"Oui, oui. Une souris!" Stepmama stood and let the bed skirt drop leaving Cinderella shrouded in gloom once more.
Cinderella stuffed a fist in her mouth to stifle her cries. Marcel's tiny body moved close.
"I've come to check on Cinderella. But, alas, she is nowhere to be found, the ungrateful child."
"Maman. You know you will catch your death if you are not careful." Cinderella heard Pricilla's tongue cluck as if she were the mother and not the other way around. "You know how sickly you can become. Let us worry not about her. We must get you back to your chamber, post haste."
Cinderella drew Marcel in the palm of her hand. Comforting him; or was it he who comforted her? She listened as Pricilla helped Stepmama to her feet, cognizant of the shift in movement. Seconds later the door closed softly behind them. An ominous silence descended over the chamber.
Massive quakes racked her body, making it difficult to crawl from beneath the large bed. She set Marcel aside and with fingers frozen and stiff from the cold, she reached for the poker. A deep mar of streaked ash had it slipping from her hand, clanging to the floor as reality set in. Great waves of hiccupping sobs roared through her. "What did I do? Why does she hate me so?" she cried. "Oh, Papa. Would that you were here…"
"Cinde? Cinde." Essie's arms suddenly wrapped her shoulders. She hadn't heard her come in. "Come, dear. You are freezing."
She let Essie guide her to the bed and tuck the covers about her. The touch of a damp cloth smoothed her tears away. She was barely aware of Essie climbing in alongside her murmuring nonsensical words of comfort while chills of fear racked her body.
"Oh, Essie. I don't understand," she whispered, quivering beneath the covers. "Why does she hate me so? Why?"
There was no answer in the silence that followed, when she finally succumbed to a fitful slumber.