001 [Until the Stroke of Midnight]

[onperfectlips.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cinderella [Guinevere] and Prince Charming [Arthur]
Location: The Prince's Palace
Time: Late Evening
Summary: Once upon a time, a prince and a servant girl fell in love. There are some things that never change.
Warnings: N/A



Although Cinderella was habitually dressed in rags, the woman - the princess - that stepped out of the glittering carriage was wearing a gown that seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. Her Fairy GodMuther had worked his magic well. She both looked and felt radiant.

Every head turned to watch her as she passed. They continued to stare long after she'd entered the building.

After a brief and barely perceptible pause at the top of the stairs, she gave the court herald a false name that felt more like her than 'Cinderella' ever had.

"The Lady Guinevere," he called out, and it was the Lady Guinevere - stately and graceful and a world away from the girl who slept in the ashes of the hearth for warmth - who descended the stairs at his command.

Midnight was a long way away. Her life with her stepmother and stepsisters was a long way away. She would have to wake up from this dream eventually but, for now, she would simply live every moment of it.

Comments

[onperfectlips.livejournal.com]

Her stepsisters had talked of nothing else but the prospect of meeting the prince at the ball, but it had been the prospect of freedom - the chance to be more than a servant, if only for a few hours - that had appealed to Gwen. It hadn't occurred to her that the prince would notice her, let alone pay attention to her. When he approached, she assumed that he was a minor noble of some sort. She curtsied with gracefully and politely and without the faintest trace of recognition on her shyly smiling face.

(Although there was something oddly familiar ... but no, no, that wasn't right. She had never had the opportunity to mix with nobles before. Her stepmother would never have allowed it.)

"I am newly arrived in the kingdom, my lord."