Chapter 1
“How much?”
“If we cut it at your shoulders…two silver marks.”
Cinderella winced. It wasn’t enough. “What if you take it all?”
The barber jerked his eyes from Cinderella’s brilliant hair and gaped at her. “What?”
“How much will you give me if you take all my hair?” Cinderella asked, pushing an elbow-length lock of hair over her shoulder.
“Mademoiselle, you couldn’t want to—”
“How much?”
The wigmaker studied her hair again. “The extra length will mean a finer style for the wig. Five silver marks.”
Cinderella bit her lip. He was overpaying her. Her scarlet-red hair was unusual, and her hair was thick and luxurious, but even with those qualities, the best she could hope for was four silver marks and a handful of copper coins. But the chateau roof needed patching, and Cinderella could not afford to turn down such generosity. “Done,” she said.
The wigmaker wiped his scissors on a clean cloth. “You have fine hair, Mademoiselle.”
Cinderella gripped the arms of the wooden chair until they creaked when the man sheered the first lock from her head. “Thank you.”
Cinderella left several minutes later, her pockets heavier and her head lighter. Folk gave her odd looks as they darted past her on the street, staring at her shamefully short hair.
Her magnificent strawberry-colored mane was sheered in a pixie cut. She still had a red fringe of bangs that flopped into her eyes, but the rest of her hair was almost peasant-boy-short.
The hairstyle would bring looks of disapproval until it grew out, but Cinderella didn’t care. She needed the money. Aveyron needed the money.
Cinderella squared her shoulders and glanced at the sky. The sun was a thin disk, almost entirely blocked by the capital’s walls. “Home it is then,” Cinderella said, turning her feet towards her lands.
At the dolphin plaza, she ran into a squadron of Erlauf soldiers in their gray and burgundy uniforms. Their armor reminded Cinderella of dragon scales the way it overlapped and hinged together.
The lieutenant leading the squadron watched Cinderella as she walked past them, but he watched just about every Trieux city resident.
Three years ago, Erlauf invaded Trieux—Cinderella’s country—in a brutally short war and claimed it as Erlauf territory. Erlauf had taken Trieux with little pain, but dislike still brewed between citizens. There hadn’t been any violence since the takeover, but there was plenty of hate to go around.
With Trieux’s soldiers mostly killed or imported deep into the heart of Erlauf, the citizens of Trieux had no way to resist. The sheer number of soldiers present in the city was outrageously large considering the lack of rebellion.
But Erlauf was ruled by the cautious Queen Freja and her equally cautious consort, and both of them intended to keep Trieux in their clutches.
Cinderella left the capital—the Erlauf monarchs had renamed it Werra, obliterating its original Trieux name, Arroux—and followed a dirt road through the rolling farmland.
The sky was a canvas of colors when Cinderella reached her home, Aveyron Chateau. She slapped dust from her cloak and ventured into the boundaries of her buildings. She waved to one of the stable boys bringing a pair of draft horses into the stable for the night and paused to count the chickens before entering the chateau.
Gilbert, the land steward, and his daughter Jeanne, the housekeeper, were talking in the kitchen. When Cinderella entered the warm room, they fell silent. This was not unusual. In spite of her ventures, the father and daughter remained stubbornly formal with her, but the gaping looks of horror they gave her were unusual. They hadn’t been this appalled since Cinderella donned servant clothes as her everyday dress months ago.
“Mademoiselle,” Gilbert said.
Jeanne covered her mouth to stifle her gasp.
“Your, your hair—b-but—why?” Gilbert said, laying a hand on a table to balance himself.
Cinderella jingled her pocket, making the coins in it bounce. “Send for a carpenter tomorrow, please. We can afford to see that hole in the south wing ceiling patched,” Cinderella said, removing her cloak and hanging it near the fire.
“Mademoiselle,” Gilbert said in a pained voice.
“It needed to be done, Gilbert,” Cinderella said.
“Yes, Mademoiselle.”
“Have my step-mother and step-sisters already had dinner?” Cinderella asked.
“Yes,” Gilbert said.
“Pheasant in a cream sauce, baked potatoes, and apple sauce,” Jeanne said, finding her voice.
“Any complaints?” Cinderella asked.
Jeanne shook her head.
