Page 9 of Ashes and Glass (Cursed Kingdoms)

Cinders

I woke to urgent knocking at my door before dawn had properly broken. Pulling a threadbare shawl around my shoulders, I opened it to find Narcissa standing there, her face pale with urgency, a lantern clutched in her trembling hand.

"You must come quickly," she whispered, glancing nervously down the servants' corridor. "Word has reached us from the village. Prince Marius has been wounded—he's somewhere in the Evergreen, alone and bleeding."

My heart lurched. "Marius? How do you know this?"

"A royal guard from Rivendale arrived at our gates an hour ago, seeking Lady Belladonna's assistance in the search. Captain Leonel Crowfield, he called himself." Her eyes met mine with meaningful intensity. "Mother has sent word to Prince Casimir instead."

Understanding bloomed like fire catching dry kindling. "She means to find him first."

"Yes. And I fear what will happen if she does." Narcissa pressed something into my palm—a small knife with a jeweled hilt. "Take this. For protection."

I slipped the blade into my pocket, touched by this further evidence of her changing heart. "Thank you. But how will I find him before they do?"

A ghost of a smile crossed her face. "The slipper. The remaining one you have—it's connected to its pair, isn't it? Use it."

Of course. The twin to the slipper Marius had recovered would lead me to him like a lodestone to true north. Our magics called to each other; why wouldn't our talismans do the same?

"I'll delay Mother as long as I can," Narcissa promised. "Now go."

I didn't waste time with further words. Gathering only my mother's spellbook and the remaining glass slipper, I slipped from the manor through the kitchen garden. The slipper pulsed with unmistakable urgency in my hands, its glow intensifying as I directed my steps toward the Evergreen.

Dawn painted the forest edge in muted gold as I reached it, the ancient trees standing sentinel like figures from a half-remembered dream. I pressed the slipper to my heart, focusing on the connection I'd felt with Marius during our dance—that inexplicable recognition, as if our souls had known each other in some former life.

"Guide me to him," I whispered.

The crystal shoe warmed beneath my fingers, tugging me forward with gentle insistence. I followed its pull, moving deeper into the forest than I had ever ventured before. The familiar paths soon gave way to untamed wilderness, yet I felt no fear—only growing certainty with each step.

The slipper's glow intensified as I pushed through a thicket of brambles, revealing a small clearing beyond. There, slumped against the gnarled roots of an ancient oak, lay Prince Marius. Blood had soaked through the sleeve of his fine jacket, his face ashen beneath the early morning light.

"Marius!" I rushed to his side, falling to my knees beside him.

His eyelids fluttered at the sound of my voice. "Cinders?" he murmured, his voice barely audible. "I found you..."

"Save your strength," I urged, examining his wound with careful fingers. The sword cut was deep, the edges already showing signs of infection. Without treatment, fever would claim him within hours.

Flame materialized beside us, his fiery presence casting the clearing in amber light. "His life force ebbs," the phoenix observed gravely. "The wound itself is severe, but there's more—a darkness spreading from it that ordinary healing cannot touch."

"Poison?" I asked, dread pooling in my stomach.

"Yes," Flame corrected. "Someone wanted to ensure he wouldn't survive long enough to find you."

I thought of Lady Belladonna and Prince Casimir, of the lengths they would go to prevent the prophecy's fulfillment. Anger flared within me, hot and bright as forge-fire.

"Tell me how to help him," I demanded.

"Fire can cleanse," Flame instructed. "But this requires delicacy. Too much power will harm rather than heal. Find the balance—like the steady flame of a hearth rather than the blaze of a wildfire."

I placed my hands over Marius's wound, summoning my magic with careful concentration. A gentle warmth spread from my fingers, golden light seeping into the injured flesh. Marius tensed, then relaxed as the healing fire worked through him.

"That's it," Flame encouraged. "Now deeper—find the darkness and burn it away."

