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

incident, but nothing more—and he hadn’t appeared in this dream so far. Shew wondered if staying trapped in the Schloss for a hundred years made her forget a big portion of her past.
    “You want to know a secret?” Cerené leaned forward over Oddly Tune’s grave. “There is someone else other than the prince that I really like.”
    “Oh,” Snow White’s eyes widened. She wasn’t faking it. “Is he also rich and famous?”
    “Not really,” Cerené said. “But he is strong and everyone fears him.”
    “Is that why you like him, because everyone fears him?”
    “Yes,” Cerené nodded twice and bit her bottom lip. “But I don’t want to tell you who he is.”
    “Why?”
    “I just don’t. Do you like a boy?” Cerené asked.
    “Yes, but I don’t want to talk about it,” Shew stuck out her tongue. “You know what I really wish? I wish you could be my friend,” although Shew knew this was a dream, she felt right about this moment. She felt these were the emotions she’d experience when she was a child toward Cerené—if she had really met her. She’d always thought she had never made friends in that period, but there was something so real about this dream.
    “Friends?” Cerené shrieked, dropping the broom, her voice a little too loud. “Really? Me and you, my princess?”
    When Cerené smiled serenely like that, the freckles in her face shone through the ashes, tiny happy oranges shining out through a dark garden of cinders.
    “Yes, me and you,” Snow White smiled. Cerené’s happiness was contagious.
    “But—” Cerené’s face changed, looking at her feet again. “But this can’t be. I never have friends. And when someone asks me to be friends with them I usually end up crying next to the fire in my room, with cinders all around me.”
    “Cinders?” Snow White grimaced, taking a step forward. This was the second time she mentioned that room.
    “I told you not to ask about what’s none of your concern,” she snapped again, her freckles buried beneath the ashes.
    “Of course, I shouldn’t ask,” Shew said.
     “I believe you,” Cerené calmed down. “But what will we do. I don’t think a princess has a lot in common with a Slave Maiden.”
    Snow White gazed down at Oddly Tune’s grave and lifted and eyebrow, “I think we already have a lot in common.”
    Cerené laughed, “You’re not planning on biting someone else are you? I’m not going to clean up after you all the time,” she winked.
    “Let’s do something,” Shew suggested. “What do you do when you have had your bread, your work is finished, and you have a few hours for yourself?”
    “I can’t tell you that.” Cerené said. This time, it wasn’t a change of mood. She actually wanted to tell Snow White about what she did when she was alone, but preferred not to for some reason.
    “Why not?” Snow White said cheerfully. “We’re friends now.”
    “Promise not to tell anyone?” Cerené brought her head closer, whispering.
    “I promise,” Shew said.
    “I make magic;” Cerené’s eyes darted to the left and to the right.
    “Magic?”
    “Shhh,” Cerené put her hand on Shew’s mouth. “You have to promise me that you will never tell anyone.”
    “I won’t,” Shew nodded. “What kind of magic is it?”
    “I can show you,” Cerené said. “But only if you’re patient enough to prepare it with me.”
    “Why prepare it? I thought magic was a gift,” Shew said.
    “No. Magic is an Art. Many different kinds of arts,” Cerené explained. “I know a special kind of magic that people don’t want each other to know about. It’s a Forbidden Art.”
    Snow White grimaced.
    “See? That’s why you can’t tell anyone about it. My magic is taboo. It’s thought of as witchcraft created by the devil, but it really isn’t,” Cerené’s heart raced as she talked about it.
    “That sounds fabulous. I’d love to see it,” Shew said. “What do I have to do to see you perform the Art?” she hoped