35. Return of the Steps
Chapter 35
Return of the Steps
CINDER
T he Midnight garden party is in full grotesque swing by the time the King sweeps onto the grounds. I've spent the last hour fielding more thinly veiled insults and disdainful sneers, each vampire guest eyeing me like a toxic stain they wish would vanish.
Of course, they do their best to tamp it down in front of the ambassadors from the Common World. The humans and fae from the Common World are a constant background presence, always watching.
I get the sense they are waiting to find something amiss. Anything to justify taking a political move against King Charming. While I might be compelled to throw the King under the bus with them on sheer principle, I have my own agenda to see to.
I still have this burning need to find out if he killed my father. My frustration only grows as Kai keeps telling me to be patient and we’ll find a way to get information soon.
Thank the fae lords for the overflowing champagne fountain—at least nobody bats an eyelash when I gulp it down like a camel in the desert. The bubbles help dull the sting of their muttered barbs about my “unsuitability” to become a princess.
Pfft. As if I actually want the fucking job.
Though I have to confess I’ll miss this place when I’m gone. It’s not like I’ll be allowed to waltz back into Midnight after Kai and I call things off.
“You’ve sat on the cliff’s edge?” the vampire with an Indian accent and curious brown eyes asks. “For fun?”
I’ve shockingly found some of the court members aren’t as heinous as the rest. The fangers are still ignorant in many ways about how humans operate, but I've been asked some questions out of genuine interest. Questions about my father’s life and art, or how I maintain such pristine skin as a human, or which part of Midnight is my favorite.
The cliffs.
Still, I can't keep my eyes from finding Kai across the lawns like he’s a magnet.
Even dressed to the nines for this stuffed shirt soiree, the Charming prince radiates an easy sensuality that has more than a few noblewomen—and noblemen—fawning over him.
Kai serves all of them the same publicity smile that I know to be part of his act. A strange buzz generates in my belly when I realize I may be the only one here who knows him beyond the mask he presents.
The predatory glint in his eyes every time they flick my way promises all sorts of deliciously filthy things if we can ditch this freak parade early. I squirm a little at the thought, downing another glass until the bubbles fizz low in my belly.
“Would you excuse me?” I ask the two fangers I’ve been talking to.
As I make my way across the grounds, I pretend not to hear the hushed whispers.
“Do you believe this farce?”
“She clearly has no interest in our prince.”
“Do you think she’s been thralled for this PR stunt to please the ambassadors?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Her demeanor is downright robotic.”
They think I’m thralled?
I glide in between the women and select men who are cooing over Kai.
A beautiful Black beauty stands before him, flashing her teeth and fluttering her lashes. “Your Highness, why don’t you let me rub your neck. I’m sure there are many knots from all the stress you’ve been going through lately.”
I catch the woman’s hand as it snakes up to my fiancé's shoulder. “That won’t be necessary. My prince prefers his knots be untied in private.”
Before Kai’s surprise begins to register, I cup the back of his neck and kiss him. I press against his strong lips until they yield, just long enough to put heat and a bit of tongue into our exchange, but not so long that it would be considered obscene. Then I back away, pretending to give an embarrassed blush. “Oh so sorry, I forget myself when you are near, sl—sweet muffin.” Even I hear how ridiculous the endearment sounds in my deadpan voice. At least I caught myself before I called him a slut.
“Not at all, my punk rock princess.” Kai sounds a little out of breath and looks a little too pleased.
The disappointment of the crowd around me ripples palpably. My appearance is oddly inspiring them all to disappear one by one.
What a pity.
The Midnight fairy who’d been attempting to feel up my man barely restrains a hiss in my direction before she wanders off. I briefly think of trying to set her up with a certain demonic cat as they both have the same behavioral traits.
It’s not long before we are alone. Kai’s cold mass fills the space next to me, giving me the strangest sense of comfort and protection.
“Enjoying yourself, my raging beauty?”
