The Poisoned Princess: A Snow White Retelling (The Skazka Fairy Tales)
The Poisoned Princess: Chapter 14

DIMITRI

At dinner and afterward, when I walk the perimeter of the cottage to check for any danger, I replay Ivanka’s voice over and over in my mind. Fiancé.

Why am I so bothered by this? Is it simply because she compared me to some prim and proper man? Or is it because that man gets to call her his? I push away that last thought, because clearly, that’s absurd. Why would I care about that? What I do care about is that she’s been keeping a huge secret. Why? What is her end game here? I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.

“You can’t stay out here all night.” Kostya’s voice replaces me in the dark, and I move away from the cottage wall as he comes around the corner.

“Have you been nominated my latest babysitter?” I ask.

“I’ve always been your babysitter, Dima,” Kostya replies, and I let out a chuckle. It’s true. Even though we’re close in age, he always watches over me. Even as kids in the royal court, a place where I could get away with practically anything, he had my back anyway. Often, it got him in trouble. But I never let him take the punishments alone.

“What’s bothering you so much?” he asks when I don’t say anything else. Putting my thoughts into words isn’t something I want to do at the moment, but with him, I think I should.

“Nothing new, Kostya,” I say. “She’s still confusing.”

“Is it because she’s engaged?”

I glance up quickly, but there’s no amusement in his gaze. Just quiet understanding. Somehow, I think that’s worse.

“She can be married for all I care.” I can barely push the words past my lips, but Kostya can’t know that. “You didn’t forget that I have my arranged marriage waiting in the wings, did you?”

Something I try not to think about often. Once we finally get into the castle and meet the princess, I can decide how I feel about the whole contract. I haven’t heard from her in weeks, but that’s not unusual for us. Either way, right now, it’s a moot point. I focus on the actual problem at hand.

“I didn’t forget,” Kostya says.

“Right.” I nod. “What I don’t like is her keeping that from us. Why is she here and not with her beloved? And a prince at that. What happened that drove her to the forest and not to someone she’s supposed to spend her life with? You don’t replace that suspicious?”

“Of course, I do. But have you tried asking her?”

“Why am I the one to ask her?”

Kostya gives me a look that says “come on, man,” and I grunt in response.

“Don’t start with me.”

“I haven’t even begun yet,” he says, but I can tell he’s not going to let it go. “We’ve had this conversation before, Dima. You’re bothered by her in a way the rest of us aren’t. And I think that has something to do with your feelings.”

“I don’t have feelings. I can’t have feelings. You know this.”

“Refusing them out of a sense of duty and not having them are two different things.”

I jerk back as if he’s slapped me. We rarely talk about what will happen after we’ve finished our mission, but here it is, staring me in the face. My future is not my own. I’ve known that my whole life. Ivanka isn’t the only one with a fiancé, except mine was chosen for me. Maybe that’s why succeeding here—with them—is so important. This is something I get to do for myself and my kingdom. If we can get the princess on our side, if we can figure out a way to take the queen off her throne, then maybe our future wouldn’t be so bleak. But it does’t make things any easier.

“Dima, we all adore her,” Kostya continues, oblivious to my inner turmoil. Or maybe he’s just giving me the illusion of not knowing. “But the two of you, well, it’s different. And if you tell me I’m wrong, you’re only lying to yourself.”

“What’s different?” I’m almost afraid to ask, but I ask anyway. The forest around us is so dark I can’t see the trees beyond what little light the cottage offers. I’ve always been nervous that something is lurking in that abyss, but lately I’ve been more concerned with what’s going on inside the cottage than outside of it. Part of me feels like I’m failing my duty.

“I can’t answer that for you,” Kostya says, although I think he means that he won’t. Maybe he knows I’m not ready to hear his assessment. Or maybe I’m simply in constant denial that the girl in there doesn’t affect me in a way that nothing else ever had. “But you should go inside and make up with her. You are sharing the loft.”

This time, I can definitely make out a bit of humor in his voice and I shove him away.

“You sure you won’t trade? Since you like her so much.”

“Oh, but I would never take that away from you,” he replies, heading inside the house before I could say anything else. Shaking my head, I give the woods one last look and then follow him inside.

Closing and locking the door behind me, I turn to see everyone else has already retired to their respective beds. Including Ivanka. And the bunny. Ignoring everyone’s looks, I grab the ladder and pull myself up to the loft.

Ivanka has taken the bed on the right, and she’s already under the covers with the little creature curled up into her side. It’s not sleeping though, because I see the small reddish-brown eyes trace my progress across the small space. The stare holds a certain degree of judgment and I must be more tired than I am, if I’m assigning human emotions to the wild creature. I sit down on the bed, pulling off my shirt.

Ivanka’s back is to me, but I still keep my trousers on as I climb under the covers. It’s warmer up here than downstairs, but not uncomfortable. There’s already a chill in the air since autumn is nearing, and this will be a good place to sleep once it gets colder.

I stare up at the slanted ceiling, listening to Ivanka’s breathing. I can tell she’s not asleep yet, but she’s determined to keep her back to me, and I have no idea what to do with that. I want to apologize for losing my cool, but I don’t know how. The conflicting emotions continue to rage inside of me, and I can’t seem to get any words past my lips.

So instead, I take a deep breath, and turn toward the wall, shutting my eyes and hoping for some semblance of sleep.

IVANKA

As Dimitri gets ready for bed, I’m aware of his every move in the darkness. It’s as if I’ve suddenly developed magical powers, and all of my senses are attuned to his movements. For a moment, I think he’ll say something, but he doesn’t. Maybe he doesn’t know how to describe what’s happening between us either. Because I can tell something…something is shifting.

