***JAKE'S POV***
It took me a long time to convince my storybook king of a father that I was going after the woman of my dreams. He wanted me to claim the woman and declare her mine at the ball. I had to explain things to him repeatedly before he would agree to the marriage. I never knew that the prince in Cinderella had that much trouble finding his bride. Or was this just a side effect of this specific story? Sometimes, I felt like this story was not following the normal pattern that I would have expected.
Still, I finally managed to convince him, and I was now on my way to collect my bride. That would, hopefully, fulfill this story and allow me to move on. The sooner I got out of here, the sooner I could stop procrastinating and ask Alex out in real life.
I was thankful for the Keeper of the Tales though. They had allowed me to see the girl that I wanted in a role that made her mine. It was like a dream come true for me. What more could I have asked for?
"Come now, my prince." Stephen, my friend and guard, called out to me. "The carriage is ready. I believe that you would like to get your bride now, correct?" He was grinning at me. He knew what I wanted and that I was completely in love with that girl. He just didn't know the real reasons why I was in love with her. I had to make up something to tell him and the others for the sake of the story. It wasn't hard. I was about to graduate and become a journalist. I was meant to be a writer. It was my passion.
"You should write for me." The Keeper of the Tales called out to me as I left my room. "I will supply you with endless fantasy if you just add to my tales."
"Ha ha. No thanks." I whispered in response to the Keeper.
"What was that, my prince?" Stephen asked, apparently he heard me.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about something that my father asked me. I answered it again as I laughed at the absurdity of it." I needed a quick lie and that was a plausible one, considering that I was a 'rebellious son' that often went against his father. Or so I had been told. In the beginning I was told that I was the model son and that all was perfect. One little argument with the man though and I was nearly a pariah. Isn't that funny?
"Your father just wants the best for you." Stephen said as he led the way to the carriage.
"I know." I nodded in response. He was never cruel, just a little rigid in his beliefs and ideas. He came around though, as I knew that he would.
Once we were in the carriage, I started to think about something. I was about to collect my bride. As archaic as it sounded. I was about to pick her up from her family home and say something along the lines of 'come with me, we are to be married at once'. That was totally not the way that Alex would want me to go about this, but it was the story. I knew that we were going to be married before too much time passed. And then, I would move onto another story.
'Maybe the Keeper will let me consummate the marriage before we move on.' I thought the words to myself as we rode out of the castle gates.
"We shall see." The Keeper whispered into my ear. "I guess that depends on the princess for this story." They were taunting me. I knew that. Still, I was a little hopeful as we pulled up to the house where my Cinderella was living.
The house was nicer than I expected. I knew they were commoners, but I didn't know what the village looked like. It was a lot bigger and cleaner than I had pictured. I knew that seeing this would be a way to assuage my father's concerns. Stephen could tell him that they weren't poor like he thought.
Once I exited the carriage, I heard a commotion coming from behind the house. I was going to ignore it and just knock on the front door. However, I heard some of what was being said. I heard Ashenella's name and the sound of concerned voices. I knew that I had to hurry back there.
I saw four people gathered around a washing tub. I didn't see my bride to be though, even though they had been talking about her.
"What is going on here?" I called out to them in a stern yet concerned voice. "Where is Ashenella?"
"What?" The woman spun around to look at me. "Oh my, it's the prince."
"The prince?" The teenage boy gasped.
"Ashenella is here." A man leaning over the tub called out. He was actually holding her head in his arms as the girl soaked in the water. He looked like he was feeding her something and I interrupted.
"What happened to her?" I called out in a panic. "What happened to Al-.. to Ashenella?" I almost called her Alex. I had done that at the ball as well. I needed to be more careful. I can't use her real name because that would just confuse the character.
"My mother locked her away. She has been there for days and now she is sick." The teenage boy, who must be Ashenella's brother, answered my question.
"WHAT!?" The anger flooded inside of me. "EXPLAIN! I WANT TO KNOW ALL OF IT!"
I probably shouldn't have asked for a full explanation. It only pissed me off more. I was given a tale of abuse that Ashenella and Gilly, the brother, had endured over the last fifteen years. The father, who often left home for business and just returned home today, knew nothing about it.
Gilly was forced to abuse the girl as well, so as not to be abused himself. And Ashenella, she was the one that got the brunt of it all. She was treated like a slave, like in the true story of Cinderella, but she was beaten, starved, forced to sleep in the barn, and so much more. It was more than I could process, and more than my anger could handle.
"Bring the woman to me. She will be punished immediately." I growled at Stephen who just looked at me in shock.
"A..as you wish, my prince." For the first time, I was glad that my story character had so much authority. And I was going to use that authority right now.
"Bring the twins too. I know that they were part of the abuse."
"They were mean to her, my prince. But they never hit her. They just didn't ever try to end the abuse. I..I am sorry that I didn't try harder. I was just scared."
"You are still a child, Gilly." I spoke soothingly toward him. "You are only fifteen. You couldn't do much to help her until now. Your sisters, though, are older than Ashenella." I remember meeting them. They were at least two years older than her, if not more.
"J..just don't be too harsh with them. They were the ones that were ruined by their mother, they had no choice in how they were raised." He was right about that. They were raised to be this way. They didn't get a say in it either.
"Of course."
The 'prisoners' were brought before me. They were all scared and looked at me with red rimmed eyes.
"You all know what your crimes are. I will not bother to restate them now. For you two, I know that you didn't choose this life and therefore are not as guilty." I was looking at the twins with fierce eyes. "Still, you made your sister your servant, and will now in turn be her servant. You will be remanded to the castle and must do whatever she tells you to. However, you are not as lucky." The mother flinched when I glared at her. "You knew what you were doing. You dragged all of your children into it, and almost killed my fiancé. For that, you will be put to death. I will not budge on that. Until your execution, you will be remanded to the castle dungeons."
That was better. Getting my anger out like that was helping to calm me down somewhat.
"Prince?" Stephen gasped when he heard my sentence for the woman.
"I will not change my mind, Stephen. My ruling stands. Take her into custody. As for you, Sir." I looked at the father. "You and your son will have a life in the castle if you choose to. And you, Elin, you will be rewarded for your service to my bride. I will see to it that your family never wants for anything." They were all shocked, but they didn't say anything. "Now, someone please help me get Ashenella to the castle. I need to make sure that she is cared for properly."
Well, now that my time here in the yard was done, we got Ashenella into the carriage so that she could see a proper doctor in the infirmary. The stepmother, Milly, was tied to the back of the carriage and forced to run behind us. I was nice enough to instruct the driver not to go too fast. She had better be grateful. The twins were following as well, not tied up but being escorted by the brother and father. They were eager to find out if the girl was going to survive.
I fucking hoped that she would. If she died, I think I would be stuck here forever. Not to mention that I would feel like I had lost something important to me. Not in the story, but in real life.