To celebrate and accompany it, I offer up this freebie story. It's from the mistress, Ariella's perspective back when she was much younger and mistress of nothing, very much under the thumb of her powerful mother. It tells how she first met Laure, the girl who would later become Cinders.
I wasn’t too impressed with the chateau, although Mother went into long and excruciating detail about how it was rightfully ours.
“Just because he was married to our second cousin!” She spread her dark cloak out behind her like a pair of dark wings, promising ill omen upon everyone who fell behind her step. “He lives in our family estate, as if it were rightfully his.”
“Isn’t it rightfully his?” I dared to ask. “Our cousin did leave him the estate.”
A blow stung my cheek, nearly knocking me over.
“Never say that again, Ariella.” My mother glared down at me while the servants cowered away in every direction. “In a world dominated by lords, this place has always belonged to the ladies of our bloodline. The true mistresses of the estate, who cared about the fate of their land and vassals would never surrender them into the hands of a husband.” She placed her gloved hands on her hips, leaning forward to crush me with the full pressure of her disapproval. “Our cousin is no longer worthy to be called a cousin. She robbed of what’s rightfully ours up, offering our family home to some fop of a husband.”
“Is he truly a fop, though?” Young as I was, I didn’t know when to hold my tongue.
Laughter came from inside the hall, half drunken.
“See for yourself.” My mother seized my arm like a hawk stooping upon its prey and half dragged me up the steps.
I saw countless men, sloshing glasses of wine around, leering into the cleavage of the women, who tittered in coy mockery of their state.
My mother winced at the sight of the red liquid, staining the carpet. She glared in the direction of a man dressed in a dark blue coat, drawing herself up to her formidable height.
He paid no attention. He was busy leading a girl no older than myself in a graceful dance of small steps, amidst a small group of other lords and ladies.
The girl turned her head. Green eyes, bright as an emerald locked with my own.
I forgot to breathe.
Light coming through the window gleamed upon her light brown hair, turning it a shade of gold. She cocked her head enquiringly, a shy smile touching her full lips.
I felt my own mouth tugged upward in response.
“Such a pretentious chit!” My mother sniffed. “Ariella, you’re far prettier than that brat could ever hope to be.”
I didn’t answer. Stricken to silence, I couldn’t look away from that soft, yet challenging gaze.
It was the little maiden who dropped her head first, cheeks coloring.
Her dance partner looked up in our direction. His smile died at the sight of us.
“Marie.” He moved in our direction, keeping a firm grasp on the little maiden’s hand.
The girl glanced up at the man, only to seize a peek at me once more and drop her head.
Why couldn’t she meet my gaze?
“I’m so glad you came to my little gathering.” He offered his free hand to my mother.
“Do you think I’d ever miss an affair taking place at my family estate?” My mother allow him to take her hand and kiss it. “Don’t underestimate me, Charles.”
“I’ll try not.” He raised his head from my hand to turn a sharp gaze at me. He had the same green eyes as the little maiden. “And is this your daughter?”
“Ariella, this is the husband of the chateau’s former mistress.” The husband of the former mistress, not the master. Was this true, or was my mother simply slighting him.
“Oh, I am the master of this place, make no mistake.” Lord Charles narrowed his own eyes in turn. “Don’t underestimate me, Marie.”
“Is this delusion an offering from the local monks, who’ve taught you so well?” My mother took back a hand to raise it to her lips, not bothering to conceal her smirk. “A pity you have a daughter instead of a son. You might have sent her to them for education.” She tittered, a high pitched sound which made everyone around shudder.
Including me.
I glanced over at the maiden, who was trying hard not to wince and failing. She gave me an almost pitying glance.
Her expression irritated me. True, my mother was a bit embarrassing, but she will still my mother. Not to mention a lady of the estate and her kinswoman. I didn’t need this girl’s pity.
Whatever the maiden saw in my face, it made her eyes widen and her lips tremble.
Her fear shamed me out of my anger. In truth, I had no desire to terrify people the way my mother did.
Most of the time.
“Alas, the monks don’t place much value on education for a woman or women in general. Unlike this great estate.” She waved her hand to gesture to the halls, the drunken people spilling wine on the floor. “How it has fallen from its former grandeur.”
