The Next Cinderella

Chapter 40: Reunited

[Psst...changed the character's name by one letter so it doesn't start with C like Cinderella; have updated other chapters to reflect this!]

Myrielle stood frozen with her skirt at her waist, mirroring the time when she'd first met Fredrick and feared being banished to the dungeons. The irony of the moment was far too rich, but he clearly didn't seem to find it amusing so she pulled down her skirt and backed up a few steps.

In the continued silence she took in the full sight of Fredrick. He'd lost some weight and had clearly lost the access required to maintain his appearance, or maybe he no longer cared. His hair was greasy, his face was partially covered in grime, and his cotton shirt was soaked through in sweat.

"Hello," she said tentatively, like she was speaking to a former colleague she'd screwed over in a hostile takeover.

"Well look at you..." he said. His voice was neither kind nor malicious, but laced with the sort of evenness that came from having seen too much. He studied her hair and gown, while carefully avoiding her eyes. "So you finally became a princess."

"Actually I didn't," she said, hiding a smile she was too afraid to share. "I won just like they'd told me, but I managed to change the outcome and they let me go."

He seemed confused. "But what about the kingdom's debt?"

"Absolved," she said timidly, trying not to sound too proud of herself.

"And what about re-opening the academy?" he said.

She shook her head. "That's a lost dream; unless Bella develops a sudden passion for education..."

"I see." He stared at the dungeon wall, blankly at first until he noticed a spot of mud. He wiped it with the rag that was hung over his shoulder.

As Myrielle observed his shocking dedication to clean amidst his 'banishment' conditions, she couldn't contain herself any longer. She leapt towards him and wrapped him in the tightest hug.

He didn't hug her back and had to pry her off his body.

A part of her had expected that reaction, but that didn't make it hurt any less than a punch to the gut. "Of course you're still upset," she muttered. "Why wouldn't you be?" He folded his rag and said nothing. "Fredrick...I am deeply sorry, but once you hear what I have to say—"

"You should go now," he said.

She shook her head, determined to break through. "Fredrick just listen—"

"Leave," he said more firmly. "You don't belong here."

She spun around her decrepit surroundings and scoffed. "Leave? As if I just strolled into the dungeon? Do you think this was a breeze? Do you think it was simple to escape the royal ball? Do you think it was easy to understand Fairy Godmother's ridiculous map?" She unfolded the scroll and showed him a blueprint that amounted to little more than gibberish. "I'm not even wearing shoes!" She kicked out her foot to show him her grimy heel. "And please tell me those puddles are a hundred-percent rain water and zero-percent urine."

"Seventy-thirty split," he said casually.

She rubbed her stomach to calm the sudden urge to vomit. "Fine, seventy-thirty, add that to the list. But I did all of this to make things right!"

"Make things right?" He shook his head. "Look around you and tell me how to make this right."

She reached out to touch his shoulder, and instead of backing away this time he allowed for the gentle touch.

"I said the most awful things about you," she said. "But I said it because it seemed like the only way to help the kingdom out of its trouble. And if I didn't say those things...how much worse would it have gotten for the people who were already suffering? Like my family, and the neighbors, and the villagers...and I'm guessing your family too?"