Cinderella: A Fractured Fairytale

Seventy-Four

Ella's POV

Chapter 74

***

My face was stark pale as shock and disbelief rushed through me, rendering my limbs useless. "No," I whispered. "No."

My father's face was triumphant and twisted in a way I could never have imagined. "Yes." he whispered back. "You never suspected, did you? Never imagined that all along, the person I pretended to be fighting against was me?"

My hands were shaking. I took a step back, my head whipping from side to side in denial. "No." Was all I seemed to be able to say.

Phillip took my hand, trying to comfort me.

Father laughed mockingly. "Poor little Ella," he crooned. "I suppose you thought I was dead this whole time. I suppose you longed to get back the one thing you've always wanted - a family that loves you." He paused, then scoffed. "The one thing you've never had."

The words branded themselves into my mind, piercing straight to my heart. A sob choked in my throat, and then another.

Phillip wrapped his arms around me, his face twisting with disbelief and pain. "Ella..." he murmured into my ear. "Don't listen to him. I love you."

I just sobbed harder. My father, the one person I always thought I could count on. The one person I ever believed cared for me.

How can life be so cruel?

Black stepped further into the clearing. His eyes were hard. "Every second of it, every moment... an illusion. A facade. You thought I cared for you? You thought I loved you? You're worthless, Ella."

My whole body was shaking now with the force of my sobs. Phillip stroked my hair, trying desperately to calm me down. "Shhh. Shhhh, Ella. Don't cry. You are not worthless. Don't listen to him." Then he turned to my father, fire burning in his blue eyes. "How could you do this to her? Why would you want to hurt her this way? She's your daughter."

"Don't tell me things I already know!" Black snapped. "You don't understand. All throughout her childhood, I've looked at her and I've seen... her mother." His eyes darkened.

Phillip remained silent.

Black continued. His voice was cold and bitter. "You were always told that your mother died during childbirth, weren't you, Ella? She didn't." His eyes were like frost. "She stayed with me through the births of Ethan and Eric. And then she gave birth to a little girl we named Ella. Reanna was everything to me, more than just my wife. I would have made her a queen! I would have fulfilled her every whim, would have built her palaces and monuments and shrines and kingdoms." He clenched his fists. "But she left me. She discovered my aspirations of becoming king through rebellion, and she left me! It tore me apart and turned me into a hollow shell of a man. And then," -by now he was breathing hard- "Ella turned out to look exactly like her! How can I look at my own child and be reminded of something I forced myself to forget so long ago?"

Phillip tried to speak, but Black cut him off. "This is all Reanna's fault. All of it! She's hurt me in ways I'll never heal from. And if I can't hurt her for it, then I'll do the next best thing."

"Hurt her daughter?" Phillip stepped towards him, looking incredulous. "That's madness! You can't take it out on Ella just because she looks like your... ex-wife."

"Oh, can't I?" Black snarled. "Watch me."

In that moment, he made a flinging motion with his hand, eyes burning with rage and insanity.

What felt like tiny shards of glass or ice embedded themselves in my skin. I gasped as something pierced my heart, and cold suddenly seeped into me.

Triumph glinted in Black's eyes. "The snow queen's mirror," he hissed. "The only true mirror. When looked into, it shows all the weaknesses, insecurities, and darkness inside a person. Long ago, it was shattered. Most of the shards were blown away by the wind, but some were gathered by people and demons alike. If a shard pierces one's heart, they will freeze to death, or, if they embrace the cold, their heart will turn to ice and they will never feel love again. I felt the sting of the mirror shards long ago, but of my own choice. Now Ella has her chance."

The cold became more intense, and I began to shiver violently. Phillip's eyes widened with fear and he grabbed my hand and pulled me close. "Ella, are you okay?"

Black laughed coldly. "If she is now, she won't be later." Then he stepped back into the trees. "I have matters to attend to. If you're wise, prince, you'll leave her and escape before I come back and kill you, too."

"Never!" Phillip's eyes burned fiercely.

Black shrugged, then turned on his heel and melted into nothingness.

Leaving me shivering and shaking as slowly, slowly, the ice crept its way towards my heart.

In a few minutes, I'd be gone.