Dancing on Glass

Third Time's the Charm

Like the last ball, Cinderella raced home, was ripped out of her costume, stuffed back into her usual day clothes and Vanessa and all her staff sped away into the night without leaving a trace.

Cinderella collapsed into a chair in the kitchen, dropping her head back and letting out a breath, making Edgar smile as Dia made tea for all of them.

"Did you have fun then?" he asked.

Cinderella smiled. "I did. I danced most of the night with Jazz. And The Prince. I don't think he enjoyed the evening so much though."

"The Prince?" Dia asked.

"It's hard falling in love with someone you cannot be with," Cinderella said, resting her cheek on her knuckles.

"Oh, you mean you and Jazz," Dia said and Cinderella sneered at her.

"I was speaking of His Highness and the princess he loves," she said.

"Of course," Dia said, taking a sip of her tea.

"I was."

"I didn't disagree."

"And how is your uncle?" Edgar cut in.

Cinderella opened her mouth to say he was well then paused. She looked at Edgar for a moment then drew a breath. "Did you know about my father?" she asked and of course confused Edgar.

He stared blankly at her. "Your father?" he copied.

"Did you know about the scandal surrounding that last voyage and his death?" she asked and she saw Edgar's jaw lock.

"I did," he said, his voice hard.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What good would it have done? You were grieving."

"I should have known."

"It was a lie. I wasn't going to allow you be tormented by the 'maybes' and 'what ifs' when the world you knew was already falling apart around you. I wasn't going to let you question your father's honour."

"Her father's honour?"

The voice at the door made everyone jump then freeze, before spinning around.

Jezabelle pulled the kitchen door open and swept in, adjusting her skirts as she came down the steps.

"Miss," Edgar said, his voice tight as they all got to their feet. "We didn't hear you arrive."

She waved her closed fan at them to signal to relax and sat down at the table. "Tea and something savoury," she said.

Dia quickly got to making her a cup of tea while Cinderella went into the pantry and brought out four oat cakes. She cut fine slices of cheese to go with them and set the plate down at her elbow. It wasn't a snack her mother particularly approved of – oat cakes, how very uninspiring – but Jezabelle had always had a fondness of the simple meal.

"What about your father's honour?" Jezabelle asked as she took a bite of the cake.

"Nothing," Cinderella muttered, taking her seat again.

Jezabelle looked at her then looked at Edgar. "Were you discussing that scandal?" she asked.

"How did you guess?" Dia asked.

"What else was there to make anyone question that man's honour?" Jezabelle asked with a shrug, sipping her tea. "His business exploits were hardly common knowledge. That thing with the smuggling was the only public knowledge." She suddenly looked at Cinderella again. "You do know about the whole smuggling disaster, correct? Mother would never let us tell you. Insisted on it so much even Giselle wasn't stupid enough to let it slip."