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Snow looked up at him with her father’s eyes, good eyes, and said, “Thank you.”
She was clearly smitten with this young man.
The Queen stepped in and said, “Thank you, young sir, but I will take over from here.”
“Of course, my lady, may I call again tomorrow afternoon to check on the fair maiden?”
The Queen could tell he was falling in love with her.
“Perhaps, if she is up to it. Tilley will take you around the back end of the courtyard if you would like to refresh yourself before you depart. Thank you for your assistance.”
Then the Queen grabbed Snow by the arm and whisked her away into the castle.
It had been months since Snow White’s accident at the well, and the young Prince who had saved her had come to visit several times. That morning in the garden, while Snow was off helping Tilley, the Prince asked for an audience with the Queen. The Queen knew he would ask for Snow’s hand in marriage. Before he could even make his request, the Queen wanted to make it as clear as possible that he wasn’t to return to the castle. So she quickly decided she would put the issue to rest immediately.
“I am trying to spare your feelings, young man, but you’ve put me in a very uncomfortable situation where I fear I must be nothing but perfectly frank. Snow White does not love you, and I can not let my daughter marry someone she does not love,” she said.
The Prince looked crestfallen.
“I can see you thought otherwise. I’m sorry, dear Prince. Perhaps she was sparing your feelings; she really should have been honest with you,” the Queen said.
The Prince left without another word. The Queen would tell Snow White that the Prince had left a note saying that he did not love her and that he wanted to end their courtship before Snow thought he felt more deeply for her than he really did. She had done the right thing, even if it meant lying to them both. Even if it broke their hearts now, it was nothing compared to losing each other to tragedy, betrayal, or death. But she couldn’t help but feel wicked, too. And that terrified and comforted her all at once.
Somewhere in her heart she knew her motivations were also fueled by jealously. She was envious that Snow should have someone to love her and she should not. How could she stand there and watch them pledge themselves to each other in love when her love was walled away?
And what would the King think of his Queen now? She sometimes imagined that he was looking upon her from wherever he was, judging her for what had become her wicked ways. She felt that something else within her was taking over, and that she no longer had any ability to control her own actions.
But no, Snow White would thank her one day for sparing her heartache. She would understand.
The Queen rushed to her chamber and went again to the mirror. She needed comfort and she received it. As usual, she was fairest.
But when the Queen looked at herself in the mirror, she didn’t seem like the same woman. Yes, she was beautiful, but there was something different about her eyes. There was a harshness to her beauty—it was cold and removed. She thought that it added an elegance and majesty to her demeanor, something a queen should possesses. But it didn’t quell her fears that she was losing herself in grief, fear, and most of all, vanity.
Her only comfort it seemed was her Slave, her father, whom she had grown to trust in her years of solitude. She asked him, “Do I seem much changed to you?”
“Indeed, my Queen, you do,” he said.
“How so?” she asked.
“You are stately, queenly, and elegant.”
“Do I seem cold to you?” the Queen asked.
“No, my Queen, you are not cold, you have simply matured into a distinguished woman of high station. You are the Queen and cannot be bothered with matters of the heart.”
Matters of the heart—it seemed not long ago that her heart ruled her. But now, ruling a kingdom in solitude, her heart seemed all but lost. As if her thoughts were open to him, the man in the mirror continued, “A woman of your stature cannot be governed by her emotions, lest she be unable to handle the tasks at hand.”
And with that advice she went about the business of the day.
But she soon faced something she was not expecting.
Tilley came running down a corridor. “My Queen,” she shouted, smiling. “A party has arrived!”
“I was not expecting anyone. Ask them to leave,” the Queen said bi
tterly.
But before Tilley could give her command, someone had entered the hall.
