Chapter Twenty

After a long conversation about future plans with Frederick, Adam stayed awake until sunrise while Frederick slept. When daylight breached the mountain and shone down into the recesses of the Dark Forest Frederick awoke and they made their hike down the mountain. Adam was surprised by the amount of strength that he had to carry himself down the mountain and walking through the farmlands and city. He hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours, but he felt as though he had as much energy as the sun. He wasn't sure what It was that was keeping his energy up. Perhaps it was because he was in Apfel in the sun; perhaps it was because he was on a mission; perhaps it was because he was rather excited to actually see Snow White.

When they got to the castle Frederick went one way to go see Queen Grimhilde while Adam went his usual route to Snow White's secret apple tree. He regretted the fact that he had not picked out a book for her yet, and since he felt as though he had time he made a quick detour to the library.

"She wants adventure, romance, and a happy ending. . ." He thought to himself and dragged a hand down his face. It would be hard to find something that matched that description and he didn't just want to give her a random book. . . He would at least try to find something and read the back of the book for the summary. He walked down the long rows of shelves and walked down the romance genre row.

Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austin.

Wuthering Heights: Emily Bronte.

A White So Red: Krystle Jones

Black Apple Poison: Sarah Merizalde

His eyes lingered on the last two books. They seemed as though they would be perfect books for her to read. He read the titles several times to commit them to memory so that he could come back and retrieve them later. For the time being he needed to check up on Snow White and her reading. It was a little after nine so she would be in her secret grotto doing laundry or weeding or picking apples. The corners of his mouth tugged into a small smile as he went on his way to the secret apple tree.

As he walked his thoughts wandered off onto the next subjects that would need to be taught, the grammar and mechanics behind things, as well as her writing. Her writing was beautiful, impeccable even; he was slightly jealous of her pretty handwriting and almost wished he could write as elegantly. He rounded the corner that would take them to the secret apple tree when her voice suddenly cut through his thoughts with her singing. From where he could see her in the courtyard, she was weeding the cobble stones and airing out her thoughts to the animals and the well. There were at least a dozen doves surrounding Snow White as she hummed softly to herself. She had this adorable little habit of doing this from time to time and Adam always made sure to give her the proper privacy she deserved while also taking the time to listen to her lovely singing voice.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm . . ." She pulled on the ropes to get the bucket from the well. She softly giggled to herself and sighed before looking at the doves. "Want to know a secret?" She asked in a hushed voice as she looked at the doves. "Promise not to tell?" She smiled sweetly down at the doves and held one hand to the rope and the other on the mouth of the well. "We are standing by a wishing well." She began to sing her next few words.

"Make a wish into the well, that's all you have to do, and if you hear it echoing, your wish will soon come true." She sang almost as if she were actually teaching the doves about the well and how it worked. It was adorable, it was innocent, and Adam could feel that hammering in his chest at the thought.

"I'm wishing." She leaned over the mouth of the well and sang into it and it echoed back to her.

I'm wishing

"For the one I love." She leaned over the mouth again. "To find me"

To find me

"Today."

Today.

Adam could not help but feel his heart swell at those words. This was not the first time she had sung this song, but every time he heard it he wanted to respond to her in turn. However, that went against many gentlemanly codes and he worried that it would embarrass her.

"I'm hoping."

I'm hoping.

"And I'm dreaming of." She leaned up against the post of the well as she continued to sing into the well. "The nice things."

The nice things.

"He'll say."

He'll say.

She then proceeded to sing a melody of 'ah's into the well to have them echo back at her and Adam closed his eyes, rested his head on the brick walls, and just listened to her singing as she began to go into the song for a second time. She would often sing the verse a few times before finally drawing her water pale and returning to her weeding and scrubbing. Due to his attention being solely focused on Snow White's singing he had not noticed the clopping of hooves that were rounding the stone walls around the castle.

"I'm wishing."

I'm wishing

"For the one I love. To find me."

To find me.

"Today. . ."

"Today!" Suddenly a masculine voice did a vibrato and Adam instantly snapped to attention. He rounded the corner to see Snow White backing away in more surprise than fear and the flouncy fancy prince had finally made his cursed arrival. His hair was brown, his eyes were of the same brown, and he wore royal blue clothes and a plush red hat with a white feather plume sticking out of it.

