Back at the palace, Prince Joderick wasn’t having nearly as nice a night as Cinders.

‘It’s a disgrace!’ the king shouted, striding up and down the throne room.

‘A disgrace,’ agreed the queen.

‘You’ve made a mockery of the crown!’ the king bellowed.

‘A mockery,’ the queen echoed.

‘The whole kingdom must be wondering what is wrong with you!’ the king cried.

‘The whole kingdom,’ the queen sighed.

‘If I might interrupt for just a sec,’ Joderick interrupted. ‘The thing is I really didn’t want to dance with anyone at the ball. They all just seemed a bit …’ He paused and considered his mother’s pink ruffled gown and enormous white wig. ‘They weren’t for me.’

‘I really don’t care,’ the king replied. ‘If you don’t choose someone to marry by midsummer’s eve, you’ll have to marry the Princess of Fairyland and then where will we be?’

‘Where will we be?’ the queen repeated.

‘Hang on a minute.’ Joderick sat down slowly, scratching his head. ‘I’ll have to marry who?’

The king took to his throne and removed his crown, turning it round in his hands and inspecting the diamonds and rubies set within.

‘Long ago, we were at war with the fairies and there was no way we could win,’ he explained. ‘They have terrible powers, my son – what wicked little things they are. All claws and teeth and spindly legs, obsessed with cakes and shiny things, and always using magic against us. But your clever great-great-grandfather made a pact with the King of Fairyland to get rid of them once and for all.’

Joderick’s eyes opened wide. Since he was a boy, his nannies and mannies had told him stories of the fairies, but he just thought they were making them up. He’d never seen a fairy and truly believed they didn’t exist. In the stories he’d been told, fairies were tricksy, deceitful creatures. Legend said some of them could fly, some of them could disappear and some of them had even been known to eat people. It was enough to make him long for a bowl of Brussels sprouts.

‘Fairies are real?’ Joderick asked, swallowing a lump in his throat.

‘I’m afraid so,’ the king confirmed. ‘They agreed our lands could live in harmony provided the firstborn son of every king in this realm would marry a fairy of their choosing on midsummer’s eve. Once the pact was made, the fairies were forbidden to cross beyond the Dark Mountains and, after a while, everyone in our kingdom forgot they were there.’

‘But you’re not married to a fairy,’ Joderick pointed out. ‘And I’m fairly certain you’re the first son of the first son of the first son of your great-grandfather.’

‘Actually, I’m the first son of the first son of the second son,’ said the king. ‘My grandfather was a second son. His older brother married a fairy and was never seen again.’

Joderick scratched his head, frowning, trying to figure out the family tree.

‘Which is why you need to choose someone from this kingdom and you need to do it now,’ his father insisted. ‘There is a way out – as my own father discovered. If you’re already married before midsummer’s eve, then you don’t have to marry one of those tricksy fairies.’

‘Oh, can you imagine?’ The queen pressed her hand to her forehead. ‘What if one of them were to come and live in the palace? Or, even worse, you had to go and live in Fairyland?’

‘And that’s what would happen,’ the king confirmed as the queen began to sob. ‘As it did to my grandfather’s brother, and his uncle before him. You would have to leave the kingdom and never, ever come back. You’d spend the rest of your life in the dark, dangerous place beyond the mountains and, let me tell you, no amount of horse riding could prepare you for a thing like that. It might not sound like it but Fairyland is a fearsome place, my son, and I won’t let them take you away.’

Joderick straightened his crown with a gulp. ‘When you put it like that, I suppose we’d better find me someone to marry.’Clapping his hands together, the king leaped to his feet and two pages appeared instantly, carrying a very, very, very long scroll. And a laptop.

‘This is a list of every eligible person who attended the ball,’ explained the king, logging on to the computer. ‘I’ve got their names and addresses and, on the scroll there, a humorous caricature, which, I must admit, was my idea.’ He chuckled. ‘Some of these are very good. Those ears!’ He coughed. ‘Um. Anyway, my son, tell me. Who caught your eye this evening?’

The prince thought long and hard. He had met so many people that it was hard to remember them all. But there was one who had immediately sprung to mind.

‘I didn’t find out her last name,’ Joderick said slowly, ‘but I did meet a girl underneath the salad station.’

‘Oh, the scandal,’ the king gasped as the queen fainted.

‘Her name was Cinders,’ Joderick added, pulling a glass slipper out of his rather large pocket. ‘She left this behind when she disappeared. She was really funny and she liked my baking. I wouldn’t mind marrying her.’

‘I really don’t care!’ the king whooped, and he waved to the pages who immediately began scanning the scroll for a Cinders. ‘As long as you’re married by midsummer’s eve and she’s not a fairy, she’s all right by me.’

The prince looked on as his father scooped his mother up in his arms and began to dance her all round the throne room.

By this time tomorrow, Joderick would be engaged and the entire kingdom would rejoice.

So why wasn’t he feeling happier about the whole situation?