Snow recalled the first time she ever saw Red. It was on a horse that she met her fate, on a trip to visit the summer palace with her father. She'd left the endless trail of carriages and knights for some solitude and did not find it, much to her surprise. She was freshly twenty when she stumbled upon the red caped beauty. It began innocently enough between them, and now here they were, tangled in her sheets. Her name was Red, at least everyone called her that. The first time Snow said it, the name stuck in her mouth like honey, and she'd been helpless to get rid of it since. Not that she wanted to. After a while, Snow couldn't take the distance from the girl's village home to her castle any longer, making Red her personal handmaiden. As Snow looked back on these memories, the young peasant girl's head was tucked in the crook of Snow's neck, where she'd rested for well over an hour. The girl's pale flesh, uncovered by blankets, glowed in the moonlight streaming through the open balcony, only a slight distraction to the princess. Red snored softly against her, perfectly content in her lover's arms while Snow fought with demons.
Snow was supposed to marry in a fortnight. And she was not marrying the person in her bed, the person she'd just made love to. She was marrying Prince James, a man who slept in the opposite end of the castle; the fact couldn't be more symbolic unless he slept on the other side of the world.
It was all politics, really; kings, queens, heirs and thrones. They were just parts of a machine, albeit a very important machine. Still, this realization didn't help the guilt that stirred in her stomach, making her queasy. Snow shifted against the young woman tucked to her side and slowly she roused to life. Tracing a finger over Snow's chest, Red frowned, mirroring Snow's equally displeased expression.
"What is it?" Red whispered hoarsely, nuzzling even closer against her lover. Snow's eyes flitted to Red's briefly before leaving again. Red knew how worked up Snow was about the wedding; the preparations, becoming queen, being married to someone she barely knew. But she still had the politeness to ask.
Red didn't pretend to have expectations for Snow. No matter what they'd said in the past, she would be married soon. Snow would have expectations of her own from others, ones she couldn't compete with. She is just a peasant girl turned handmaid, after all.
"I don't want to marry him." Snow murmured, evidence of her heart breaking as the words left her lips in a voice cracking with emotion. She'd said these words countless times. She couldn't imagine anyone else in her bed besides Red. Snow would have to give her another station; she couldn't exactly have Red walking in to wake her in the morning with someone else beside her. And all of that meant distance between them, which was the opposite of what Snow truly wanted. In only a few nights she'd be separated from her only real chance at happiness.
Red was silent for a while, not knowing the right words to say. Snow was always better at this than she was, and the addition of her own heartache was not helping her to be comforting.
"You could be happy with James. Maybe you'll get used to him." Red offered, every word killing her inside. But if encouraging their relationship meant helping Snow in the long run, making Snow happy, she would do it.
Snow pulled away from her, pushing herself up and gathering the sheet around her middle. Green eyes were trained on blue, infuriated, mouth slightly parted and eyebrows knitted together. Red simply stared, mouth dropping open and scrambling after her lover as Snow got out of bed, stomping for the door.
"Snow! Snow, wait!" Red called after her, stumbling over the stone floors, stark naked. Snow turned, face red with anger. And something else. Hurt?
"What, Red?" She asked, her tone biting. Red couldn't help but shiver at the way she said her name, the malice behind it; it seemed she shivered regardless of what emotion fueled her passion. Red wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold without Snow beside her. Red never got cold.
"I-I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do the right thing." Red muttered, holding her gaze with those angry green eyes. Snow took a few steps closer, her blood still boiling.
"Don't cheapen what we have!" She said softly but no less passionately. Now only a few feet away, Red could see the tears in her eyes. "Don't suggest I could be happy with anyone else, all the while in my bed!" She added, chest heaving with emotion. Red whimpered, knowing the same despair that was eating at Snow.
"Do you really think I want that? Do you really think I don't want to be with you always? To be yours?" Red asked, her voice cracking as a tear slipped down her cheek. Red felt like punching something. Or someone. Maybe Prince James. "I just want you to be happy. Loving him would be easier than loving me. You can be his wife, you can have his babies. You can't have those things with me." She murmured, eyes slipping to the floor.
"All I want is you." Snow whispered, tears falling in a steady stream now. Both broken, so broken. Snow crashed into one Red, landing back on Snow's bed, desperate hands searching each other. Searching for a reason, for something to tell them why this was wrong. They found nothing.
"As long as the moon rises, I will love you." Red murmured as they tired, tucking back into the space she'd fallen asleep in earlier. The moon would rise twice more, and Snow White would be married.
