Apples and Princesses (The Tales and Princesses Series Book 2)

by Aleese Hughes

  We all watched him, the boys curious, me more infuriated than anything, as he finished his breakfast. Not once did he look up at me again. Was he really that angry with me? He was the one in the wrong.

  “Will one of you boys clean the birds like I taught you?” Nick nodded at the dead pheasants he placed on the hearth. “I’m going to talk to Snow.”

  He stood up stiffly and gestured for me to follow him through the hall that led to the bedrooms. I pushed my chair back to oblige. Nick’s face didn’t reveal any of his thoughts, but his movements towards me were cold.

  When we reached the back bedroom, the one I stayed in over a month ago, Nick hurried me inside and slammed the door behind us. Only one side of his face was illuminated by a single candle in the bedroom, but I could still see the shadows that accentuated the angles in his clenched jaw.

  “How could you?” he whispered, but the words were piercing.

  “I came back, didn’t I?”

  He shot me an icy glare, and I felt myself shiver. “Those poor boys depended on you!”

  “I was scared!” I shouted back.

  Nick took two steps back, but he still seemed angry with me. After a pause that felt to last an eternity, he finally seemed to relax.

  “Are you okay?”

  I rolled my shoulders back and stared back at him confidently. “Don’t give me your sympathy. I don’t regret anything.”

  Nick’s brows drew together, and he looked as if he was about to shout at me again. He clenched and unclenched his fists about a dozen times, and then a shadow of determination flashed across his face. He charged me, a very similar approach to what Father had done to me time and time again. But instead of hitting me, Nick grabbed my arms and crushed me against his chest. He hesitated for a moment, face hovered above my own, and before I could process what was happening, he pressed his lips against mine— hard.

  I gasped and pushed him away with all my strength and hurried myself to the other side of the room.

  “How dare you?” I cried.

  And with that, I turned briskly on my heel and stormed away. I didn’t even care to look back, but I could feel his hungry, yearning eyes boring into my back.

  Chapter 24

  I demanded no one to bother me. Disregarding whether or not my old room was available, I shacked up in there for a little over a week and prepared myself for my visit with Queen Dalia. I only ever left for a bite or two eat every day, or to relieve myself.

  Someone knocked.

  “That better be you, Arnold!” I shouted.

  Arnold turned the knob and precariously craned his head around the door. “You needed me, Snow?”

  I nodded fervently and waved for him to come in. “I need your help.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “With what?”

  “Do you know how secure the servants’ entrance at the castle is?”

  Arnold plopped down onto my cot with a sigh. “Snow, what are you planning?”

  “Is it?” I was losing my patience.

  Arnold flinched slightly at my sharp words. “Not really. Not at certain times, especially.”

  My eyes widened with curiosity. “What times?”

  “In the mornings. They usually get their food and other supply deliveries a little after dawn every day. Many servants are always out and about to help load it all in.”

  I suppressed the urge to bounce up and down. “Where is the servants’ entrance?”

  He folded his arms. “I’m not telling you unless you explain what’s going on.”

  I folded my arms, as well. “It’s my business.”

  Arnold leapt from his seat and stared me down. “Then I’m at least coming with you.”

  I laughed. “Do you really care about my safety?”

  “Snow!” he said, exasperated. “Yes, we were angry when you didn’t come back, but we were mostly…” He shifted his gaze to the floor. “We were worried about you, alright?”

  I exhaled through my nose loudly. “Fine. You can come with me. We leave at first light tomorrow morning.”

  It was the day of the royal wedding, and I was determined— excited, even. I studied myself in the full-length mirror in my bedroom, trying to determine if the plain dress Arnold had found me would be servant-y enough. The tan cloth fell baggily over my shoulders and looked a little worn at the hem. It would do.

  I fingered a knife in yet another hidden pocket Arnold sewed into the dress for me. The twins lent me one of their “less important knives—” their words— since I sold Father’s dagger. It was a duller blade, in more ways than one, but it would do.