I closed my eyes, extending my awareness into Marius's body. There—a shadow spreading from the wound like ink in water, poisoning his blood with each heartbeat. I focused my magic, imagining it as a purifying flame consuming the corruption without harming the surrounding life.

So intent was I on the healing that I failed to notice the approaching footsteps until it was too late.

"Well," came Lady Belladonna's cold voice from the edge of the clearing. "What touching devotion."

I looked up to find my stepmother standing between the trees, flanked by Prince Casimir and Sir Gareth. Behind them lurked Ursula, her eyes wide with conflicted emotions.

"Step away from the prince, Cynthia," Lady Belladonna commanded, her tone leaving no room for disobedience.

"No." I continued channeling healing fire into Marius's wound, refusing to break the connection now when he needed it most.

Lady Belladonna's lips thinned to a bloodless line. "Always defiant. Just like your mother." She gestured to Prince Casimir. "Remove her."

The dark prince stepped forward, but hesitated as Flame expanded his fiery form protectively around us. "A phoenix," he observed with grudging respect.

"The girl has more resources than we anticipated," Sir Gareth added, his hand resting on his sword hilt. His gaze fell to Marius with genuine anguish. "I never wanted him harmed."

"Yet you betrayed me all the same," Marius whispered. "You orchestrated the deaths of both our parents to prevent the prophecy's fulfillment."

"A necessary sacrifice," Sir Gareth replied, though doubt shadowed his eyes. "The union of fire and water brings destruction before rebirth. I sought only to spare our kingdoms that pain."

"By inflicting even greater suffering," I countered. "You feared what you didn't understand."

Lady Belladonna's attention fixed on the glass slipper, which rested beside me on the forest floor, still pulsing with ethereal light. "Enough of this sentimentality. The source of this trouble is clear." She stepped forward, reaching for the crystal shoe. "Destroy the vessel, end the magic."

"Mother, don't!" Ursula's voice rang out, surprising us all. "You don't know what might happen."

"Be silent, stupid child," Lady Belladonna snapped. "This doesn't concern you."

As her fingers closed around my mother's slipper, I felt a surge of protective instinct. The shoe contained her final gift to me—her protection, her power, her love. I could not let it fall into hands that would destroy it.

In that moment of clarity, I made my decision.

"You're right about one thing," I said, locking eyes with Lady Belladonna. "The slipper is key to everything."

With deliberate purpose, I snatched the crystal shoe from her grasp and raised it high. "But its power was never meant to remain trapped in glass."

Before anyone could move to stop me, I brought the slipper down hard against a stone, shattering it into a thousand glittering fragments.

For a heartbeat, silence reigned. Then light—blindingly bright—erupted from the broken pieces. It engulfed me in a whirlwind of power and memory, images cascading through my mind with dizzying speed.

My mother, Queen Aurelia, standing in this very forest with Queen Marina of Rivendale, their hands clasped in friendship as their elemental magics danced around them in harmonious patterns...

The two queens working complex spells by moonlight, weaving protection and power into crystalline vessels for their children...

Their shared vision of a future where all elemental magics existed in balance rather than opposition...

And finally, my mother's sacrifice—deliberately channeling the last of her life force into the slippers as she lay dying, ensuring that her daughter would one day complete what she had begun...

The flood of memories subsided, leaving understanding in its wake. The prophecy spoke not just of fire and water uniting, but of all elemental forces finding harmony after generations of enforced separation. The destruction it foretold was not of kingdoms, but of the artificial boundaries of empty traditions.

The released power from the shattered slipper flowed through me like liquid sunlight, then extended outward to encompass Marius. His wound sealed beneath my touch, color returning to his face as the corrupting darkness was burned away completely. His eyes opened, clear and focused, finding mine with immediate recognition.

"Cinders," he breathed, his voice stronger now. "I knew you would find me."

"As I was always meant to," I replied, helping him to his feet.

The power continued to pulse between us, creating a shield of intermingled fire and water that kept our adversaries at bay. Lady Belladonna stepped back, fury and fear warring in her expression.

