Roses and Black Glass: a dark Cinderella tale Read Online Free Page A

don’t
mean that at all!” she whined.
    He shook his
head at her.
    “You’re such
an infant!  Look, you know the rules.  The Charming offspring have to be
married by twenty-one,” he said, sliding out the door.
    “And you would
pick me?” she asked, wanting assurance as she followed him out onto the porch.
    He waved his
hand behind him as if she were an annoying bug.
    “Let me know
if I have a better option,” he said.
    He moved down
the steps, starting along the stone pathway when a thought came to him.
    “Ah yes,” he
said, turning slightly back to her. “Tell Cinderella I said goodbye,
won’t you?  I didn’t seem to have the chance.”
    “Cinderella?”
she asked in confusion.
    He laughed. 
“You never were the quick one, were you?”
    She scowled
back at him with her sharp green eyes.
    “ Cinderella ,”
he said again. “Your sister that doesn’t come out from the morgue.  Tell her
goodbye for me and that I enjoyed our chat.  I suppose I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, so I won’t bother telling you the same.”
    Turning on his
heels, Christian continued along down the path to the carriage, where the
horses waited impatiently.  He smiled after he turned from her.  It was true
that he was free to marry whoever he wished before he was twenty-one, but
truthfully, Christian had only one idea about marriage.  He believed that
marriage was nothing more than another relationship that he would control.  No
emotion would be able to find its way inside it for him, but he would not give
in to an arranged marriage as many had before him.  Christian had seen it
happen to so many; they were forced to marry and finally learned to love
whoever they were bonded to.  Not him.  No love would emit from his heart or
actions.
    Though he was
cold and had no affection for Isabella, in truth, he saw himself marrying
someone like her.  That was why he had told her those things.  She was someone
he could manipulate – without doing it directly.  She was a woman who wasn’t
quick to his sarcasm.  He would admit: Charlotte seemed the more agreeable,
though also more desperate, but Isabella’s jealousy and anger was what made it fun
for him.  He found her wrath amusing, while Charlotte only complied with his
every word.  He wanted someone to argue with.  Isabella would stay by his side
forever.  The way they were now was what he pictured married life to be.  He
would still treat her with no mercy for her ignorance, though she never seemed
to realize this.  If she was not turned away from him now, she would never
leave.
    Still, though,
his mind was filled with the girl he’d just met.  Why had he never seen her
before?  It was a shame to keep her shut away like she was.  Perhaps, were it
not for that, he would have been interested in the pretty, melancholic girl. 
His curiosity now rested squarely with her – the young woman with the pale
skin.  She seemed his equal in every way, and he imagined them engaging in
hours of conversation, sharing thoughts all their own, with plenty of
bickering, of course.  Though he thought this, his meeting her had not in any
way convinced him that he would avoid his destiny or that he would not have the
marriage he pictured.
    He lifted his
feet to step up into the carriage as one of the footmen closed the door.  His
brief step away from reality had made no impact on the world, and down the hill
awaited the unpleasant norm. 
     
    4
     
    Isabella
watched him leave silently from the step. Jealousy and anger boiled inside
her.  He had met Cindy?  How was that possible?  She was working all day in the
basement.  Had he snuck down to meet with her?  Was that where he had been? 
The little tramp!  There would be an end to this, Isabella vowed.  It was a
different thing all together than his flirtatious arrogance with her sister,
Charlotte.  Cindy was different…   Anyone but Cindy!
    She held in
the anger, tightly compressed in her belly.  A lady would never act