Ella uses makeup to fit in where she does not belong. With the undead. Afraid of showing her humanity, and being killed for it, she has to appear not just dead, but dead enough so no one will recognize her for who she truly is: the daughter of Phillip Adler, traveling merchant and friend to the royal family.

Treated as a servant by her stepmother and youngest step-sister for years, Ella can barely imagine a different life...until he appears in her garden. She calls him 'Impossible', he calls her 'Cinder' and turns her world upside down when he reveals himself to be as alive as she is. As drawn to Impossible as he is to her, Ella begins to realize that there can be more to her life than servitude...and that a ball is not the only place to find a prince.