"Hello," he said oh so cheerily to Snow White as he removed his hat from his head. "Did I frighten you?"

Much to Adam's delight Snow White ran away and allowed the bucket to drop over the prince's shoes.

"Wait!" He called after her and almost chased after her. "Wait, please don't go! Don't run away!"

Adam walked out from behind the door and Snow White immediately ran into his arms without so much of a thought as to question why he was here. He quickly tucked her away inside and he closed the door behind them and they hid behind the wall that led up to the spiraling stairs.

"Are you all right?" he asked looking down at her.

She said nothing but nodded her head as she clung to him. Her litter heart fluttered like a hummingbird and she quivered like a leaf in his arms. Although the man did not do anything to her, he most definitely surprised her, and given the things that had happened in the past he understood why she was as shaken as she was. Much to his chagrin the prince just stood out in the courtyard singing.

"Now that I've found you," he held his hat up to the window, almost trying to find her. "Hear what I have to say."

"Dear Lord, no." Adam groaned and glared out the window and saw the boy trying to approach the balcony. From another person's point of view this would be a very romantic scene. However to Snow White it was frightful and for Adam he found that his blood lust was quickly growing. "Do you want me to get rid of him?" he asked through gritted teeth, and much to his dismay she shook her head no.

"One song, I have but one song," He sang out. "One song only for you."

"He can't be serious." Adam rolled his eyes and got a snorted laugh from Snow White.

"Hush." She swatted at his chest. "Don't make me laugh, that's almost mean."

"Almost." He smirked down at her and she beamed a smile up at him. His heart clenched at the sight and eased the blood lust away.

He continued. "One heart, tenderly beating, ever entreating, constant and true."

"He's still going." Adam huffed and watched the prince sing his heart out to the person-less balcony.

"One love that has possessed me, one love thrilling me through." He started to walk up the stairs while still staring at the balcony in hopes that she would appear there; which Adam would not let her unless she absolutely wanted to go. . . "One song my heart keeps singing of one love only for you."

He finally quieted and Adam let out a sigh of relief. "I think he's finally done!"

"He had a nice singing voice. . ." She tried to be positive as she snickered up at Adam. "It wasn't the worst I've heard."

"Please, my dear." His index finger found her part and the loose curl from her quick run and set it in place behind her ear. "You and I both know that there are very few tenors in the world that are nice to listen to. They are always the ones that mess up in choirs."

She gasped but hid her smile behind her hands. "Adam!"

"We both know that I could sing that better." He chuckled as he watched to make sure the prince was actually leaving.

An innocent curiosity shined in those doe brown eyes. "Can you?"

He couldn't help the smirk that crept on his face. "You doubt me?"

"No. . ." She looked at him head on. "It's just. . . I've never heard you sing before. . ."

"Perhaps one day I will." He chuckled and allowed his hand to rest on her cheek. Much to his ever growing secret happiness she leaned her head into his palm. "But today we have lessons."

"But where shall we have them?" She frowned as she glanced out the window. "I highly doubt he's left yet. . ."

"You're probably right." He sighed and released his hands from her. "We'll have to do lessons in the library today. You go on ahead and get changed, I'll pick things up from here."

"Thank you," She breathed a sigh of relief and she seemed to glow in a soft ray of beauty. She did a small curtsey and ran off to change out of her scullery maid attire and change into something else for the day. Adam, on the other hand, stood straighter and made his way out the door from which Snow White ran from. When he opened the door he was surprised to see that the prince was not waiting at the door to have yet another chance to serenade the fair maiden, however, he was not surprised to see that the fool was waiting at the foot of the balcony for her to make an appearance. Adam rolled his eyes and thought about making some snide comment that she wasn't interested in him, that she wouldn't be coming, that he should just go home, however that would just start a conversation with him and would actually draw his attention to himself; and Adam would rather avoid that.

Quietly walking towards the well he bent down and picked up the spilled bucket. From there he glanced over his shoulder to see the dejected prince kicking the ground and slowly turning to walk away. A sense of victory overcame Adam and a smug smirk came over his face as he turned to go gather the morning laundry and other items from the morning's chores. He made sure to keep his back to the prince so as not to draw any more attention to himself, however, as he picked up the wicker basket full of laundry with the red book resting on top the wicker basket creaked slightly and the prince suddenly made his way over to Adam.

