Dancing on Glass

Lies and Slander

Cinderella and Jazz narrowly avoided colliding with Lady Constantia mid-waltz a half hour later and Cinderella steered them away so fast Jazz nearly fell over her huge skirts.

"What?" he asked, startled.

"Nothing, nothing," Cinderella said as Jazz swept them back into the flow of flowing gowns and twirling couples.

Jazz was looking around in confusion but Lady Constantia had already faded back into the crowds of dancers.

Cinderella's heart was pounding. She had barely realised it was her stepmother until the last second when she's noticed the dress – being that she had spent hours adding all the particulars to it to create the subtle theme of a tiger, she knew it well.

Off to her left she suddenly spotted Giselle, her gleaming black and gold firefly dress flaring around her like the night sky.

Off to the right was Jezabelle in her beautiful yet simple gown of whites and silvers, depicting the racing winds.

Cinderella felt cornered.

She knew she had no reason to feel it. Not one of the trio were looking her way, they were all focusing on their partners. Giselle was chatting animatedly with her partner. Jezabelle was listening with clear interest to whatever her partner was talking about.

And Lady Constantia was smiling at her partner – the smile was so startling happy the expression almost made Cinderella stop and gape. She'd never seen her stepmother look so happy. Both her and her partner seemed so happy as they spoke to each other.

"Jazz, who's that?" she muttered, pointing towards the pair.

Jazz looked over, his eyes finally finding the pair in the waltzing crowd. "Lord Cheshire," he said, looking back at her.

Cinderella raised an eyebrow behind her mask, then, for good measure, asked, "And the lady?"

"I don't know her to see her like this. Perhaps if she removed her mask... shall we speak to them?"

"No, no", Cinderella said quickly, "No, it's rude to interrupt them."

"Do you think it's the same lady Lord Cheshire was talking to at the last ball?"

Cinderella shrugged, her eyes returning to watch her stepsisters. Jezabelle was still dancing with her partner. Cinderella had to admit, she was dazzling as she danced, she was so talented – if only she wasn't quite so unreadable.

Giselle had gone missing, but that was only momentarily because the next second, someone collided with her – hard – and Cinderella almost fell over.

"Oh! Excuse you!" someone cried behind her and Cinderella's heart stopped for a second, gripping Jazz's arms where'd she'd caught them for support.

She slowly looked over her shoulder to see Giselle stood behind her, still in the arms of her partner, both of them looking at her.

"Oh, you're that duchess, aren't you?" Giselle said, putting a hand on her hip and pursing her lips.

Cinderella's voice stalled in her throat as she stared. What did she do?

What did she do!?

"What? Can't the Oh So Wonderful Duchess talk?" Giselle said.

"Miss," Jazz started when Giselle narrowed her eyes and leant forwards.

"Have we met before, Duchess?" she asked, frowning, trying to get a good look at Cinderella's eyes through her mask but Cinderella didn't ever quite look her in the eye. "You're not really a duchess, are you? I know all the nobility. I know everyone here – at least anyone worth knowing – so where do you fit in?"