Snow White was brokenhearted as her eyes peered out the window and over her beautiful kingdom. As much as she could glimpse from her high window in her castle.

It wasn't much of a view of her people. Mostly, she saw scenery. But she could see the splendor of the land.

It was, for now, hers.

But she had to forfeit it all. Let Reul have it.

She hadn't seen the Blue Fairy in nearly thirteen days. Snow didn't really care to see her. She had a plan she had to go through with.

The first part was telling Prince James when she met him today.

Although this part was bleak, at least she had the love of a kindred spirit with a similar thirst for darkness.

Her eyes combed downward, over the base of the lush green hill her castle stood on over several types of gorgeous flowers and appealing trees with the sweetest fruits. She saw a smiling woman with a white handkerchief over her hair and orange-red lipstick handing someone whose back was to her a small orange fruit.

Snow pulled away from the window and sat on her ornate chair with crescent moon shaped amethysts running along the edge. Her head spun. Her eyes jumped from the oval-shaped flecks of mirror to the ceiling to the apricot-colored floor tiles and up to the brow of her doorframe, where rich garnets lingered in circles.

She licked her teeth, falling into daydreams of hitting Reul Ghorm with an arrow, slitting her throat, piercing her tongue. But she couldn't do it because there was nothing clandestine about murdering a fairy. Fairy murder set off fairy magic so the particular siren would be heard several countries over. Plus the light specific to the fairy's color would shoot off in the sky. Emanating sparks several hundred miles off.

She'd been alive when the White Fairy was murdered. Queen Eva had explained what the noise was, what the sparks were from. It sounded like the song of a Beluga whale and rained three-inch cylinders for two days nonstop.

She wouldn't have an easy time giving up her kingdom or pretending to be dead. Sure, Prince James' palace was ten times more ornate than hers, but it was darker. Hers was brighter with a sweet aviary and openings in the castle for birds to fly in and nestle with her. They always gravitated toward her.

There were no openings in King George's castle. No cricket sounds filling the room at night. No birds flying in randomly.

She'd never visited, but they'd talked about it. After all, she was engaged to him and the sweet little birds made her happy. She was planning to move to his home from the very beginning.

But…she could have returned as the princess visiting her mother, Queen Eva, and father, King Leopold. She wouldn't have been sad. She would have known she'd see the birds and her former home again.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she knew now this luxury wasn't to be hers. Because of Reul Ghorm.

Straightening her back, she glanced at the gold and blue wall clock with her family's crest in the center.

It was time to meet James.

She used her magic to billow out of the room, seen by none but Mathilda.

Ten-year-old Regina had just finished galloping Valor—her horse—when she spotted golden smog.

Princess Snow White appeared, dressed in a cleavage-spraying black dress.

Curiosity got the best of the child, especially when she glimpsed Prince James greeting the princess with a kiss that would make someone with a heart of stone feel loved.

It was certainly unshocking when Snow's face rosied up, nor when the sweetest of smiles blew on her face did tremors of disbelief shake Regina. How could Snow not smile at him after that move?

Regina's horse was smart enough to read her. Though he was young, he grew still and silent, moving only when she pulled him alongside her so she could discreetly get closer.

Snow wasn't crying as she finished explaining in the breathy, harried whisper she'd developed to prevent people from eavesdropping.

"So you see," she explained from the place she stood in the dewy forest, beneath a nature/tree-made awning of baby's breath, "we need to leave. I have to fake my own death." Under her lashes, she whispered, "But if you love me, I'm yours."

"You know I do." Prince James put one arm at the center of her back, the other behind her knees. He hoisted her up in his arms as a tiny white bird perched prettily on Snow White's head and chirruped. Snow pressed her hand against Prince James' chest, her eyes wide with wonder.

Prince James spun her around, made her feel dizzy and delighted. A sweet sound of overwhelming mirth filled her throat and spilled from her lips.

Prince James covered her mouth with his own. As they danced between a cluster of trees and under the awning of baby's breath, their lips meshed with intense passion. Unrestrained adoration. Their bodies longed to connect. Without thinking, Snow began to unbutton James' princely jacket in desire to place her hands on his pecs.

What halted her was a noise. The sound of someone sucking air in her lungs slightly too strongly.

