Cinderella and the Colonel (5 page)

“I would not know what a camel sounds like, sir,” Cinderella said, resting a hand on her throat. Never before had she given such an ungodly long tour. She almost bored
herself
to tears. How did the Colonel endure it?

“Excellent. Shall we stop at an inn or pub to get you a drink?” the Colonel said.

“I must respectfully decline, sir, for I am expected at home,” Cinderella said, her voice giving out several times.

The Aveyron
maid nodded in approval.

“Of course
,” the Colonel said, as sweet as sour dough.

“I hope you enjoyed the tour.
Have a good night, sir,” Cinderella said, curtseying. She—and the maid—turned away from the Colonel when the officer called out after her.

“Tomorrow
, then?”

Cinderella stopped and turned to face him. She struggled several times to speak before she could make her tired voice say
, “I beg your pardon?”

“I will pay you another silver coin for your afternoon
, if you are willing,” the Colonel said.

Cinderella frowned. “You want to do this again?”

“I was hoping you would be willing to forgo the history lesson.”

Cinderella opened her mouth to rep
ly, but the Colonel beat her to the punch. “No, I shall spare your camel-voice and answer for you: you will insist on another sightseeing tour with the chaperone?”

“If you wish to spend the afternoon together
,” Cinderella said.

The soldier sighed.
“Fine. Tomorrow, then. I will find you at the market,” the Colonel said, bending the brim of his hat to Cinderella before he made his exit and walked towards a group of Erlauf soldiers who were congregating beneath an arch a short distance away.

“Erlauf.
Nothing but trouble,” the Aveyron maid said before she made her way to the market where Vitore and a cart were waiting.

Cinderella watched the Colonel
go and felt for the silver coin in her pocket. Tonight she would have Pierre test its authenticity. There was little she could do to dissuade the Erlauf Colonel. Her best chance was to continue stringing him along on tours and hope he grew bored with it, and with her.

“Cinderella!”

Cinderella grimaced as a pig wiped its snout on her dress. After the Erlauf Colonel bought her afternoons for a full week, Cinderella suspected Marie would pay her a visit. Cinderella had hoped it would be at a time when she was not filthy and muddy.

So much for hop
ing.

“Cinderella
, you cannot hide from me! Jeanne said you were out here,” Marie said, sounding just as imperial as she used to back when she wasn’t a merchant’s wife but a duke’s daughter.

“I’ll be there in a minute
,” Cinderella shouted, skidding in the muck and mud the pigs created by dumping their water trough. She almost fell flat, but steadied herself by grabbing a great, black pig.

The animal ignored her
and nosed through food scraps.

Cinderella edged her way out of the mud hole. She popped over the wooden fence just as Marie—in a clean
, crisp dress—rounded the corner of the dairy barn.

“Oh
, Cinderella,” Marie sighed.

“The pig boy is help
ing out in the high pastures today. Someone had to feed the pigs,” Cinderella said, trying not to shudder as she looked at her dress. The thighs up had remained clean, but lower, the pigs had nosed and brushed against Cinderella’s legs, making the hemline of her dress filthy and her legs coated in mud.

“Yes
, but did you have to
crawl into
the pen to feed them?” Marie said.

“I will know better next time
,” Cinderella grimly said.

“You shouldn’t
have to know at all!”

“Marie
,” Cinderella said.

“I know
, I know. I would hug you, but I will decline to touch you. You smell like refuse.”

“I understand. What brings you to Aveyron?”

“I heard about the officer,” Marie said.

“Ah
,” Cinderella said, starting for the dairy barn. “Who told you?”

“The whole capital talks of it
. One of the maids mentioned when the Erlauf officer started stopping by your stand every morning. That was forgivable. Irritating, but not dangerous. But, Cinderella, is it really
wise
to spend your afternoons with him?”

“I don’t
have a choice. Didn’t your maid tell you? He’s a Colonel.”

“He is? Oh dear
,” Marie gasped. “I thought it was unusual you would even look twice at an Erlauf rat. What do the two of you
do
?”

“
First of all, it is three of us. Even I am not so bold that I would accompany a stranger without a chaperone, so a housemaid attends to us. And it is not a true social interaction. I give him tours—although I am beginning to run out of places tied to Erlauf history to visit. I have tried to make it as business-like as possible. He even pays me for the tour.”

“You’re try
ing to get rid of him, then?”

“As best
I can. It is not going well,” Cinderella said, stopping at a well. She dropped a bucket into well and waited for it to sink before drawing it back up.

“Do Julien and Marcus know?” Marie asked
, naming the two eligible, Trieux noble boys.

