Cinderella and the Colonel (12 page)

“It may be already in disrepair from your
actions
, but you should at least salvage your reputation, for the sake of whatever family you marry into,” Lady Feautre said, her jealousy showing as she stared hard at Julien and Marcus sitting on either side of Cinderella before looking to her girls. “Don’t you think so, Lady Rosseux?”

“
Perhaps,” the quiet lady murmured.

Angered
that her fellow nobles, her
allies,
would set her out like this and judge her, Cinderella narrowed her eyes in a show of resentment “If you must know the reason for Colonel Friedrich’s visits, it is because I was caught up in an assassination attempt and nearly killed,” she said. There was no need to tell them the assassination was meant for Friedrich. It would get them railing against her again. “He visits out of concern for my welfare. I find the gesture to be noble, especially when one takes our differences into consideration. Furthermore, you have no right to judge my interactions with the Colonel. While he does not always act as a gentleman, he has consistently treated me with respect and bows to my wishes and sense of decorum—something I cannot say for everyone present.”

“Well!” Lady Leroy huffed.

“A weather mage stopped through Werra, not four days ago. I spoke with him, and he thought the summer would be balmy but wet,” Lord Delattre said, trying to change the topic.

“Oh? Isn’t
that weather good for crops?” Lord Girard said, eagerly grasping the new topic.

Lady Feautre
, however, wasn’t finished. “This is what happens when one lets young children run amok with no chaperone: moral ruin.”

“Lady Feautre!” Lady Delattre said.

Several other dinner guests started to correct Lady Feautre, but Cinderella had enough.

Cinderella set her wine glass down and stood. Her eyes flashed as she pushed her chair back. “Lady Feautre
, Countess of Eveloy. When you become of such an elevated title that you may question
me
, Duchess of Aveyron, I will listen to you. Until that day comes, I suggest you bite your tongue. I will forget your ill-bred remarks against myself and Colonel Friedrich if you apologize this instant. If you do not, I shall pay a visit to the courts of peerage tomorrow and lodge a complaint.”

The dinner party
froze, as if put under a spell. Since Erlauf took Trieux over, the remaining Trieux nobles united—associating with each other in spite of the difference in rank. It was rarely brought up that as the only remaining Duchess of Trieux, Cinderella held more power than all of those in the room.

Rank
had not been pulled since Trieux became Erlauf, although the option was still available. As a Duchess—even a penniless one—Cinderella would absolutely win the complaint. (Not
everything
had changed with Erlauf, after all.)

The silence of the room
was broken when Lord Girard nudged his son, causing Marcus to rocket up into a standing position.

“The Girards will stand witness
,” he said, earning an approving nod from his parents.

“As will the Rosseux
es,” Julien said, glancing at his parents as he also stood.

“Forgive me for my ill
-timed words,” Lady Feautre stiffly said.

“I will forgive you for your poor conduct in voic
ing the worst of your thoughts,” Cinderella said before she sat.

Julien and Marcus mimicked her
, both uncomfortable with the power Cinderella—heiress and titled—wielded.

“So this weather
mage. What was his name?” Lord Girard asked.

“
I did not have the chance to ask. He was in quite a hurry to pay homage to an enchantress—a full-ranked Enchantress, not a specialized one—who recently arrived in Trieux, that is to say, Erlauf,” Lord Delattre said.

“
An enchantress, you say?” Lord Leroy’s son said.

“Indeed.”

Cinderella relaxed as conversation resumed around her. She was about to start eating again when Marcus whispered to her, “Well done, ‘Rella. It’s about time someone put that old bat in her place.”

“Marcus
,” Cinderella hissed.

On her other side Julien shook with
the laughter he struggled to mask.

Marcus grinned
and asked Julien across Cinderella. “You’ll tell your sister about the fireworks she missed tonight?”

“I don’t think she would forgive me if I didn’t
,” Julien said.

“She’ll be upset she missed a good show
ing,” Marcus said, his voice loaded with satisfaction before he turned all of his attention to his food.

“I think someone is sweet on your sister
,” Cinderella whispered to Julien.

“She’s twelve
,” Julien said.

“And he’s bare
ly fourteen,” Cinderella said.

Julien made a pained face. “I hope we won’t
have to visit them often. They will be titled terrors with no sense of etiquette.”

“Come now
; it won’t be that bad.”

“Yes
, it will. My sister has taken to tree-climbing—heaven help her if Father finds out.”

“And your mother?”

“Turns a blind eye. Secretly I think she wants to encourage her,” Julien sighed.

“Think of it this way
: they will be a matched pair.”

“Wild hoodlums
, the both of them,” Julien said.

Cinderella laughed
, aware Lady Feautre watched her with great anger.

The follow
ing day, Cinderella still boiled with anger at some of her fellow Trieux nobles. She went to the market with Vitore, but her sour mood scared off three customers before Vitore sent her out back behind the tent to restock baskets with produce.

When potatoes persisted in roll
ing out of a misshaped basket—one she had made—Cinderella lost her temper and threw the empty basket.

