The Search for Cinderella

Chapter 27

The Prince marched forward, took ahold of Jade by her greatcoat's collar and wrenched her towards him. The girl teetered on her feet as his actions forced her to stand on the tip of her toes. Their faces were so close their noses nearly met and Jade's fear stricken eyes crossed, trying to read the Prince's face.

The man abruptly let her go and she gracelessly landed on her feet with a thud. The sinewy muscles on the Prince's bare back were tense while his water slick head downturned as he spun towards the exit, breathing heavily as if he'd fought the mountain lion again.

"Wait! Sire!" Jade called out. She clambered after him and stopped in her tracks as the man's glare refocused on her.

"Save your words. She's telling the truth. I don't need any evidence when your face is right in front me. You are lying about who you are," Luke bit out the words as if they pained him.

"I can explain everything!"

"How can I trust anything that comes out of your mouth. You have decieved me. You invaded my life on a falsehood and I am not prepared to listen to your lies," The man announced with a stiff tone of voice. He turned back to the ancient staircase with an anguished exhale that scorched Jade's nerve endings.

"Would you have allowed me on this trip if you knew the truth?" Jade blocked his path. She reverted to her real voice knowing she had no more secrets to hide.

"Of course not. You're barely holding up. The rigours of the trip are too much for you. I should have known. How could I have not known? Your smooth face, your hands, your build, it's so obvious now," The Prince pushed back his damp hair as he murmured to himself.

"I haven't been drowsy because of the trip. I've already gotten used to the fast pace of travel," Jade restrained herself from tutting. His assumptions about her physical strength were all wrong, "The witch was sending me nightmares about my father. I could barely close my eyes without seeing his face before me. I'm sure you're familiar with her tricks."

"It's not the same," The taller man sneered.

"We were both afflicted with the same malady. You want the girl and I want my father alive and well. That witch preyed on our weakness," The secretary explained her recent realisation. The vision of her father's body floating in the lake gave her a bout of nausea. She no longer needed the witch's help to have nightmares.

"Does Dimitri know?" Luke asked, his dark hair shielded his face and consequently his expressions.

Jade swallowed and nodded. She did not wish to bring trouble to her friend's doorstep but he was the only person who could verify her origins on this trip.

"What an imbecilic thing to do. This is dangerous territory. A lone woman is a liability!"

"Just moments ago you were grateful I was on the trip, Your Highness!" Jade could not restrain her mouth. Her position would no longer be hers when she got back and she no longer felt the need to bite her tongue.

"Why have you gotten yourself in an employment such as this? Are there no other hobbies for a woman of leisure to attend to?" The Prince scoffed sending a blaze of anger rushing through her body. How dare he mock her circumstances!

"Forgive me for wanting to earn a respectable living," Jade's tone was acerbic, "As a high born woman I could neither mop floors, nor seek employment that required my brain."

"And dressing up as a man was the only way out? Deceiving me was the only source of your sustenance?" Luke was incredulous. He crossed his arms as if he couldn't believe the tale she was weaving.

"I did not mean to betray you," Jade lost all the fight in her body and voice lowered almost to her former masculine voice "Forgive me. I was desperate to get away from my stepmother. She meant to sell me off to the highest bidder to get rid of me. My maids urged I get out of my father's house immediately and I had no time to formulate a plan."