered the throne room. “Cinder, you’re here! You’re just the person I wanted to talk to.”
Ella bowed, trying to keep her mask in place. “What can I assist you with, Your Highness?”
Kit furrowed his brows at the form of address. “What’s wrong, Cinder? You never call me my title.”
“Nothing,” Ella mumbled. “It’s fine.
He still looked troubled, but he let it go, gesturing to the pillow he was standing in front of. Atop it was her slipper, casting rainbows on the floor.
“I need you to find the girl who left this shoe at the ball last night.”
Ella internally facepalmed. Was there no escape from this nightmare?
“You’re the only one I trust with a task this important,” Kit continued. “I think I love her, Cinder.”
“Don’t call me that!” Ella snapped, her heart twisting at the nickname. She slapped a hand over her mouth as soon as the words exited. She’d never yelled at him before. He looked at her in astonishment.
“Why not? It’s what all the guards call you.”
“I know, it’s just- nevermind. What were you saying about the shoe?” Ella tried not to flinch at the way Kit’s expression turned lovesick. He was in love with a figment of his imagination. He wouldn’t love her if he knew her real identity, Ella was sure of it.
Kit explained his plan, and in any other circumstance Ella would’ve called it stupid. Surely there was more than one girl in the kingdom with the same foot size? Ella knew of the slipper’s supposed magic, but Kit surely didn’t. It appeared she had fallen in love with an idiot.
On one hand, Ella knew that no one else would fit in the slipper. She wouldn’t have to suffer through seeing Kit wed to someone else. On the other hand…she wouldn’t be able to give Kit what he wanted. He was counting on her to find his lost lady love, and Ella couldn’t bear to see his disappointment when she inevitably brought the news. But she could at least try. Maybe the slipper would fit someone else?
~o0o~
For days, Ella traveled the kingdom, saddle-sore and weary, as throngs of girls appeared to try the slipper. Maidens from every corner of the kingdom flocked at the chance to be the prince’s chosen one. Ella looked on with distaste as the women squabbled like school children over a stupid shoe. Her stepsisters were no different, shoving each other out of the way in their haste to get their turn.
Every day she returned home with no results, Kit’s mood dipped lower. They were running out of girls, and he knew it. Something wasn’t sitting right with her, though. Almost a week after the ball, Kit was walking through the gardens, Ella trailing him as per usual. And like he normally did, Kit pulled her up to walk beside him.
The gardens were quiet, but she and Kit had never felt the need to fill the silence with unnecessary words.
“Kit?” she asked.
He glanced down at her, brown eyes meeting bright blue. “Yes, Ella?”
Following her outburst after the ball, Kit had taken to calling her Ella instead of Cinder. She couldn’t deny the burst of happiness she felt when he said her name, even as she tried to remind herself of the heartbreak he’d caused her. He doesn’t care about you, she chanted. He didn’t even know who you were.
“Why do you care so much about some girl you only met for one dance? Surely that’s not enough time to go into this much fuss over her,” Ella inquired.
Kit sighed. “You’re not the first person to ask me that. I can’t explain it, I just - it feels like I’ve known her forever. Like she was my best friend and I could tell her everything. There was something so familiar about her…”
Ella didn’t know how to feel. If I was so familiar, why didn’t you recognize me? she wanted to shout. Instead, she kept her silence.
~o0o~
That night, when she returned home, Ella pried up the loose floor board. As she picked up the remaining slipper, a piece of paper fluttered onto the floor. With a start, she recognized her mother’s handwriting inscribing the simple magic of the shoes.
Magic slippers;
- Only fits their owner
- Spelled for comfort
- Disguise spell: none will recognize you unless they see you as you the shoes on
Ella’s heart stopped.
Kit didn’t recognize her…because of the shoes. It wasn’t because he didn’t love Ella. It was the stupid shoes. Ella laughed as tears rolled down her face. All that emotional turmoil for nothing. She thought back to his words in the garden. He said she felt familiar– what if he had known, deep down, that it was her…and loved her anyway?
There was only one way to find out, if she was brave enough to do it.
She ran again, this time towards the palace and the prince that waited inside. She ran towards her future, one that she had only daydreamed about.
The guards let her in the gates without a fuss, looking confused at her flushed face and windblown hair. They informed her Kit was in the ballroom, overseeing a new batch of ladies trying on the shoe.
Ella knew she was causing a scene as she careened through the halls towards her prince, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She had to know.
The doors opened with a bang as she burst in, the crowd of ladies looking scandalized at Ella’s undignified entrance.
“Ella?” Kit asked from the center of the room. He started pushing his way through the crowd to get to her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m an idiot,” she blurted. She could’ve slapped herself. That was not her rehearsed speech!
“Yes, I knew that, why are you informing me of this right now?” Kit asked, baffled.
“I’m an idiot and I love you.” This time she really wanted to slap herself. No! That was not what she was supposed to say!
The crowd of ladies gasped. Kit was just staring, shock so prevalent she couldn’t tell what he was feeling.
“Uh,” Ella faltered. “Can I start over?”
Kit just blinked, and she took it as a yes. She reached into her bag and withdrew the second glass slipper. The peanut gallery of waiting maidens shrieked in astonishment, but she did her best to block them out. The words spilled out of her, not the speech she had planned but a nervous torrent.
“Kit, I’ve loved you for years, and I never did anything about it because I thought you could never love me back, but my friend convinced me to go to the ball, and I wore my mother’s glass slippers not knowing they had a disguise spell on them so I blamed you for not recognizing me but in the gardens you said something that made me think and I couldn’t let you keep searching when it was me all along and-”
Her rant was cut off as his lips slammed into hers. Ella melted into the kiss, hardly even registering what was happening. She thought she was dreaming again, but there he was, his hands running through her tangled hair, lips warm against hers. She broke away, gasping, staring up at Kit in wonder.
“I love you too, Ella,” he whispered. “I’ve loved you for so long, but you never seemed to think of me as anything other than a friend, and at the ball you seemed so familiar and I couldn’t understand why it felt like you but wasn’t you. It seems my heart knew what my mind didn’t.”
He loved her. Ella felt like she was floating, no, flying.
“Jacqueline isn’t going to believe me,” Ella remarked. Kit laughed.
“Neither will my father. He’s been rooting for you since you first joined the guard. Kept telling me to get my head straight and court you properly.” Suddenly, Kit’s eyes widened in horror, and Ella whirled around, searching for danger.
“What? What is it?” Ella asked frantically. She reached for a sword that wasn't there.
Her prince smirked. “You’re never going to stop protecting me, are you? Relax, it was just a thought.”
“Oh.” Ella breathed a sigh of relief. “What thought was so bad you made me think there was an assassin after you?”
“My father will want to throw a celebratory ball.” His tone was so disgusted that Ella couldn’t help but laugh.
She nudged his shoulder. “At least this time, we’ll dance and you’ll know it’s me.”
Kit held out his hand. “Don’t worry, Ella. I plan on spending the rest of my life dancing with you.”