“Oh, that turned out awful.” Mother made a horrified face.
“I know.” I chuckled. “The dye was the worst I could find; it just made their hair look dry and flat. They look like they're covered in charcoal dust.”
“That's what they get for trying to replace my daughter.” She smiled and stroked one of my raven locks behind my ear. “A glistening blue-black color like yours is only found on fairies.”
Chapter Twelve
The King was good to his word, and the very next day, the three princes came to the manor with my glass slipper. My stepsisters were in a tizzy, all except Ava, who sulked. But Ava had the last laugh.
Hazel and Kaylee, with their awful dye jobs and their poor, injured skin (angry red instead of a healthy blush), were allowed to try the slipper on despite the distaste evident in the princes's faces. Even had they managed to fit their foot into my slipper, the princes wouldn't have married them. That much was clear from their expressions. But their father had promised the Duchess that her daughters would be given a shot at the shoe, and so, they were.
Neither foot fit.
Then Prince Ashton turned to Ava and kindly offered her a try. She brightened as her sisters gaped. Ava plopped into the chair before the Prince and shoved her foot into the glass slipper. She pushed and pushed, and when Ashton tried to remove the slipper, she grabbed it desperately and tried to bend her toes into the tip. Ashton waited patiently. Evidently, he was used to this sort of thing. When Ava finally gave up, he bowed to her as if nothing strange had happened, and returned the slipper to its resting place: a carved wooden chest.
I rolled my eyes.
Then Ashton spotted me. My eyes widened as he stepped forward, looking as if he'd ask me to try the slipper. Oh, no, I had no intentions of making it that easy on them. If I tried that shoe on, they'd know for certain that I was Lily, but I would never be certain that they wanted me for me, and not because my mother's spell had captivated them for an evening.
So, I ran.
“Madelyn!” Ashton called after me.
I ran faster. I didn't stop running until I was safely hidden in the forest, and up my favorite tree. I stayed there until I heard the royal carriages pass by, and then I climbed down and returned home... to find an enraged stepmother.
“What did you do?” She shrieked at me. “Have you been speaking to the princes?”
“No,” I huffed. “As if they would talk to me. They came by the night of the Ball, asking about that woman. I told them I hadn't seen anyone. That's it.”
She narrowed her gaze on me, but seemed to calm... slightly. “Well, you ruined my girls' chances at snagging a prince. Your ineptitude with the hair dye and the bleaching has left them looking like harlots. I blame you for their failure.”
“It wasn't their hair but the size of their feet that cost them the princes,” I pointed out.
I shouldn't have done that; it only made it worse. I was set to cleaning out the stables, top to bottom, and then the entire house. My chores kept me busy for a week, but I didn't care because every day at noon when I took a short break to eat, the princes would come to visit. They came together now, and they rode in through the woods so that my stepmother never saw them. They began to bring lunch with them, and then one day, when I said I had to return to work, they offered to help.
I was so shocked that I nearly fainted.
“You want to help me muck out the pig pens?” I asked Weston. “Are you mad?”
“I think that every man needs to experience some hard labor,” Wes said. “And if it helps you in the process, Maddie, then all the better.”
Oh right, I forgot to mention. I'd started calling the brothers by the first half of their names: Ash, Wes, and Brax reserving the second half: Ton, for when I referred to them as a whole. And they had begun to call me Maddie.
Yeah, I was in love with them, okay?
Chapter Thirteen
“Come with us, Maddie,” Ash purred as he took my hand.
“I'm in the middle of my morning chores,” I protested.
“No, you're not,” Wes said. “There will be no more chores for you.”
“What?” I blinked in surprise.
“Just come along, Mads,” Brax growled. “Don't worry about those bitches; we'll handle them.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as Brax helped me up into Ashton's saddle.