Snow pulled her vacuum of a mouth out of Prince James' face even though she wanted to ignore her instincts. She threw her gaze in the direction of the sound and spotted the ten-year-old orphan Regina and the horse Princess Snow got her.

Princess Snow wrestled out of Prince James' startled grasp. When she stood, she smoothed out her skirts and smiled benevolently.

"Regina," she called. "Come meet my fiancé!"

Anxiety thrummed on Regina's face. She swallowed visibly, wiped her palms on her riding pants, and whispered something to her horse. He didn't move a muscle as Regina released the reins and ambled staunchly in her riding boots to the couple.

Clasping her hands around Regina's, Snow asked in a coaxing, trusting manner, "Can you keep a very important secret?"

Regina couldn't understand. "Your Highness, it's only Prince James. Some people are afraid you're taking up with an assassin." Peering at her with sincerely confused brown eyes, Regina inquired, "Why the secrecy?"

"Some people?" Snow muttered in baffled speculation. "Who all knows?"

Clearing her throat, Snow clarified, "There are those who would not understand." Shaking her head, letting her hair flip in the wind, Snow murmured, "Don't trouble your young mind. It doesn't matter who. Just please promise me you won't tell anyone about me and Prince James."

Regina struggled visibly with herself. "But some people are looking out for you, like a fairy godmother would."

Snow's heart sank. She knew, as sharp as a war wound, Reul had cornered this girl. Licking her lips, Snow peered earnestly into Regina's eyes. "Some people—er, fairies—pretend to have my best interest at heart, but they're fibbing."

Heart thudding crazily, Regina asks nervously, hoping she misunderstood, "What are you saying?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, Snow pressed a finger to her pursed mouth. "I'm saying Reul Ghorm is not my friend." Regina's face fell. "I thought she was, but she has recently committed treachery."

Regina leaned over and emptied her stomach. Touching her top lip with the tips of her fore- and middle fingers, the bitter taste of vomit in her mouth, she mused, "Wow, a galloping horse can't do that to me, but—"

She stopped in her musings and stared wide-eyed Snow, dropping her hand to her sides. Scrunching her face up, as she backed slightly away from Snow and stepped on a crunchy leaf, she refuted, "But Fairy Advisors can't possibly commit treachery. They're good. I heard…I heard stories about them. When I used to sit as close as I dared to campfires for kids camps. The counselors told lots of stories about Fairy Advisors…advisors by day, fairy godmothers by night. The tales were diverse, but the one thing they had in common was that the fairies were always on the hero's side, helping in good ways. The fairies are never the villain."

Snow stared resolutely through the baby's breath and up at the lilac and periwinkle sky. "Maybe she's the first. Maybe fairies wiped the memories. Or maybe the camp counselors don't like to tell the tales of fairy deceit." Giving Regina regal eye contact, Princess Snow White beseeched, "You have to believe me. Reul Ghorm doesn't have my best interest at heart. So can you promise me, Regina?"

Regina hesitated, thinking deeply. If Reul finds out she kept the secret, she will certainly be cast away…or killed. Regina blanched and swallowed hard.

The princess accurately read the child's expression. "No harm will befall you," she vowed soothingly, stroking the motherless child's dark hair in a maternal fashion. "So long you keep my secret."

Regina felt the air stirring, telling her to trust the princess. "You have my word. I will tell no one of your fiancé."

Princess Snow White radiated with relief. "Thank you!" Putting her arm around Regina's shoulders, Snow insisted, "Because you're such a sweet spirit, one day, you shall know a love as intense and thorough and instant as mine."

Tilting her head, Regina repeated, "Instant?"

The princess nodded heartily.

Perplexed, Regina mumbled, "But I heard you have to know someone before you can fall in love with them, and I'd certainly never believe some random stranger on drugs who came up to me all golden and high, spewing 'I love you!' felt real affection for me."

"Humans may be intelligent," Snow debated, "but we are animals first. We have an inner connection, Prince James and I. I loved him the moment our eyes locked. I've never felt this way before, but I wish the same thing to happen to you someday. It's marvelous."

Tentatively, Regina decided to believe her. "Congratulations!"

But as she walked off, leaving the twosome alone, she hoped with all her heart Snow would not become a cautionary tale.