When he danced with her at the ball she was magnificent. With her gown sparkling like magic and her golden locks framing her face. She made everyone stop and look. She faced them with a bright smile, and her eyes met his. She took his breath away and he couldn’t be mad at it.

Now he waits at her bedside, with bandages covering her burns and hair unkept for so long. He hasn’t seen her soft smile ever since she woke up. There are dark bags under her eyes and she won’t meet his stare.

She still takes his breath away.

“You should find another queen.”

It was a whisper but it was enough. He hasn’t heard her voice for weeks, and although it’s a little scratchy and a lot quieter, Henri cheers in his mind.

He straightens his back, “Why should I?”

Ella breathes in sharply through her nose, and he watches as she tries to control her storming feelings. He doesn’t know what more to say for her to realize he’s begging her to let him help. So he just listens as she finally says, “Do I look like a queen to you?”

Henri knows she’s expecting a no. She’s not the mysterious princess at the ball and she’s not the daughter of a noble. Not anymore at least.

She’s a girl that spent her days serving her step-family and spent her nights getting covered in cinders. She was ridiculed and disregarded by those who should have treated her as a treasure. Just one good evening, that’s all she wished for to be happy. She was locked in the attic for standing up to herself and she waited for someone to rescue her. She barely made it out alive from her house burning down.

She woke up and the first thing she thought about was her stepmother and sisters. Ask if they were hurt, if they were safe. Like Henri didn’t cry at the news of her finally waking up. Not once did he think of the wretched woman and her two daughters… actually, he did, only to wonder how he would inflict the same pain they did to Ella. They don’t deserve his mercy, they don’t deserve her forgiveness. But that day she woke up, she still asked of them.

After everything they’ve done, she still cares.

How can he possibly say she doesn’t look like a queen?

Henri sighs, “Yes. You do. You may not see it yet but I do.” He’ll spend every second to prove it so.

If he was in her place, he wants to imagine he will do the same thing. Be as kind and as courageous as she. Henri doubts that he can do it, though. He’d probably be glad if they burned.

Ella will always be amazing to him.

Tears start to fall and she sniffs. “Wait a little longer, you’ll hate that I’m alive.” She sounds so sure and at the same time so haunted. “So stop this.”

How can I when I’m in love? Henri thinks.

Wait.

Oh.

He’s in love.

It’s not really a surprise. Deep down maybe he knew. From the very first moment, he met her one childhood summer and the moment when he found her again as a maid after all these years. From his proposal of getting married to be free from their cages, and the moment he saw her at the ball. From the moment she asked if he was sure, he doubted a lot of decisions but never this.

It was always going to be her.

“You deserve to be cared for,” Henri hears himself saying. “You deserve to be loved.”

Ella looks at him like he was a puzzle and God he loves this woman.

“I’ll be damned if I let my future wife think she’s worth nothing.”

He slowly stands. Wary of her still-healing injuries, he places his hand behind her head and pushes her gently to his chest. His other hand rubbed circles behind her back, smoothing the wrinkles of her nightdress. He put his chin on top of her head and gives a shaky exhale.

He can feel tears staining his clothes and the muffled sobs. Carefully, Ella wraps her bandaged arms around him. She holds him like he’ll leave her too. He hums the lullaby she always sings. A song her mother left as a gift.

“I could never hate you, and I will never stop being happy over you being alive.”

Henri doesn’t know if she heard him, but the way she hugs him tighter, he wants to believe she did. Hopefully, she’ll believe him too.

He thinks of Ella’s parents when he was young. He thinks of his own parents and how they always look for each other in a ball full of people. He thinks of the most beautiful and kindest woman clinging to him for dear life.

So this is love huh?

Now he knows.