The Stepsister Scheme

Danielle glanced around, half expecting someone else to step out of the shadows.
    Queen Beatrice smiled. “Who do you think told Armand’s driver where to find you, after the ball?”
    “Queen Bea knows things,” said Snow. She had taken what looked like a knitting needle and was using it to splint the pigeon’s wing.
    Danielle turned to look at the queen. “Queen... Bea?”
    The queen sighed, but Snow didn’t notice. “That’s how she found Talia on that ship,” Snow said brightly. “And how she knew you’d be coming to the ball. She left orders with the guards not to stop you.”
    “The visions are rare, and often they’re damned vague,” said Beatrice.
    Danielle stared, taken aback. Her stepmother would have slapped Danielle’s face, then locked her in the attic for such unladylike language.
    “They also tend to leave me with a nasty headache.” the queen added. “I’m sorry, Danielle. I knew something was wrong when I awoke this morning, but I didn’t know what. I sent Talia to watch over you while Snow and I hunted for the source of the threat.”
    “I tried searching the mirror, but... ” Snow shrugged.
    A magic mirror. Danielle’s mouth went dry. “Her face as white as snow,” she whispered. The story had spread through Lorindar several years before, just as Danielle’s own story had done this past month. The beautiful young girl and her evil mother. The dashing hunter who awakened the girl from her curse. The death of the witch... . “You’re Snow White?”
    Snow nodded so vigorously her hair slipped over her face. She pursed her lips and blew it back. “Snow White sounds so much better than Ermillina Curtana. I hated that name.”
    “Snow was the most beautiful girl in her kingdom,” Beatrice said.
    Snow gave a modest shrug, which caused her shirt to slip down from one shoulder. “It was a rather small kingdom.”
    “She was exiled after her mother’s death,” the queen went on. “Banished under pain of death should she return.”
    “Why?” Danielle asked.
    “For killing my mother,” Snow said. “She was beautiful but terribly jealous. She sent me to the woods and paid a hunter to cut out my heart. Instead, he fell in love with me, and we lived together until she tracked us down. She murdered him, and almost killed me as well.”
    Snow picked up the pigeon and handed him back to Danielle. “Here’s your bird,” she said brightly.
    “The death of Snow’s mother pushed Allesandria toward civil war,” said the queen. “The king had long been under his wife’s spell, and her death left him in no condition to rule. Snow was too young to rebuild her nation. The more power hungry of her kin saw her as an obstacle to the throne, and wanted her hanged for matricide.”
    Snow glanced down. Ebony hair hid her eyes as she fixed her shirt. “Queen Beatrice and King Theodore helped my cousin Laurence take the throne.”
    “He was a less bloodthirsty choice than the others,” the queen said. “We did what we could to help his cause. But by the time he took control, Snow’s guilt was too firmly established in the minds of her people. When we attended his coronation, Laurence disguised Snow as a servant and helped me sneak her out of the country when we departed.”
    “I always liked Laurence,” Snow said.
    “I’m sorry,” Danielle said, not knowing what else to say. Her own stepmother, for all her flaws, had never tried to murder her. “I thought... I thought it was only a story.”
    “It is,” Snow said. “That doesn’t mean it’s not true. Just ask Sleeping Beauty there.”
    Talia sighed. “You know how I hate that name.” “Yes, I do,” Snow said, grinning.
    “Sleeping Beauty?” Danielle turned to Talia. At first, all she could think to say was, “Aren’t you married?”
    “Hardly,” said Talia.
    “But the stories, your prince awakened you with a kiss, breaking the fairy curse and—”
    “Sometimes the stories are wrong,” Talia interrupted. “Snow, have you had any luck finding the prince?”
    The amusement vanished from Snow’s face. “No.”
    Danielle’s stomach tightened. “What’s happened to Armand?”
    “He disappeared sometime last night,” Beatrice said softly. She looked away, and in that moment, Danielle saw a tired aging woman, not a queen with the strength and confidence of royalty. Queen Beatrice was afraid. “By the time I knew he was in danger, it was too late.”
    “Nobody told me,” Danielle whispered.
    Back home,