The Poisoned Princess: A Snow White Retelling (The Skazka Fairy Tales)
The Poisoned Princess: Chapter 30

DIMITRI

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Maxim asks. Kostya, Pavel and I immediately turn to him.

“You’re asking this now?” Pavel shakes his head, and then turns back to watching the trees.

It took us four days to reach the castle. We took our time, weaving in and out of the forest, and stopping at two different villages. We’re not taking any chances here. Ivanka hasn’t had any dreams, and we’re hoping this means the queen hasn’t used her mirror recently. When Ivanka explained the visions she’s been getting in detail, we all agreed that they didn’t seem like simple dreams. It’s as if Skazka herself is on our side, giving Ivanka the tools she needs to have the best outcome possible. It’s still up to Ivanka to decide how to use what she knows, but so far, it seems that she’s making the right decisions. I watch the spot where she’s supposed to be coming from and just then she hurries back to where we’re hiding, a basket in her hands.

“I can’t believe you brought the bunny,” I mumble.

“Well, I couldn’t very well leave Kroshka all by herself. She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“I definitely wasn’t worried,” I say and receive what is most certainly a glare from the white fluff.

“Arseniy and Yasha should be back any minute now,” Igor says, coming up from the rear. For such a big man, he really is stealthy. The other two appear not even a minute behind him.

“You sure you don’t mind being the distraction?” I ask, looking between Igor and Yasha. Their job is to cause a big enough ruckus that people will be drawn to the front of the castle, and the rest of us will have a better chance of entering through the back passageway. Ivanka managed to ensure that the passage she took with the servant girl is open.

“Of course not,” Yasha says, lifting his balalaika. “I live for the stage.”

“You’re sure about this, right?” I turn to Ivanka, and she gives me a firm nod, before reaching over, taking my chin with her hand, and pulling me toward her.

“I am very sure,” she says, staring right into my eyes. “Now, let’s go.” She drops a quick kiss to my lips and then stands, picking up the basket.

Igor and Yasha take Sokolko with them, and the rest of us follow Ivanka.

The plan is really quite simple. She takes us inside the castle walls, then we use the secret passage to sneak into the queen’s quarters and replace the mirror. The queen’s living space consists of many rooms, so it’s easier to search it with a group, having someone stand guard as well. If Ivanka is right and the mirror possesses the magic the queen has been using, it’s going to take care of all of our problems. I’ve always wondered how the queen managed to have enough of an upper hand over her nobles to keep them in check after all this time, and this answers that question. Even if the mirror isn’t her only tool, we definitely know it has magic, so it’s worth a try. Anything to level the playing field.

“Let’s go,” Ivanka says, leading us directly to the tower and the outer wall of the castle. The door opens easily, and we head up the stairs. When we reach the floor with a long corridor, Ivanka moves quickly, heading down one corridor and then another.

I’m already lost, but Ivanka knows exactly where she’s going. She reaches the third door on the left along our fourth corridor and hurries everyone inside.

“Why haven’t we seen anyone?” Kostya asks as we attempt to reorient ourselves in the dark room.

“Because the queen doesn’t allow just anyone to roam the castle,” Ivanka replies. She heads toward one of the love seats. Placing the basket on it, she looks Kroshka in the eye. “Please stay here until I return for you.”

We don’t even question this behavior anymore. Ivanka leaves her bunny and then heads over to a tapestry hanging on a wall. She pulls it back, and then presses her body against the wall. A little creaking sound shatters the quiet, but no one else outside the room seems to hear it.

“Don’t move,” Ivanka motions to the bunny who has hopped out of her basket. Then she smiles at us. “You, on the other hand, please move.”

And that’s when she leads us into the secret passages. We stay as quiet as possible as we follow her, but it’s a lot harder for us, who’ve never been here before, to move quickly and quietly with barely any light. I hold Ivanka’s hand, while Kostya holds mine and Maxim holds his, with Pavel bringing up the rear. It is only because we have worked together for so long that we can move this swiftly.

We pass a wall, straining to hear the sound on the other side. It sounds like a lot of men arguing, and Ivanka presses her ear closer to listen.

“She’s in there,” Ivanka says. “Perfect timing.”

Ivanka leads us all the way to the queen’s quarters and then lets us out the same way we came in—through another tapestry covering the wall.

“Where do we start?” Arseniy asks as we leave the secret passage behind and look at rooms in front of us.

“Divide and conquer?” Ivanka says, and points Pavel and Maxim to one room, and Kostya and Arseniy to the other. They don’t hesitate to follow her direction. I stay with her in the middle room.

“I’ve seen her in here using the mirror,” Ivanka says, pointing to the fireplace and the sitting area around it. There are two tables, one near a chair, the other near a love seat. Both with identical lamps on top of them, and nothing else. Tapestries are hanging on either side of the fireplace, and I move there first, to see if anything is behind it. I pick up each of the pictures placed on top of the fireplace mantle, each one of the queen. When I turn around, I see Ivanka opening up the drawers of the sideboard. But we don’t get far when the main doors of the room swing open and queen herself steps through.

“Looking for something?” she asks, letting the doors swing shut behind her.

IVANKA

This woman is terrifying. Truly. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed before. She’s wearing one of her red, body-hugging dresses today, with her hair piled high atop her head, which leaves her delicate shoulders exposed. What she’s not wearing is any of her fake devotion to me, as she sends me the most annoyed glare.

