Reul Ghorm awoke upside down with a piercing sense of alarm to discover twenty-six eyes glaring at her with hostility.
Her eyes popped wide as fear stabbed her in the chest. My wings.
The part of her that separated her from humans was to be removed.
As she hung from her batlike position, she attempted to retract her wings, though she knew it wouldn't stop these sorcerers from dragging them back out.
She realized not only couldn't she pull her wings back into her body—she also couldn't twitch her wrist. The only three parts of her body that could move were her face, heart, and racing brain. Her arms remained fastened and folded to her chest.
Her tongue grew heavy and numb with terror. Her skin was clammy. Sweat dripped from the back of her neck to the floor.
She would have the power to speak if she weren't so frightened, but she felt sure if she had, Princess Snow White had likely ordered her tongue removed as well.
Reul Ghorm should not have been so careless—but she had not expected Snow White to push back so hard. She'd expected the girl to be shattering with grief, sobbing on her knees for weeks, unable to eat. Maybe taking her own life to join her lost love. Reul Ghorm had counted on Snow White caring too much about her juicy image to stain it by pushing back.
And she was only a princess. Queen Eva was the one with the power to take her wings.
Snow must have convinced her mother.
Reul Ghorm felt dizzy and powerless as the thirteen sorcerers used their magic to carry her out of the fairy advisor's room and into the hallway of the castle. Still in her batlike position, she floated along the path unfalteringly. Only because she had no choice.
There was a quiet stillness in her surroundings. The staff members who saw her stopped shifting through duties to gape and gasp silently. They knew of her fate. Knew the only one who could stop it was the Ogre Slayer.
He would not aid her. He only helped victims, not punished bullies.
The mumbles started behind her. Gossip. About her. Like nothing she'd heard about herself in the shadows.
Defamed. Deep down, she knew she deserved it. Yet, bubbling at the surface arose intense fury directed at the princess for besmirching her.
Their journey through the castle lasted about fifteen minutes. At last, the sorcerers magicked her out a door that led into the coronation and punishments courtyard. Between the rows of chairs filled with officiants, royal blood, and other important spectators. Up to the stage.
She was so humiliated and full of rage that, albeit as a fairy she could safely hang upside down without blood rushing to her head, her whole face swelled with bubonic redness.
When she was mounted on a stake upon the stage, Queen Eva asserted with heated sarcasm while tilting her graceful head in Reul Ghorm's direction, "Now that our guest of honor has arrived, our official business can begin." Queen Eva was dressed in a gold gown with white embroidery. Her lashes looked extra thick and extra black.
Reul Ghorm attempted to squirm. Nothing. She met Snow's cold gaze then Mathilda's reproachful stare. She gave up.
There was a bitterness in the air, which Reul Ghorm tasted with each jagged inhalation. She was on the verge of a panic attack. She'd forgotten the cardinal rule—never enter a trap you can't get out of.
Queen Eva announced crisply, "It was an honor to be Rhilopia's queen…but I'm tired. Bone-tired. I need to relax."
She's taking a vacation? Reul Ghorm realized confusedly. This is news to me.
But as Queen Eva prattled on about the joys of being King Leopold's wife, Reul Ghorm made peace with her ignorance. Queen Eva had complained ceaselessly about her duties wearing her out for two decades but had never actually done anything about it. The Blue Fairy had theorized the Queen liked her position too much to neglect her people for a week a year. Plus, she may have feared she'd never catch up with backed-up duties if she took a brief break once a year to unwind.
And Reul Ghorm had been gone for a fortnight. When she returned, she was in chains the next morning. Reading the queen's mind was hardly on her agenda. It merely surprised her because Queen Eva was normally predictable.
"I'm here to abdicate," remarked Queen Eva at the conclusion of her speech.
"No!" Reul's voice rang out in an echo.
Without glancing at the fairy advisor, Queen Eva removed her crown, replaced the tiara atop her daughter's head with it, and encouraged, "Please show respect for Queen Snow White." Her daughter was dressed in a red gown in gold embroidery. Her lipstick sparkled in the sunlight, and her eyeshadow made her eyes stand out more than usual. It was to block the grief that snarled in her eyelashes and made her complexion grey. She had to poise pride and cosmetics above the ugly things so her people would happily follow her.
As the spectators curtsied and bowed, Reul Ghorm spotted King George as well as David. David, now Prince David, had hollow cheeks and haunted eyes. His lips quivered.
"Thank you," Queen Snow White purred through ruby red lips. "Now, for my first order of business. Reul Ghorm, my fairy advisor, has committed treason against Rhilopia. Off with her—" The Blue Fairy flinched, knowing the word was "wings". "—head," finished the new queen with finality.
Reul's closed eyes opened and gaped with shock. What?
An executioner stepped forward and swiped off Reul's neck with his axe.
"Regina's next," Queen Snow White sang as she swept past the fairy's head, hiding the gruesome image from her audience with the hem of her bright red gown. "Find her. Kill her." She did not know Mathilda had saved the child.
"Yes, your highness," said her hitmen in unison.
"For my next order of business," Snow boomed with her head held high. She twisted her neck in Prince David's direction with an eagle's stare. Crooking her finger at the twin of her former lover, she clucked then purred, "Come."
There was a dark, raw sadness in her eyes as Prince David strode to her hip. An ugly open wound exposing the black blood of her pulsating heart.
When he arrived in front of her, she wasted no time. She used her magic to remove his heart then commanded him to kiss her. He obliged, but only because he was enchanted.
His kiss should have felt the same. He kissed just like James had. Yet, she was keenly aware of who he wasn't. That she did not love Prince David.
His kiss felt empty. No butterflies. No enchanting excitement. Not a drop of passion.
Loneliness seeped in the cracks in her heart.
To keep from weeping heartbrokenly, she filled her tone with frost.
"We marry in an hour." With that, she strode to put on her simplest white dress for a wedding she cared nothing for. A wedding in which she would not shine like the moon.
At her wedding, she would not feel special.
END OF PART ONE.