“Julien must. His fami
ly is too close to Werra not to have heard of it,” Cinderella said, grunting as she pulled the bucket of water over the lip of the well.

“And yet the
Rosseuxes have made no move?”

“I haven’t heard from them since I last saw
them at Lord and Lady Delattre’s.”

“How unusual.
One would think they would sweep in and snatch you up before the Erlauf rat ruins you,” Marie said, backing away from the well when Cinderella started scrubbing.

“I am not surprised. Lord
Rosseux is bitter, but cautious. If the Colonel is petty, he might get nasty if someone tried to step in,” Cinderella said.

“
But it is so dishonorable to leave you alone to defend yourself. What of the Girards?”

Cinderella considered the fami
ly for a moment. They—from Lord and Lady Girard to fourteen-year-old Marcus—were a younger sort of family. “They might step in and make an official marriage offer if they lived any closer. As it stands, it will take a good week or two for the news to reach them.”

“You could write to them
,” Marie suggested.

Cinderella
, pink skinned from the cold water and the spring air, shook her head. “If they make an offer, I will have to accept,” she said, studying the chateau, which austerely stared down at her from a hill. “I’m not ready to give Aveyron up, yet.”

“Foolish girl
. If you wait much longer, the worst might happen—and
no one will want you
,” Marie said wrapping a shawl around her shoulders.

Cinderella didn’t rep
ly.

Marie crossed the short distance between them. She placed her hands on Cinderella’s shoulders and shook her. “Stop dream
ing and wake up. Someday soon, you will have to take care of yourself and put your needs above the needs of your servants. You are running out of time! By staying here, you are only delaying the inevitable, or, worse—bringing personal ruin upon yourself!”

“Marie—
,” Cinderella started.

“Don’t!
Can’t you just…Couldn’t you….,” Marie’s face crumpled as she tried to keep from crying. She let go of Cinderella, only to hug her tight.

“Your dress
, it’ll get ruined,” Cinderella said.

“I don’t care
,” Marie muttered.

The two friends hugged until the tension left Marie
, and she slumped into Cinderella’s shoulder. “Can’t you be selfish? You’re all I have left—I don’t want to lose you too,” Marie said, her voice fragile.

Cinderella patted Marie’s back
. The takeover was difficult on Marie in a different way.

Marie
was a Trieux Duke’s daughter, or she had been. Several years ago, she met and fell in love with Armel Raffin, her husband. He was wealthy, but he lacked a Trieux title and noble blood. Marie’s father forbad her from marrying him, but she did anyway.

So Marie’s
father disowned her. He cut all ties with her, and her family acted as if she had died rather than married beneath her station.

When Trieux
was invaded, all of Marie’s family was executed. No one was left, except for Marie—who had been spared because of the separation.

Marie
had been furious with her father for refusing to acknowledge her marriage, but she was perhaps even more enraged with him for dying before they could make any sort of amends.

“I
hate
them,” Marie said, as if reading Cinderella’s mind. “I
hate
those Erlauf soldiers.”

“Unfortunate
ly they are here, for better or for worse. And we are no longer citizens of Trieux, but citizens of Erlauf,” Cinderella said when Marie pulled away.

Marie sighed. “It is as you say. Could you stay home from the market for a few days?”

“I don’t know,” Cinderella said. “He knows I do not enter Werra on the days the market is closed,” Cinderella said.

“Try it
,” Marie suggested. “He may forget about you in your absence and go plague another pretty girl.”

“
Perhaps,” Cinderella said, grimacing as she studied Marie’s dress. It was ruined, pressed with the same filth on Cinderella’s work dress.

Marie paid the damage no mind. “It
will
work. You can see to the activities of Aveyron for a few days, and he will forget you. It is a winning solution.”

“
Perhaps, but what if he sends inquires after me?”

“Inquiries can be ignored
. Social interaction is the real danger. And surely this Colonel wouldn’t come to Aveyron to bother you.”

“You don’t think so?”

“Good heavens, no. Even an Erlauf rat couldn’t be that shameless.”

Chapter 4

Marie was wrong. He was that shameless.

Cinderella
was considering rugs with Jeanne when Gilbert delivered the news.

“
Gilbert, wonderful timing. We could use your help. Which rug do you think we could get a better price for? The bear fur from Verglas or this velvet rug? The imported bear skin is rarer, but this velvet is awfully close to Erlauf burgundy,” Cinderella said, prodding the rug with her foot.

“You
have a visitor, Mademoiselle,” Gilbert said.

“A visitor?
One of the Trieux nobles?”

“No
, Mademoiselle.”

“Marie or one of her husband’s minions
, then?”

“No
, Mademoiselle.”

