The Masked Slipper: Tales of Evermagic, Book 1 (excerpt)

The Prelude To A Ball

CHAPTER 3

Chaos is the prelude to a ball. The stress of perfection causes the skin to break out in horrid rashes. These red bumps must be hidden of course, but the makeup that covers it causes even worse breakouts. Estelle has no anxieties concerning the ball and so she is safe, though melancholy. Honey and Melody are not so fortunate. And I work.

I've never understood the fuss. There had been balls in the past, but this would be my first attendance to one. I am wary of presenting myself dressed as something I am not. True, I'm not a commoner. But this sad Cinderella has no desire to meet a man at the palace. Especially a prince. My thoughts returned to the light again. It slows my work, and Claudette complains so I work harder. There are no fairy godmothers here.

Nicolette glanced at herself briefly in the mirror. Her blond curls were twisted and pinned to the top back middle of her head with soft loose coils hanging by her face. Some came over the mask she wore and bounced whenever she turned her head.

Claudette had disapproved of Estelle's rich choice in mask for her stepdaughter. It was half faced long ways, blush and rose gold swirls were its surface, and running down the side of it was a raspberry colored vine. It went down the mask to curl along her jaw, and smeared along its left eye were ruby sparkles. To complete it, large red stones scattered along the surface. Nicolette touched one, positive they were not real. Estelle was smart. She would have made sure the jewels were glass like the necklace she'd bought.

Nicolette wouldn't admit that she liked being dressed up and turned away from the mirror to prove her delight was only a moment of fancy. She bowed her head, recalling herself as a child. She remembered wearing her mother's dresses often. They were much too big for her then, but her mother had always commented on her beauty. She would put her in shoes too large for Nicolette and then drape real jewels around her neck. Her mother had taken pleasure in fancy things. At one time, Nicolette did too. Now they only reminded her of the vanity of those who hated her.

"Mother! Where are Nicolette's shoes?" Estelle called.

"How am I to know?" Claudette shouted back. She sat in her room before the vanity, too busy to be bothered with her daughter's needs. Nor did she care for those of her stepdaughter's. The idea of Nicolette dressed up made her frown at herself. She coiled up from her seat and left her room for Estelle's, but she would not give sign of her interest. The competition she had against her daughter's fed her vanity. But she had never seen Nicolette at half her potential. She had to make sure she was more beautiful than even the stepchild.

She was discreet as a hunting cat, so Nicolette barely noticed her enter the room. She came with the superiority of a queen, passing between Nicolette and Estelle as if gliding. With their gazes following her, she went to look at herself in the full mirror. The woman was wretched but had the figure of a young woman in full bloom. Nicolette stared, hoping she could maintain her looks as well as she had.

"Don't gawk, girl," Claudette drawled. Nicolette frowned and shifted her eyes away and Claudette smirked. "Do not fret." Her grin turned sly. "You are too ugly to warrant attention. Perhaps that is why your parents abandoned you." She glanced at Nicolette through the mirror. "They could not stand that they had an ugly daughter."

Nicolette clamped her jaw tight to stop the pain of her tears. She knew her words were meant to hurt her and that the comment of her parents was false, so why did it cause her pain? Estelle came to her side and squeezed her arm, her teeth grinding together in silent anger. She glanced with a glare at her mother but was not in a position to scold her.