The Next Cinderella

Chapter 28--Tattle-Tales and Traitors

Fredrick and Myrielle stared at each other for what seemed like minutes, as beastly Bella ran off to expose them and potentially destroy their lives. In reality it was no more than three or four seconds. "We need to get her!" Fredrick cried. "Now!" He grabbed Myrielle's hand and they sprinted down the stairs in hot pursuit.

"Maybe they won't believe her!" she said. "Would you believe that face?"

Fredrick continued to drag her down the stairs. "What you need to understand about the royal family is that even a tiny seed of paranoia will cause them to punish us in horrible ways."

"If you say so..." she said.

"If you don't believe me," he said, "just think back to the bakery the last time you saw it."

Her most recent memory of the bakery was abundantly clear. "The last time I saw it there was a sign in the window; a sign that said 'lemon cakes are out of stock until further notice.'"

"And why do you suppose that sign was really there?" He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and darted his eyes left and right. "She's not here; that means we need to move faster!"

Myrielle groaned as their dash through the castle continued. "But this gown wasn't meant for sprinting! And my legs hurt!"

"Bella's legs don't seem to be hurting!" he called back, forcing her to keep up the pace.

She sneered at the back of his head. "That's because her leg-pain is radiating out of her face!" Despite her protests she kept up the pace as required, because it wasn't that she was incapable of running, it was just that she needed to complain her way through it (as per the official adult handbook of dealing with life). "And I didn't forget your question!" she added. "The lemon cakes are out of stock because of a lemon shortage!"

In-between his brisk athletic sprinting, he found a moment to look back at her and smirk. "Or maybe it's the fact that when the kingdom heard the bakery was earning a reputation as the best lemon cakes in all the land," he said, his breath a little shorter now, "the king became paranoid that their lemon cakes were superior to the ones made in the royal kitchen. So maybe he kidnapped the baker, his son, and his assistant, and anyone else who might know the special recipe. Maybe."

She couldn't believe it. "That's insane!"

He abruptly stopped running and grabbed her shoulders. "It is, and it's exactly the sort of insanity you can expect if Bella gets to them first!"

She pushed him forward. "Then let's go!"

And so they ran once more, past shadowy corridors lit by torches, past the kitchen, and finally past the cast-off table in the corner where Bella had been ordered to dine alone (and where her meal of cubed vegetables and slimy boiled chicken remained untouched).

The door to the dining hall was open, and the prince's reaction came bellowing out from inside.

"They were doing WHAT?!"

Myrielle and Fredrick exchanged a fearful look; it was over.

***

The remaining contestants were sequestered in the dining room now, while in the royal hall the process of getting to the bottom of the scandal was afoot.

Myrielle and Fredrick stood stiffly under the chandelier spotlight, facing the tribunal of royals, Fairy Godmother and Gianni. The lone witness Bella was kept at a distance, foaming at the mouth for the chance to bring down her nemesis, but also foaming at the mouth in general as a side effect of her face.