There are few times he’s not glued to my side, and I have to admit his presence affects me in a way I’ve never known. In the way only a massive pumpkin spice latte can usually achieve.
An alarm goes off in the back of my head.
Don’t get used to this.
“I love the gardens,” I admit with true sincerity.
My heart expands in Midnight in a way I’d almost forgotten.
The silver rays of the moon stretch so bright over the lush green lands and the brine of the ocean from the cliff sides mingle with the fragrant flowers that grow here.
“It makes me want to paint,” I breathe the words even as my hands itch to wrap around a paintbrush.
“You should,” he says, a sudden intensity focused on me. Yet again he holds a glass of champagne instead of blood. It’s not even tinged with pink to indicate drops of blood present.
The vampire who hates drinking blood.
He’s insane.
“Maybe later I’ll sneak away to see if there are any supplies left in my father’s studio. If it’s even still there, that is.”
l also need to spend more time searching for the Ember of Midnight.
“You seem tired,” he says, softly.
Guess my concealer isn’t cutting it when it comes to hiding the little baggies dragging down my eyes.
“Yeah well, between shifts at the Poison Apple and then coming back to a full social schedule at Midnight there hasn’t been much time for sleep. This place does not have enough pumpkin spice lattes for me to keep up. Not to mention, when I’m here I have to subsist on old packets of ramen and stale bread and cheeses.”
My eyes catch on the human servants milling about. Are they trapped inside their minds? Are they blissfully unaware of what they are doing?
Kaison frowns and I think he’s about to say something when he’s interrupted.
“Lords and ladies,” the King's reverberating voice cuts through the tittering crowd. “I'd like to take a moment to address the future of our families.”
“What is he talking about?” I mutter to Charming as my fingers flex around my empty glass.
“I have no idea,” Kaison says darkly.
Apparently, he doesn’t think Daddy Dearest has good intentions either.
“Our two families were once entwined and after Byung-He's death, I fear to say we fell out of touch,” The King's voice drips with regret, but his eyes sparkle with undisguised triumph as they find me in the crowd.
The horror of what he’s talking about slowly dawns on me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to rectify this. I am so very grateful to find our families have the very best reason to strengthen our bonds.”
“Oh, oh fae lords no,” I whisper even as my throat feels an invisible leather strap start to pull.
I scan the grounds.
As if summoned by dark magic, the three figures I'd tried so hard to erase from my memory materialize alongside the King, resplendent in glittering jewel tones that would make a debutante weep.
Marisela glides across the marbled pathway followed by her vicious daughters. Anastasia and Drusilla flank my stepmother like sleek, malevolent jackals, their movements practiced and predatory.
Every muscle in my body goes rigid as stone as Marisela's chilling stare settles on me. Her perfectly glossed lips curl in a poisonous facsimile of a smile.
“Cinder?” Kai asks next to me in a low voice.
I can’t blink. I can’t breathe. I can’t move.
Suddenly, I’m twelve years old again. My father is dead and I discover the true meaning of family.
Rejection.
Punishment.
Pain.
“Cinder, you’re shaking,” Kai whispers, panic lacing his voice.
He’s right. I have to stop. I have to pull the plug on my own thoughts, disconnect from what’s happening before it destroys me.
Though staring into the eyes of the vampires who tore into me with their sharp fangs over and over whenever they felt like it makes it difficult. My throat is suddenly hoarse as I remember begging them to stop, pleading because the pain was too much.
Around me, the party's atmosphere chills to a sub-zero degree. Dozens of eyes bore into me, sharp and judgmental as their whispers reach a fever pitch. I can practically taste the scandal and intrigue like fine port on their tongues.
Only the ambassadors from the Common World seem to genuinely clap with enthusiasm as my stepfamily makes their way toward me, escorted by the King.
His face is twisted into a cruel, triumphant smile. His eyes gleam with smug satisfaction, revealing the true depths of his intentions.
He knows.
He knows I fear my family.