It rolled a few paces before fall
ing at a pair of Erlauf army boots. “Why is it that the past few times I have seen you, you are in the process of an emotional outburst?”

Cinderella sighed. “Hello
, Friedrich.”

Friedrich snatched the basket up before join
ing Cinderella with her produce. “It is too hot for such anger. What is wrong?” He asked as he briefly removed his hat from his head to wave it in front of his face.

Cinderella’s shoulders slumped. “It is noth
ing.”

Friedrich replaced his hat. “I doubt
that.”

“It is on
ly…It’s just…”

“Yes?”

“Last night I dined with the remaining Trieux nobles, and…they talked about us.”

Friedrich handed the
basket back to Cinderella. “So you want me to stop hanging about you, I take it?”

“What? No! I’m just so
angry
at what they implied,” Cinderella said, the basket creaking ominously in her hands as she clenched it.

“What did they imp
ly?”

“That
you are a dishonorable knave who hangs about me and salivates like an animal.”

“Did they say noth
ing of you?”

“Oh
, well, they said my conduct was reprehensible. But what makes me so angry is that they would say such
judgmental
, ill-mannered things when they don’t even know you!”

Friedrich
slid out of his Erlauf burgundy army jacket. “I’m from Erlauf. They don’t have to know me to judge me. Or so they would think.”

“
But how could they dare to say such, such foolish lies about you and imply that I am morally ruined for speaking to you?” Cinderella spat.

Friedrich did not respond and looked out at the bustl
ing back street.

“…
Have
your
friends said the same sort of things about me to you?” Cinderella asked.

“Hm?
Not quite. They know I wouldn’t madly throw myself at just any girl,” he said, brushing the fringe of Cinderella’s bangs.

“They don’t think less of you for befriend
ing a Trieux lady?”

“I don’t think so. They tease me a bit
, mostly because they haven’t seen you yet,” he said.

“Why would there be such a stark difference between our
treatment? One would think
you
would have it worse.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re from Erlauf! You took over Trieux. Wouldn’t they look down on you for this?”

“Now
that’s prejudice if I ever heard it,” Friedrich said.

“What do you mean?” Cinderella asked.

“It hasn’t escaped me that in spite of our close relationship,” Friedrich said, attempting to lean forward and kiss Cinderella on the forehead. She nudged him away before he could get too close. “You seem rather intent on making Erlauf the villain of the story.”

“T
hat’s because you are,” Cinderella said.

“Pet.”

“It is true! Erlauf invaded Trieux. Erlauf slaughtered the noble class. Those of us from Trieux are stuck in a quagmire of taxes imposed by your Erlauf Queen!”

“
But, Darling, you’re overlooking one thing.”

“What?”

“Why did Erlauf invade in the first place?”

Cinderella looked away
, but Friedrich was not about to let the subject drop.

“I know you know the reason
, Cinderella. Everyone does. Please tell me: why did evil Erlauf invade?”

Cinderella muttered under her breath.

“I didn’t hear that.”

“Why do I
have to say it?”

Friedrich’s pierc
ing eye settled on Cinderella with an unusual amount of weight. “Because it is very important to me that we have an understanding on this matter. Why did Erlauf invade?”

Cinderella sighed.
“Because Trieux first attacked Erlauf.”

“And why did your fami
ly and the other five remaining Trieux families of nobility survive?”

“Must we
have this conversation? We both know why.”

“I said
this was important.”

Cinderella rubbed the back of her neck.
“Because we are the only six families that voted against invading Erlauf in a meeting of the House of Lords. Because of the landslide positive vote, our King approved the petition, and the attack went forward.”

“
In the which you were slaughtered against our military might. We turned the tables and instead invaded and conquered Trieux. Poetic justice, one might say.”

“You don’t need to sound so gleeful about it
,” Cinderella said, dusting off her dress.

“We aren’t done yet.”

Cinderella placed her hands on her hips. “What more do you want me to say? That Trieux is responsible for the slaughter of your soldiers and the draining of your coffers?”

“Why are you so loyal to your servants?
Most Trieux families treat servants like pieces of furniture. No one else is so blasted stubborn in holding on to them. Before the war, you likely saw them as pieces of baggage as well. Why will you not let them go?”

“Because it
was the Aveyron servants who risked their lives to speak up for my father and me in an Erlauf court of justice. They were the ones who told that ice-cold queen of yours that Father voted against the war. There, are you satisfied?” Cinderella said, turning her back to the Colonel.

Friedrich placed his hands on Cinderella’s shoulders as she
transferred onions from a crate to a basket. “It does not give me joy to make you say this. I just want you to admit Trieux is not the wounded lamb you want it to be.”

Cinderella’s motions slowed. “I know we
were wrong. Father said we were fools for thinking we could take Erlauf on, and our government and nobles were too greedy to see that. But…” Cinderella turned around. “Haven’t we been punished enough? Haven’t we paid enough, sweated enough, to make up for that? Must my children and my children’s children mortgage their futures for the sake of one foolish generation?”