“Well, you’ll have a chance to restore it, if anything happens to me.” Lord Charles tried to smile and ended up gritting his teeth. “I just hope, Marie, you’ll care for my daughter in the wake of such a tragedy. Remember, she’s a lady of the family, too.”
“She’s also of your line.” My mother turned the force of her glare onto the maiden. “I know of your origins, Charles. Your ancestors were shopkeepers and bankers before their elevation to the nobility.” She gritted her teeth. “To think such a girl should think herself the equal of Ariella! It’s a sad state the world has been reduced to.”
“Actually, it’s a more stable state.” My mouth opened before I could stop it. “Weren’t you telling me, Mother, how all the lords used to fight each other? It was a former banker turned aristocrat who brokered the current peace between the warring houses, if I recall correctly.”
The room grew extremely quiet.
My mother and Charles both stared at me with open mouths.
“Really?” The other maiden looked at me with shining eyes. “I’ve never heard that before.”
“You have to read between the lines in the history books to catch it.” On the subject of books, I found myself feeling much more confident. “Some of the greatest collectors of art were once former merchants, elevated to the nobility. They encouraged other nobles to start collecting as well. Preserving what was of the value instead of melting it down and smashing after a battle became commonplace. Outright warring grew unfashionable.”
“Instead political maneuvering and double dealing were wielded as weapons.” My mother turned her scowl in my direction. “The noble art of war fell into disuse.”
“Spoken like a woman who’s never been on the battlefield.” Lord Charles turned his scowl in turn at my mother. “War has never been noble.”
“I doubt anything has ever been noble for you.” My mother sneered at Lord Charles. “You wouldn’t understand the meaning of the word.”
“Please don’t quarrel!”
The tremulous, sweet voice of the maiden stopped my mother and Lord Charles in their tracks.
The girl tugged at the lord’s sleeve, looking up at him. “Father, the Lady Marie is our kinswoman, however distant. As is the Lady Ariella. If not for Mother’s will, our estate might have been theirs.”
“Are you defending her words, Laure?” Charles gazed with stern anger down upon his daughter.
“I’m begging you to watch your own.” The maiden, Laure, dropped her head. “I wish to be friends with Ariella. Please don’t make it any more difficult.”
My heart sped up as I stared at that gleaming, lowered head.
Did she really mean that?
“I, too would like to be friends,” I ventured. “If you will have.”
Laure raised her head. Her cheeks were flushed.
Once more, her green eyes met mine.
“Never.”
The word fell like stone, falling from above to land between Laure and myself.
“What?” I turned to my mother. “Why not?”
“I see your plan.” My mother trembled all over, in the grip of a fury that threatened to rip its way out of her skin and savage all that stood in her path. “You and that duplicitous daughter of yours seek to charm mine, trick her into letting her guard down, and use her to consolidate your own power.” She bared her teeth at Laure. “My daughter shall never be your friend! You’re beneath Ariella!”
My mother grabbed my arm. She whirled, half pulling me off my feet to drag me out of the chateux.
“You little fool!” she snarled once we were outside the door. “You played right into their hands!”
“How?” I was too bewildered to understand. “Surely civil relations with the owners of the chateau are in our best interest?”
“Nothing that serpent does in our best interest!” My mother shook me, making my teeth rattle in my mouth. “Everything he or his daughter does is only to their advantage! You cannot be friends with a greedy, grasping girl like that!”
“How do you know she’s greedy and grasping?” I managed to say. “You’ve only just met her!”
“I know people, especially those who’ve claw and tricked their way into the nobility!” My mother set me down, took a deep breath. “Mark my words, Ariella. When opportunity comes, that girl won’t hesitate to claw through you to seize it.”
“I don’t believe it.” I uttered the words in a small voice. “We don’t know that she’s like that.”
“We have to seize our opportunity first.” My mother cast a hungry, almost longing look at the chateau. “This place should be ours. It will be ours once more.”
She was right. About the chateau becoming ours once more. Or rather hers. It was never ours, my mother’s and mine.
My mother was never very good at sharing.
She was wrong about Laure, though.
Years later, I would test her. The results humbled and shamed me.
Not all people try to claw and trick their way into the nobility. Not everyone cares about such things.
Laure, later known as Cinders was one of them.
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