Cinderella clasped her hands to her heart. “Not a
tax collector
?” she said in horror.

“No
, Mademoiselle,” Gilbert hesitated. “It is an officer of the Erlauf Army.”

Cinderella felt as if a large rock
had fallen into her stomach. She hadn’t been visited by an army officer before. It was either the Colonel or someone he dispatched on his behalf. “Mercy on my soul, he is a pushy thing,” Cinderella said. “Where is he?”

“I left him stand
ing in the front hall with a footman,” Gilbert stiffly said. Apparently his good manners and delight in decorum did not extend to Erlauf houseguests, or he would have seen the Colonel to the least shabby sitting room.

“Thank you
, Gilbert. Jeanne, may we resume this conversation later?”

“Of course
, Mademoiselle,” Jeanne curtsied.

Cinderella left the shadowy library and made her way to the front hall.

The Colonel stood near the front entrance, admiring a vase of wildflowers.

“Colonel Friedrich
, what brings you to Aveyron?” Cinderella said, briefly curtseying to the officer as he removed his attention from the flowers and turned to face her.

“Good afternoon
, Cinderella. I am here for you, of course.”

“I beg your pardon
, but I do not understand.”

“This is the fourth day you
have been gone from Werra. I thought your absence was an indicator of poor health. Although you seem to be quite well,” the Colonel said, his eyes traveling the length of Cinderella’s body.

“I am fine
, but I thank you for the inquiry,” Cinderella said.

The Colonel clasped his arms behind his back. “What kept you from the market?”

“I was needed here in Aveyron,” Cinderella said, lying through her teeth. Besides deciding what items to sell, there was very little Cinderella could do at Aveyron except get in the way of the servants.

“Y
ou will soon return to spending your days in Werra?”

“Yes
,” Cinderella reluctantly said. The extra coin she received from the Colonel kept her fortified for the past few days, but she had to return to Werra for reasons besides money.

“I am heartened to hear
that. May I place an early reservation on your afternoon—and your maid’s afternoon, I suppose?”

Cinderella studied the Colonel. “Haven’t you tired of history
, or my voice?” Cinderella asked, her tone closer to sincerity than the stiff politeness she usually used.

“Not yet
,” the Colonel smirked.

Cinderella brief
ly closed her eyes. “Very well. I shall see you tomorrow afternoon?”

“I eager
ly await the moment. Until then, be in good health,” the Colonel said, tipping his hat to Cinderella before he made for the door.

The footman leaped to open the door for the Colonel
, and slammed it on the officer’s heels. Although the footman said nothing, the look of distaste on his face was clear.

“I agree
,” Cinderella said. She shivered in the chill of the chateau and wrapped her arms around herself before she made her way back to the library where the rugs awaited. She was almost out of the entrance when her step-mother, Lady Klara, called.

“Cinderella,” she said. Her voice was crystallized ice: sharp, jagged, and as cold as winter.

“Yes
, Step-Mother?” Cinderella said, brandishing the title like a weapon.

Lady Klara
was just as cold as her voice with icy eyes and hair the color of a stormy sky. She always stood straight, as if she had an icicle pressed to her back, and her expression was cool. Today, probably due to Cinderella’s heavy-handed words, her top lip curled in a sneer. “There was an Erlauf guest?” she asked as she elegantly descended the staircase that led to the second floor of the chateau.

“Yes
, Step-Mother.”

“They did not wish to see me?”

“No, Step-Mother. He was here for me,” Cinderella said.

Lady Klara
folded her hands in front of her. “I see. I apologize for detaining you so. Carry on.”

“Thank you
, Step-Mother,” Cinderella said, curtseying before she fled the room, shivering. Lady Klara had that effect on her. The woman never liked Cinderella’s father, and Cinderella was no better in her eyes.

Cinderella co-existed with her step-
family because their presence made her unmarried state possible. Without them, Cinderella would not be chaperoned, and Aveyron would be snatched from her by the queen of Erlauf before Cinderella could turn eighteen.

However
, whatever positives there were to their presence, Cinderella still disliked them—and the feeling was mutual. Lady Klara was from Erlauf. She was the widow of an army officer who was slain in battle.

Hous
ing the enemy, feeding them, and seeing to their desires rankled Cinderella. Thankfully, they seemed to dislike their housing situation as much as Cinderella did, and mostly kept to their rooms or spent all of their time with other Erlauf friends.

“It seems those from Erlauf will not give me rest
,” Cinderella said. “I wish they would all just
leave
.”

“The Erlauf Count Linz once stayed here. Dur
ing his visit he…,” Cinderella trailed off as she watched another squad of Erlauf soldiers troop past. They seemed to be out in high numbers today. She would have to wait to perform one of her less-than-legal errands thanks to the sudden influx.

