Page 57 of Once Upon a Midnight Clear

Malvina emitted a cackle. “My dear prince, there is nothing you can do to stop him.” Then she snapped her fingers.

Two guards stepped forward and took him by the arms, dragging him away from Ella. She stood tall, her hands in fists at her sides and her chin lifted in defiance. She was trying to be brave and he loved that about her. The guard moved forward again and reached for her cloak. He ripped it off her, revealing the velvet bag on her shoulder.

“Why, what’s this?” Malvina stepped toward Ella, holding her hand up for the bag. “Hand it over.”

Ella cut him a questioning glance. There was no way to defy the queen. He gave her a nod of defeat. Ella slipped it off her shoulder and handed it to Malvina, her shoulders slumping.

The queen pulled open the bag and peered inside, then snapped her head up at Ella. Her eyes were full of menace.

“You. You were the one who had them all along. You were hiding in the village when I destroyed their precious star. Isn’t that true?”

“What if it is?” Ella said, her voice strong and sure.

Nicholas stifled the smile of pride that wanted to erupt when the queen’s face turned dark and dangerous at Ella’s response.

“It matters not. All that does is that I have the slippers at last. Take them to the dungeon!”

Her cackle was the last thing he heard as the guards led them away.

Chapter 20

Nowthatshehadthe slippers, Malvina left Ella and Nicholas in the custody of the guards. Ella replayed giving the queen the slippers over and over in her mind trying to decide what she could have done differently to keep them in her possession.

All this time, she had protected them, kept them with her, and made sure they were safe. Now, they were in the hands of the enemy. Perhaps she should have left them in the cave like Nicholas suggested.

Her stomach clenched with the horrifying thought of what Malvina could do with them. She recalled Alice’s word, specifically that they were connected to the emotions of the wearer. What terrible things would Malvina do when she put them on and poured her hatred and her malice into them? Destroy the village? Or—worse—the kingdom?

She cut a glance at Nicholas. He must have sensed her looking at him because he gave her a small, apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” he said. “It was my idea to come here.”

She opened her mouth to protest when one of the guards snapped, “No talking.”

They fell silent as they made their way down a spiral stone staircase that led down, down, down into the bowels of the fortress. The deeper they went, the colder the air turned around them. Torches lined the walls, giving off a sinister glow in the dark recesses of Malvina’s dungeon.

At a gate, the lead guard paused to unlock it from a key from a ring on his belt. The key clinked in the lock, then he shoved it open. The hinges groaned as it swung open to reveal more darkness. Here the air was stale and dank.

The lead guard pulled a torch off the wall by the gate. They followed and, as they entered, Ella noticed a line of cells with iron bars on the right and the left. It was too dark to see if anyone was in those cells as they passed, but she heard the shuffle of feet in one. In another, she saw two dirty hands clutching the bars as they passed. Only the faint outline of a youthful face was visible.

Her heart lurched. How many prisoners did Malvina have down here?

The lead guard paused at one cell, unlocked it and opened the door. Nicholas was shoved inside that one. The door slammed shut. Across from that cell, he unlocked another one. The guard behind her pushed her inside. The door slammed shut with a resounding bang.

The guards said nothing as they left them there to rot in the darkness. Silence descended. Far down the corridor, the other gate slammed closed, sealing their fate.

Ella took a look at her new home. A pile of straw was in one corner. A dirty chamber pot in another, as though it had never been removed from the previous occupant. Her stomach lurched as bile rose to her throat. She turned away, moving closer to the bars where there was a patch of light from a nearby torch.

She peered out of the bars, trying to see Nicholas, but he was deep in the shadows of his cell. She heard a scraping noise.

“Nicholas?”

“I’m going to find a way out of here,” he said, his disembodied voice coming from the dark.

More scraping noises.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

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