Cinderella Dressed in Ashes ( Book #2 in the Grimm Diaries ) by Cameron Jace

so she could attend the ball.  Of course, the prince fell madly in love with her without even asking her name. Love at first sight, you know. The girl had to get back home before midnight; afraid her stepmother would punish her and lock her inside the ash-covered room in their home again. And finally, we come to the most important part when she leaves a single shoe behind,” Carmilla’s eyes glittered, talking slower, and examining Shew’s face.
    Shew thought it was amusing, compared to the way Carmilla had told the beginning of the tale. She’d been talking fast with no attention to details or passion in her voice, as if she were reading a grocery list.
    “It was a single shoe that eventually led the prince to find his lost love. He walked around town, asking every girl he met to try on the shoe promising he’d marry her if it fit—some stupid prince, I must say.”  Shew wondered why the Queen told this tale if she thought it was so predictable and hated it so much.
    “Some stupid prince indeed,” Bloody Mary suddenly appeared in the mirror, growling in her gushy voice.
    Shew leaned back in her bed and looked away. Bloody Mary was young, but genuinely ugly and scary.
    “Shut up, Mary,” the Queen said firmly. “Go back to whatever hell you came from. You’re scaring my daughter.”
    “As you wish, my Queen,” Bloody Mary vanished from the mirror and Carmilla checked her beauty in it once more.
    “So where was I?” she questioned, adjusting her crown.
    “ Stupid Prince , my majesty,” Tabula said. “I assume he found the poor girl eventually.”
    “Ah, yes. One of the evil stepsisters, being unable to accept the fact that the prince liked her stepsister better, cut her toe off. Can you believe that? The little brat cut her toe off so the prince would choose her. I am always incredulous about the way girls are portrayed in these tales, helpless, disadvantaged, and afraid to be alone and never married.”
    “You’re right, my majesty,” Tabula commented. “Women should be much stronger. What a horrible thing this stepsister did.”
    “Well, let’s not be too harsh on the little brat,” Carmilla waved a hand in the air. “I did worse than cutting someone’s toe off for Angel—I’ve given him my flesh and blood. Right, Shew?"
    Shew nodded, worried about the Queen’s suggestive implications.
    Of course, you’ve done worse, you child killer!
    “So where was I again?” Carmilla wondered.
    “The girl cutting her toe off,” Bloody Mary snickered from inside the mirror without showing herself.
    “I know you love this part, Mary,” Carmilla said. “So although the world conspired against the prince and the poor girl’s pure, puppy, pitiful love, he finally found her in the home of her stepmother.”
    “Didn’t the shoe fit her stepsister?” Shew finally interacted.
    “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Pigeons warned the prince about the stepsister and urged him to look at her foot after she had tried the shoe on. The prince saw that the stepsister was bleeding from the cut, and immediately knew the girl was an imposter.”
    “She got what she deserved, my majesty,” Tabula said.
    “Yes, she did, but we’re not talking about the stepsister. She is by no means the main character here,” Carmilla said. So, in the end, love , in its most clichéd state, finally prevailed in this little Italian bedtime story. And the Creators clapped their hands, applauding the girl who went from rags to riches and won the prince’s heart,” Carmilla clapped her gloved hands elegantly, her palms barely touching.
    “So what’s the point of this boring story, mother?” Shew dared to ask.
    “I’ve always loved how impatient you are, Shew. You know impatient girls always get what they want, don’t you?” Carmilla said. “Here is the point of this glass shoe story—I told you the Godmother had given her a pair of glass shoes, didn’t I? Long boring story short, the love  between the prince and the girl