“Stasia! How many times do I have to tell you that I’ve named him after his father! Now stop treating me like an addlebrained fool!” Lady Tremaine’s face contorted in rage, but when she finally fixed her gaze on her daughter, the sight of Anastasia in her wedding dress seemed to snap her out of her madness. “Oh, my darling girl! Just look at you! You look so beautiful! Stasia, you will be our savior, unlike your horrible sister! Where is she? Zella! Get down here this instant!”

Drizella slowly made her way down the stairs. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, her black eye makeup smudged. “My gods, look at you, Zella! You’re beautiful!” Lady Tremaine stood up and admired both of her daughters, who now stood side by side in tattered and stained wedding dresses. They looked frightful: pale and sickly, as if their skin never saw the light of day. “Look at my precious girls! Like living dolls of perfection!”

“Mother! You can’t be serious.”

“What do you mean, Zella? Lucifer, do you see something wrong with the way my daughters look?” The smug cat blinked his eyes. “See! Lucifer thinks you look beautiful! Any man who walks into this house will think you look beautiful!”

“Mother, please!” the girls said in unison. “Let us at least wash these dresses?”

Lady Tremaine turned her attention back to her cat, cooing at him and stroking his ears. “And suppose an eligible young man came to the house while your dresses were hanging to dry and you lost your chance forever? Never!” she said, returning her attentions to her cat.

“Mother! Eligible men don’t come here anymore; they haven’t for ages!” Anastasia said. “Do you know what they say about us in the village? What must Queen Cinderella think each time she hears how you act when the deliveries come from the palace!”

Lady Tremaine erupted; her anger was explosive. “Don’t you ever mention that girl’s name to me! Never! Do you understand?”

She turned her attention back down to the latest Lucifer. “Oh, my handsome man, my only love, my only companion. What will we do with these ungrateful girls? Endlessly complaining about the beautiful dresses I bought them when I still had hope they would marry and get us out of this prison. And they defend that horrible Cinderella at every opportunity!” said Lady Tremaine, still looking at her cat.

“But, Mama, if we were to appeal to Cinderella and tell her how sorry we are for everything we did, maybe she would forgive us and offer her help,” said Anastasia.

“Yes, Mama, I know she would forgive us. She didn’t mean to betray you, I know she didn’t. She was just a child, she didn’t know what she was doing,” added Drizella.