Cinderello

The Invitation

While her stepmother and the twins walked around the market Cinderella helped the carriage man to bring his horses to the stalls to let them rest before the ride back.
As always Mauritio awaited them and took one horse, Fidelio, from his owner to accompany it safely to its stall. Cinderella followed with the other one, Starstruck. She loved horses but riding was a enjoyment only men were allowed to get. Of course, because how could women ride properly with their horribly unhandy dresses and skirts?
"You heard of it already?" Her best friend asked out of the sudden. Hay was twirled in his black lightly curled hair and the smell of the horses was glued to him, it almost became his natural scent.
"Of what?" Cinderella threw him a curious look over the back of Starstruck.
"There is is going to be a major ball in the castle. Blue blooded families are invited from every corner of the land and beyond.
I was sure an invitation was send to your home."
When Fidelio and Starstruck got their food and water Cinderella turned to Mauritio.
"I'm looking through the post as soon as I'm back but as my father isn't as much involved in the town's daily occurrences as before they probably happen together no invitation at all. Which would serve them right, honestly."
Mauritio gave a laugh. "May be, but they'd get unbearably offended. And you know better than anyone how this goes."
Cinderella rolled her eyes and playfully punched him in the arm. "Yes, the want to be majesties would be out of their dull minds. Although Gloria could find a way to participate. She'd go over bodies to keep up their social status."
The only time Cinderella could behave so manly was with Mauritio. With everything he heard within the intrigues and scandals and rumours her wanting to be a man was just a minor thing. Cinderella wished that everyone could be like that.
"I have to go. Play the pack mule for the donkeys, you know." She referred to her stepsisters who are most likely to buy almost everything they see from her father's money.
Mauritio nodded understanding and turned to the next arriving carriage. It was from a light blue, just like Cinderella's hair, and had golden decorations all over it. With no doubt it was the prince's carriage. She just wanted to leave when she recognized it and stopped dead in her tracks, pressing herself against a wooden pillar.
It was unusual behaviour from her but somehow she had to see him. Somehow she just couldn't turn her back on him.
The door was opened and a young man stepped out of it. His hair was black and his eyed were of a beautiful golden brown. His features were soft but sharp at the same time. His movements were smooth and graciously. His slender fingers were hidden under gloves and Cinderella wondered why. He's always worn them, ever since she could remember. Nobody knew, not even Mauritio and he knew everything about everyone in the castle.
She couldn't help but assume that they were flawless just like the rest of him.
And he never smiled. Not once.
Mauritio buckled up the gear of the horses. "Thank you Mauritio." The prince nodded his head once in approval. His voice was soft, floating.
He lifted his eyes and his look met Cinderella's. His eyebrows raised in confusion and he turned to her. "I haven't seen you around. You're not working in the castle, are you?"
She shook her head silently. This was so embarrassing. The little maid, in a dress, sweet, cute, female. So female.
She would rather die than to let the prince hear her voice.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if thinking. "Then who are you?"
She threw Mauritio a begging look. No way she would let him hear her voice.
"Oh, uh, your majesty, this is a friend of mine and she just came by to bring these horses over there. Her father is a businessman from here who travels around the land." He immediately helped her out and she was grateful for it.
The prince tilted his head. "Why do you wear a maiden's clothing then?"
Cinderella looked down. "Oh, she- her father remarried after her mother died-" Mauritio began to explain but the prince interrupted him.
"And why doesn't she tell me that herself?"
Both of them were surprised by this questions. "She...she doesn't like the sound of her voice."
The prince seemed intruiged. "What is with your voice?"
"I just can't stand it." She finally answered in a whisper.
"But it's a voice many women would envy you for." He continued after some seconds, taken aback. "It's soft, warm and so feminine-"
"Exactly." She interrupted him. The breath got stuck in her lungs. Not only did she give away her greatest secret but she interrupted and thus insulted the prince himself.
She didn't even wait for anyone to say something but instead fled from the stall, her heart pounding fast. Her lungs seemed to contradict and threatened to implode. She couldn't breathe and hadn't come far when she pressed herself into a corner. She didn't know where she was due to the tears running down her face.
She couldn't hate herself more in this moment. Crying, weak - ...female.
Her knees became weak, too, and she slightly bend forward, holding her stomach as if to throw up.
"Come to my ball tonight." Suddenly a voice demanded out of the blue.
Her head snapped up and she quickly wiped away the tears stains on her face.
"Why?" She managed to croak out to the prince who had apparently followed her.
"You pretend, just like I do. You don't want to be you. I want to love a man and you want to be a man. But in this world we can't have that. Come to my ball, please."
She looked into his eyes, those golden eyes full of hope. She couldn't feel this hope. But she accepted nevertheless.