A Shoe's Tale

By Trisha M. Wilson

Not your childhood Cinderella.

Louella hates her stepfamily and would gleefully kill them if given the chance. However, having survived her attacks, her stepfamily has chained her up, preventing her from murdering them in their sleep. Louella is a prisoner in her own home and nobody will help her.

At least not until she meets Henry, Prince Ramsey’s cook. The prince needs shoes for the ball and Louella’s stepfamily are shoemakers. The prince also needs Henry to cook meals for him wherever he goes.

Henry and Louella strike up a conversation and slowly a friendship builds. But with Louella in chains and Henry unable to free her, how will their budding friendship, and possible romance, become anything more?

The night of the ball reveals all...are you ready?

This is a short story, 18,200 words long.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trisha M. Wilson
• Release date: Sep 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310108020

Trisha M. Wilson

Trisha M. Wilson lives in Wisconsin. With a degree in History and minors in Math and Business Administration, Ms. Wilson still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. When not regularly contributing on Colbyjack.net, she leads the life of a happy hermit with her three cats and family.

Book preview

A Shoe's Tale

By Trisha M. Wilson

Edited by Colby Trax and A.J. Wallace

Fairy Tale with a Twist

First Serialized at  WWW.COLBYJACK.NET

Copyright © 2015 by Trisha M. Wilson

Cover by Trisha M. Wilson

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Colbyjack.net Serial Tale

Smashwords Edition 2015.06.16

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Table of Contents

A Shoe's Tale

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Town Board Proclamations

About The Author

Works from Colbyjack.net

Chapter 1

"Just a little closer," Louella thought as she stretched her fingers. The knife was so close. If only her arm was a smidge longer...or the knife a little nearer...

Where are our drinks, Lou? Winston, Louella’s stepfather, called from the living room. Prince Ramsey is not used to being kept waiting.

Louella didn’t answer. This was the closest she’d gotten to a knife in ages. She wasn’t about to let it slip through her fingers.

As her fingertips brushed against the handle, she heard a knock at the backdoor.

Come in, Louella called, her ankle aching from the pressure of the surrounding shackle. Almost...there.

Hello? a soft voice said. Louella looked up. A man about a head shorter, wearing simple garb, stood a few feet into the kitchen. He held a basket overflowing with food.

Who are you? Louella asked, standing straight, the knife forgotten for the moment. He wasn’t one of the normal delivery people. Perhaps he was new? Not that it mattered. All had been warned against helping her, so what did she care if the delivery person was new or old?

I’m –

Louella’s stepbrother, Garrett, stuck his head into the kitchen. Where are those drinks? The prince is tired of waiting and you are making us all look bad.

She glared at Garrett. As always, he looked ridiculous in what he called his finery. Whereas Garrett thought he appeared striking in his bright yellow tunic and black linen pants, Louella thought he looked like a confused bee. Yellow washed out his skin, making him appear more ghost than person, but who was she to stop him from looking his best?

They’re coming. If you want them, why don’t you deliver them yourself?

Just get them out here. Father is getting tired of making excuses for you.

As Garrett disappeared, Louella mumbled, I’ll deliver you, you self-serving piece of scum.

Noisily dropping the simple pewter goblets onto the plain pewter tray, she filled three of them with dirty water and the others with the wine they drank for dinner. The wine was so watered down Louella didn’t know how her stepfather could stand the stuff. If it hadn’t been cleaner than the water from the well, she never would have touched the stuff it was so disgusting.

But then her so-called family was so fond of the watered down drink she wouldn’t have been surprised if her stepfather wasn’t helping support the monks who made it. There was no accounting for taste.

If you want, I could carry those for you, the short man offered.

Louella was startled for a moment. She’d forgotten all about the quiet man’s presence. Was she so used to her own company that the appearance of another made such a small impact?

I’ve got this. You go on doing whatever you’re supposed to be doing. She picked up the tray and strode into the living room, being sure her chain made as much noise as possible. The clunk...scrape...clunk...scrape against the stone floor was enough to wake the dead, and it made Louella’s point perfectly. She loved pointing out that she wasn’t there voluntarily, especially when guests were present.

Prince Ramsey, with his entourage of pretty peacocks, gazed at her with surprise when she entered the room. Whether it was her dirty, ragged dress or her manacle which astonished him, Louella didn’t know, or care. He was just another vapid person wishing to commission a shoe from her stepfather.

She slammed the tray onto the table between Prince Ramsey and her stepfather Winston, spilling the liquid in the goblets. After setting the prince’s goblet in front of him, she looked at her stepfather, grabbed his dirty water, and spit in it, right there in front of everyone. With a sickly sweet smile, she carefully set it before her stepfather. Winston’s normally pale face was beet red, which perfectly matched his red tunic and the red, custom-made shoes he’d created just for this outfit.

Turning away from Winston, he’d say nothing in front of the prince, she looked to Opal, her stepsister, who sat to his right. Opal wore a robin egg blue dress with silver high-heeled shoes. Louella smiled as she spit into Opal’s dirty water before handing it to her.

Louella suppressed a mean