𝐀 𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐋𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘 - Cinderella AU

XXX - and i'm tangled up in you

xxx.

THE DUCHESS OF BASINGSTOKE EXHALED a heavy breath in the perfumed air of the guest chambers she had been given in the Angrian royal palace, a second after making sure that her fair, blue eyed and curly haired little boy she had put to sleep had drifted off entirely—his chest rising and falling gently in a rhythm.

She herself had had no energy to freshen herself up after the arrival to the palace. In her red silk nightgown—roughed with dirt at some places in the aftermath of the attack upon her—her hair in complete disarray, with dirt probably on her face too, she must've looked disgraceful entering the palace with Archie in her arms as she did.

Isadora had feared that the Queen mother of Angria would be there, she had feared that the woman would see her in the state that she was in and would scowl. After all, hadn't Isa kicked away the prospect of a life in the palace with the woman's son? Hadn't Isa broken an engagement and left the Queen mother to answer to all the royal guests and nobles wondering why there wasn't a wedding coming?

Isadora knew that the Queen mother would think her return disgraceful and an utter nuisance.

Except, thankfully, it was the middle of the night and only the King's royal advisor—Eugene Flammant—had been the one present to greet her alongside a few guards, and lead her and Archie to her chambers upon the King's orders.

Despite her fearfully clamoring heart at the prospect of being forced to face people—Queen Ariana firstly—again in a place where she had suffered a grievous heartbreak, and caused others to suffer too, Eugene Flammant's reception of her was just as it had been before. With his perfect calm swiftness and cordial manner, he had respectfully lead her to the chambers after assigning a few staff to take Lucy to a room in the servants' quarters, assuring the Duchess that her maid would be well looked after.

Still in a conscious daze after everything that had transpired, Isadora had refused the assistance of any maids or servants for personal attendance, regardless of the persistent insistence of the Angrian royal advisor under orders from the King.

She had wanted to be alone for a moment, to gather herself and let Archie's presence ground her. He too was still shaking—shocked and scared after all that he had seen happen, and getting him ready for sleep again had been a task in itself.

Now, he had dozed off, and Isa could finally calm her own self down.

She stood up off the edge of the bed and walked over to the adjoined room on the right-the main room. She closed the door of Archie's room behind her.

The main room was perhaps the chamber given to royal or noble guests who had a baby or a toddler along, so that they could put the child to sleep in the smaller adjoined room and rest themselves in the main room, all the while being in relief of their child's presence, for there was a bell in the room that a child could ring from the adjoined room to announce his rising—or the simple fact that instead of sleeping, they were engaging in satisfying their curiosity.

Isa walked over to the giant vanity in the main room, looking at herself in the wide mirror that seemed to begin all the way from the ceiling and downwards. The bed behind her was luxurious, with an extravagant bedframe while the smaller room where Archie now slept had four wooden frames locking the still spacious bed in from all sides—for child safety.

Her appearance in the mirror startled her. The dirt on her nightgown was a foreseeable feat, but letting the length aside to reveal her legs, she saw that they were marked with angry red cuts in places. And now that she saw them, they burned and throbbed. Her left knee was bleeding with a deeper cut, and she recognized the pain of it and remembered the exact moment of getting it when she had been pushed to the ground.