A Slip of Fate: Adult Retelling of Cinderella (Twisted Fairy Tale) Page 3

  The stranger. From last night.

  The thought hit her with such profoundness that it jarred her. Dropping the plate back into the sink, images of the stranger encircling his arms around her waist had her body heating up with desire all over again. She wanted to speak to him again, she decided. She needed to. He seemed to know something about Amedeo that she didn’t. He could put to rest the anxiety that was on her mind.

  Pulling away she rushed through the kitchen door and followed the men toward the front steps, wiping her wet hands on her dress as she went. Following them inside she caught up to the one who looked so familiar, grabbing his elbow to stop him. He turned around to face her making her step back in surprise. She could’ve sworn he was the man from last night.

  “Sorry,” she shook her head, her face flushing in embarrassment. “Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

  She stepped back again, apologizing once more before she turned and hurried back out of the house once more.

  I’m going insane. She had been so sure it was him. What was worse was the excitement she had suddenly felt at the idea of seeing him again. She didn’t even know why she was so concerned about seeing that man again. She took the stairs quickly, walking around the house toward the back. This was her place of escape. It was in the garden, outside among nature, where she felt herself most in control. She could lose hours at a time in the vegetable patch, tending to her plants[L54] and grounding herself with her bare feet in the soil. The benefit of it being out of sight, generally she also remained out of the minds of her stepparents.

  The sun warmed her as she crossed to the vegetables. Industrial food imports these days [L55]were non-existent and most people lived off the land to survive. Her family was lucky enough to be able to employ people to maintain the gardens and ensure a constant supply of food on their table. Other people in the city were so poor they had to trade their clothes just to eat. That was the difference between the classes of the city. [L56]While her home was one of the richest of the surviving places , Finn knew many others were dirt poor, and workedfor the rich just to put food on their family’s plates.

  Finn heard stories of other cities where there were no rich families, just the poor who worked to live. These were the industrial cities with factories who produced the items which her family imported without batting an eyelash[L57]. She didn’t often think about what went into the fancy luxuries that she took for granted, but when she did it formed a knot in her stomach. She couldn’t imagine a life like that. She couldn’t imagine having to truly take care of herself. She complained about being treated like a slave, but what she did was nothing compared to truly destitute people.

  In the true spirit of being spoiled and rich, Ariadne would never stoop to get her nails dirty even in the garden, something that most people found to be a pastime. Finn liked it, at least for the aspect that she got to be alone with herself. There was also something about sinking her fingers into the dirt that seemed to instantly calm her. It had always been this way; there was something about connecting with nature that seemed to ease her troubles from a young age. She could clearly remember a childhood spent outside in the sunshine with her parents, fading memories of dancing with the grass tickling between her toes and lying on the soft curving hills of their land at night to watch the stars. She had always been connected to nature in some way and for that reason it had been claimed as her get away.

  She kicked off her shoes as she reached the edge of the plot, settling into the warm dirt that pressed between her toes. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of grounding herself to the land. She always felt better outside, more at ease and for a fraction of a moment – free. [L58]The word echoed around her head like she was a traitor for even using it and bemusing the idea. She could be free, she could run away right now and no one could actually stop her. So what was stopping her? Yes, exactly. The idea that she would have to live without this cushy[L59] lifestyle to which she had grown accustomed. Traitor.

  She eased down onto her knees, pulling the hem of her dress up so not to dirty it. Movement in the trees ahead of her made her stop, watching them with intention. Someone was watching her, the idea had hairs standing up on end as she stared back into the shadows of the forest looking but not seeing. She was seen though, by the man who stood there inhaling another slow drag from the cigarette between his lips.[L60]

  Finn paused in her descent, looking up at the tree line with a squint. This time her heart did stop for a second because this time she knew she wasn’t seeing things.

  “Hey!”

  She rose, scattering dirt everywhere as she moved quickly to the trees. Holding her hand out to him in a stop motion, she hoped he’d assent to her demand.

  “Wait a second!”

  Holden[L61] leaned against a tree, keeping the cigarette hanging out of his lips as he watched her with a bemused expression on his face. She seemed frantic as she ran toward him, much different from the scared girl he had rescued last night. There was something charming about this fiery side of her. Plucking [L62]the cig out casually, he blew a stream of smoke out toward her as she approached him.

  “You’re following[L63] me,” she said, crossing her arms protectively over her chest as they made eye contact.

  He didn’t bother to deny it, nodding his head just slightly as he took another drag of his cigarette. He flicked the ashes from the tip before holding it out to her. It was a test. She had spoken of freedom, with freedom came choice and free will. How much of a rebel did she want to be? Did she have the heart of someone who could survive beyond the confines of money and luxury?

  Finn eyed it for a second, weighing the consequences of her actions. She didn’t know why she hesitated though because in the end she reached out and took it, savoring the drag she got from it. She’d smoked before, a rash example of her rebellion. She’d found a pack of cigarettes someone had left behind on the porch after a party one time. She’d kept them hidden under her pillow for as long as she could remember before finally pulling one out and trying it. She had coughed for what felt like ages until she got used to it. She found she liked the weightlessness it provided in her head, helping her tensions ease and her anxieties cease. Only for a minute but still the reprieve was nice.

