Princess Charming

Chapter 15: Elliot

"Leaving before midnight, Elliot?" His step-father's voice had a steely, frozen undertone that was far more dangerous than any of Charmaine's flares of temper.

Before Elliot could turn and flee, rough hands pushed against his back, shoving him into the coach.

"Nice of you to join us, Cinder," Helios jeered, slamming the coach door behind him and taking the space to the left of his father. Selene was sat on the right, staring resolutely out of the window, her body frozen, her expression unreadable. She gave no indication that she had even noticed Elliot entering the carriage.

Elliot sank reluctantly onto the bench opposite them.

Helios lent forwards at once and tugged the remaining glass shoe from his hands. He examined it with confusion for a moment before passing it to his father.

"You disappoint me yet again, Elliot, with your inability to follow even simple instructions. What could possibly have confused you about my order to leave the ball and never speak to the Princess again? What did you think was going to happen? That she'd ask you to marry her and the palace would somehow keep you safe? Or that I would renege on my promise that I would go to the ends of the world to make you both suffer; to make you pay for the humiliation and degradation the match would have heaped on my family? I thought I had made myself perfectly clear in the ballroom: tell the princess the truth about who you are and I will destroy you."

His stepfather sighed. "Now I won't pretend to understand why exactly you were fleeing, barefoot, from the palace, but more extreme courses of action will now need to be taken. Starting with this ridiculous item of footwear." He wrinkled his nose at the shoe before bringing it down onto the floor of the coach with a crash, where it shattered into a thousand sparkling shards.

His step-father calmly wiped a few beads of bright red blood from his hand, watching Elliot's own reaction carefully.

But Elliot had made himself freeze in place. He refused to rise to his step-father's taunts. He refused to cower or beg for forgiveness. All he needed to do was wait until they reached the house then - shoes or not - he could bolt into the forest. He wouldn't let his step-father harm Charmaine and he refused to be his slave any longer. He'd find somewhere far away where no one knew who he was and start a new life; one where he couldn't hurt anyone. He had enough experience working in a household that finding employment shouldn't be a problem. And with the option to chose his next employers came the hope of better working conditions. A bed. Breaks. The company of other employees. Of course, it wouldn't be Charmaine. Nothing would ever come close to her, but she would be safe; that was the most important thing.

Elliot was so caught up in planning that he didn't immediately notice when the coach pulled to a halt outside the house. He was therefore a little slower launching his escape plan than he'd intended. But that didn't mean that he carried it out with any less force or gusto.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he made to run, only to have his step-father's hand lock onto his arm in an iron grip.

Panicking, Elliot struck out wildly, his fist colliding with his step-father's cheekbone, issuing a stomach-churning crack. But Helios wrenched his arms behind him before he could strike again and half dragged, half carried Elliot into the house. Selene's gaze remained fixed on the far window throughout; she made no attempt to help her brother or father, or even acknowledge that anything was going on.

Once inside, Helios hauled Elliot across the entrance way before throwing him - still thrashing wildly against his step-brother's grip - down the kitchen stairs, slamming the door as Elliot tumbled onto the hard ground. The key echoed in the lock, abandoning Elliot in the gloom.

His arms aching, his hip sore from where he'd landed at the bottom of the stairs, Elliot pulled himself up using the banister, unsure whether to laugh or sob at the predicament he now found himself in. His clothes had become rags once more, not that it mattered - the fine suit he had left for the ball in had been utterly destroyed on the way home, so wouldn't have looked much better than his rags anyway. Forget parties, fancy clothes and wooing princesses. Where was a fairy-godparent when you really needed them?

"Come on then," Elliot said to the empty air. "I could do with your help right about now." When a few minutes passed without response, Elliot curled up by the dying embers of the fire and lost himself in a fitful sleep.

He woke up a few hours later - the fire out, the icy bite of the stone floor seeping through his back, stiffening his limbs - as the door to the kitchen crashed open.

"There's been a royal proclamation," his step-father spat as he descended the stairs to the kitchen floor, where Elliot was hurriedly trying to pull himself back to his feet, leaning against the fireplace for support.

An ugly bruise marred almost half of his step-father's face. His left eye was puffy and swollen, his lip not much better.

Elliot looked at the bruise with revulsion. No matter what the man had done to him, he regretted lashing out so violently. While his step-father sat himself down at the kitchen table, apparently in no rush to reveal what the royal proclamation entailed, Elliot limped over to the medicine cabinet by the sink and pulled out a small pot of healing salve, which he then dumped on the middle of the table before lowering himself into one of the other chairs.

His step-father sneered at the salve, but pocketed it. His hand was covered in tiny cuts from where he had smashed the shoe the night before.

He threw a piece of parchment across the table, gesturing for Elliot to read it out.

"Her royal highness, Princess Charmaine, declares that she will marry none but the mysterious stranger she danced with at the ball, who's foot will fit the glass shoe that was left behind at the castle last night. All young men in the kingdom are ordered to present themselves before the princess to try on the shoe. Failure to do so will incur her royal highness' deepest displeasure."

He put the parchment back on the table and looked across at his step-father. "What do you intend to do?"

"Nothing." He replied.

Elliot's eyes widened in shock. Whatever he had been expecting the response to be, it hadn't been that.

"We shall all be remaining in the house for the time being; I have written to a few of my associates to let them know that Selene is unfortunately gravely ill, so we can accept no visitors - nor follow any ridiculous royal proclamations - at this time. The Princess will give up soon enough, then we can carry on as before."

Elliot thought it was very unlikely that Charmaine would abandon her search that easily, but it seemed wiser to keep that piece of information to himself.

"You are to stay inside the house at all times. All of the doors and windows have been locked and only I have the keys. You will remain in the kitchen unless called for upstairs. Otherwise, you will carry out your duties as usual; starting with breakfast. I expect it on the dining table in fifteen minutes." With that, his step father stalked from the room, leaving Elliot once more with only his own - increasingly jumbled - thoughts for company.

{I'm not 100% sure when I'll be posting the final chapter. I'm about half way through writing it, but with Christmas so close I don't really know when I'll get it completed. It will be posted as soon as possible though! Please leave a comment letting me know how you think the story will end and, as always, vote if you enjoyed this chapter.}