Cinders, meanwhile, was slowly making her way back from the well, with Sparks close at hand, when she heard all the commotion. She always took her time when bringing water back to the cottage. There were always interesting things to see in the woods and she was still hoping Brian might show her face again. Ever since the ball, Cinders hadn’t been able to make a single wish come true, no matter how hard she tried.

Was Sparks right? Was it to do with how hard she wished? With how much she wanted the thing she was wishing for?

That didn’t make sense, though, because she really wished Brian would come and explain this all and it wasn’t happening. Magic, it turned out, was complicated.

She slowed. The garden in front of the cottage was full of people. The yard behind the cottage was full of people. Some were wearing big black furry hats and others were wearing red-and-gold uniforms, and right in the middle were two men with crowns on top of their heads.

‘Is it me,’ Sparks said, slowing down until he had almost stopped, ‘or does that look an awful lot like the king and Prince Joderick?’

‘It does rather,’ Cinders agreed. ‘Whatever could they be doing at my house?’

‘I’d like to say they’ve just stopped by to say hello, but that seems rather unlikely,’ he replied. ‘Maybe we should make a run for it.’

But it was too late.

‘There she is!’

Margery, eyes as wide as the dinner plates Cinders had not washed that morning, came running down the lane and grabbed her stepdaughter by the arm.

‘We have her, Your Highness!’ she bellowed to the king before leaning in to whisper in Cinders’s ear. ‘Whatever you’ve been up to, you’re for it now, you little madam.’

‘But I haven’t done anything wrong,’ Cinders protested, not entirely sure it was true. Sparks kept close to her, growling as they approached the royal party.

‘It’s all right, my little princess,’ her father reassured her, even though from the look on his face things were far from all right.

‘This is the one, is it?’ the king said, eyeing her up and down. ‘The one you met at the ball? You’re positive?’

‘I think so,’ Joderick said, squinting at the messy girl with ratty hair.

She did look really quite different to the girl he remembered.

‘You’d better make sure,’ the king said, as clearly Joderick was not sure about this at all. ‘Because there are a lot of people in the kingdom, son. People who know how to wear clean clothes and curtsey to their king when he appears in their very own garden. Your mother tells me Belle broke up with the Beast, so she’s available, but who knows for how long? Good-looking girl like that, decent pedigree, won’t stay single.’

Cinders felt a soft bonk on the top of her head.

‘Curtsey,’ her stepmother ordered, a big, broad smile pasted across her face. ‘Now.’

‘But I can’t curtsey,’ Cinders reminded her. ‘I always fall over.’

‘Try,’ Margery hissed.

‘Can someone please explain what’s going on?’ Cinders asked as she folded herself over into a curtsey. ‘Why are you all here?’

Then she fell over. She picked herself up again, cheeks turning hot and red.

Prince Joderick hurried off to his horse and rummaged around in his saddlebag for a moment. When he turned round, he was holding something in his hands. Something small, pointy and sparkly.

‘My shoe!’ Cinders gasped. Her missing glass slipper.

‘She was at the ball,’ said Aggy.

‘Oh, good detective work,’ said Margery sarcastically.

The prince held up the glass slipper. ‘I, Joderick Jorenson Picklebottom, crown prince of this realm, do declare that whomever this shoe should fit, will sit beside me on the throne.’

Cinders stared at him, unimpressed.

‘Um, you’re supposed to try on the shoe,’ Joderick whispered to Cinders. ‘To find out if it’s yours.’

‘But it’s already mine,’ she replied. ‘I don’t need to try it on. I know it fits.’

‘Yes, but you’re supposed to try it on so everyone else can see,’ Joderick explained. ‘It was Mum’s idea. To make it seem more exciting for the media, and less like you’re just, um, a commoner. I mean, not that I think of you as a commoner. But you are. A commoner. Sorry. And then we can get married!’

Cinders stared at the assembled crowd. Elly and Aggy were glaring at their stepsister, her father was beaming with happiness, Margery’s mouth hung open in shock and the king, well, he appeared to be checking his elf phone.

A photographer hovered nearby, ready to get a shot of Cinders trying on the shoe.

‘Can I not just have the shoe?’ Cinders asked. ‘Without the married part?’