  The nicotine rushed her senses, calming her for a moment before alighting her body with a mild buzz . She could’ve used this last night for the party. It would’ve made the hours on end that she’d stood next to Ariadne a little more tolerable. Maybe it would’ve shaken her senses when Amedeo had come through and kept her from becoming a hot mess instead.

  As she exhaled she realized that he hadn’t answered her. In fact, he hadn’t moved since giving her the cigarette. Their eyes met as she looked up, raising both her eyebrows in a silent question.

  “I wasn’t following you,” he said. “I mean, we’ve crossed paths a few times but it was unintentional. I was following your boyfriend.”

  “My… boyfriend?” she asked and held the cigarette back out to him as she eased the last stream of smoke from her lungs.

  “Blonde, pretty boy from last night… Said you were his?”

  “I’m not,” she said.

  Finn watched his hands take the cigarette from hers. They looked rough like [L64]he worked with them a lot. So he wasn’t rich, he made his own way in the city. From the looks of him she could just imagine how.

  “He seemed to think otherwise. But I’m glad to hear from the source thatyou’re available,” Holden said with a quirk of his upper lip as he replaced the cigarette between his lips.

  Finn felt herself grow hot. She didn’t know why he had such an effect on her. There was nothing special about him. He was just a handsome man who happened to have noticed her. Once or twice. That didn’t matter. If she got out more maybe she would get more attention from the opposite sex.

  “Why were you following him?”

  “That…is a long story.”

  She watched the skin on his neck retreat i
nto a dip in his throat as he sucked on the filter She found herself mesmerized for a moment longer before forcing her eyes to look away and back up at him.

  “I’m free…”

  He chuckled and nodded, “I’m sure you are. But it’s better if I don’t involve you if I don’t have to.”

  “Involve me in what?”

  “You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?”

  “You haven’t exactly been forthcoming with your responses.”

  He chuckled again, finishing off the last of the cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stamping it out. She could tell his movements were calculated and controlled, like there was more power simmering under the surface barely contained in the sinew and muscles that lay under his skin. Everything took effort because, she sensed, if he didn’t control himself something bad could happen. And that was the last thing anyone wanted.

  “Perhaps an easier question then: what’s your name?”

  “Holden.”

  He extended a hand toward her and this time as their palms met she noted her original assessment had been on the mark. His palm was calloused from a lifetime of effort. Despite her best attempts not to, she felt herself shudder slightly at the idea of having to ‘rough it’.

  “Finnleigh. But everyone calls me Finn.”

  “Interesting name.”

  “My dad’s name was Finn; my mom’s name was Leigh.”

  “Less interesting now that you’ve spelt it out for me.”

  Holden gave her another one of those quirky smiles like his face wasn’t used to it. Maybe it wasn’t, but then it only made her more curious as to what it was about her that made him break his normally stoic features.

  “You weren’t invited last night.”

  “I wasn’t; although you didn’t seem to be either[L65].”

  She frowned slightly at his conjecture, no one had ever seen past the façade. If they did she would’ve surely been punished for it a lot sooner than now.

  “I’m a Foster, I’m always invited to Foster parties.”

  He chuckled again and she started to find herself irritated by it. It was the laugh of a man who thought he knew a lot more than she did. Maybe he did, but he didn’t have to keep rubbing it in.

  “You might be a Foster, but that wasn’t a “Foster Party” – whatever those are.”

  Finn opened her mouth to argue, to ask what he thought it was but he carried on like she hadn’t reacted at all.

  “I’d hazard a guess to say you were forced to be there, based on your stature and facial expressions last night. You’re a lot more at ease now than you were next to…your parents?”

  “Step. Parents,” shesaid quickly, frowning at the idea of them being any kind of parental figure. “Maybe you’re right, maybe it’s more of a Doyle party[L66]. That’s my stepfather’s name – Julius Doyle.”

  “Maybe. Do you not like the parties then?”

  “Not much to like about them. It’s all about prestige, power and politics. They’re not meant to be fun. They’re a game and I’m just another chess piece. Not a pawn, no… I’m too important for that… Maybe a bishop, or a rook.”

  He didn’t understand the analogy but he watched her as she spoke about it. Whatever she was speaking about, it upset her. Her body language changed again, she tensed and straightened like she was trying to emulate something. He just couldn’t put his finger on it just yet. Most definitely she seemed to forget about him, to forget that he was listening enraptured to every word that came out of her mouth. [L67]

  Perhaps it was for the best though as she carried on, “Stand there Finn, look pretty and perfect. Don’t say a word. Don’t forget to smile. Don’t disrupt anyone and be careful to be seen and not heard. Young women should be seen and not heard. Why can’t I just stay in my room then? Because you’re expected to be there, you’re a part of this family… Only when they want me to be.”