“Good,” Cinderella said, taking a cooled baked potato and biting into it like an apple. The potato crumbled in Cinderella’s mouth and tasted creamy. “I like this potato. What kind is it?”
“Winter Red, mademoiselle,” Gilbert said.
“It’s one of our winter crops?”
“Yes, I believe they were harvested two days ago.”
“Winter Red…I will make note of that for the next winter. Any new activity I should be made aware of?”
“Some of the men took inventory of the beehives today. Most of the bees survived the winter,” Gilbert said. “One of the horses lost a shoe today when cultivating. The blacksmith already gave him a new one.”
Cinderella nodded. “How much did it cost?”
“The account is waiting for you on your dressing table.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, mademoiselle,” Gilbert said, folding at the waist in a bow.
“A buyer has approached us. He is interested in a specific painting,” Jeanne said.
“One of the ones I have listed for sale?” Cinderella asked.
Jeanne hesitated. “No, Mademoiselle”
“If you will excuse me, Mademoiselle,” Gilbert said, bowing again before he took his leave from the kitchen.
“Good evening, Gilbert,” Cinderella called after him before turning back to his daughter. “Which painting?”
“If it pleases you, I will show you, Mademoiselle.”
“Yes, please.”
Jeanne led Cinderella through the dark Chateau, navigating by the thin slices of sunlight shed by the setting sun. Light meant candles and firewood, both of which were costly or labor intensive. To save funds, Cinderella and the servants resisted using either whenever possible.
Jeanne led the way to Cinderella’s private quarters. She dropped a curtsey before entering the room, which was a shadow of luxury and beauty. Once upon a time, Cinderella’s room was crowded with paintings, bottles of costly perfumes and oils, gold jewelry boxes, the finest crafted furniture, and sculptures.
The few reminders of those lavish times were the beautiful murals painted on the walls, and a single, ornately framed painting.
The painting was a portrait of Cinderella, finished before the war. Before Erlauf. It showed Cinderella in a beautiful, elaborate—and uncomfortable, as Cinderella remembered—ivory dress that complimented her fair skin and made the dusting of freckles on her nose and cheeks look charming rather than untidy. Her hair was piled elaborately on the top of her head, and pearls and rubies hung from her neck, wrists, and ears. She was surrounded by pink flowers, which made her gray eyes stark in the light-hued image. Cinderella smiled in the portrait. She remembered her father had asked her to be solemn for the occasion, but Cinderella couldn’t help it, so the painter had given her a wide smile.
It was a personal painting, not one meant for wide-spread admiration.
“The buyer requested the portrait of your likeness.”
“This? They want this?” Cinderella said, thrusting a finger at the painting.
“Yes, Mademoiselle,” Jeanne said.
Cinderella blinked. “Why?” she said.
She hadn’t bothered listing the painting for sale because she very much doubted anyone would actually want it.
“I am not certain, but the buyer requested it,” Jeanne said. “The offer is a tidy sum.”
Cinderella would have sold it if someone would take a few copper coins for it. “Does the buyer know the frame cannot be salvaged? I tried having the portrait removed to sell the frame alone, but the art dealer said the frame would have to be broken irreparably to get the painting out.”
“They are aware,” Jeanne said.
“Who is it?” Cinderella asked.
“I do not know the buyer’s name. He or she is making the inquiry through an Erlauf broker—the one that has bought a number of chateau belongings.”
“Von Beiler? Hm,” Cinderella said, studying the portrait. She reached out to caress the corner of the frame.
It was the last reminder she had of the lady she used to be, and of the opulence she once lived in. “But keeping everyone fed and employed is more important than a vain reminder,” Cinderella said.
“I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle?”
“It’s nothing. Try to drive the price up, if you can, but take whatever they are willing to give you for it,” Cinderella said.
“Are you certain?
Cinderella looked once more at the girl in the portrait. Back then she was nothing but a silly girl who trusted her father to look out for her in all things. She couldn’t go back to that life, not with her father dead.
“I am positive. Thank you, Jeanne,” Cinderella said, leaving her room and heading back to the kitchen. She didn’t want to see the young housekeeper remove the portrait from her room.
Cinderella watched another Erlauf patrol squad pass through the market. “It seems to me they are patrolling more frequently.”
