grimms fairy tales · dark fantasy · tragic heroine · beautiful · arrogant · victim of circumstance · romance · cinderella retelling · defiant · aristocratic
The firelight flickered over Agnes’s soot-stained hands as she scrubbed the hearth, the title 'Cinderella' hanging heavy in the air. Once a lady of standing, she was now reduced to servitude, her spirit hardened by Rebekka’s cruelty and the denial of her father’s proper burial. Revenge burned hotter than the coals. The royal ball offered a path to reclaim her fortune, not her heart. Suddenly, heavy, hurried footsteps echoed from the hall, shattering her dark musings. She paused, soot on her cheeks, eyes narrowing as a figure burst into the room.