  She ranted absently at length until he made the mistake of shifting on his feet and it tore her attention back to the present.

  “Sorry,” her blush was lovely as it painted itself on her features and immediately he wanted to steal her away and take her back to the pack. Enna would welcome her. Then again, Enna would welcome any female companion in a pack of mostly males.

  “It’s not a problem… If you don’t like the parties so much, why don’t you just avoid them?”

  “Because, like I said, I have to be there. I have no choice.”

  “They would force you to be there against your will?”

  “If they could glue me on a stand and keep me there as a statue they would. I’m the only thing that ties Julius to the power he’s acquired [L68]in this city.”

  “Because you’re a Foster?” Holden didn’t know what it meant but he guessed it meant something.

  “Because I’m a Foster.”

  “What does that mean…”

  “Money, power, connections… My father was a senator and when he died my mother got his seat, that’s how they arranged for our city to work you see. Well, when she remarried Julius the power passed to him [L69]and it will stay in my family forever. That’s how the city works. Being that I’m a Foster, at eighteen I would have taken the seat of the senator from Julius and earned my inheritance.”

  “And you didn’t?”

  Finnleigh paused as she thought through what she was telling him, looking up as she thought deeply about her position in this family and in the city.

  “No…” She said slowly, “because he never turned it over to me.”

  “But if the law says the senatorial seat stays in your family then shouldn’t it have been turned over to you when you turned eighteen?”

  Of course, that’s what should’ve happened. The truth dawned on her as she recalled her eighteenth birthday. The day had gone on like nothing had changed.

  “You are eighteen aren’t you?”

  “Nineteen, actually,”she said as she blinked through her thoughts. “We didn’t celebrate my eighteenth birthday.”

  “Did you celebrate your seventeenth?”

  “No…” she frowned to herself, her brow in deep creases. “I can’t remember a birthday since I was fifteen. I always thought it was because…” She didn’t finish what she was saying, “if no one knows I’m eighteen then how could the city know the inheritance has turned over to me?”

  Holden had managed to distract her from her questions about him; only instead managing to bring up something he didn’t fully understand nor help her with. She was lost to him now, caught in a spiral of her thoughts trying to make sense of the truth she knew. She’d never thought about it before, mostly because the idea of politics was repugnant to her, but politics were the very thing that tied her to this house and the power of her last name. Politics were the very thing that could set her free. All this time she had been playing along with their games because she felt obligated, but the truth was she had the leverage here – didn’t she? Or she would if she claimed the seat that was rightfully hers.

  “If I had my inheritance, I could make them leave here… I could be free,” Finn whispered softly to herself, looking up and locking eyes with Holden.

  He looked on helplessly because although she spoke she wasn’t talking to him.

  “I can be free.”

  She smiled at him and something about the word free resonated with him. He’d never thought she was trapped before now but seeing the look in her eyes he could almost see through them to the little girl inside who felt like she had been locked away while someone threw away the key.

  And he was going to save her.

  Chapter 3

  Holden watched her walk back to the house, seeing fully for the first time the trapped young woman under all her confidence and bravado. He didn’t know what was going on about this inheritance thing but the way she had said ‘free’ resonated with him. He knew what it was like to be trapped and in his heart he knew he couldn’t stand by and just watch someone else lose themselves to being caught in somethi
ng they had no control over.

  Growing up with the knowledge that his father had betrayed the pack by marrying a witch had set boundaries for him and his brother, Ford. They lived under pseudonyms, hiding their true forms and sneaking out only when the moon was full. His brother hadn’t even known for the longest time; their mother choosing instead to cast a spell to contain his maturity for a few decades.

  He’d been forced to keep a secret from Ford, waiting until the time was right to tell his little brother about their true nature. When that time had finally come it had been just the two of them. Instead of a father showing his sons the truth of their nature, he had been left to raise his little brother in the only way he saw fit. Like any parent, Holden knew he had made mistakes with Ford, and the nonsense with Enna[L70] a few months ago had only cemented that fact in his memory, but he had tried his best. That was all that could be asked of him.

  In the end it had all worked out for the best even if the sting of Raphael’s betrayal [L71]still burned in Holden’s heart. Ford was [L72]happily married now, mated with the love of his life and twins on the way. The excitement of being a father could hardly be contained by his little brother. And while having babies around presented a whole other kind of problem for the pack, Holden had to admit he was looking forward to seeing his niece and nephew when they came. They would, after all, be the only children in his family line.

  Holden himself had no intention of ever having children simply for the fact that he had no intention of ever mating. He had seen what mating could do to a wolf, a relationship and most especially to his parents. [L73]He wouldn’t do that to someone, ripping her heart in half because of his own selfish nature. He would content himself with the comfort of temporary pleasure and keep his heart locked away. That was the plan after all. But since meeting Finnleigh he hadn’t been able to shake her from his thoughts. He tried to tell himself that it was just because she was beautiful and maybe, if she was interested, one little romp would be able to shake her from his senses. Not that sex was the reason behind his motives for wanting to help her[L74].