Charm Read Free Page B

to handsome man in a dress of emerald green with jewels to match at her slim neck. Even the footmen at the doors couldn’t take their eyes from her. In her fantasy – and it was one she had often – by the end of the evening she would have three men in love with her, all three ready to duel for her, and then the prince himself would sweep her away and marry her with more haste and urgency than even the Viscount for Ivy, and both her step-sisters would watch enviously as she lived happily ever after in the castle.
    Buttons spoke softly of dancing and romance and, as she imagined the prince’s body pressed close to hers, his hand slid up under her dress and his mouth softly kissed her neck. Her breathing came faster as finally, after teasing the soft skin of her thighs, his fingers hit their mark, teasing her to wetness and then sliding inside. She pushed against him and panted as he told her of beauty and music until eventually, her mind a whirl of ballrooms and the prince and music and love, she shuddered against his touch.
     
    S he sighed and lingered in her fantasy for a moment longer before opening her eyes and adjusting her dress and letting her miserable reality settle around her. ‘It’s so much better when you do it than me,’ she said, and smiled, leaning forward and kissing Buttons’ cheek.
    ‘Oh you’re a strange one, Cinderella,’ Buttons’ face had flushed slightly. ‘There aren’t many girls like you.’
    ‘There are lots of girls worse than me,’ she answered. ‘It’s only touching. What’s wrong with that? It feels good. It’s natural.’
    ‘I’m not arguing with you,’ he said. ‘You’re just full of contrasts.’ He poured himself more wine. ‘And rather me than another. I’m your friend. I’ll never hurt you.’
    ‘You’re as strange as I am,’ she said. Her comment didn’t need an explanation, they both knew what she meant. She’d tried once, the first time they’d found themselves playing this game, to touch the boy. Not from any passion for him, but because she was curious and wanted him to feel as nice as she had, but he’d stopped her. He’d said that wasn’t for him.
    ‘That may well be true, princess.’ He winked at her. ‘That may well be true.’
    She thought again of the castle and all its beauty and was quite envious that Buttons got to spend every day inside it.
    ‘It must be wonderful,’ she said. ‘So much more wonderful than it is in my imagination. I would do anything to be part of that life. Anything at all.’
    ‘Wonderful’s one way to see it, I suppose.’ Buttons finished his food and put the plate on the floor. The mouse scurried over and began sniffing for crumbs. Cinderella made a mental note to give that plate to Rose tomorrow at breakfast. Maybe it would make her sick and she wouldn’t be able to go to the ball. It was a mean thought, but she couldn’t help it.
    ‘Of course it’s beautiful,’ Buttons continued. ‘Beauty is easy with money and these people have the finest of everything.’ He looked at her intently. ‘But court life isn’t all dancing and music and love, Cinderella. The gentle don’t survive well when everyone is after power. Everyone is using other people to shuffle into a position where they have the king or the prince’s ear. It’s a place full of wolves in disguise. Why do you think I feel no guilt stealing from most of these people?’
    Cinderella didn’t say anything. She didn’t care about all that and it wouldn’t matter to her anyway. She had no interest in power, she just wanted beautiful clothes and music and fun. Life had been hard enough over recent years.
    ‘Tell me again about their carriages,’ she said, eagerly. ‘The gold and silver ones. The king and queen’s one that never leaves the castle gates because it’s so encrusted with jewels they fear the ordinary people won’t be able to stop themselves tearing it apart to have a piece for themselves. Tell me about that.’
    She smiled at