Dancing on Glass

Natural Evils of Man

When Cinderella woke again, it was sunset.

The sunlight poured through her open window and she slowly drew up her arm, dropping it across her eyes and squeezing them tight against the irritation of dried tears in the corners.

She lay there.

She wasn't sure for how long.

Five minutes?

Half an hour?

It was still sunset when she drew her arm away at the sound of the door opening.

She heard the sure step of heels and looked around to see Lady Constantia walking in, setting a glass of water on the floor by her bed.

Cinderella gazed out at her room behind her stepmother. It had been emptied of all her stuff. All her furniture, clothes, items – everything but the mattress she lay on was gone – even the bedframe.

"Good evening," she said breezily, leaning down and tucking the covers back in around Cinderella.

"They left," Cinderella muttered, her voice thin, mouth dry.

"Who did, dear?" Lady Constantia asked, straightening up, setting her hands on her hips.

"The Prince."

"Ah, yes, he did," she said, nodding, looking down at Cinderella. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"That slipper didn't fit anyone yet it was yours. You wore it, danced and stood and walked all night in it. It had to have fit you and yet it didn't fit either of my daughters. So how did you do it?"

Cinderella looked up at her for a moment, then looked away, closing her eyes. "Just a dash of portable magic," she muttered.

Lady Constantia pursed her lips at the answer but turned away. "I suppose it's lucky that it didn't fit," she said, "You were right of course. I knew the moment I saw him, The Prince would have no one but the girl he was looking for. The shoe was nothing more than a display to get into people's homes and see who lived there."

"Did he ask after me?"

"He did. Well, he asked if there were servants in the house. I told him that, sadly, we had had to dismiss the staff recently due to the coming marriage and lack of need for them so there were no servant girls left."

Cinderella was quiet for a moment, then her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright, staring at her. "What?" she gasped.

"Dismissed. Gone. Exited. Well, Gozer is still here of course, a grand house like this needs a man for work. And you are here but you are not a servant, you are an heiress – who was in no shape for visitors at the time, poor thing."

"What do you mean dismissed?!" Cinderella cried.

"What else does an employer mean by dismissed, Cinderella? I got rid of them. Did you not notice my sending them to the bank today? They went to collect their final payments and were handed their notices there. I even procured them new employment to start without delay. They and their belongings will be half way to their new homes by now."

"But why?" Cinderella cried. "What are you doing?"

"Giving them a certain future," Lady Constantia said, as if it were obvious, "There will be no place for them in Lord Cheshire's estate; I have to see that they are provided for."

"This is their home! This is the estate they run!"

"Oh, this old place," Lady Constantia sighed, looking up towards the ceiling, "It's not necessary. Perhaps we shall have it torn down and build something new and exciting here."