Cinderella

Fire Eyes

Mariette bit her lip and she dipped a toe timidly in the water. She was still completely dressed. Unlike the captain. She had shielded her eyes as he stripped of his clothes--all of them--and dove into the water.

"Mariette!" he called from the water. "What are you waiting for?"

She dared a glance up at him and sighed with relief when she realized he was submerged to the neck. She shouted, "Perhaps I don't need a bath after all. The water is so very cold..."

The captain laughed, and Mariette was surprised at the boyish tone to it. "It's warm! Warmer than it's been in months! I shall make you a bargain, Mariette."

Immediately, she frowned, becoming suspicious. "And what is that?"

His head bobbed in the water as he smiled. "I promise not to touch you, or even glance at you, if you bathe now. I'd rather you didn't wait to go it alone--if you weren't with me the other men would be less inclined to keep their distance."

Mariette blushed but nodded, surprised that he was willing to allow her that. As he turned his back, she called, "Thank you, James." It was the first time she'd used his name, but in a strange way she was beginning to warm to him. She was still utterly terrified, simply less disgusted. She began unlacing her dress and kicked off her shoes. As she pulled the gown over her shoulders, bare but for her thin slip, she heard a crunching in the leaves behind her and froze.

At first she thought it was just an animal, but the steps were loud, heavy, and recognizably rhythmic. It was definitely human. Heart thudding, she crossed her arms over her chest and called out, "James! "

He swiveled around and, seeing the panic on her face, instantly began swimming to shore. "What is it?"

Something--someone--burst from the woods and wrapped his arms around her. She screamed and kicked at him, hearing him grunt as her elbow connected with his stomach.

"Stop," a familiar voice hissed in her ear. "It's me, Cinders."

Mariette froze instantly and his arms loosened. "Winslow!" She turned in his arms, planning to embrace him, but the look in his eyes stopped her cold. His eyes were fire, his jaw clenched tightly. She didn't think she'd ever seen Winslow angry, let alone so absolutely furious.

"Mariette!' she heard James yell behind her, but the sound was followed by a thump, and a grunt of his own, and when she turned she found he had fallen to the ground. Vincent was above him with a large stick that Mariette suspected was what had knocked James unconscious.

She was about to go to Victor, but Winslow growled in her ear, "Put your clothes on, Mariette."

She glanced down and saw she was still wearing only her slip, and, blushing, she hastily pulled her dress around her. "You've found me!" she said happily, smiling at them. Victor returned her grin readily, but Winslow only scowled.

"Follow us," he told her bluntly, and headed into the woods. She heard the distant grunt of horses.

Frowning, she did as he asked, walking until they came to a grove with three beautiful horses, a smiling Cyrus, and...and..."Alex?" she gasped as she recognized the body leaning heavily against Cyrus on top of one of the horses. "You rescued him! But how..."

Cyrus smiled. "Winslow and Vincent went after you while I slipped into the camp. The idiots didn't even notice me. I swear, without their captain, they are dumber than a pin full of chickens."

A large hand clapped down and her shoulder and Mariette found Victor smiling at her. "It's good to have you back, girl." He went to mount a horse.

Smiling, Mariette turned to Winslow. Before she could speak, he thundered, "Leave us alone for a moment," to the other two.

Mariette took a step back at the volume of his tone, a quiver of fear running through her. She heard the horses gallop away behind her.

"Mariette," he began, and she swallowed heavily. She wasn't Cinders. She was Mariette. "What the hell were you thinking?" His teeth were gritted, his entire face tense.

"I-"

"I'm not finished," he bellowed. "First, you run off to this disgusting, filthy,sewage pond of a place like no better than a common whore. Then I come here, planning to do everything in my power to save you from this place, whether you like it or not, and I find you undressing for that horse shit of a man."He paused and took a breath. "How could you do this?"

Ashamed, Mariette slipped her eyes closed. "It wasn't as it seemed, Winslow."

"How can I believe that?" he whispered, and it was the broken tone, the utterly crushed and beaten sway to his voice that did her in. She began to cry large, obnoxious tears that rolled down her face in heaps.

"You have to believe that-"

"I don't," he interrupted. He slowly walked to his horse and mounted it. "Ride with Victor," he told her, and left for the forest.

...

They were forced to make camp the first night, and around the crackling fire there was only silence. Alex slept, Victor drank, and Cyrus was out in search of wood. Winslow did not speak.

"Winslow?" Mariette whispered quietly, as Victor's loud snores alerted them that he, too, had fallen asleep. "Please...please listen to me."

He closed his eyes tightly and his head fell into his hands. "I ache to, but I just don't know that I can. Do you even realize how much I love you?" He looked into her eyes for the first time since he'd yelled at her, and Mariette was shocked at the anguish there. "You are so beautiful, and I know that if I spend my time hurting over every man that glances your way, I shall live a very painful life, but when I saw you today..."-he closed his eyes again-"...it tore me inside."

Mariette's eyes widened. "Were...were you jealous? That's absurd! I despise that man! I cannot believe that for even one moment you were jealous of that...that pig!" She took his face into her hands until he looked at her and then she kissed him full on the mouth, pressing close. At first, he didn't move, but soon his arms wrapped around her and crushed her to him, his fingers pressing hard into her sides. For a few long moments, she held him like that, kissing him, trying to convince him that there was no one but him, no man she could allow herself to hold and kiss like this. When she finally stopped, she pulled away slowly, unwilling to let go of him. She blinked her eyes open and found him staring at her in wonder. "I love you," she whispered, "more than you could possibly know. How could you ever doubt me?"

Slowly, he lifted her left hand. He pressed his lips to her ring, eyes warm. "I do not know how I got so lucky as to find you, Cinders. I cannot wait for the day that you are my wife, or the day that we meet our children, or our children's children." He kissed her forehead and pulled her against him, setting her head against his chest. "Thank you," he whispered. "For you."

She pushed him onto the ground and cuddled into his chest, reaching around to find their blankets. She pulled one over them. "It wasn't a choice, Winslow. There was never a choice." Peacefully, they slept then, his breath stirring her hair and her hand clenching his chest.

Alex watched from the other side of the camp. His stomach in knots, he realized then that he had lost. Somehow, Winslow had stolen her behind his back, and he hadn't even noticed. She was forever gone to him, and there was nothing he could do but sit back and watch. Sadly, he thought that they would live a rough life, what with their income stemming from a mildly popular bakery. "No," he whispered. "No, they will not. She will have the best."

His mind whirling, he thought of all the things he could do to make her happy, even if it wasn't with him. He would have to marry Lenora, he realized, but he could keep a mistress and give Lenora a wing of the castle all to herself. Plans blossomed in his mind, and ideas began to form. She would have the best.

No matter what.