Dreaming Cinderella

Chapter 1

"You are not going and I don't want to hear anymore of it!" Emilia's Mother spoke firmly her tone coming close to yelling, and Emilia took a step back startled by her Mother's reaction to the letter Emilia now held clenched to her chest. She'd never seen her Mother so upset before and still didn't understand.

"But I just thought..." Emilia started to protest but was cut off by the look on her Mother's face. 

"You just thought what?! That you'd run off to the capital and marry the Prince?" Her Mother asked in a fit of anger that hurt Emilia's feelings'. Hearing her Mother say the words' aloud made her feel silly. 

Seeing that her words had been harsh Emilia's Mother's face softened. "Please Emilia, just let it go. The Capital isn't what you think it will be, the royals aren't people you want to mix yourself with." Her Mother spoke so calmly now, her tone that of the woman she remembered and not the angry stranger she'd seen moments ago. Emilia fidgeted with the sleeve of her dress, pulling at a loose thread, unable to meet her Mother's eyes'.

"You Mother is right, Emilia, darling." Emilia looked to her Father who had remained quiet until now. He shared a look with her Mother both of them looking upset before turning to face Emilia. "Gallow Moore may be small but this is your home. Your life is here, your friends and family are here, do you really want to leave?" He asked her with a sadness in his eyes that she didn't want to see. It only made things harder.

"Of course I love it here!" She was quick to assure him, not wanting him to think otherwise. And she wasn't lying. She did love her life here. She had great friends', she loved helping her parents with the inn that they owned, loved talking with all the travelers' and hearing their stories'. But that was the reason she wanted to go to the Capital. She wanted to be able to one day be like the travelers who sat at their inn and tell her own stories. 

But she couldn't do that by staying here where nothing ever happened. She wanted to attend a Ball, to dance with strangers until her feet hurt. She wanted for one night to feel like Cinderella like in the fairy tale. To enchant everyone for one night and feel like a Princess, but she now knew how silly she had been to think of such things'. After all she was just the daughter of an innkeeper, she didn't belong in a castle.