"You've doomed us all," she hissed. "The prophecy brings chaos, not harmony."

"You're wrong," Marius countered, his strength returning with each moment as our combined magic sustained him. "Divison weakens us all. Unity is our salvation, not our destruction."

Prince Casimir drew his sword, its blade gleaming with unnatural darkness. "Pretty sentiments," he sneered. "But I prefer the current arrangement."

Beside him, Sir Gareth hesitated, conflict evident in his stance. "Marius," he began, "I only ever sought to protect you—to spare you the chaos that claimed your parents."

"By lying to me my entire life?" Marius challenged, water magic swirling around his right hand while his left remained firmly clasped with mine. "By denying me my destiny—and my heart?"

At that moment, a commotion erupted from the forest behind us. Narcissa burst into the clearing, her fine dress torn from rushing through brambles, her face flushed with exertion.

"Cinders!" she called. "They're coming—Lady Belladonna has summoned the palace guards!"

Lady Belladonna's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Narcissa. You betray your own blood?"

"No, Mother," Narcissa replied, moving to stand beside me. "For the first time, I'm honoring it. Honor, compassion, truth—values you abandoned long ago."

Ursula watched her sister's defiance with widening eyes, her own posture shifting subtly away from her mother's side. Though she didn't join us outright, the fracture in her loyalty was evident.

"We must leave," Flame urged, his voice resonating with unusual urgency. "This confrontation is premature. You both need time to master your combined powers before facing such opposition."

Marius nodded, his hand tightening around mine. "The heart of the Evergreen," he whispered. "Where our mothers once met in secret. The magic there will shield us while we prepare."

"You won't escape," Prince Casimir snarled, advancing with his sword raised.

In response, our combined magic flared brighter. Fire and water spiraled together, creating a barrier of steam and light that momentarily blinded our opponents. Using that distraction, we fled deeper into the forest—Marius, Narcissa, Flame, and I—leaving Lady Belladonna's furious commands echoing behind us.

As we ran, I felt the connection between Marius and myself strengthen with each step. The magic of the shattered slipper had not merely healed his wound—it had crystallized the bond between us, confirming what my heart had recognized from our first meeting.

Our souls were two halves of a single destiny, fire and water united not in opposition but in perfect complement. Each element made stronger by the other's presence, creating something greater than either could achieve alone.

"I've searched for you my entire life," Marius murmured as we paused to catch our breath in a hidden glen. "Without even knowing it was you I sought."

"And I waited for you," I replied, the truth of it resonating through my very being. "Even when I had no hope of freedom, some part of me knew you would come."

His fingers brushed my cheek with tender reverence. "The prophecy called us together, but it's more than magic that binds us now."

"Much more," I agreed, feeling the rightness of his touch like coming home after a lifetime of wandering.

Behind us, Narcissa cleared her throat delicately. "This reunion is touching, truly, but perhaps we should continue moving? Mother is not one to abandon a pursuit easily."

"She's right," Flame confirmed. "Lady Belladonna and Prince Casimir will not rest until they've prevented the prophecy's completion. And now that Sir Gareth has seen you together, his resolve against you may strengthen rather than weaken. We cannot be sure."

Marius nodded reluctantly, his hand finding mine once more. "Then we go deeper," he said. "In the heart of the forest, we'll prepare for what must come next."

As we continued our journey through the ancient territory, the path seemed to open before us, as if the Evergreen itself recognized our purpose and blessed our union. With each step, I felt my mother's presence more strongly—not as a ghost or memory, but as a legacy of power and purpose that had always been my birthright.

The final confrontation still loomed ahead, but for the first time since discovering my magic, I faced the future without fear. With Marius at my side, our elements intertwined in perfect harmony, I knew we could fulfill the prophecy our mothers had set in motion so many years ago.

Fire and water united. Balance restored. A new age of magical harmony beginning with our love. May it be so.