Cinder Ella by S.T. Lynn

Author:S.T. Lynn [Lynn, S T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Story Prism Studios
Published: 2020-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The next morning found Ella still seated at the door, rocking gently in place. Tears had dried all over her face and she mentally retraced the words her stepmother had said the night before. Trickster. Liar. Nothing. She poked at the wound like one pokes at a scar, worrying the spot because the pain was familiar and Ella needed something familiar.

Ella hadn't slept, but it was far past the time when she'd normally get started in the kitchen. Still, the sun was barely up. So when the deep echo of knocking on the front door pulsed through the house, Ella furrowed her brow.

She didn't get up.

At some time in the night, Lady had crawled to her and lay against her hip. Ella stroked the dog's fur and rested her forehead in her hand. New, hot tears raced down well-marked lines on her cheeks, but they were reflexive. Like tracing her stepmother's words, the tears were familiar.

Whoever was at the door pounded again. One of the girls shrieked at Ella to answer it, her voice piercing the distance between the upper bedrooms and Ella's storage space below. Ella flinched. Lady whined.

She took a deep breath and wiped her face. Her fingers came away streaked with black and blue. Her makeup. She shuddered and wiped her fingers on the thin slip around her body, staining the cream cloth. She didn't have the strength to stop the new tears.

Another knock. Another shrieking demand. If her sisters wanted her to answer the door so badly, they couldn't complain about her state of dress. Ella struggled to her feet. Her butt was numb from sitting all night.

The knock came again. This time there was no shrieking. Ella took a deep breath and opened the door. She froze, peeking through a gap only an inch wide. Elise had answered the door and Lily stood on the other side of it, dressed from top to toe in formal gowns and livid with anger. Ella eased the door closed a bit more, hiding in the dark of her room. Eleanor had been right. The princess was furious and she's sent Lily to make sure they knew it.

"I'm looking for Ella." Lily growled, her eyes sharp like glass.

"Who are you?" Elise asked.

"Lily vonKarl, Lady in Waiting to the Princess Lizabetta, and Heir to the vonKarl Diocese, and I'm looking for Ella."

From the stairs where Ella couldn't see, Emily snickered, "More like Cinderella."

She watched Elise stifle a laugh, then look further up the stairs. Eleanor must have come out of her room. "Ella doesn't exist. The woman you met last night was actually a man."

Lily's blinked, obviously confused.

Ella frowned. If she didn't know her secret, why was she so angry? Had she actually come to rescue Ella from what she'd seen at the end of the ball? Ella yanked her door open and stepped into the hall but Lily spun in the doorway and marched down the walk. Elise quietly closed the door behind her and turned with her arms crossed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.