“Perhaps they are, Mademoiselle,” Vitore, an Aveyron lady’s maid who had voluntarily become the market-stall-minder, said.
“But why?” Cinderella said as the soldiers disappear deeper into the market. “Vitore?” Cinderella said when the maid did not respond. Most of Cinderella’s servants would not speak familiarly with Cinderella. However, Vitore, a renowned gossip, tended to be less tight-lipped than the rest of the staff.
Vitore made a show of looking around the produce stall, but she and Cinderella were the only representatives from Aveyron in the market. “There are rumors someone broke into the Royal Trieux Library,” Vitore whispered.
“Oh. That’s nothing new. Those incidents started well over a year ago,” Cinderella said.
“Yes, but I heard they’re close to capturing the culprit,” Vitore said.
Cinderella winced. “I see.”
When a potential customer strolled closer to the stall, Vitore remembered herself and bobbed a curtsey, cheerfully calling out to the customer. “Winter wheat, potatoes, and carrots! All of them as sweet as summer,” she sang out like the rest of the market stall merchants.
As Vitore haggled with customers, Cinderella finished stocking the stall. She secured the chicken eggs so they wouldn’t fall, propped up a basket of goat-milk soaps, and arranged the vegetables.
“You’re set,” Cinderella said during a brief lull in sales. “A stable boy will check in with you at noon to carry any empty baskets home.”
“Thank you, Mademoiselle,” Vitore said, curtsying to Cinderella.
Cinderella wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “Of course,” she said. “I will be…”
“…Mademoiselle?” Vitore said when Cinderella didn’t finish the sentence.
Cinderella nodded her head at a group of Erlauf soldiers who strolled into the market. There were too many to be on patrol, but they were in uniform, so it was likely they were still on duty. They all wore the burgundy Erlauf uniform covered by charcoal-gray chest armor, gloves, boots, and helm.
A man at the front of the herd wore the garb of a ranking officer. He had a long, burgundy coat that fell past his knees and was slit from behind like a swallow’s tail. Medals were pinned over his heart; his undershirt, the hem of the jacket, and his breeches were Erlauf gray. His most striking feature was the black patch covering his right eye. It was secured to his head with two black bands that stretched across his face and ran through his messy, dark brown hair that poked out from underneath his military hat. The brim of the hat was wide and drooping, and, following Erlauf custom, the left brim was pinned to the side of the crown. Based on all the medals pinned to his chest, he had to be at least a captain, perhaps even a major.
Cinderella clenched her sweaty hands into fists. It was unusual to see a ranking officer, especially one so young. He couldn’t be much older than twenty.
The market went quiet as the officer and his men strolled down the lane, stopping at Cinderella’s stand.
“Can I help you?” Cinderella said, keeping her voice polite but cool as Vitore retreated to the back of the stall.
The officer studied Cinderella as a few of his men prodded the produce. He said nothing as his eye traced Cinderella’s body.
Cinderella swallowed hard and kept herself schooled in spite of the revulsion that curled in her stomach. “Sir?” she said.
The officer returned his attention to Cinderella’s face, his eye taking in her short hair.
“Didya have a tangle with someone?” a soldier at the officer’s right shoulder asked, gesturing to Cinderella’s hair.
Cinderella stared at him for a moment before she shaped her lips into a fake smile. “How could I with all of you fine sirs patrolling this city and keeping us safe?”
A few of the soldiers guffawed.
The officer reached into a pouch that hung from his black belt. “How much are the carrots?” he asked. His voice was low-pitched, like a cat’s growl.
“Five cooper coins for a bundle, ten for a basket,” Cinderella said, overcharging the market price by two copper coins.
The officer tossed ten copper coins on the stand. “One basket,” he said, his eye fixed on Cinderella.
Cinderella felt his gaze as she tucked the coins away and dumped a basket of carrots in a sack and offered it to the officer. “Thank you for the business.”
As she held the vegetables out, a smirk spread across the officer’s lips. “Until tomorrow,” he said, touching the brim of his hat.
Cinderella shoved her hands behind the stand after the officer took the carrots, shielding her shaking fists from the soldiers’ notice. She pressed her lips into a thin line as she watched them go.
“Animals,” Vitore muttered in the back corner as she folded burlap sacks.