  “You know there’s probably still a look-out for you, right?”

  Arnold was standing behind me dressed in his own serving clothes of worn trousers and a plain tunic.

  “Hand me the sack sitting on the bed, will you?”

  He opened his mouth to protest my refusal to reply to his question, but changed his mind and grabbed the sack for me. I pulled out one of the apples, feeling around the skin to find the nick I made to determine it from the poisoned ones.

  “You just ate breakfast,” he said.

  I ignored him again and took a bite. Some of the juice dripped down my chin, and I eyed the white interior appreciatively. It was a good apple. I proceeded to finish the entire piece of fruit, then looked curiously into the mirror. Nothing happened.

  “Uh… Snow, you’re scaring me.”

  “Ugh,” I shouted, throwing the core to the floor. “It didn’t work!”

  But in that moment my long, dark hair faded into a brilliant gold, and my skin tanned to an appealing bronze. My waist thickened out ever so slightly, and my height even shrunk an inch or two. The only things that stayed the same were the distinctive red of my lips and my brown eyes.

  Arnold had apparently run over to the edge of the room in fright during my transformation. His nails were digging into the wall, and his legs trembled beneath him.

  “What— what— Oh my,” he stammered.

  I laughed at his reaction. “You’d think a half-dwarf wouldn’t be so surprised by a little magic.”

  Arnold gulped.

  “What did you tell your brothers about our excursion?”

  His teeth chattered, and it took a second or two for him to regain his composure. “Nothing much. I just told them not to wait up for us— that you were helping me with another job.”

  “And Nick? Did he say anything?” He and I hadn’t spoken since that kiss. We were both avoiding each other, not even making eye contact as we passed during meals or in the hall.

  “He hasn’t even acknowledged that anything is happening. Besides, he left for another hunting trip yesterday.”

  “Oh, I didn’t notice,” I said, and I found that I didn’t really care. “Is everybody still asleep?”

  Arnold nodded. He still stared at me, but instead of fright in his eyes, it slowly became wonder.

  “Off we go then.”

  Arnold gestured for me to crouch down and follow him towards one of the three delivery carts at the side of the castle. A horde of servants had already started picking up various parcels, food, and supplies from the carts.

  “How much stuff does one place need?” I muttered as we hid behind a cart and out of sight.

  “Alright, Snow,” Arnold whispered. “Act really casual and follow my lead.”

  Careful to see no one was looking our way, Arnold stood up and briskly stepped around the cart to pick up his own parcel. I did the same.

  “You there!” someone yelled at me.

  My heart jumped to my throat as I whirled around to the owner of the voice. A tall, burly man stood at the edge of the cart and glared down at me.

  “You can do better than that.”

  I furrowed my brow, trying to decipher what he was referring to, then looked down at the parcel in my arms. It was very small, and I noticed the rest of the crowd around me carried stacks of supplies each.

  “Oh.” I gave him a wry smile. “Sorry.”

&n
bsp; The man dropped another two packages on top of the one. The string tying the parcels together scratched at my arms, and the shapes were so awkward, but I hid my discomfort.

  “Snow,” Arnold hissed next to me. “Let’s move.”

  We fell into place at the end of the long line leading to the double-doored servants’ entrance.

  “This is going to take a while,” I grumbled.

  “Just act natural.”

  “Arnold.” I elbowed him slightly in the ribs but immediately regretted it as I was forced to rebalance my tipping packages. “I excel at this stuff, remember?”

  He merely grunted in return.

  After a good half hour, we finally made it into the kitchens and were directed to place our packages in an endlessly growing pile.

  “Where do you need to go?” Arnold whispered to me.

  “Now you follow my lead.”

  I surveyed the enormous kitchens around us and squinted at the heat radiating from one of the large ovens directly to my right. There was an organized chaos as one chef after another bustled about in preparation for the wedding feast that night. Being so close to the wedding preparations made me angry all over again. I needed to hurry.