I close my eyes. Kroshka presses her little body against my back before she hops over my side and cuddles against my arm. She’s been staying near me all day, offering comfort with her presence.

It’s not that I don’t think it’s wise to be cautious about the forest and its creatures. But I stand by what I feel from Kroshka. She’s not here to harm me. She rubs her little head against my skin, and I smile.

Listening to Dimitri’s breathing, I’m finally lulled to sleep.

At first, I don’t understand what’s happening. I open my eyes and replace myself in the halls of my castle. I turn around, but I don’t see anyone else in the long hall. It seems darker in here than I’m used to.

I have no idea how I got here. But I can’t just stand here. Seeing no other option, I move toward the closest door. These are my father’s old quarters. I haven’t been here in a while. The queen is always very adamant about not dwelling on the past.

I reach for the doors, but before I can pull them open, a voice draws my attention. I turn toward it. Curiosity carries me forward, so I leave my father’s quarters and head for the next open door on the other end of the hallways. The queen’s rooms.

She’s talking to someone. I peek through the crack in the door, but I can’t see who it is. The whole room seems aglow with a weird haze. I blink my eyes a few times to try to clear it away, with no effect. The queen’s voice carries clearly, as if I’m standing right beside her. She’s looking at something in her hand, but I can’t see what, because she has her back to me.

“Tell me, pretty looking-glass,

Nothing but the truth, I ask:

Who in all the world is fairest

And has beauty of the rarest?”

The words…I know those words somehow. It’s really disorienting trying to replace my memories while keeping my attention on what’s happening in the other room. It feels almost like I’m in two places at once. My brows furrow in confusion as she turns to the side and I see that she’s talking into a mirror. I watch her smile into it—a self-satisfied smile. Glancing between her profile and the small mirror, I almost miss it. But the mirror actually ripples, almost like it’s made of water, and a voice I’m sure I heard at least once before speaks.

“You, it cannot be denied.

You in all the world are fairest

And your beauty is the rarest.”

I stagger back from the door, my heart filled with fear and confusion. A magical mirror? In all the years she’s lived in the castle, I’d never heard of it. She must keep it protected at all times, or I would’ve heard gossip from the servants. I’d never even seen her hold it—no, I had seen it. The morning before my exile. I had gone through the passage and heard the same voice. Was she speaking to the mirror then as well?

Shaking my head, I move back toward the door.

“Now, what a good mirror you are,” the queens speaks, cooing at the glass like one would speak to a beloved pet. She turns then, and I see her face for the first time. She looks much younger than I remember her, maybe even ten years younger.

I watch as she walks over to the open balcony, smiling while continuously petting the mirror. Even though she’s moving farther away, I can still hear her voice as clearly as if she’s speaking to me. And what she says next nearly brings me to my knees.

“You have kept me well informed all these years, and we’re not finished yet. With the king out of the way—and I do appreciate you giving me enough information about the forest and magic to make that happen—we have much fun ahead of us, don’t you think? This kingdom will have the kind of queen books are written about. My power will spread across the land, overshadowing even the High Queen Calista. And when the time comes, the land will bow to me in a way it has never bowed to anyone. Now, won’t that be nice?”

The queen laughs, a chilling sound that goes straight to my bones. I cover my mouth with my hand, trying to keep any noise from escaping as I catch the tears flowing down my face. I push away from the door, turning to go, but when I do, I’ve suddenly been transported to the forest. Stumbling over a branch in my way, I land hard, gasping as I do. My tears fall to the ground, as I curl my fingers into the grass around me.

My father—it wasn’t an accident or a tragedy as I’d always thought. He died in a carefully planned attack by the woman he thought loved him. He was taken from me…by her. And now she wants to take his legacy away from me. The land and people that I’m supposed to care for and protect. She can’t keep getting away with this. She can’t.

A noise pierces through my tears, and I glance up to replace myself looking at Kroshka. The bunny sits right in front of me, a small otherworldly glow surrounding her, as she watches me steadily.

“Do not cry, beautiful princess. Not all hope is lost. Not when there is still good in the world and people who are willing to fight for it.”

I blink at the voice in my head, a soft melodic tilt to every word. It’s the voice of a woman, but not one I’ve ever heard before. The tears are still pouring down my cheeks as I try to process everything I’ve learned. At the back of my mind, I realize that this must be a dream. But it feels real. More so, it feels like the truth.

There’s a gentle pressure on my shoulders, and I lift my head only to meet Dimitri’s concerned gaze. I blink, and the forest disappears, replaced with the slanted ceiling and Dimitri’s face, shadows dancing on his skin from the single candle lit on the small table beside us as I sit up in my bed.

“It was a bad dream,” he whispers, one of his hands still on my shoulder, while the other pushes the hair out of my face and behind my ear. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”

“A dream?” My breath staggers as I try to keep the tears from spilling, but it seems like I’ve brought them with me, because I can’t stop. It didn’t feel like a dream. It felt like a memory. Maybe not my own, but a memory, nonetheless.

“It can’t hurt you, whatever it was,” Dimitri says, ducking his head a little to peer into my eyes. “Ivanka, I won’t let anything hurt you.”

I blink at him, forgetting to breathe as the sound of my name on his lips washes over me. I can’t remember if he’s ever used my name before, but he’s never said it like this—like a promise he intends to keep.

More tears spill before I can stop them, and he growls a little before he yanks me into his arms.