‘Give it to me!’ Margery yelled, grabbing the slipper and jamming it on to Cinders’s bare foot. ‘Look! It fits! Yes! I’m going to be mother to a princess!’

‘Stepmother,’ Aggy hissed.

‘Hurrah, yippee, etcetera,’ the king said. ‘Pack up her things and get them to the palace. We’ve got a wedding to plan pronto.’

At once, Elly and Aggy burst into tears.

‘But Cinders wasn’t even supposed to be at the ball!’ Aggy complained.

‘And I don’t want her to leave!’ Elly whined.

But their mother couldn’t have cared less. She had always dreamed of one of her daughters marrying the prince. All those riches, all those jewels. It was all she’d ever wanted. And as soon as she was gone she was going to turn Cinders’s room into a yoga studio.

‘Don’t pack up anything! I don’t want to live in the palace,’ Cinders protested, hobbling away from the prince, one foot in a glass slipper. ‘I want to stay here with my dad.’

‘The prince can’t very well come and live here, can he?’ the king replied, waving dismissively at the little pink cottage. ‘You haven’t even got a moat.’

‘We’ll build a moat!’ Margery shrieked, apparently determined to see Cinders married off. ‘Elly! Aggy! Get digging!’

‘Stop!’ Cinders yelled as her sisters grabbed a pair of shovels. ‘You’re not listening! I don’t want to move to the palace and I don’t want to marry the prince!’

One hundred soldiers, three dozen pages, the royal guard, Elly, Aggy, her father, her stepmother and the king himself all gasped.

‘What do you mean you don’t want to marry the prince?’ the king bellowed. ‘It’s not a request – it’s an order!’

‘I know you didn’t have a good time at the ball,’ Joderick said, getting down on one knee, ‘but it would be different if you lived at the palace. We’ll have so much fun. And, when you’re not in the mood for an adventure, you can read in the library or play in the grounds. Sometimes. When the groundskeepers aren’t around. And I’ll bake you brownies every single day. You’ll be so happy, Cinders, I promise.’

Cinders considered this for a moment. They were very good brownies and Joderick was, as far as boys went, pretty okay. And when she really thought about it she couldn’t help but feel that living at the palace would be an awfully big adventure.

‘Dad –’ she turned to face her father – ‘what do you think I should do?’

‘You should do what feels right,’ he told her with a tear in his eye. ‘Your mother always wanted me to keep you away from the palace. Worried about you getting your head turned, or some such. But. Well. She’s not here, is she?’

‘No, she’s not,’ said Cinders softly. She turned. ‘Would I have to wear a ballgown?’ she asked Joderick.

‘Sometimes,’ the prince replied, ‘but only on special occasions.’

‘Can I bring my dog?’ she asked. ‘And my horse?’

‘You most certainly can,’ the prince replied. ‘I love dogs and horses.’

‘And if you don’t go,’ her stepmother said, smiling like a shark, ‘you’ll have to stay here with me and do chores every day. In fact, I bet we could even think of some new ones to take your mind off making such a huge mistake.’

‘Can you give me two minutes to pack my bag?’ Cinders asked the prince.

Joderick smiled, Margery clapped and, louder than ever, Elly and Aggy continued to cry.

‘Now you’re going to be everyone’s princess,’ her father said, pulling her in for a big hug. ‘Just promise me you’ll try to behave.’

‘I promise,’ she said, wiping away a tear.

‘Speaking of which, any ideas why one of our horses keeps trying to nibble a hole in the stable wall? And squeaking?’

‘Um, no, none,’ said Cinders.

Her dad narrowed his eyes, but they were sparkling. ‘I always knew you’d end up at the palace one day,’ he whispered. ‘Whatever your mum said. I only wish you didn’t have to go just yet.’

‘Come along, tick-tock,’ the king said, tapping his watch. ‘If we don’t leave soon, I’m going to miss my telly programme.’

‘Then let’s go,’ Cinders said, putting on a big, brave smile.

‘Probably not the best time to bring this up,’ Sparks whispered as Cinders made her way back into the pink cottage for the very last time, ‘but do you think you could speak to the prince and work a daily plate of sausages into the bargain?’