Read Charm for Free Online Page B

frozen pools. She tucked the black wand she carried into a velvet bag and glanced, irritated, down at a small brown mouse who sat at the hem of her gown. ‘The directions weren’t the best.’
    ‘Who are you?’ Cinderella breathed. The woman had appeared out of nowhere in a flurry of what could only be magic. What was she doing here?
    ‘I suppose,’ the woman shrugged, ‘if you must call me something, you can think of me as your fairy godmother. Now let’s get inside. It’s bloody freezing out here and I need something to drink.’ She shooed the mouse away so it scurried round the corner of the building and then glared at Cinderella. ‘Well, come on then. Do you want to go to this ball or not?’
    Inside the warmth of the kitchen Cinderella thought her fairy godmother looked even more beautiful than she had in the moonlight. Her delicate features were catlike but there was a hardness in her poise that transformed her into something ethereal. There was also something quite unsettling about her. She hardly radiated kindness. She was yet to even smile.
    ‘This is the best you have?’ she asked Cinderella, frowning slightly as she swallowed a large mouthful of red wine.
    ‘I’m sorry, yes. We’re not . . . we don’t have much—’
    ‘It will have to do then.’ The fairy godmother leaned back on the kitchen table and studied Cinderella thoughtfully as she refilled her glass. ‘So, you want to go to this Prince’s Ball?’
    ‘Oh yes,’ Cinderella’s eyes widened and her heart thumped. ‘More than anything.’
    ‘Let me guess. You want to dance with the prince, have him fall in love with you and then live happily ever after?’
    ‘Oh yes.’ Cinderella nodded eagerly.
    ‘That I can’t promise.’ She drank some more wine. ‘No amount of magic can guarantee you happy ever after. I can, however, guarantee you’ll get his attention. Make him want you. You’ll catch your prince. After that, though, all bets are off.’
    ‘But how? How can I go?’ Cinderella’s head was in a whirl. She had dreamed so many times of going to the castle but she had never really thought it could come true. Was she dreaming? Was that it? Had she fallen asleep on the steps? ‘I don’t even have a dress.’
    ‘Stop simpering.’ Her fairy godmother’s lips tightened. ‘That part is easy.’ She pulled a dark walnut from her bag and cracked it against the kitchen table before holding it up and blowing its contents carefully over Cinderella. Black dust that tasted of coal glittered around her and she was sure she heard the echo of men singing as metal clanged against rocks, and then butterflies tumbled from Cinderella’s stomach and tingles like tiny wings flooded through her limbs leaving her breathless. For a moment she was in a whirlwind of sparkling stars. Her skin trembled as cold air touched her and then she gasped as something tugged hard at her waist and back; stays being tightened.
    Finally, she looked down. Her dowdy house dress was gone. Now she wore a fine silver gown, pinched at the waist and sleeveless. Diamonds shone here and there in the silk and her skin glittered as if the stars that had spun around her head had settled there. She turned to look in the small mirror on the kitchen wall and almost didn’t recognise herself. Her curls were styled half-up and half-down, and more jewels shone from within the deep red. Her face was painted and her lips glistened pink.
    ‘It’s magic,’ she breathed, finally.
    ‘All beauty is magical. You’ll learn that,’ the fairy godmother said softly. ‘But it’s not a magic you can control.’
    ‘I do look beautiful though,’ Cinderella said, smiling. ‘The prince will surely fall in love with me.’
    ‘Oh, you little fool.’ The fairy godmother laughed, and it was like the sound of ice splintering. ‘They will all be beautiful. It’s the Prince’s Bride Ball, after all. It will take more than a pretty face and a smart dress to snare him. Thankfully, you