The Next Cinderella

Chapter 32--Enemy Shelf Life

The first night in Myrielle's inevitable royal life was a sleepless one. She tossed and turned for hours and it wasn't a surprise. How long would it be until her next good night's sleep? And how long would it take to erase the horrible thought of how she'd banished Fredrick to the dungeons? A month? A year? Forever?

She tiptoed out of bed and made her way to the lavatory, eager to splash cold water on her face in the hopes of waking up from this nightmare. When she made it inside she noticed a crouched figure in the candlelit glow. She also heard the sound of gentle weeping, and when she saw the blond hair cascading down the figure's shoulders she knew exactly who it was.

"Bella?" she whispered.

"Go away!" Bella snapped, her damaged face hidden from view.

Myrielle took a few steps back. "Maybe I'll come back later..."

"I know it was you," said Bella, her voice having taken on an eerie calm. "There's just no way it could've been anybody else."

Since Myrielle was all but certain to win the contest, it likely wouldn't harm her chances to finally admit to the 'face poison.'. Not when she'd already won. And yet...admitting the scope of her villainy would likely result in a dormitory beat-down. So she said nothing.

Bella rose from the ground and turned her pus-filled face towards the candlelight. "It doesn't matter if you admit it," she said. "I just hope you'll be able to live with it when I'm cast out into the streets."

Her words caught Myrielle off guard. "You won't be cast out into the streets," she said. "When the contest is over you can go back home."

Bella broke into a chorus of harsh laughs, and the rabies-like foam spraying out of her mouth didn't make it any better. "Home? Where father said 'don't come back unless you're wearing a crown'? He'll board up the doors and send me off to earn my keep." Her gaze went distant. "Most likely in the confines of a brothel...in a room in the back where it'll be dark enough to hide my garish face."

It was just the sort of sob story that should've made Myrielle regret her actions. "Hmm...." said Myrielle, seemingly considering this unfortunate predicament.

"What?" Bella muttered.

"It's just...I'm trying to figure out how often you hang out in brothels."

"What?" she snapped.

"You seem to know a lot about the layout, that's all." It was the worst thing she could've said and she knew it, a crass attempt to distract herself from the bully she knew she had become. The only problem was that the more she tried to avoid her actions, the more easily the guilt trickled its way into her veins. It didn't help that Bella's home life sounded far more difficult than her own. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the only beast in the lavatory wasn't the one covered in boils.

As Myrielle was experiencing these many realizations, she didn't even notice she'd been staring at Bella's face.

"Stop looking!" cried Bella, shielding her disfigurement. "Haven't you hurt me enough?"

Myrielle backed away. "I wasn't staring I promise! I was just lost in thought."

"Then do it somewhere else!" she growled.

Myrielle rushed off without a second look, and as she crawled back into bed and huddled under the covers, her conscience became as foggy as ever...

***

Bright and early the next morning, a knock on the door stirred the sleeping girls awake.

"Are you decent?" said Gianni from the other side of the door.