The night was quiet and clear as if it had no knowledge of the wonderful tragedy that would take place.

Tonight, revenge would fall like moonlight onto the world. Tonight, a wolf would shed her sheepskin. Tonight, a debt would be repaid after so many years. And all of it started with a fairy who granted a wish, a glass shoe and a little bit of deception.

Before midnight, a prince would fall and a wish will be fulfilled. 

The golden-haired girl arrived and all discussion crashed to a stop. Her snow-white dress, which complimented her pale-sky eyes,  accentuated every curve and made the women curse and the men drool. Her white-gloved hands were hooked into the man next to her.

The anniversary of Cinderella and Charming would now commence.

Drinks were poured and trays of food that could have fed hundreds of starving street children were brought the nanosecond the couple sat down at the Royal Table. Laughter and communication once again resumed. 

She leaned towards her newly-wed and whispered, "Darling, this celebration is dazzling! "

"I know, my dear, I have ordered the entire kingdom to cease all work and donate half their earnings! It is them but, mostly me, who have made this entire night so grand!"

The Prince smiled widely and the soon-to-be queen returned it. Her smile was tight-lipped and forced but the soon-to-be King did not notice. He never noticed what was right in front of him.

"I know since your Fathers...I know it has been terribly hard for you. You have done wonderfully and I am certain he'd be proud. "

"He would. Only I do wish I could see him once more. 

You will, my love. You. Will.

The pair stood up and announced their plans, "My people, my people," the crowd hushed immediately at the voice of the prince. " My wife and I shall wed tonight on the three month anniversary of our first meeting. As you know, our marriage will not only entwine our destinies but also crown me, the King, and my beautiful wife, Queen. Tonight, a prince shall arise King and a once lowly peasant becomes queen!  This is the Ball of balls! In honor of this festive occasion, cue the music and let us dance like devils!"

The crowd cheered.

The band, who had been playing painfully slow music before, strung and blew and strummed themselves out of the background and into a sound that rattled bones. The old King would have never allowed such 'ruckus' to play at such a formal event. 

But the old King was very dead and Erella could not stop smiling.

Prince Charming and Princess Cinderella owned the night as they danced and laughed and harbored the attention of the room under their manicured claws. And at ten past ten, the Crowing ceremony began. Very, very soon, a fool and a killer would both adorn crowns.

The entire event was over quickly as the greedy Prince snatched the golden gem-incrested headband and the emerald diadem and placed them on his and his wife's head halfway into the Priest's speech. Cinderella did not mind one bit since she preferred it all the better if this idiotic party finished sooner. But of course, no one saw her irritation. They saw a pale-skinned beauty who was kind and sweet that was madly in love with an equally attractive and sweet prince.

Neither theories were correct. 

The Queen was bitter and the King was gluttonous. 

"Deary," the Queen breathed, " I feel a tad bit under the weather. I believe the music is getting to me. Can we close this all down and retire to our chambers? I have prepared a delicious surprise for you once we are all alone...shall we?"

...

By five past ten, the castle gates were shut and the guests were all in their homes, safe and sound. Deeper in the city, people stumbled around, going to houses for food to chill the ache in their bellies. The wind blew through their thin coats and pinpricked their malnourished bodies with the cold. Hope was as sparse as food and the better tomorrow was a fools' dream.

The Queen, wrapped in nothing but a wispy nightdress, kissed the King sweetly. His hands roamed her body, loving every line, curve and drop--but not loving her. Her mouth was summer berries and winter snow while his mouth tasted like cigar smoke and black coffee. Their tongue fought and clashed, teeth clicking and biting. The Queen reached behind to undo her upper garment, her soft breasts fell out and his eyes nearly popped out. She leaned her body down, down onto his body and sunk down, down into his flesh. He gasped and choked as his mouth filled with blood.

The knife cut deep into his heart but really, the betrayal killed him. His wife. His soft-spoken wife. With kind-eyes and soft hair. He had been hers! He had...loved her. Cherished here! Picked her up from the slums and into the rich life. He owed her everything! Everything!

In his mind, he thought, Damn you to hell, Cinderella but all that came out was a soft whisper of his killer's name as he from consciousness. Forever

..

 His body did not take much work to be thrown over the balcony to the twisted trees below where he was impaled. The trees' branches would hide her knifes mark. She buried the knife in a loose floorboard where it had lived months before. Today, she had slipped it into the lace of her upper garment where it stayed hidden till just ten minutes ago. A quick glance at the clock revealed it to be one set  of sixty until midnight

She then screamed loud enough to wake the moon and guards rushed in. Cinderella was quick to explain everything and keep their eyes off the bed as she frantically cried on the balcony

We were in the middle of an intimate moment when we got carried away. He slipped. He fell. Please, help him!  

And who would not believe such a beautiful and sweet girl?

The clock chimed twelve and just like that, the blood on the bed disappeared, the knife vanished and somewhere in the kingdom, her cruel stepfamily was viciously attacked by crows and killed. 

The final piece had fit into place.

No one but her would ever know what happened tonight.

The evidence was magicked away but her memory was clear as ice.

The Old King had the medicine that could have made saved her mother. But greed ran rampant in his blood and he gave her father small doses for a ridiculous price. When he had enough fun with the man who clothed and loved her for so many years, he simply stopped sending the medicine and her mother died days later. Her father died soon after from a deadly mix of heartbreak and betrayal. She was left in the cruel care of vixen for a step-mother and two green-eyed step-sisters.

So, she swore, one day...one day, she would exact her revenge on every damned human that had put an ache in her heart and a tear in her eyes. They would burden a pain she had known all these years. Cinderellas soul blackened and her heart grew to stone. A sweet, golden-haired girl with cobalt eyes and a loving smile was eaten by time and regurgitated as a bitter beauty who knew nothing but the taste of hate.

So, on the day of the ball, her only chance to get close to the Royal family, she gathered up three objects: a dreamcatcher, the wing of a dragonfly and tongue of a snake. With these items, she summoned a faery--the smudged version of fairies. She wished simply.

She was given a magic blade hidden in the floorboards of the castle that could slice stars and only she could see it and only she knew where it was.Three months before the anniversary, the Old King would drop dead of a heart attack. On the anniversary, the Prince would die by her hand.

All it took was her soul. A price she would--and did--pay if it meant she avenged her family and herself

She would die in twenty years time on this very day when the clock struck twelve. 

As the kingdom searched for the body of the Prince below her, she sat on the balcony and looked the night dead in the eyes.

She smiled.

the end