Chapter Nineteen:

Striking Midnight

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When the carriage finally pulled up the front steps of the palace, Clara's nerves had not calmed in any way. Her worries raced around her head in a never ending tumble and while she'd never been the sort to swoon, she felt surprisingly faint.

As soon as one of the footmen opened the door she got out and started to move up the palace steps, doing her best to ignore the throbbing of her feet inside the glass slippers. She'd forgotten to mention them again, but she was working her hardest not to pay attention to them. She would probably be wearing them the next night as well, so she best get used to keeping her complaints to herself.

Clara didn't particularly want to go through the garden again, and so as soon as she reached the grand hallway that led to the ballroom she steeled herself to make her entrance. Nodding to the silent doormen at each side of the doors, she waited for them to open them for her.

Once they opened the doors, Clara had flashbacks of the first night. Every face turned up to look at her and every single one of them seemed to recognize her as the "princess" from the previous nights. However, unlike the first night, she did not take her time inspecting the crowd or the ballroom.

Instead, she hurried down the stairs as fast as the voluminous skirts of her gown allowed her to, which admittedly, wasn't that fast. As her glass slipper covered feet reached the floor to the ballroom, she was still moderately surprised to see a handsomely dressed Gus coming towards her, the crowd parting for him like how the sea parts for ships.

She half expected him to ignore her due to their conversation the night before, but that didn't seem to be the case at all.

"May I have this dance?" He queried once he was close enough to speak a little quieter than normal speaking volume. Clara nodded, and before she knew it she was being whisked off to dance in the middle of the dance-floor with the other couples.

For the first two minutes, Clara avoided looking up at him. She wasn't embarrassed, or anything of that sort, but she couldn't help but feel relatively uncomfortable. The night before changed something between them. She was much more unsure of where she stood in his eyes. He knew now what she needed to do, but had he lost all respect for her because of it?

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about our conversation from last night," he murmured in her ear, as they were at a part in the dance where she was very close to him. Clara looked up at him sharply. "What if you didn't have to marry to save your brother?"

Clara thought carefully about how to answer, meeting his green eyes uncertainly. If she didn't have to marry to save James it would definitely be preferable.

"But I do have to marry to save him. There's nothing that can change that. After all, what self-respecting man or woman would willingly give away money to a complete stranger?"

"I'd like to think that we are not strangers, Clara," Gus said, and Clara's heart fluttered at his words. This was the first time he had called her by just her first name without a title, even if Lady certainly wasn't her title.

"I thought you were here to marry for money or a title?" Clara asked, but she only earned herself a bitter chuckle from her dance partner.

"Why don't we take a turn about the garden?" Gus asked, and Clara nodded without hesitation. Gus dipped his head, acknowledging her answer, and led her from the dance-floor. His hand still held hers as they moved towards the garden, and his fingers tightened on her own when they stepped out into the moonlight.

Once they left the loud noises of the ballroom behind, Clara found it easier to focus. He wanted to help her! But a little thought inside her head couldn't help but be disappointed. She was very fond of him. She might not love him, but she knew that given time she would've.

"I am not here for monetary gain or to raise my station in life," Gus started, pulling Clara's attention from her thoughts. "I am here at the request of my parents." Clara looked at him confused. If he didn't need to marry for money or a title, why would he need to marry? She looked back at the roses lining the garden to give herself something to keep her attention on other than her companion.

"You are confused," he said, but when Clara glanced back at him she saw he wasn't saying it in a condescending fashion, merely stating a fact.

"Why else would you need to marry?" Clara asked, and Gus heaved a sigh, his brown sugar haired head pointed towards the ground.

"My parents wish me to marry well. Very, very well. In fact, they already have my bride picked out for me."

"Then why have you not been dancing with her?" Clara couldn't contain her question, and once it left her lips she grimaced when it sounded more than a little forceful.

"I did not want to dance with her, I wanted to dance with you. You, the strange girl who made an entrance but was decidedly uncomfortable under the attention of the kingdom, the person who became so flustered when she stepped on my feet in her glass slippers, the girl, no woman, who came here for the same reason as every other woman in the kingdom, but with the best of intentions. I wanted to dance with the woman who danced the night away in a pair of shoes that clearly hurt her feet, but she never complained about out loud."

Throughout this whole speech, Gus was gazing down at Clara, his face serious. With every word, Clara's stomach flipped and somersaulted and churned as if it was full of butterflies or perhaps an ocean on a stormy night.

"But if you were dancing with me, that means you never gave the other girl a chance," she whispered, feeling rather guilty over that realization. For all she knew, that girl could've been in a similar situation to her and Gus never paid her the time of day. However, Gus just gave a chuckle.

"I assure you, I gave her the chance she needed. In fact, last night before I finally found you I was forced to dance with her no less than four times, during which we only talked about her jewelry, apparel, shoes, and how she would change things once we were married." Gus' hand squeezed hers tightly, and his eyes stayed focused on hers. "Yet, the whole time I was dancing with her all I could think of was doing the same dance steps with you."