  We pushed past the multitude, getting a couple, “Watch it!”s and one or two, “Hey!”s. After reaching the end of the kitchen, I noticed a tray with a couple spools of thread and a thimble and needle. My brain started working double-time as I thought of how I could put those to use and shoved them into a hidden pocket.

  “What do you need those for?” Arnold asked.

  “We’ll see.”

  I swung the door in front of us open and strode confidently into the adjoining hallway. It was a much smaller space than the hall Nick, and I had traversed when attending the ball, but the carpeting and tapestried walls were still magnificent. Arnold whistled, and I realized it was his first time in the castle.

  “Come on,” I said.

  I quickened my pace when I saw a young serving maid dusting a bust at the end of the corridor. She looked to be about my age and was humming an unfamiliar tune.

  “Excuse me?” I said.

  The girl jumped, nearly falling off her stool at the fright. “Oh, goodness me. You scared me half to death, you did.”

  I gave her an apologetic smile, but before I could continue with my question, Arnold interrupted me.

  “Who’s that a bust of?”

  “The late King, lad.” The girl looked at the figure sadly. “Died so young, he did.”

  I suppressed an eye roll. “Excuse me, but I’m new here, and the royal seamstress requested I take a final look at the Queen’s wedding dress.” I help up the thimble and needle for her to see. “I assume the dress is already with Her Majesty? Would you know?”

  “Oh, yes. I saw them deliver it myself. Wait ‘til you see it!” Her eyes glowed from the memory.

  “Where are her rooms? Like I said, I’m new.”

  The maid glanced at Arnold next to me. “He’s coming with you to the Queen’s rooms?”

  “Oh, no.” I made myself chuckle. “Arnold’s new, too. He just wanted to explore a little bit with me on the way. He won’t assist me.” I nudged Arnold playfully, and he joined me in the feigned laughter.

  “Of course. Two flights up from here, third chamber on your right.” She smiled sweetly. “Maybe you can find me later and let me know what you thought about her dress.”

  I nodded, but my feet kept shifting from one to another with impatience. As the girl finally returned to her dusting, I grabbed Arnold’s arm and pulled him to the staircase next to us. The mahogany of the stairs was so fantastically polished to create a brilliant shine, I was afraid I would slip on them. After a careful couple of steps, I determined there was no danger of such a thing and began my ascension. The railing was smooth under my touch and shimmered with hints of gold in its wood-work. If I hadn't been there for a particular purpose, I might’ve taken more time to admire the castle décor.

  It seemed Arnold didn’t sense the urgency as he took a moment to study every portrait along his path.

  “Arnold!” I snapped. “Are you coming, or not?”

  “Sorry,” he breathed. “I’ve just never seen anything so amazing.”

  He reluctantly caught up to me, and we began our trek up the second flight of stairs. We finally reached yet another corridor, but this one was adorned with chamber doors rather than portraits and tapestries.

  “One, two, three,” I counted aloud. “Here it is.” The big door was simple, but elegant at the same time with its flattering, brown varnish.

  “I’ll wait out here for you,” Arnold whispered, but he wrung his hands together nervously. “Why exactly do you need to see the Queen?”

  “I just have something to give her,” I replied.

  Before Arnold could say anything more, I knocked confidently on the wood and listened for a voice calling me in. It came, and I took a deep breath as I placed my hand on the door handle. This was it. I pushed the door open and plastered a kind smile on my face, but hunched my shoulders ever so slightly and urged a reddening to my cheeks to present a demure servant.

  Queen Dalia stood before a full-length mirror that seemed to be more silver than glass. She twirled back and forth, staring at her figure in the reflection. The dress she wore had a tight bodice that ended and flared at her hips into a skirt bigger than I’d ever seen. Silver beading stretched across the silky fabric in ways that only a royal seamstress could accomplish. The Queen’s long, red hair shone against the white of her gown starkly— something I would have thought would be unflattering, but it worked so well that I felt a stab of jealousy tremor inside of me.

