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Now that she was closer to the courtyard, Cinderella could see almost all of her market-stall friends and neighbors had come as well. The milkmaid and ropemaker stood together, waving scarlet swatches above their heads. The baker, the cobbler, the potter, the tanner and his wife, and the mousy woman who had correctly warned Cinderella of Friedrich’s intensions months ago cheered and shouted with abandon.
Cinderella covered her mouth with her hands to keep from crying. Once again, she had underestimated the love and loyalty of her servants. Her shoulders shook with effort, and Cinderella’s face hurt, for she wanted to laugh and cry at once.
“Thank you,” she finally shouted, blowing kisses to her staunch supporters.
“I am so lucky,” Friedrich said, curling his arms around Cinderella.
“Not as lucky as I am. Luck doesn’t even begin to describe it. I am blessed,” Cinderella said, smiling up at him.
Friedrich’s smile was so warm it made Cinderella’s toes curl. “Can we spend the rest of our lives arguing who is more blessed?”
“Let’s.”
Friedrich chuckled and kissed the tip of Cinderella’s nose.
“AHEM,” the clergyman said.
“Hmm. We should get back to the ceremony,” Friedrich said.
“That sounds right. Shall we?” Cinderella said.
“We shall,” Friedrich agreed, sweeping Cinderella back to the clergyman.
The ceremony was over faster than Cinderella’s dazed mind could take in. She felt so loved and so lucky, the thing she mostly remembered was the intensity of the cheers when the clergyman declared Cinderella and Friedrich married. It was an explosion of noise, shouts, and bells when Friedrich kissed Cinderella, and all of it was happy.
As Friedrich led Cinderella down the aisle, he wiped tears from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Pet?”
“It’s a storybook ending that I don’t deserve,” she said. “I have everything I wanted. I have you; Aveyron is finally safe; my servants love me, and we get to build our country together. It’s so perfect.”
Friedrich smiled. “You deserve every happiness you receive, darling. Although I’m sad to say, it won’t always be like this. Some days our people will get along; other days they won’t. And sometime soon, we will have to deal with the threat of darkness.”
“But we will move forward. We are proof our countries can move forward,” Cinderella said.
“You are right,” Friedrich relented when they reached the church doors. “I love you, Princess Cinderella, even if you have an answer to all my pessimistic thoughts.”
“And I love you, Prince Cristoph Friedrich VI, even if you do have a name that is unnecessarily long,” Cinderella laughed.
The footmen opened the church doors, avoiding their kissing, future monarchs and the four collared mice that scurried around the royal pair.
If darkness came to Erlauf, it didn’t stand a chance.