He now stood much closer to her, and in the moonlight that flowed through the petals of the white roses that surrounded them, she could see how sincere he was, but she also could see the concentration and worry on his face, as if he was anxious over his words. His other hand reached out slowly and touched the bottom of her chin, holding it gently so as to look into her eyes better.

"You don't deserve to be tethered to a man who doesn't love you in the slightest, and I can't marry you without disagreeing with my parents outright," he said, not appearing to notice how Clara stiffened in his grasp as her heart seemed to form a small crack at his words. "But I can help you if you let me. I have more than enough money, and I'd much rather have it go towards saving your brother's life than the newest pair of hunting boots."

Clara pulled her head away from his hands and his steady gaze, taking a step back from him. She felt breathless, but not in a good way. This man, Gus, Augustus, had just offered her the means to save her brother's life on a silver platter, but yet she felt the tiniest measure of heartbrokenness.

For all of the magic and significant touches and the sparks that seemed to fly when their eyes met, he did not love her in the slightest and could not bring himself to disagree with his parents over his arranged marriage with a woman he couldn't even talk properly to. Was it selfish of her that she wished that she could save James and have a chance to love Gus? Was it wrong that she wished that he felt for her like she felt for him?

Yet, as she looked back to him, she knew that if she let him, he would fix everything. He would save James, and not force her into what he described as a loveless marriage. He was offering her the chance to have everything she had professed to want. So despite her heart that ached as if it had been bruised, she knew her answer.

"I would be forever thankful if you were to help me," she answered, watching as Gus' face turned into a smile. "Is there anything I can do to repay you?" She asked, struggling to stop her voice from cracking.

"I think dancing with me for the rest of the night would be a good start," he said, grinning at her. She nodded, forcing a smile on her face, and allowed him to direct them back to the dancefloor.

However, before he could, he paused, taking a white rose from the bushes that surrounded them. With a smile, he put it in her hair, his hand brushing the skin of her jaw, and she tried to smile back, but couldn't. Her skin burned where he'd touched her, and the rose felt heavy in her hair.

They did not speak as they joined the other twirling couples, and as the dance wore on Clara felt more and more uncomfortable in his arms. He should've been dancing with his betrothed, not her. However, even though her mind was thinking of her discomfort, she did not let it show. She hid it away like the way she hid the pain from the glass slippers, behind graceful posture and a stiff smile.

They were into their third dance since leaving the garden and had been conversing lightly, when Gus started to peer down at her in concern.

"Are you alright? You do not seem yourself." He stated, his hands holding onto hers in a way that could only be described as protectively. Clara found it difficult to answer, and she struggled to find the right words.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." She decided on saying, but as she spoke a loud chiming cut through her words. Stopping in her tracks abruptly, her eyes darted to the clock over the heads of the king and queen. Her eyes widened in panic as she took in the time. It was striking midnight! "Forgive me, but I must be going," she said her words coming out in a rush.

She wrenched herself from his grip and started towards the stairs, running towards them despite the voice calling her name behind her. Gardenia had warned her to come home before the clock struck twelve, and she did not want to stick around to find out what happened when the magic ended.

Clara ran up the stairs and into the adjoining hallway, ignoring the startled words from the guards standing outside the ballroom doors. With every step, her feet brought her towards the front doors, but she became aware of the sound of feet behind her. Throwing open the doors of the palace, she started down the front steps, her heart racing, and her chest heaving with every breath. She did her best to ignore the way the world was beginning to seem like it was spinning. The corset of her gown was constricting her breaths and making it harder to breath and stay upright.

With each step, her aching feet became more painful and her movements became less balanced, until finally half way down the steps, she stumbled, almost losing her balance and completely losing her left shoe as well as the white rose from her hair. But at that moment, there was shout behind her that rang through her ears like the sound of a bell.

"Prince Frederick, where are you going?" One of the guards yelled, but as Clara turned around to look to the owner of the voice, all she saw was Gus running down the steps. The moment he answered, their eyes met across the distance.

"I'm following her!" Gus shouted back, his eyes settled on Clara.

Clara's thoughts and body ground to a halt. He was the prince! She'd been dancing with the prince all along! But as the clock once again chimed with the striking of midnight, she began to move, completely abandoning her left shoe and the rose he'd given her on the stairs and taking the right shoe into her hands.

Dashing down the steps, she did not wait for her carriage to pull to a stop before throwing herself in. As the carriage darted away from the palace, Clara looked out the window of the carriage, her eyes immediately landing on the figure of Prince Frederick bending over to pick up what she'd left behind.

Her last sight of him before the carriage turned a bend and left the palace grounds, was of him holding the glass slipper tightly in his hands as he watched her be taken away from him. The white rose glistened in the moonlight at his feet.

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So she now knows he's the prince, that he (supposedly) doesn't care for her, and that Frederick has promised to help her save James. Basically a lot happened.

Do you think that Frederick will still help her now that she knows he's the prince? Do you think Frederick will go through with his arranged marriage?Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Also, side note, from this point on I will start referring to "Gus" only as Frederick, as that is his name.

The song is called "Aeon" by Switch. Yes, it is the music from one of the trailers of the new movie.