3
When I awoke the next morning, I was alone. Snow had the habit of waking just before first light and would have gone back to her chambers to get ready for the day. I had not slept much as I spent most of the night enveloped in the sad reality of my life. As I sat up in the bed I looked out of the window. It was still early morning and the stable hands were probably just making their way to the stables where they would find my mother's body. I decided that I should prepare myself for the day ahead and the hardships that it would surely bring.
I was in the library with my father when the news came. I take tea in the library with my father every day. We enjoy each other's company while we read books or just talk. I love my father. He is my only true parent. He offers me the affection of both a mother and a father to make up for the cold distance of my mother. As I lounged on the couch reading, my father sat nearby reading from his own text. We were sitting in silence when suddenly the doors burst open. The King marched in followed by his royal guard and one of the stable hands. My father and I stood and bowed before the king.
As he approached he said, "Rise. My Queen I am afraid that there is bad news." My heart sank as the moment I had been dreading finally arrived. The King studied my face intently as if seeking for some evidence to ignite his jealousy. He had been suspicious of my behavior and was loathe to believe that his property was being handled by someone else. For that is what I am to him, property. I kept my eyes lowered to the ground as he nodded to the stable hand. A young boy or about 14 stepped forward and bowed. He said, "My Queen, the Lady Cora has been found dead in the stables. We believe she was murdered sometime during the night." As I stared at the boy a brief look of guilt crossed my face before I let the anguish from the night before come to the surface.
As tears welled up in my eyes, my father stepped forward and put his arm around my waist. "How did this happen?" my father asked the king while holding back his own sadness. The king merely stared at me with a malicious smile and I was sure that he had seen the momentary guilt on my face. Dread filled my heart as I realized the horrors that the king would surely have in store for me. As the king turned from me to answer my father, I let my thoughts drift to Daniel and what he would be doing with his new freedom.
As Daniel made his way through the darkness of the forest, he wondered about the cold feeling in his chest. He had never felt this way before. He didn't understand why this was happening now. This new strange feeling had first washed over him after…after he killed Cora. Deep in thought, Daniel never noticed the trap until he was caught in it. His right foot stepped into the loop placed strategically on the ground. As it tightened around his ankle, it pulled his head to the ground where it struck a rock and caused a gash to form on his head. Through his blurred vision, he saw a cloaked figure approach and watched as the figure's hands began to glow, before he passed out.
When Daniel woke he found that he was hanging from shackles place around his wrists that were attached to a wall. He was in a dark room and there was no furniture in the room save for a big floor length mirror placed in front of him. At first glance he could tell that it was no ordinary mirror because instead seeing his reflection he saw nothing but black. This was a magic mirror. Suddenly, he felt a peculiar rage build inside of him. He was angry at being captured and angry at his captor for not making an appearance. He was angry at fate for being so cruel and he was angry at himself for being a coward. He began to struggle against his restraints and he let his rage take over his mind and yelled into the darkness to be released. He struggled until he felt exhaustion overwhelm him and he hung his head in defeat.