"You there!" He called, almost in the same sing-song voice. "A moment of your time!"

"No." He said loud enough for the prince to hear.

"No?" The prince blinked as though he has never been told the word in his life. "Surely you jest, sir."

Adam stopped and turned to glare at the prince. He was quite young, he actually looked younger than Snow White, which was really saying something since she was eighteen but she looked as though she were sixteen. As Adam stood next to this prince he noticed the short stature. Adam already acknowledged that he was possibly the tallest one in the entire Realm, but the prince did not seem to be any taller than Snow White. If Snow White wore her little heels then she would definitely be taller than him.

"I am Prince Florian Ferdinand of Franca!" He did a dramatic twirl with his wrist, placed his hat back on his head and smiled towards the sun. Adam could only roll his eyes at the fool.

"And I do not care." Adam growled down at him. "You are wasting my time."

"Time spent with Prince Florian is never a waste!" He argued rather loudly. "But I assure you that I won't take too much of your time."

"No." Adam continued to walk away, but the prince had the audacity to grab his shoulder and spin him around.

"Please, sir, I just need to know who that fair maiden was!" He said not taking no as an answer. "She was the most beautiful creature that my eyes have ever beheld! Even if she was a scullery maid, I must know who she was!"

"How dare you!" Adam hissed and shook him off. The bloodlust from before was quickly growing. "To call a woman a creature is just below any role a man should have! How dare you - "

"She's just a scullery maid." Prince Florian scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Please, any servant no matter how beautiful, should not be treated with anything more than their status in life. To me she is just a creature, even if she is a beautiful creature."

Adam's hands gripped the wicker handles so tightly that they were snapping and fraying. He also had not noticed that his poison had burned through the cotton gloves and his poison was burning the wicker basket.

Prince Florian turned his nose up and covered his nose with his hand. "What is that smell?"

"Would you like to find out?" Adam mumbled as he held the basket in one hand and began to reach out his hand to the prince. That bloodlust burned deep through him. Between the lack of sleep and the Queen causing his blood pressure to rise he was abnormally paranoid and he wanted nothing more than to get rid of all of the problems in his life at the moment. The prince merely stared at him as Adam was reaching his hand out towards the prince's throat when someone cleared his throat.

"Excuse me gentlemen." It was Frederick. Adam immediately snapped out of it and held his head in his hand to withdraw some of the poison toxicity. "What are you two doing?"

"Finally, a cooperative person." Prince Florian waved his hand dramatically in the air. "Can you tell me who the beautiful creature was?"

"Creature?" Frederick looked to Adam, and it took everything within Adam to not reach his hand out and strangle the prince.

"The fair maiden that was out here singing." Florian huffed. "Why don't you people understand me?"

"Because here people don't refer to beautiful people as creatures." Adam growled and side stepped away from the prince. Just standing next to him was enough to make his blood boil.

"You must be Prince Florian Ferdinand." Frederick cleared his throat as he looked between the two.

He snapped and put his hands on his hips, "Of course, you couldn't tell?"

"Allow me to introduce myself." Frederick crossed his arms. "I am Queen Grimhilde's First Knight, and although we are expecting your arrival, you entering through the courtyard is considered trespassing."

"I was merely trying to find the front gates when I heard this beautiful singing voice!" Florian put his hands together and sighed. "And yet none of you can precure her name for me!"

Adam snapped, "Because you do not deserve to know of her name, let alone who she is."

Frederick cleared his throat, "Prince Adam."

"'Prince Adam'?" Florian looked to Adam in ever so wide-eyed and obvious surprise.

"Prince Florian is from Franca and is not used to our customs as theirs are so . . . Different."

"Different is putting it lightly." Adam seethed through gritted teeth. "Get this fool out of my sight."

"Of course," Frederick smirked. "Prince Florian, if you'll follow me, Queen Grimhilde is ready for your audience with her."

"If the Queen is ready." Florian cast glaring daggers at Adam. "Then I shall take my leave. Besides I don't really know my way around this place."

"Where is your horse?" Frederick sighed as he carefully escorted Florian away from Adam.

"On the other side of this wall."

