Roses and Black Glass: a dark Cinderella tale (20 page)

1

Three weeks
later…

Standing in
the chapel, the tune from the organ bit at Christian’s ears as he looked over
all of the faces in the pews.  He didn’t even know some of the people who were
crying for the joy of the union, and there on the front sat his parents – his
mother smiling proudly with a tissue in hand and his father holding no
expression in particular.  Actually, the man looked as though he was ready to
nod off at any moment. 

Poor,
distant ghost…
  He hadn’t been the same since his sister had died three
years ago.  It was only so long that one could have a love affair with his own
sister before his jealous wife would seek to have her dead.  It was a shame to
Christian; he had always liked Aunt Kate.

But it was
her death that led me to meet Cindy
.

His mother had
invited damn-near the entire town to the wedding.  There were more people
gathered now than came to services – before the witch scare of course.  It was
sickening to him, but in the end, what did he care?

Sunlight
flooded in through the open doors and Christian could see the carriage outside,
waiting to take him off to the beginning of his miserable destiny.  His fate
with Isabella would be less than pleasant, but he had lost all feeling inside. 
Now he stood for all eyes to see, in one vest or the other from the tailor
shop.  He didn’t recall which.  He took an accepting breath and let his mind
drift away to the object of his every thought for the past three weeks: Cindy.

Cindy
…

Once the fire
had been mysteriously vanquished from the house, he had searched everywhere
looking for the girl.  She had not been found.  He’d taken the rest of the
rainy day, but still there was nothing.  He did not believe she had died in the
fire, but he had accepted that she was dead.  He had imagined that she had
killed herself, for it was part of the prophecy that one would die by her own
hand.  He accepted this, only because it hurt less than thinking she had run
away from him.

After their matrimonial
joining, he suspected that he and Isabella would die leaving this place. 
Two
will die together on the road. 
That would be the end of the prophecy.
 If
that was how it would be, he welcomed it. There was nothing else to go on for. 

Isabella came
now, dressed grandly in white, though Christian thought the color was
unbefitting of her.  Her hair had been pulled up and curled into ringlets, and
a long veil fell over her and trailed down her back.  Any other man would have
been pleased to have such a lovely bride, but all Christian saw was his defeat
coming on fast.

The minister
muttered on with his words as Isabella smiled in victory and adoration. 
Christian did not hear the words; in only a short while his life would be
done.  He began to hear the sniffling of the crowd.  The service did seem to be
lovely, didn’t it?  Oh yes, so wonderful.  Could they not see his unhappiness? 
His Cinderella was gone and nothing made sense.

As the
minister finished his words, Christian absently muttered an ‘I do’ and lifted
the veil over Isabella’s awaiting face.  She was a corpse in his eyes.

He lowered his
head now, coming closer to her painted lips.  With one kiss his fate would be
locked tightly, and then he and his
beloved
would go off to meet God
together.  He moved closer, beginning to feel her breath against his face.  She
slowly began to raise her lips to aid him in his venture.  A second later, his
lips brushed slightly against hers – and in the next second he stopped.

A shadow
rested in Christian’s eye and he turned his head slowly to the open door.  There,
standing in the middle, shrouded by the distant sun, was a dark shadow.  It was
a woman wearing a broad hat and dark dress. 

Is it…?
Christian wondered. 
Could it be?

People in the
assembly turned to the door, whispering amongst themselves as to what had
stopped the ceremony.  The woman standing in the door was motionless, looking
down at the floor, but finally she raised her head.  From under her hat, dark
eyes could be seen, set in a pale face.  Her hair was pulled up carefully under
her hat and her dress was rich and lavish in color – the color of dark roses. 
It fell so silent inside the church that the cawing of crows could be heard
from the eaves outside.

Christian
couldn’t take his eyes off of her, but denied the complete urge to run to her
immediately.  What was she doing here?  He’d thought she was dead!  Where had
she been?  He was just as angry as he was elated. 

“
Cindy
…” 
The name was only a passing of breath between his lips, but Isabella heard it.

He instinctively
turned to step toward the one he loved, but Isabella grabbed his shoulders
harshly, forcing him to turn to her.  She looked at him with confusion in her
eyes, as though her simple gaze would make him forget about Cindy – or at least
she hoped.  The murmurs from the crowd began to get louder.  Not one of them
knew the girl at the door, and they had no idea how it could possibly have a
bearing on this wedding. 

Finally,
looking down into Isabella’s pleading green eyes, Christian smiled at her.  He
then leaned forward to kiss her, touching his lips gently to hers.  It was
sealed now; she was his. 

The gathered
people seemed not to know whether they should stand for this kiss or to sit
quietly to wait for more.  At the door, the young woman turned and walked out
of the church, though one would swear there was a faint smile on her lips.

2

The kiss continued,
and all Isabella could think was that it was finished.  He had chosen her and
there was no turning back.  She was
Mrs. Christian Charming
. 

He continued
to kiss her as his new bride, twisting Isabella’s lips, and then suddenly he
became rougher.  There was such violence in it!  He held her so tightly that
she could not pull away.  Isabella felt a wave of panic.  His kiss was
terrible, but she did not reach the point of fear until he sank his teeth
sharply into her tongue. 

She shrieked
against his mouth, but little sound came out.  Even through her struggling, he
would not stop his painful kiss.  He
did not
until he tasted her blood
in his mouth.

When he
finally released her, Isabella shot back in pain but said nothing as she looked
up to him – a smear of blood resting on his smiling lips.  Isabella pulled
herself away in surprise, keeping her mouth shut tightly.  She could say
nothing of this.  She was a slave to her love.  Isabella swallowed her own
blood as it flooded into her mouth, but she could not hold it in completely.  A
spill of it seeped out and splattered against her white dress.  

