Sneaky Snow White (Dark Fairy Tale Queen Series Book 2) by Anita Valle
Authors: Anita Valle
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Dwarves to hold them gently.
I’m on my hands and knees, laying out the second baby, when I feel a burst of power from The Mirror. Hunter’s thrown right off his feet and hits the wall behind him. The air around me tightens like a fist and I shriek as I’m sucked across the floor on my hands and knees. Fingernails scraping marble, I’m dragged in front of The Mirror. It spins me around to face it.
Stand!
I can’t disobey. I lift one wobbly leg, then the other. Trembling all over, I look into The Mirror.
There she is. My mother. She fills the glass, top to bottom, larger than life. She’s wearing the same blood-red gown she had on when my father killed her. It flaps around her as if blown by the wind, and her long black hair ripples behind her. Her beautiful eyes blaze at me, burning with dark fire.
“Ungrateful child!” she cries.
I stand there sobbing. I can’t stop. Everything she says drops straight into my soul and becomes part of me.
“You would destroy your own mother?” she shouts. “Look at me! Look at what he did!” She lifts her chin and shows me the ring of dark bruises around her neck, left by my father’s fingers.
“I’m sorry!” I cry. “I really am! But he’s gone now! You need to stop using me for your revenge.”
“You will be queen!” she says savagely. “And nothing else! I have waited too long for this!”
“I don’t want to be the queen! I’m not you! I want to be me!”
“And who are you , Snow White? Nothing but a bratty child. Even that silly boy no longer wants you. You have no one but me now!”
“That’s YOUR fault!” I shout. Tears are pouring down my face. My hands ache so much with cold I can barely move my fingers and the throbbing chill has spread up to my elbows. “You’re no better than Cinderella! No better than my father! You’re all just EVIL! I don’t want any of you!”
My mother stares at me, her hair dipping and swirling across her face. She’s so angry she looks more scary than beautiful, her pale skin tight on her bones.
“You are my child!” she says. “You belong to me! If you won’t embrace the life I’ve given you, then I can take it back. I will not be abandoned!”
I gasp as I’m yanked forward, thrust flat against the mirror. I catch myself with both hands and they’re so frozen they mist up the glass. My whole body is squashed against the surface. And immediately I feel weakened, heavy with fatigue.
“You will suffer as I have, you wretched girl!” my mother says. “I will draw you in here with me!”
My vision blurs, my limbs shake. She’s taking my energy, all of it at once. I’m going to die within seconds. And then she’ll pull my essence into the mirror and I’ll be trapped there with her. Forever.
From far away, worlds away, I hear a familiar voice. “Snowy! Drop!”
I look at my hands on the glass, try to focus on them. And I push. My body pitches straight back and I hit the floor like a felled tree. Then comes the explosion: a high, twinkling, burst of glass; a rush of white fragments flying over me; a musical rain of bright slivers. And then it’s quiet. The mirror is nothing but a blank wooden oval with a frame around it. An arrow from Hunter’s crossbow is embedded at the center.
~*~ 35 ~*~
I roll over, push up on my elbows. The fog in my head begins to clear. The babies wail harder, sounding terrified. And the Dwarves look shocked. My eyes travel up the floor ahead of me, littered with jagged shards of the mirror. But not as many as there should be. I look ahead and I’m staring at the bottoms of Hunter’s boots.
I gasp. “HUNTER!”
I scramble over to him on all fours. He’s on his back, the crossbow dropped near his feet. Dark patches of blood are leaching through his clothes. They cover his legs, his chest, his arms, and fresh gashes bleed from his neck and face. When he shot The Mirror, she hurled her fragments at him. Stabbed him all over his body. Hunter’s gentle brown eyes
I’m on my hands and knees, laying out the second baby, when I feel a burst of power from The Mirror. Hunter’s thrown right off his feet and hits the wall behind him. The air around me tightens like a fist and I shriek as I’m sucked across the floor on my hands and knees. Fingernails scraping marble, I’m dragged in front of The Mirror. It spins me around to face it.
Stand!
I can’t disobey. I lift one wobbly leg, then the other. Trembling all over, I look into The Mirror.
There she is. My mother. She fills the glass, top to bottom, larger than life. She’s wearing the same blood-red gown she had on when my father killed her. It flaps around her as if blown by the wind, and her long black hair ripples behind her. Her beautiful eyes blaze at me, burning with dark fire.
“Ungrateful child!” she cries.
I stand there sobbing. I can’t stop. Everything she says drops straight into my soul and becomes part of me.
“You would destroy your own mother?” she shouts. “Look at me! Look at what he did!” She lifts her chin and shows me the ring of dark bruises around her neck, left by my father’s fingers.
“I’m sorry!” I cry. “I really am! But he’s gone now! You need to stop using me for your revenge.”
“You will be queen!” she says savagely. “And nothing else! I have waited too long for this!”
“I don’t want to be the queen! I’m not you! I want to be me!”
“And who are you , Snow White? Nothing but a bratty child. Even that silly boy no longer wants you. You have no one but me now!”
“That’s YOUR fault!” I shout. Tears are pouring down my face. My hands ache so much with cold I can barely move my fingers and the throbbing chill has spread up to my elbows. “You’re no better than Cinderella! No better than my father! You’re all just EVIL! I don’t want any of you!”
My mother stares at me, her hair dipping and swirling across her face. She’s so angry she looks more scary than beautiful, her pale skin tight on her bones.
“You are my child!” she says. “You belong to me! If you won’t embrace the life I’ve given you, then I can take it back. I will not be abandoned!”
I gasp as I’m yanked forward, thrust flat against the mirror. I catch myself with both hands and they’re so frozen they mist up the glass. My whole body is squashed against the surface. And immediately I feel weakened, heavy with fatigue.
“You will suffer as I have, you wretched girl!” my mother says. “I will draw you in here with me!”
My vision blurs, my limbs shake. She’s taking my energy, all of it at once. I’m going to die within seconds. And then she’ll pull my essence into the mirror and I’ll be trapped there with her. Forever.
From far away, worlds away, I hear a familiar voice. “Snowy! Drop!”
I look at my hands on the glass, try to focus on them. And I push. My body pitches straight back and I hit the floor like a felled tree. Then comes the explosion: a high, twinkling, burst of glass; a rush of white fragments flying over me; a musical rain of bright slivers. And then it’s quiet. The mirror is nothing but a blank wooden oval with a frame around it. An arrow from Hunter’s crossbow is embedded at the center.
~*~ 35 ~*~
I roll over, push up on my elbows. The fog in my head begins to clear. The babies wail harder, sounding terrified. And the Dwarves look shocked. My eyes travel up the floor ahead of me, littered with jagged shards of the mirror. But not as many as there should be. I look ahead and I’m staring at the bottoms of Hunter’s boots.
I gasp. “HUNTER!”
I scramble over to him on all fours. He’s on his back, the crossbow dropped near his feet. Dark patches of blood are leaching through his clothes. They cover his legs, his chest, his arms, and fresh gashes bleed from his neck and face. When he shot The Mirror, she hurled her fragments at him. Stabbed him all over his body. Hunter’s gentle brown eyes
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