Adam took his own chance to leave when Frederick suddenly returned and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Prince Adam." He spoke quickly. "I don't know why, but for some reason I feel obligated to give you these. For some reason, I feel as though you need them. . ."

He held out a pair of cotton gloves to Adam. Adam was not as surprised as he should be that Frederick was the one giving him a pair of replacement gloves; however since he was aware that the timeline of things are off balanced with his presence here that he wasn't sure what was and what wasn't blending together.

"Thank you." Adam took them gratefully and quickly replaced his holey pair of gloves for the new pair that seemed to somewhat be stronger.

"Now I'm off to babysit." Frederick groaned as he turned back to go deal with Prince Florian.

Before he could feel bad for Frederick he took his leave to go meet up with Snow White to begin their lessons. He could only hope that his mood would lighten like it normally did whenever they have lessons. He set the laundry down in the small laundry room and picked up her red book to take it to her. As he walked he was ever so curious to what kind of things Snow White wrote in her red journal he had gotten for her. Not that it was his business, he had gotten it for her to use as a method of taking notes and practicing her writing, however he wanted to see where her progress was taking her.

"Just the first two pages. . ." He huffed and pulled off to the side in the shadows and cracked the book open. He just stared at the first page. It was just her name written over several times in different forms of her handwriting, almost as if she were trying her hand at different fonts. A small smile played on his lips as he could see the different thickness of each font style and attempt at another style of writing. When he turned the page his smile fell and his heart hammered in his chest. It was his name. It was his name. Adam. Adam Appoi. It was written over and over and over. There were a few where she had written Appoi with hearts to dot the 'I's, there were even a few where there were just hearts by his name.

His face felt warm, his palms felt rather sweaty, and his heart beat all the way to his ears as he turned the page as he saw Adam & Snow Appoi written on the next page. He only took a few seconds to look at it before snapping the book closed and holding it to his chest. He felt as though he had betrayed her trust by peeking in her journal, however, there was also such a great happiness that bubbled up within him. He found himself walking fast to the library to see Snow White. Yes he was going to see her for their lessons, but he also wanted to see her to get some sort of confirmation on these possible feelings that he felt for her and what he hoped she felt for him. He burst through the library door and felt his heart continue to race as he saw her. She was in their usual corner sitting in her spot at their table reading a book and mouthing the words as she read.

She had changed out of her scullery maid dress and apron and clogs to a royal velvet blue dress with puffed sleeves at the shoulders and smooth velvet to her thin wrists with white piping at the hemlines and a peter pan collar for her neckline. A red ribbon was tied in her hair to keep her black curls from her face and simple black slippers rested on her feet. She had no jewelry, she wore nothing flashy or eye catching in particular, yet Adam could not take his eyes from her. His heart swelled in his chest and he took a step to approach her, but hid away in an aisle. He needed to catch his breath, he needed to clear his head, he needed his heart to silence itself, but he also needed confirmation for all of these feelings that would not stop within him.


QUEEN GRIMHILDE

She stood to the side of the curtain and watched the entertaining interaction between Prince Florian Ferdinand, Adam, and Snow White. Queen Grimhilde had gotten up early since she knew today would be the arrival of the prince. She had had Frederick camp out in the woods so he could come and tell her once he saw the carriages or horses or however the prince would decide to transport himself to Apfel. She was ever so surprised that he had arrived just a few minutes before nine and guessed that the prince would arrive before ten. It gave her both little time to prepare and all the time she needed to prepare her surprises.

She had the prince's room furnished with the second best quality items, she reserved the best for herself; had a small brunch feast prepared; she made sure the stables were bone free and had fresh hay and water in the stalls; and she made sure that she hired more staff to do extra cleaning for the next few weeks. She had had Frederick go hunting for game so she had her private supply of necessary ingredients for her youth tonics and potions as well as for her own special diet.

Snow White was taking much slower than she preferred in both her lessons and her sewing. She had decided to give the irritating girl some of her old dresses and gowns that she either no longer fit or no longer cared for. There was only one dress that despite her having outgrown it, she could not part with; it was the last gown her mother had made her. Much to her dismay Snow White was literally sewing everything by hand. Although she had anticipated it, she had also expected Snow White to actually use the sewing machine that she had sent the girl. Perhaps it was more advanced than she had realized. She shook the thought from her mind and re-averted her attention to the young trio.

