Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey

Author:Cameron Dokey [Dokey, Cameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2010-11-29T13:30:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Absolute silence filled the courtyard. It seemed to me that even the wind stopped blowing. The rain held off, as if uncertain where to fall. Only my stepmother’s gaze remained steady, her eyes looking straight into mine.

Then, utterly without warning, Anastasia moved. She released my arm. But only so she could raise her hand to slap me smartly across the face.

“Liar!” she cried.

“Anastasia,” her mothers voice cracked like a whip. “That is quite enough.” She walked down the remaining steps that separated her from Anastasia, Raoul, and me. Over her shoulder, I saw Amelie skitter out onto the front porch.

“You must never strike another, not even in anger,” Chantal de Saint-Andre went on. “Now, calm down, all of you, and tell me what this is all about.”

“I caught them together in the stable, Maman,” Anastasia hurried into speech. “They had their arms around each other. I wont have that kind of behavior. I will not have it. I want them both dismissed at once.”

“You can’t dismiss either of us,” I said. “This is as much Raoul’s house as it is mine. He is forbidden to leave de Brabant lands by my father’s own order.”

“How is it possible,” Chantal de Saint-Andre said, “that Etienne de Brabant is your father and I know nothing about it? Is there anyone else who can vouch for the truth of what you say?”

“There is Old Mathilde,” I replied, “She delivered me.”

“And who was your mother?” Anastasia sneered, “Some local peasant girl, perhaps?”

“My mother was Constanze d’Este,” I replied, and as I spoke the words, I felt a burden lift from my heart. My father might never claim me, but here, in this moment, I had finally claimed my mother for my own.

Anastasia’s face went white to the lips, and her mother’s dark eyes grew wide.

“I have heard that name,” Chantal de Saint-Andre said softly, “There were whispers of it at court, the day Etienne and I took our vows, Constanze d’Este, whose beauty had no equal, who died young. But not one whisper that she died bringing a child into the world. Why did your father not tell me of you himself?”

“Because he wishes I had never been born. My father has never forgiven me for taking my mother out of the world by coming into it. He has never acknowledged me, not to anyone outside this house.”

“I don’t care what you say, I don’t believe you,” Anastasia declared, “Its a touching story, I must admit, but how do we know it’s not a pack of lies?”

“Because Cendrillon looks just like her mother,” Amelie said, speaking for the very first time. Her mother and sisters swung around.

“How can you know that?” Chantal demanded. “Constanze d’Este died before you were born.”

“I have seen her portrait,” Amelie answered simply, “It’s in the room at the end of the hall, the one that’s been locked ever since we arrived. I found the key just this morning, in the peach orchard.”

“The peach orchard,” my stepmother echoed in a dazed voice.

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