“Cinderella?” the Colonel said
, shattering Cinderella’s thoughts.

“Yes?”

“What did this count do during his stay?” the Colonel said before he yawned.

“He broke his toe and hobbled for the rest of his life. This way
, please,” Cinderella said, holding up her makeshift flag as she led the Colonel and her maid deeper into the historic district of Werra.

“You made
that up,” the Colonel said.

“I did not.”

“You must have. You cannot tell me a Trieux history book would contain that kind of information. No
Erlauf
historic text would.”

“It’s true
,” Cinderella said, passing five soldiers as she led the Colonel through what remained of the Royal Gardens.

“Mademoiselle!”

Cinderella paused, recognizing the voice.

“Mademoiselle Cinderella,” a young boy called as he scurried to catch up.

Cinderella squinted, recognizing the young boy as a servant from Aveyron. If memory served her correctly he was the youngest shepherd in the duchy. “Yes, Florian?” she asked.

“Vitore sent me. She needs assistance,” the young boy said, panting.

“Is something wrong?”

Florian shook his head. “Customer bought out all our potatoes for the day.”

“Didn’t we bring a dozen bushels?” Cinderella asked.

“Aye.
Cook up at the castle bought ‘em, but he needs help transporting ‘em. Someone needs to mind the stall while Vitore ‘n me deliver the potatoes,” Florian said.

Cinderella almost clapped her hands in glee. All the potatoes were sold out? And it was still moderately early in the day. What good luck!

“Of course we can return,” Cinderella said.

“Are you going refuse to give me my money’s worth, then?” the Colonel asked, his voice lazy.

Cinderella winced. She had forgotten him. “No, of course not, sir.”

In Cinderella’s hesitation the housemaid stepped forward. “I will go will go with young Florian.”

Cinderella’s sense of decorum briefly fought with her great desire for money. “Are you sure you do not mind?” Cinderella asked as the housemaid stalked closer.

“If you will pardon me, Mademoiselle, I will send
someone from the market to watch you. The Tanner’s wife, perhaps,” the maid said, whispering to Cinderella.

Cinderella smiled in relief.
“Very well. That sounds excellent, thank you.”

The shepherd and maid bobbed in a bow and a curtsey before they scrambled in the direction of the market.

Cinderella watched them go before she continued on her course, heading through the historical district.

“Where are we go
ing?” the Colonel asked.

“To the Ruins of Alsace
,” she said, naming a historic Trieux building that Erlauf had torn down.

“We’ve already visited Alsace.
Twice.”

“Yes
, but I did not tell you all there is to know of it,” Cinderella said.

“
I can hardly wait to hear more,” the Colonel said, his voice lacking enthusiasm.

Cinderella glanced over her shoulder. The bored Colonel stared at her
, and behind him walked the five soldiers from the gardens. “I am sure,” Cinderella said.

“When will you
desist playing tour guide?” the Colonel said.

“
I should think never. It is the greatest aspiration of my life to give historic tours,” Cinderella lied as they approached the toppled building. The grounds surrounding it were a wreckage of rubble and stone.

The Colonel snorted. “I see.
I suppose those of
Trieux
have a different, perhaps inferior, sort of aspiration they shoot for.”

Cinderella stopped and swung around to face him. She
was about to blast him with some sharp words she would regret later but was silenced by the sight of the five Erlauf guards.

They followed Cinderella and the Colonel all the way to the ruins
, an area rarely patrolled, and even less often frequented by normal citizens.

“…Cinderella?” the Colonel said.

Cinderella tilted her head as she studied the soldiers.

The Colonel brief
ly turned to see what Cinderella gawked at. “Pay them no mind,” he said, returning his attention to Cinderella.

Cinderella ignored his advice
. There was something
off
about the soldiers. Cinderella watched as one of the men swung a quiver off his back. Her heart stopped when she realized what it was.

The soldiers
were dressed in Erlauf burgundy and gray, but their quivers held arrows fletched with feathers dyed Trieux lavender, and their swords were the ornate, beautiful kind Trieux nobles used to use.

They
were not Erlauf soldiers.

They
were assassins.

Cinderella shifted her gaze from the
assailants to the Colonel. He stared back at her with boredom.

He didn’t know
.

Cinderella could make an excuse and dart off
, and he would be killed. One despicable Erlauf officer would be wiped from the world, and one of her problems would be solved.

She could be wrong
. Maybe they weren’t here to kill him, but no one would blame her if she didn’t speak up, right?

The Colonel blinked his dark
eye at her. “Cinderella? Are you finally
done
?”