Snow White was humming, whistling, and singing while she worked - much to Grimhilde's chagrin - and talked to the white birds that flocked around her. She frowned and really wished that she had her morning tea to get her through the girl's childish antics. She remained silent as she continued to watch and she finally saw that feather plume poke its gaudy head over the castle wall. He had to have been standing on the horse because as he came down on the other side of the wall he was terribly short. She let out a snort as she realized she was setting Snow White up with the potential short man. She watched as he came closer to her that he was almost as tall as Snow White; she was still taller than her. The singing continued and the prince managed to successfully surprise Snow White and surprised her too well and had her scurrying away.

A chuckle escaped her as she watched Snow White run away and the prince trying to continue to serenade her. He actually stood out there singing to her for several minutes.

"Something interesting happening outside, my Queen?" Frederick cleared his throat as he entered her chambers.

"Very." She chuckled again and looked at him. "Very interesting indeed."

"How so?" He joined her at the window to see that Prince Florian was outside the balcony singing. "Does he really think that's going to work?"

"It must be a strange custom in Franca." A bubble of laughter escaped her as she watched the poor fool singing and calling out to Snow White.

"Yuck, he's a tenor." Frederick turned his nose up and shook his head. "The kid won't have a good hobby if he keeps singing out of key like that."

"He's ghastly." She snickered like a schoolgirl and rested her arm and head on Frederick's shoulder. "I do think that this is one of my best plans, Freddie." She laughed again, but Frederick did not laugh alongside her as he continued to watch what was going on outside. She did not see the deep red Frederick's ears turned nor did she see the hopeful look in his eyes as he looked down at her.

The show continued as the prince was getting desperate to call out to Snow White and Adam was the one that emerged from behind the door. She found this mini drama rather delicious as she watched Adam, seething in what she hoped to be jealousy, silently brood and storm his way across the yard to get the basket of laundry. The prince somehow noticed Adam and approached him. Adam made evident signs that he planned on ignoring the prince or even not acknowledging him, however, Prince Florian did not seem to get the hint. The look in Adam's face was getting dangerous.

"This is going to get ugly. . ." Frederick commented as he watched the two males.

"I certainly do hope so." She relished the idea of the two getting into a fight over Snow White. The possibility of seeing a death tickled her.

"Now, my Queen." Frederick carefully stepped away from her and removed her head from his shoulder. "Do you really want the show to end so soon after such a short beginning? If we let Adam continue his way now there is too big a chance that he'll kill the prince and we'll have a war on our hands for the missing prince of Franca."

"Fine." She huffed and rolled her eyes. "If you must separate them, then do so; though I would certainly be entertained by death. . . But you're right, it is too early for the show to end; it just started! I haven't even had my first audience with this Franca prince."

"Shall I bring him to the throne room?" Frederick asked.

"Yes, please do that." She chuckled and turned her attention back to the window. "I'll be there shortly."

"As you wish, my Queen." He bowed and dismissed himself to break up the little tiff between Adam and Florian. She desperately wished she could hear what they were saying because things seemed to keep getting heated between the two. Whatever Florian was saying to Adam was truly infuriating him because she watched the gloves on Adam's hands slowly melted away. He was soon reaching his hand out to the prince, as if to strangle him, when Frederick came to the rescue. He prevented any damages from happening and ever precured Adam with a second pair of gloves. She found it odd but had no complaint as he escorted the prince away from Adam. Adam escaped inside, more than likely to start his lessons with Snow White, and the Queen could not help but scheme up another idea that would cause the right amount of drama and entertainment for her.

"Time to see if this key fits his part." She cackled as she turned and made her way to the throne room to put her plan into action.


Author's Note:

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you're enjoying it so far!

The story is allowing me to finally write! Also, some things are finally working in my favor to allow me to get back to writing. I still have a very busy summer ahead of me as well as quite a few plans that I hope to put in motion as well.

What are your thoughts so far? Do you like the characters? Is this story interesting enough? Do you think that Adam is going to get his Happy Ending, or will the Queen? What will her plot do to bring about some drama? Tell me what you think, please leave me a review!

Thank you so much for coming along the journey with me, stay tuned for more!

Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter