The Search for Cinderella

Chapter 35

 

Jade rolled out of bed, tangled in her bedsheets and quilt. She felt like her veins were on fire and tried to calm her floundering breath. There was sweat dotting her face despite it being winter. Jade clenched, unclenched her hands as she fought the compulsion; the compulsion to destroy the bean pots she had planted in the village.

 

“I’m not going mad. Not again,” The tall girl grimaced, “That witch can’t take over my dreams again.”

 

She stared at her unadorned pots that sat empty on the window sill and felt the urge to overturn them over the balcony outside. It wasn’t like they were alive. They were a dead plant that had yet to emerge from the dusty soil but she knew there was a chance they could thrive.

 

Jade grappled for her staff but she could not find it near her bedside and pushed herself up from the heated marble floor. Her calf throbbed but she swallowed the ache.

 

The former secretary knew she had to find the Prince urgently. This particular assault on her dreams were the witch’s speciality and she feared the Prince would once again be plagued with the same problem as her.  

 

Jade had only just draped her dress robe over the night shirt when she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her brown hair was messily hanging over her narrow ruddy face. She no longer looked like a man and could no longer walk through the corridors at night. It would be unseemly to be caught sneaking into the Prince’s room in the dead of the night in her state. The scandal alone would destroy any plans to introduce her to society. Jade decided to rummage through her old trunk for appropriate attire.

 

She finally stuffed her plait into a stiff men’s morning hat and adjusted an overcoat over her breeches with her nightshirt safely tucked in. She wrapped a fur scarf around her neck which covered half her face in case she found herself face to face with the night guards.

 

Jade prowled the corridors once again staff-less fearing she would be identified by the obvious support for her limp. She had never visited Luke’s chambers in this particular palace but knew where the royal chambers lay and which room was his. She had been informed of minutest details under Elliot’s tutelage.

 

The tall girl checked her pocket watch and observed the guards change their duties from behind a large statue. She knew that the greater the medals on the guard’s red uniforms the more important their duties in the city palace. The most prized possession in the sleeping chambers Jade surmised were the royal family and she only had to follow an important looking guard to find the royal chambers.

 

Jade tripped on a sunken step where the carpets changed colour and she landed heavily against the console table. The clatter of the vase was agonising but the distracted guard provided an opening she desperately needed and she rolled towards the first door to her left. Creaking the door shut she found herself facing a stairway that presumably led to main bedroom.

 

Jade grabbed the marble bannister and made the journey upwards, slowly and steadily. Despite very little contact with the Prince on a daily basis she regularly continued his exercises and could feel herself much improved. She felt as if she did not need the staff at all.

 

Jade reached the landing and stood outside the massive, carved bedroom door and wondered whether she should knock and announce herself or barge in without ceremony. The Prince must be asleep she thought and she did not wish to startle him. A sound was heard from the corridor and the choice was taken from Jade’s hands. The girl ungracefully slithered in and eased the door shut.