It came that afternoon while she was with her girls, who had been bickering, no doubt because they were feeling high-strung from Cinderella’s constant antics.

Lady Tremaine had been under tremendous stress and agitation but rarely let herself lose control, not since she had started wearing her brooch every day. She held her composure like a statue. Cold, resolute, and in complete control. She did her best to impart this way of thinking to her girls, to no avail. Anastasia and Drizella always had been difficult to control, now that she reflected on it.

The girls became wild as ever when Cinderella brought in the invitation, snatching it back and forth from each other until Lady Tremaine took the letter and read it herself.

“Well, there is to be a ball,” she said, realizing this was the perfect opportunity for her girls. If one of them could marry the prince, their prayers would be answered! But then she heard Sir Richard in her mind, laughing at her when she had called her girls beautiful and saying they were not presentable. Of course he thought his own daughter would make a better match for the prince. As much as she believed her daughters were lovely, she couldn’t shake the fear that if Cinderella attended the ball with them, Anastasia and Drizella would be overlooked.

Lady Tremaine decided she would do what she could to keep the girl from attending, to give her girls a better chance. The girl had done everything in her power to make Lady Tremaine’s life unbearable, and she wasn’t going to let the little twit ruin this for her daughters, not after everything she had already done to them. This time her daughters would shine, and they would finally have a happier life, the one she had hoped for when they first moved to this miserable place.

But Cinderella had read the letter herself and pointed out in that too-sweet, simpering voice of hers that the letter said that, by royal decree, every eligible maiden should attend the ball.

“Yes…So it does,” said Lady Tremaine. “Well, I see no reason why you can’t go…if you get all your work done.”

“Oh, I will! I promise,” said Cinderella.

“And if you can find something suitable to wear,” she added, knowing full well Cinderella had no ball gowns of her own.

“I’m sure I can! Oh, thank you, Stepmother.” Cinderella left the room smiling, no doubt with visions of marrying the prince dancing in her otherwise feather-filled head.

Lady Tremaine was satisfied. There was no way Cinderella would be able to finish all her housework, make a dress, and still have enough time to get ready for the ball. She touched her brooch happily, thinking about how it would break Cinderella’s heart to see them go to the ball without her. But her girls didn’t seem to catch on to their mother’s plan.