“Yes,” Cinderella grimly agreed.
Cinderella shivered, as if she could shake off the feeling of the officer’s eye on her. “I’m off. Send word to Marie Raffin’s residence if you need me,” Cinderella said, snatching up a basket and frayed cloak.
“Yes, Mademoiselle,” Vitore said, bobbing another curtsey as the activity resumed in the market.
Cinderella left the market and its produce and goods behind for the big buyers and sellers—the government-approved merchants. Instead of setting up their goods in open air markets and stands, the merchants owned brick and mortar shops. A few were forced out of business after Erlauf’s takeover, and a few more left when faced with Erlauf’s strict taxes, but many of the merchant families were still around.
Cinderella stopped outside a shop that had a sign emblazoned with a bear walking across a fallen tree trunk. A bell rang when Cinderella entered the store, getting the attention of the shopkeeper. “She is out back, Mademoiselle,” the shopkeeper said.
“Thank you,” Cinderella said, ducking into a back room. She skirted through a hall stuffed with shipping crates and goods and darted past a tiny office crowded with papers and books. “Marie?” Cinderella said, poking her head outside the back end of the store.
There was a small patch of grass where two horses were hitched. A young lady dressed in a comfortable but expensive dress stood in front of the horses, hand-feeding them green tendrils. “Cinderella! What in the name of Trieux have you done to your hair?” the woman said, dropping the grass to embrace Cinderella.
“I chopped it off. A wigmaker gave me a good price for it,” Cinderella said, brushing the slanted fringe of her bangs out of her eyes.
“It looks dreadful,” Marie said.
Cinderella rolled her eyes. “I am ever so glad I can count on you to hearten me, Marie.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s just…it’s so short,” Marie said, tilting Cinderella’s head to get a better look at it. “Did you really have to chop it?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“I see. Well, the color is still pretty.”
“Thank you. As much as I loathe Erlauf fashion trends, I am beginning to think I should follow their example and cover my head with a scarf or some such thing,” Cinderella said.
“Why? You look pitiable to be certain, but you are by no means the only girl who has sold her hair in the past few months,” Marie said.
“Yes, but just before I left the market, a flock of Erlauf soldiers gawked at me,” Cinderella said, running her hand through her short locks.
Marie clicked her tongue. “Ruffians,” she said. “A gentleman would behave better.”
“How is business?” Cinderella asked, leaning against the hitching post.
“Well enough, I think. Armel has managed to come home at a decent hour these past few days, and he hasn’t mentioned moving to Loire for the past month,” Marie said.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“And how does your Aveyron fair?”
Cinderella shrugged. “We scrape by. All the farming changes have made it more profitable.”
“Then what drove you to beggar your hair?”
“Taxes, again,” Cinderella said, offering her palm to one of the horses. “With their cost, I can barely afford to pay Aveyron’s upkeep. I swear each month the tax burden grows heavier and heavier. If they don’t increase the tax on every servant per household, Queen Freja places a tax on every acre of farmable land or imposes a tax on glass windows.”
“And you won’t let any of your servants go?”
Cinderella shook her head. “No,” she said, her determination weighing the word down like steel and iron.
Marie sighed and dusted off her hands. “You have a hero complex, my darling Cinderella. Life would be so much easier for you if you were even a little bit selfish, like me.”
“You cannot fool me,” Cinderella said. “I recognize your shopkeeper. She was your nurse until you turned thirteen.”
Marie sniffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. With business improving, Armel hired more help, that’s all.”
“Of course,” Cinderella said. She slid her hand down the horse’s glossy neck before stepping back. “I need to get going.”
“You’re not going to stay for tea?”
Cinderella held up her basket. “I have work. I only stopped by to say hello and to check on my sign. Have there been any inquires?”
“A few. I left the names with my nurse; ask her for the list on your way out.”
“I cannot thank you enough.”
“It is the least I can do for you. It was good to see you, and your lack-luster haircut.”
“Take care, Marie.”
“Cinderella?”
Cinderella stopped at the doorframe and turned to face her friend.
“I, I would help you more, if I could.”
Cinderella smiled. “I know. Thank you.”
Marie mutely nodded.
“I will drop by again later this week. Until then,” Cinderella called as she disappeared inside.