Snow by J.E. Taylor

Author:J.E. Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fairy tale retelling, magic, evil queen, dwarves, Snow White, poison apple, love
Publisher: JET-Fueled Fiction
Published: 2018-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The echo of my scream bounced around the room like a mountain yodel that carried for miles.

The door creaked open and Queen Odette entered. She crossed and stopped in front of me, opening her hand. “Looking for these?”

My lock picks sat in her palm. She turned her hand over, and they dropped to the ground, along with the last vestige of hope I had.

I snarled and lunged for her as red fury filled me, roaring like an unchecked forest fire.

Queen Odette recoiled, stepping back, her face falling into a mask of shock for a brief instant. She brushed her dress, reset her face, and then turned towards the door, snapping her finger.

A figure wrapped in a dark cape crossed to her. My mother’s sword peeked out from under the fabric.

“That’s my sword,” I snapped, glaring at the figure.

A skeletal hand came up and pushed the hood back.

I stared in horror at the empty sockets and the thin grey mask of skin covering the skeleton that stared in my direction. When it raised the sword, turning it one way and then the other as if inspecting it, I thought I would vomit.

“I believe that is yours, correct, Margaret?”

“Yes, my grace,” the skeleton said in a gravel-laden voice.

It had been almost fifteen years since I’d heard that voice, and although it sounded like she was speaking through a layer of dirt, I still recognized it. My knees nearly gave out. Even though I had guessed that Queen Odette had given my mother’s dead body reanimation, it still shook me to the core. This thing, this monster, was my mother risen from the grave to serve this... this vile, evil bitch.

My brain couldn’t grasp it.

Flashes of my mother brushing my hair, tucking me in bed, kissing my forehead, singing me lullabies, hugging me until her sweet floral scent wrapped around me as tightly as her arms... So many vivid memories. And every one of them overlaid this skeletal thing with my mother’s real features.

“I would like to see how sharp it is,” Queen Odette said.

The skeleton of my mother raised the sword, pointing it at me. She paused and tilted her head. Even though she didn’t have eyes, I could almost envision her bright blue irises peering at me in her silent and questioning gaze.

Queen Odette studied me. “Shoulder.”

Even before she finished saying the word, the tip of the sword sliced through my shoulder, scratching over bone and slicing tendon before the metal scraped the wall behind me.

My breath locked in my chest as the pain flared, hot and wild.

When the blade retracted, I cried out.

The skeleton showed the bloody sword to the queen.

“That will be all for now, Margaret,” Queen Odette said, dismissing the dead mage.

Hot liquid dripped down my side, staining my shirt. I watched the thing that was once my mother scuttle out of the room like an insect. My mind screamed, but I wouldn’t allow another sound to escape from my tightly closed lips.

I focused on the queen.

An amused smile played on her lips, and all I wanted to do was wipe it off.

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