This is a trap. A manipulation orchestrated by the King to strip away my composure. He wants me to lose it, to rail, to fight, to accuse my stepfamily of all they’ve done. Or maybe just reject them. Because that’s all I want to do. Turn on my heel and run. Find a dark corner and shut down every one of my wild emotions.
It would damage the relations between the Common World and Midnight to reject the family that allegedly raised me. The King is appearing to be gracious and accepting of our mixed families, so I would look like the asshole here.
It would give a perfect excuse to dissolve the engagement so Kai will have to marry a fairy.
“Cinder,” Kai hisses this time. Fingers slip into mine, but I jerk away, rejecting his touch.
I don’t realize I’ve done it until it’s too late.
There is an almost imperceptible gasp. Everyone is watching.
I don’t want to be touched. Not now. Not while my skin crawls as if turned into a giant mass of wriggling maggots.
But I can’t explain that.
The perfectly timed misstep on my part will give them all the excuse they need. And even though I can’t choke my way past my visceral reactions, I become even more certain that the King had something to do with my father’s death.
“Right,” Kai says with resolved acceptance.
The icy tendrils of panic wrap around my throat as I meet my stepfamily's gaze. I force my lips into that simpering smile I've seen every other noblewoman wear. It’s all I can muster.
“What a joy it is for us to all be joined together,” Kaison says, breaking the tension, opening his arms, and stepping forward to greet my stepfamily.
Suddenly it’s the Prince Charming show, and I’ve been demoted to cast extra.
Kaison kisses my stepmother, Marisela on either cheek, taking her hand. Then he moves and repeats the gesture to greet Anastasia who tilts her head, almost in offering to him. Her colorless eyes blatantly promise him dark, dirty trysts. Her platinum updo is a complicated set of braids that mimic a crown. A placeholder until she can get her clawed fingers on the real thing.
Meanwhile, Drusilla’s hungry gaze remains fastened to me. It burrows under my skin, and oily nausea sloshes up my throat. The glossy chestnut hair tumbles over either shoulder and I’m still amazed at how much she looks like a child.
. . .from a horror movie.
With a theatric sweep around, Kaison rushes to embrace me. “Is this not fortuitous, my beautiful bride? Your family is here.” I’m too frozen to keep him from pulling me close. His mouth falls even with my ear.
“Don't let them smell your fear. They want you to break. I will get us out of this.”
I swallow hard as his words penetrate. He’s right.
I can’t give them the satisfaction. No matter how many bloody memories flash behind my eyes, no matter how hard my heart hammers, I am Princess Cinder Charming for tonight.
And a Charming always gets the last laugh.
The King isn’t laughing now though. His eyes narrow at his son who is effectively diffusing the bomb he set to go off.
Marisella, Anastasia, and Drusilla drop into shallow curtsies before me, and I can’t make my knees work to mirror the gesture back.
That, or every fiber in my body fights the thought of bowing before them.
Never again.
“We are so happy to celebrate the union of our families,” my stepmother says in that voice that reminds me of dark red wine.
Marisela doesn’t want to give it away that she had no idea I was in Midnight, much less about to get engaged to the prince.
I’m sickened by the realization that she still always knows the right thing to say. The thing people around her want to hear.
You are my daughter, just as much as them.
We’re family now, Cinder.
Even if they are blatant lies.
Anastasia’s eyes are fastened hungrily to Charming as if willing him to engage in a randy bout of eye fucking. He artfully dodges her intense stare, as he smiles at subjects in the garden.
“Well, my dear,” the King says smoothly to me. “Aren’t you pleased to include your family in the celebrations? I’ve made sure they shall be at all of our soirees and events, fastened to your side in support.”
A roaring kicks up in my ears.
They’ll be at every event? At my side?
For the foreseeable future?
My heart thumps sluggishly, battering at my ribs with all they can muster.
I’m going to pass out.
Or scream.
Either way, it’s not going to end well.