  I tried to push the feelings away to announce my presence. “Your Majesty, you look stunning.” And I found that I meant it.

  “Ugh!” the Queen groaned. “It’s too large in the bust. No matter what I say, it seems the seamstresses are keen on thinking my chest is larger than it really is.”

  Queen Dalia threw herself onto her bed, a pile of white surrounding her like a mountain. Then she sat bolt upright and eyed me curiously.

  “Why are you here? I’ve never seen you before.”

  I cleared my throat, but every part of my body stayed firm. The nerves only added to the thrill I felt by being there. I held up the thimble and needle for her to see.

  “I’m new, but the seamstress sent me to make sure your wedding dress was fitting you well.”

  The Queen rolled her eyes. “Well, it’s not,” she spat.

  I took a couple steps back in shock at her tone.

  She sighed. “I’m so sorry. I’m just a little...nervous.” She started pleating her skirts mindlessly with her fingers.

  I nodded. “That’s perfectly understandable, Your Majesty. Let me take a look at your dress.”

  The Queen moved to stand once again, and I stepped over in her direction. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw something black. Startled, I whirled to see what it was. Before me was another mirror, resting atop the vanity mirror (How many mirrors did this girl need?), but it was more regal-looking than the full-length one the Queen stood in front of. The twists and curves of the golden frame were incredible, but that’s not what caught my eye. Before me was my reflection— my normal reflection! Ebony hair and fair skin presented itself within the glass. I grabbed at the hair on top of my head. It was still blonde, but why… and then my reflection smiled. I gasped, touching my lips. I hadn’t smiled.

  “Are you coming?” the Queen interrupted me from my reverie.

  I moved quickly away from the mysterious mirror and looked at Queen Dalia nervously, but she was still studying her gown. I released a sigh of relief. She hadn’t noticed. But why did the Queen have what seemed to be an enchanted mirror?

  I shook my head. There was no time for questions. I needed to finish what I came for and get out of there.

  “Do you see where it gaps up here in the front?” The Queen pointed to the fabric below her collarbone.

 
I nodded, rubbing my chin. I had no knowledge of sewing and measuring, but I did my best to pretend in measuring her with my hands and taking mental notes. She seemed convinced.

  “Alright, Your Majesty. I will go tell the seamstress right away what needs to be done with the dress. I’ll send her up here immediately.”

  I then grabbed the Queen’s arm and moved her to sit back on the bed.

  “You look incredibly pale,” I said, trying to hold in the giggles coming from the excitement I felt bubbling up inside of me.

  Queen Dalia nodded, taking deep breaths and exhaling loudly.

  “You should really eat something,” I pressed, rummaging through the cloth bag at my side. After feeling the skin of the apples within its contents, I found one without a nick in it.

  “Here,” I continued, holding it out to her. I made my brows furrow together, drawing worry lines into my forehead. “Even just a couple bites of something. We don’t want you fainting at the ceremony.”

  The Queen eyed the fruit in my hands skeptically, but I soon saw her features relax in resolve. “You’re right.”

  My finger trembled slightly, almost revealing my eagerness as she picked the apple from my outstretched palm. I tried to keep my lips from twitching into a smile as Queen Dalia ran her fingers along the apple.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Go on now,” I urged, getting a little impatient.

  The Queen’s pink lips hovered over the apple, her white teeth gleaming as she was about to puncture the skin. Seconds began to tick by slowly as I leaned forward on my toes, waiting eagerly for that crunch, but a knock on the door interrupted it from happening. Queen Dalia put her arm down and rested the apple on her mattress, quickly forgetting about it.

  “Will you see who that is?” the Queen asked gently.

  I curtsied, but my nostrils flared, and my hands shook from annoyance. Moving to the door, I muttered under my breath.

  I’ll just have to remind her to eat it, I told myself.

  As soon as I turned the knob, a tall young woman burst through, pushing me to the floor. I couldn’t even see who it was through the flurry of movement. I bit my tongue as the push caused me to stub my toe against the wall.