One Week Before the Ball

"I don't know what more you want from me," Elise whispered casting her eyes downward and folding her arms behind her back.

"I want more than what you give that is a fact," Adaline snorted. "Elise you were discarded when you were only seven for being the worthless mutilated leech that you are. I out of the goodness of my heart took you to my breast and raised you as my own alongside my own flesh and blood daughters. The least recompense I deserve from you is some chores. Yet you still cannot accomplish such a simple task."

"I can't do everything myself," Elise turned her eyes up to cast a glare at her stepmother before turning her eyes once again down to the floor shutting them against the harsh look of disgust she had seen.

Raising her hand to cover her face Elise turned away from her. Hearing a growl she looked up to see Adaline smack her hand away.

"You may be able to momentarily cover the ugly on the outside but I know it grows out from a place within the lord himself knew you would grow to be a disturbed child marking you at birth to warn others of such in his goodness." Adaline scowled her voice low as she narrowed her eyes watching Elise cower in front of her. "Beauty is everything in society. You having none is a sign of poor fortune show your face to no one and you can stay living here serving us. I will have no one looking down on us for having such poor servants as yourself."

"I am no servant I am your daughter by marriage," Elise tried to stand taller even as her mind told her it would be best to remain silent and cower in defeat.

"How dare you speak such words you viper!" Adaline smacked her across the face sending her down to the floor. "Sleep with the animals in the barn, I don't want your foul scent anywhere in the house this evening. You have disturbed me long enough scurry off Elise and don't speak to me again."

Elise nodded her head dejectedly as she lay on the cold stone floor of the kitchen. Looking around she saw that every other staff had exited the room long ago as not to be caught in the crossfire of Adaline's temper against her. Sighing heavily she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if her father had broken through from his fever all those years ago and survived. Would he have allowed her to be treated as such? She was too young to remember much about him. Only memories of the constant abuse from her stepmother greeted her when she tried to remember further back.

Pushing herself off the ground she reached up covering her face with her left hand feeling the extra bumps and grooves that grew there. Adaline may have been right about one thing. She was ugly on the outside. Did that truly mean she was ugly on the inside as well? Was this deformity a desperate attempt at the ugly from within trying to escape. Elise shook her head; she knew herself. She was a good person on the inside no matter how much abuse she endured at the hands of her so called 'family.'

Travelling from the house to the nearby barn began as a quiet almost contemplative journey but the closer she got to her destination the louder the menagerie of farm animal noises became. Smiling as she felt herself quicken her pace she was almost to a run by the time she reached the doors pulling them open and stepping inside.

A feeling of safety and acceptance washed over her as she walked among the horses, cows, chickens and other various animals all voicing their opinions about one thing or another. It might have been loud and have an overbearing smell but this barn had more of a feeling of home to her than her own attic bedroom in the manor had.

Stepping up to her old horse she brushed through his mane with her fingers. He nickered softly nuzzing his nose into her neck and began to walk in place.

"I wish I could go out and ride Reginald really I do," Elise sighed into his mane rubbing his neck down with her knuckles massaging him gently. "Adaline would hang me for a thief for certain if I did. You know that."

As if agreeing with her Reginald lifted his head and nodded again before stepping back to continue drinking from a water trough nearby. Sighing heavily Elise went about arranging some hay near the corner of the stable that didn't look too disturbed by the other animals and settled down on a harshly woven blanket.

Her eyes drooped down even as her mind raced. What would happen if she took Reginald and ran away? How far would she get on her own? Would she be able to hide her face long enough to achieve some way of living? Would anyone hire someone who didn't show their face? If it wasn't so apparent and visible she might have had a chance but with it covering much of her left side from her crown down half her cheek she was doomed to live with her stepmother forever.

It was a nice dream to think about though. A long journey to the west full of adventure and intrigue. If she was a different person if she looked different she would leave in a heartbeat. Dress as a man and join a crew sailing for the america's. Become a chambermaid at the castle or some rich ladies house and slave away for some other family who wouldn't give her a second glance rather than force their hands on her every chance they got with sharp words that cut deeper than untrimmed nails.

Laughing bitterly Elise curled up further on the blanket pulling her skirts down around her feet for warmth as she closed her eyes expelling the happy thoughts from her mind. Dreaming of different things, different lives, and different experiences was nice for a moment but to linger on them only made her real situation that much worse in comparison. Something that she didn't want to linger on as she drifted off into a far off dream world all her own.

Spinning around and around Elise held her stomach shouldn't she be dizzy. No she thought dancing in her dreams never made her dizzy no matter how fast her partners spun her around. Stopping her spin she was dipped low to the ground her long blonde curls brushing against the marble floor of the ballroom as she was against swept up and spun twice before feeling her back rest against her partners chest.

Trying to turn her head to see who she danced with she was once again thrown into a fit of spins and twirls gliding along the dance floor as the music filled her ears in a magical crescendo of string instruments. Everything blurred as she spun and spun her hair flying around and filling her view as she stopped dancing. Quickly brushing it aside she tried again to look into the face of her dance partner.

"Who are you?" Elise questioned the man. He wore a hat with a low brim causing a shadow to cover his face.

Leaning closer to better view his face only made him turn his head down further casting the shadow down further as he did. A growing desire to see his face overwhelmed Elise enough that she reached up to take his hat off. Her hand grasped the rim of it throwing it off she gasped as his face was fully revealed.