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Then the Queen noticed the sisters. She glared in their direction, and they shrunk back, attempting to slink away before the Queen could turn her anger upon them.
“As for you ladies,” the Queen barked, “you will leave this court at once! I will have your belongings packed for you and sent along in another carriage as soon as it is convenient. I will not have you within these walls one more moment!”
Lucinda’s voice was shrill as ever. “This is an outrage! We are the King’s cousins, and we will not be—”
The Queen didn’t give her, or either of the other two who might have finished her thought, an opportunity to do so.
“Guards, take these women directly to the carriage outside. You are to ride with them in order ensure they arrive home without mishap. Should they get up to any chicanery whatsoever, I will count upon you to put an end to it.
“Now, ladies, I suggest you vacate these premises before my husband hears what you’ve been up to. Cousins or not, you might find he will have less mercy in his heart than I have shown you this evening. Now leave my sight before I think the better of it and have you tossed into the dungeon to rot where you belong.”
The King saw something in his wife he had never seen before, and it seemed to both impress and terrify him. As the guards took the sisters into shackles, Ruby muttered, “Is this absolutely—”
“Necessary? Perhaps there is another way out of this—” Lucinda continued.
“Room? We don’t wish to be paraded through the great hall,” Martha finished.
The Queen smiled at the sisters wickedly and said, “There is another way out as a matter of fact…” The sisters look relieved. The Queen continued, “However, I think I’d much rather have everyone see you for the vile, disgraceful women you are.”
The sisters looked defeated and hung their heads low as they were ushered away by the guards. As the sisters were taken away, they were met with reproachful looks from the other guests. Ladies whispered behind their gloved hands as they saw the sisters taken through the hall. Ruby all but fainted, completely overcome with shame, while Lucinda looked resolute with her chin held high as if she weren’t completely besmirched in the eyes of the entire kingdom. The King appeared completely confounded as the Queen’s manner did not seem to change when she addressed him after the odd sisters were removed.
“Kiss your daughter and tell her how much you love her,” the Queen commanded.
The King blinked. He was the King. His word was law. But there was something in his wife’s stern voice—there was a way about her that forced him to obey.
“I don’t have time to explain this to you, husband. You must trust I have done what is right; we will discuss it at some later time.”
“Of course, my darling,” the King said, all but bowing in supplication to his wife.
“Now tell her you’re sorry for treating her so poorly, and let us go into the great hall and greet our guests.”
The King again obeyed, and the Queen spun around, whipping up her cape like a whirling dervish as she stormed from the r
oom and rejoined her uneasy guests at the celebration.
It was nearly daybreak on the solstice before all the guests had departed and the King and Queen were able to retreat to their chamber. The Queen, whose countenance had not softened during the evening, directed her anger at her husband once more.
“I can’t imagine what those witches told you to cause you to treat Snow so horribly.”
The King hung his head.
“I’ve talked to Snow and assured her of my love for her. I told her I was deeply sorry and she has forgiven me, why can you not do the same?” he said.
The Queen’s eyes filled with tears.
“My darling, what is it? Please tell me,” the King pleaded.
The Queen looked directly into the King’s eyes. “I never thought I would see you lay a hand on our daughter.”
The King looked completely diminished.
“I didn’t hurt her, my love, I swear to you.”
“You hurt her heart,” the Queen said, breaking down completely. “I know that look, that pained brokenhearted little face. It is the same one—the same face—I would stare at over and over again in my father’s mirrors as a child. Oh, he was a cruel man. A real beast. To think my mother, my lovely, beautiful mother, was married to him. He hated me. Oh yes, he did, and he told me as much. ‘Ugly, useless, senseless girl,’ he would say. The words wounded deeper than the bruises and the scars from any physical pain he inflicted on me. At least those wounds healed.”
The Queen collapsed to the floor, sitting there in the paradise of the castle with her face buried in her hands.
She looked up at the King, who gazed down upon her pitifully.