As the people
of the crowd tried in vain to figure out the situation, Christian walked away
from Isabella and down the aisle to the door, where Cindy had exited.  Isabella
looked on in pain and anger as she watched him go.  Samantha rose in protest
but said nothing, only to turn red with anger and embarrassment for this very
public humiliation.  Christian was on his way out, away from them all, but first,
there was something that needed to be said.  Before he exited the church, he
turned himself back toward all the faces peering at him.

“I just want
to thank you all for coming,” he said, and that was all.  He left.

The carriage
outside waited to take Christian and Isabella to their new home at Blackfield
manor, but he met Cindy there instead, helping her inside and then ordering to
be taken away.

Inside the
chapel, everyone murmured of the strange events.  Samantha was outraged but
could think of nothing to say in her own defense. 

This was,
indeed, a dark day for the Charming household.

3

Alone and
ruined, Isabella had climbed to the top of the church, peering out the window
from the belfry.  She had felt no hope and climbed the stairs quickly to watch
as the carriage slowly rolled away with Christian inside – with
her
! 
Tears streamed down Isabella’s face for the pain in her heart and in her mouth. 
It was over now.  She had lost.

She spit out
some of the blood into her palm and wiped it across the window where she saw
the carriage departing, then sank to the floor in defeat.  Soon they would be
out of sight, and her life would be nothing.  Perhaps Samantha would still take
pity on her, even perhaps welcome her under their roof as her daughter, but
still there was emptiness deep within her.

She had lost
her mother and sister, but more importantly, she had lost Christian.  Was none
of this worth it?  All the planning she had done and all the underhanded things
she had looked to was worthless?  The girl took a deep breath and let the blood
run from the corners of her mouth.  Life was meaningless.

Rising,
Isabella headed to the stairs that would lead her back down into the church. 
None of the money was worth this pain.  She felt an overwhelming sense of
guilt, and turning back to the blood stained window behind her, she knew what
had to be done.

Closing her
eyes, she ran forward blindly, her white dress flying behind her.  In a crash
of colored glass, Isabella fell forward from the tower and flew through the sky
like an innocent white angel, only to crash down into the dirt below, smearing
the red blood across the ground from her crushed body.

Departing people
screamed as her lifeless form lay unmoving in the street in front of the
church.  It was truly a disturbing sight.  This bride would only be that of the
devil. 

4

The carriage
rolled onward into the distance.  For several moments, Cindy and Christian only
stared at one another.  He saw that the stitches were gone from the side of her
face, the cut having healed to a red mark that was covered by powder.  She
noticed the sunken nature of his cheeks.  He’d lost weight since she’d seen him
last.  As he looked at her, all his anger faded away; as she looked at him, she
saw what she had missed so much.

She wiped the
blood from his mouth with her black glove and claimed his mouth for her own. 
He kissed her back without restraint, feeding the hunger that had festered
inside.  His lips pressed against hers greedily while his hands ran through her
short hair, casting off the hat without care.  Her fragrance was intoxicating
and he griped her shoulders tighter to him so she would not escape him once
more.

The girl’s
tongue was slow and smooth though his mouth tasted of blood.  He held her
closer still, hearing the beating of her heart and the rhythm of her
breathing.  Suddenly he pulled away, removing his lips from hers yet keeping
her close.

“What is it?”
she asked gently.

“You must
explain this to me,” he said. “Where have you been?”

“Isabella
banished me,” she said with a light smirk, touching his lips. “I was outside
burying my rat when the fire started.  She caught me with threats.  So, I
left.  What could I have done?  It would have been unwise for me to come back
before the ceremony itself, so I waited.  I thought Isabella would get more of
what she deserved if she was to have you walk out on her. 
And
I knew
your parents wouldn’t be pleased.”

“Clever
shrew,” he said in admiration. “What about the fancy attire.”

“I’ve been
with my godmother,” she said with a smile, and Christian didn’t understand.  “I
do believe everything is going to be alright for us now.  I finally finished
the dream about my mother and father.  It was just as Amanda had explained it
to be.”

“And now you
know that you will get what is yours,” he confirmed.

“I have it
now,” she confirmed touching his face.

Christian felt
content at this, smiling once again, but suddenly, his expression fell.

“I slept with
her,” he confessed abruptly, “but it was out of spite and hate.  I admit I was
angry with you as well.  I thought you’d taken your own life or that you’d left
me.  I spent days staring at myself in the mirror, thinking myself guilty for
your death or disappearance.  It wasn’t long before the anger faded and I felt
nothing at all.  I was completely empty without you.  I took the shoe to
Charlotte without telling you.  I suppose I could have ruined everything.  I
thought I had.”

Cindy touched
his lips gently, silencing him.  There was no anger or disappointment in her face
as she looked at him.

“None of that
matters,” she said.  “Everything has been resolved.”

He felt so
grateful toward her for being the only one who understood him.  For that reason,
she held his heart in her hand.  Now he would be with her.  As long as they
were together, nothing mattered.  They were off to live a life together and
this carriage would take them there.  Christian sat back in the seat stiffly as
a thought reached him.  The carriage… The prophecy!

After a
joining of troubled souls, eight of the living shall be of the dead.  One shall
die a public death; three shall die of a strange illness; another shall be cast
into the fire.  One will die by his own merit…

All of those
things had been fulfilled save for one, and Christian felt a tightness in his
chest as he realized that it was coming on steadily.   

Two will
die together on the road…

Christian’s
thoughts came to a sudden halt as his body became tense and he turned his head
to look out the window.  The scene before him made his heart jump.  The
carriage was traveling on a narrow road atop a steep hill.  Looking down,
Christian could see that the fall was a long distance.  If they were to run off
the road, death would surely be waiting.  His grip tightened around the window.