Chapter 19

                                        

                                              
Morning came, and with it answers, pain, and information. Emberlee was grateful for two out of the three. Her last conscious memories as the Fairy Magic broke at midnight had been pain and surprise. Despite repeated warnings from multiple people, she ignored the time limit and felt the consequences for it immediately. And now she got to face the results of all the actors taken; Ainsley was dead, she'd heard that confirmed the previous evening and it felt almost anticlimactic to simply hear about it after the fact. 
It wasn't that Emberlee wanted to witness someone's demise, or that Cinderella had to be appeased by blood, it just didn't feel real yet. Emberlee searched her soul for a hint of guilt or regret but found more. Maybe the pain medication she'd been given was helping blunt those sensations too.
It was easy to assume the sequence of events that occurred after midnight. Her Fairy Magic had broken, she'd blacked out from the pain and energy loss, and the Imperial Prince had somehow brought her to a guest room and had her tended to. She was currently in a light nightgown that was not her own, and she could feel the press of bandages on her beaten back, and Emberlee tried valiantly to feel no embarrassment over both but her cheeks burned hotly.
Several people have now likely seen her injured, undressed, and unconscious. A Physician had been called to treat her wounds, and likely a maid to wash and dress her, but a horrible likelihood existed where Imperial Prince Damien had seen it too. Unfortunate. 
Emberlee spied the bell chord to pull and summon a maid, but for now, she was alone. Truly alone, she felt no trace of Cinderella in her mind or reflection. It was peaceful and restful, and so lonesome it added to her blunted pain. It felt too much like when she'd lost Mother and Aubin, and been left alone by the War Father was General of. Her relationship with her Fairy was unhealthy, but all she had left. Emberlee couldn't lay all the blame for her actions at Cinderella's feet as all her Fairy self had done was finish what Emberlee had started. And maybe if Emberlee has been a little more brutal at the outset all the rest of this nonsense could have been avoided. 
Before she could be bogged down in ruminations, a light knock at the door drew her attention. "Enter," she was as decent as it was possible to be as an infirm guest. 
She should have anticipated it being a rather amused-looking Imperial Prince, but the pain medication which helped ease her malaise also slowed her mind. "Good morning Marchioness, I'm pleased to see you finally awake." He looked unbothered by the previous night's events and didn't wait for her response, coming to sit in a chair that had been set next to the bed. And as if holding an award aloft, the Imperial Crown Prince presented a glass slipper to her; the remnants of last night's Magic. "At the stroke of midnight, if you may recall," he sounded unbearably triumphant, "your Fairy Magic shattered on you and I was left with a bloodied, unconscious, and naked Marchioness." He spared her pride no remorse.
"That could prove inconvenient given any witnesses," she tried to ignore the part of her that was so mortified she could cry. 
"I was more concerned by how badly abused you had recently been," now he at least sounded more empathetic, "My jacket concealed as much as it could but I did carry you inside to seek aid." Oh sweet gods it was the worst-case scenario. And despite her facial control, the Imperial Prince seemed to read her reaction, "Most were not on hand to see, we had been witnessed entering the restricted section
together but only my Knight and the Physician saw you after that. The rest of the guests were more than occupied by the various other spectacles occurring. And before you are too concerned, both my Imperial Knight and the Physician are women. Sir Eloise had been my Knight since I was young and the Imperial Physician was the one hired to tend the Imperial Princess." 
"So you're the only pervert to see an underage girl naked, without her consent?" she fell back on acting like it didn't bother her at all, waiting until a private moment to try and process it properly.