Read Online Cinderella and the Colonel by K.M. Shea - Free Book Online

said.
    Cinderella leaned into the steam of her cup. “ Yes. May I please go home now?”
    “Not yet ,” the Colonel said, taking a seat across from Cinderella. He clasped his hands together and stared at her with an alarming amount of intensity. “Why?”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Why did you tell me? You could have made an excuse and left. They would not have followed you. Why did you run with me?” the Colonel said.
    Cinderella pressed her lips together and said noth ing.
    The silence stretched between them , twisting around Cinderella like a snake.
    “Why not?” Cinderella finally said.
    “Look at me , Cinderella,” the Colonel said, his voice sharp like the edge of a sword. “I want an answer. My country has done its best to grind you under its heel. You hate me and everything I stand for. Why?”
    Cinderella squirmed under the Colonel’s intense gaze before blurt ing out, “Because you’re still a person. You’re an Erlauf officer, but even Erlauf soldiers deserve life. I won’t just sit there and watch someone be murdered in cold blood, even if the victim would be you. It’s wrong. It’s horrible.”
    The Colonel leaned back in his chair , the first hints of a smirk curling the corner of his lips.
    “I still hate you ,” Cinderella darkly added, lifting her tea cup to her lips.
    The Colonel’s suggestion of a smirked bloomed. “I wouldn’t expect any less,” he said.
    “Then why are you smil ing?” Cinderella irritably asked, scrubbing her hands through her short hair.
    “Because you are universal ly kind.”
    “So?”
    “It’s a very rare and admirable trait.”
    Cinderella drank her tea and ignored the compliment. A part of her still couldn’t believe she dragged the Colonel off , but she was glad she had. Her father would be proud of her, even if the Colonel was from Erlauf.
    “Someone is bring ing porridge for you—the nurse suggested you eat a little. After you eat it, you may go,” the Colonel said.
    Cinderella eyed the Colonel over her teacup and said noth ing.
    As if on cue , a soldier carrying a wooden tray entered the room, two officers trailing him.
    “Sir ,” the officers saluted.
    The lower -ranked soldier set the tray down in front of Cinderella and saluted before he left.
    “Major Timo and Captain Sigmund. What did you find?” the Colonel asked.
    “Two of the assassins were killed in combat. The third was captured, but the fourth escaped, Sir,” one of the men said, saluting the Colonel.
    Cinderella stirred her porridge suspicious ly.
    “ Excellent. What does the captive have to say?”
    “Very little. We will try torture, of course—”
    Cinderella abrupt ly shoved the tray of food away from her, once again feeling sick. She arranged her arms on the table top and rested her head on them.
    A chair scraped.
    “Perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation at a later time,” the Colonel said as he walked around the table. “Send the Scarlet and Storm Companies to comb the ruins for tracks and traces. Double the night patrols. Has General Harbach been notified?”
    “He has, sir. As has the Commander
    The Colonel sighed. “Very good. Thank you, men. I will speak to you in the holding area in a few moments.”
    “Yes , Sir,” the men saluted before leaving the room.
    Cinderella was very still as she remembered with whom she was dealing. The Colonel wasn’t an everyday soldier; he was a powerful man who could wield an entire regiment to do his bidding. And Cinderella  just told him she hated him.
    “I’m sorry . I wasn’t thinking when I asked them to report in,” the Colonel said before Cinderella felt him brush the fringe of her bangs.
    Cinderella very slow ly picked her head off the table. “There is nothing to apologize for, sir,” she said, her composure returning.
    “ Oh, no. You have saved my life. You must call me by my first name: Friedrich.”
    “It would not be appropriate, sir,” Cinderella said, avoiding his eye by stirring