Chapter 13: Modern Cinderella

Hazel was happy that the celebration was still going to be held tomorrow. It afforded her time to do what she had gone there to do. 

Her ears were still pinned to the door when she heard footsteps approaching from within the room.

Caught unawares and not knowing where to run to or hide without being caught, she instinctively jumped to the back of the door.

It was a careless hiding spot that would guarantee her getting caught but it was all she could come up with. 

She could not risk running away because the hallway was too long and the next exit was at the end so she would definitely have been caught and her only other option was a window which was a couple of meters high up. 

The approaching footsteps reached the door and opened it.

Since the door was flung open, Hazel was out of sight as she was on the other side of the opened door.

It was at that moment that it occurred to Hazel that the door could be closed shut and she would be caught.

She had not had enough time to even think of something like that and now, she was considering making the deathly fall through the window.

Hazel's heartbeat got fast as the person, instead of moving forward, paused outside the door. Luckily for her though, the door was not closed shut so she was still hidden.

Gordon had been tired of being bugged by his council members. He had better things to do than sit with men who listened —and went even as far as believing silly rumors.

He had decided to go do something better —probably taking a nap and was at the door when he had to stop.

As he stopped, his nose picked up the sweet scent of a human. He could have sworn that there was a human nearby. 

His ears also pricked up the sound of a heart beating. The heartbeat sounded so loud and so fast.

Gordon looked around. It was not possible that there could be anyone else there aside from him and the men in the room behind him.

He stood still trying to make sense of what was happening.

Or could it be that the rumors his councilmen had told him about the curse had actually gotten to him?

Hazel's heartbeat continued to surge as the person at the other end of the door continued to remain plastered there.

The sound of her beating heart was so loud that it even filled her ears.

That was it! She thought to herself.

If she, who was a human could be hearing the sound of her heartbeat this loud then it would definitely sound like a boombox to a wolf.

The wolf at the other side of the door must have heard the sound of her heartbeat.

Without a moment's delay, she took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then held her breath.

With her eyes closed, she focused on nothing else but the darkness she could see in her eyes and tried to calm her beating heart.

She knew that when she finally opened her eyes it could go either two ways.

She would either be staring at a statue of a wolf that was placed opposite her or into the eyes of a real wolf.

Her technique worked as her heartbeat slowly calmed down.

Gordon stood there for a while as his ears continued to pick up the sound of a beating heart then suddenly, the sound which had sounded like a blaring siren suddenly went down. 

No longer could he hear it blaring; all he could pick up was the sound of a regular beating heart which could belong to any one of the men in his council.

Still, his nose picked up the smell of a human but he discarded it as his mind played tricks on him.

Immediately, he got angry with himself. How could he, the first prince of the House of Midnight be scared of a useless rumor?

It made him feel weak like he was some type of prey. How ironic!

He was the hunter and not the prey. Everyone who valued their heads on their necks knew this.

He was the one whose name sent terrors down the spine of people and not the other way around.

He needed time to clear his head. There was no way he was going to be a scared little wimp.

Angry at himself, Gordon stomped away.

Hazel held her chest in her hands as she exhaled in relief. She waited for a few more minutes, making sure that Gordon had walked away before deciding to move.

The other members of the council were still deliberating and when she realized that nothing they were saying was of value to her, she walked away.

She took long deliberate strides as she walked by the door which had been left open by Gordon.

Hazel walked out of the palace and into the grounds. 

She found a beautiful garden that had a gazebo in it.

She was so enchanted by the gazebo as it had vines wrapped around it. 

The vines were green and they had little soft pink flowers blooming on them.

The gazebo reminded her of Cinderella's enchanted carriage which her fairy godmother had made from a pumpkin. Almost like a better version of her story.

She was stuck here in a human body because Raglan thought the only way to help her would be to turn her into an assassin.

She walked into the gazebo and reclined on a sofa that was there.

She closed her eyes as she thought.

She did not have a plan on how she was going to carry out her next assassination. 

She however knew she had an opportunity to do it and that was the moon festival.

Frustrated, her mind drifted off to other thoughts as the cool breeze blowing into the gazebo drifted her off to sleep.

She daydreamed of her life before Maeve cheated her; before her mate stabbed her in the heart.

How she loved and was loved...

The time when she knew she was not alone unlike now.

The time when her only problem was making sure Maeve had not landed herself in any trouble.

"Maeve," she thought. 

The person she had shared a womb with for nine months. The one who turned into her living nightmare.

Her heart constricted as she thought of the numerous times Maeve had hurt her.

When Maeve had set her favorite doll on fire.

When Maeve strangled her little puppy which she had rescued just because her parents would not let her keep a cat. 

The time Maeve had tried to kill her in her sleep by strangling her. She remembered the look she saw in her eyes as she tried to squeeze every last breath out of Hazel.

Maeve's brown eyes looked like liquid hate.

How someone could ever harbor such an amount of hate for another person, moreover her twin sister still baffled her.

And to think she never for once, despite all her sister had done to her, ever hated her.

Until now. 

The hate she bore inside for her twin sister was like a growing wave –growing bigger with every movement. 

Every trial she faced increased the hate she felt on the day Maeve stole her life from her.

In one day, she lost all she ever wanted to her sister –that, she could never forgive.

She wondered how Maeve had done it. Had she seduced Asher? She wondered.

She ruled that possibility however because she was sure Asher was never going to fall for such.

He was bound to her after their imprint and no amount of seduction could ever break that.

It had to be something more. 

Had she cast a spell on him? It would make a lot of sense she was hanging out with witches. 

Hazel could not stop drilling herself for the possible ways in which Maeve had been able to do what she did.

After getting frustrated over again, she gave up.

The cool breeze, the beautiful scent of the blooming flowers, and the comfortable sofa, slowly enticed Hazel to sleep.

It must have been poison, another thought slipped into Hazel's half-asleep mind.

"Yeah... poison," Hazel agreed with her subconscious.

Poison would have been effective just as any of the other means. Maeve would have just needed an opportunity to get it into his food or drink.

Or much more easily, she must have made him inhale it by letting out a gas-based poison.

Her mind was still at work, creating various possibilities when Hazel suddenly jerked up.

That was it.

Maeve had been able to get to Asher even when it was not possible. She could use the same medium Maeve had used.

She would be able to get near the prince if he was incapacitated. She could use poison for that.

Hazel was delighted at her findings.

She had never been so happy for her twin sister's deviousness till now.

It was just so ironic that Maeve had been the one to land her into such a mess and she seemed to be the one helping her out.

Now that Hazel had gotten a means, all she had to do was hatch a plan on how to poison the prince.