“Princessa Ivanna, you are such a nuisance. I simply cannot get rid of you.”

Dimitri moves forward almost automatically, which just makes her laugh. I can see the others in the far rooms, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, but she knows they’re there.

“Come on out, boys. It’s rude to lurk.” She waves her hand, and I’m surprised to see they immediately obey, lining up on either side of Dimitri and me. Or maybe it’s not that surprising. We don’t know what kind of magic she possesses. If it’s something that can hurt us, it’s best to cooperate while I come up with a new plan.

“Well, isn’t this fun. The seven bogatyrs who’ve been causing me so much trouble.” She grins at our faces. “Oh yes, I already arrested the other two who came to the front. They seem capable enough, but even they wouldn’t fight the royal guard. You should’ve found yourself some better soldiers.”

That last part is directed at me, but I don’t take the bait. She has always loved to talk, and not much is required from me to make it happen.

“But then again, you didn’t replace yourself soldiers at all, did you? You found spies.”

Dimitri’s growl is more pronounced, and I know all of them would be attacking right now if we were certain she didn’t have magic.

“It doesn’t matter who they are,” I say, trying to divert her attention back to me. I’d already determined their merchant story was a cover, and I’m not about to let her get the upper hand here. “This is between you and me.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Queen Pelageya laughs, the sound more chilling than I’ve ever heard it. “Of course, it matters. Weren’t you planning to marry him? Well, he wasn’t really planning to marry you, isn’t that right, princeling?”

I glance at Dimitri and watch his jaw twitch. He turns his gaze to me, and it’s filled with so much regret. My heart thuds, as I try to keep the emotions off my face. There were so many signs—I didn’t realize how obvious they were until after I woke up in that glass coffin. His words were a little too similar to what he wrote in one of his letters. I was going to confront him about it after we were done here, but clearly, the queen is planning to use this to drive a rift between us.

“Do you not even know the company you keep?” The queen grins as I silently turn my attention back to her. “Presenting Prince Dimitri Yevgenich, your husband to be. Except, didn’t he tell you that he has no intention of marrying you? Well, let me rephrase that. He has no intention of letting you keep the throne. He and his older brother have been scheming about how to take over Korolevstvo Tsvetov, and you are just a pawn, dorogaya.”

I turn to face Dimitri, waiting for him to say something. I can see that he’s sorry—the apology is written all over his face and in the set of his shoulders. I raise my chin a little, giving the queen a bit of what she wants. If I can convince her that her plan is working, maybe she’ll relax enough for me to figure out a way out. After all, she only expects the naïve, sheltered girl she raised.

“This is what you were trying to tell me before you left? That you’re Prince Yevgenich?”

“I’m—” he begins, but I raise my hand. He shuts his mouth immediately, and his face falls. But I don’t need his apology, not about this. And not in front of her.

The queen looks delighted, and I work hard to keep myself in control. I have to pretend to be hurt, that she’s succeeding. A flash of white out of the corner of my eye catches my attention briefly, but I don’t glance that way.

What the queen doesn’t know is that she can tell me anything she wants to about Dimitri, but I know the man he truly is. Whatever plan he had was hatched before he got to know me, and I trust the man who stands in front of me now would never double-cross me the way she says he would.

But we’ll discuss his plan later. Right now, I need to get this woman out of my life, once and for all. This kingdom—my kingdom—needs saving and it’s up to me to do it, because there is no way the queen expects me to take her down.

“Oh, that is harsh, Ivanna. Shutting him down like that? Maybe you are more like me than I thought.”

I almost smile, because just like that, she gives me the perfect ammunition. Stepping forward just slightly, I level her with a look.

“Doesn’t that just drive you mad?” I ask, a sweet smile on my face. She blinks at me, as if she doesn’t understand what I’m saying. That flash of white is definitely Kroshka, as she hops out from under the tapestry and heads for the window to my right. The bunny and I are going to have some serious words once this is done. I step to the left, keeping the queen’s attention on me.

“No, you are insignificant,” Queen Pelageya says, raising an eyebrow at me.

“And yet, you cannot stop asking your little mirror about me.” I feel the brush of Dimitri’s fingertips on my wrist, but I move away from him, keeping all of my attention on the queen. This is between me and her. But it does help to have the bogatyrs at my back for emotional support. They’re letting me take the lead here, and I feel my heart fill with gratefulness.

“Only because you’re a nuisance.” The queen doesn’t seem quite so sure anymore, maybe because I’m not afraid of her.

“Is that really true?” I ask. “Or is it because I am more beautiful than you that you feel threatened?”

“You think you’re beautiful? You think all those compliments people give you are worth something?” The queen nearly spits as she takes a step toward me. “Oh, look at your pretty porcelain-like skin. You hardly see the sun, so of course your skin is pale and unblemished. And your hair, it’s long and shiny because I won’t allow you to style it in any way that is acceptable in polite society. You’re unkept and unimpressive. Beauty is getting up every day and spending meticulous time on your skin and hair care, on choosing what to wear and how to look your best. Sticking to a specific diet so every dress you put on looks perfect. None of what you are is beauty, Ivanna. You are just a little girl that’s been lied to about the way you look.”

She’s a little out of breath as she delivers her speech, and for a second, I almost feel sorry for her. To live with that kind of mentality must be exhausting. She can’t see that beauty isn’t just how you look on the outside, it’s who you are on the inside. Or that even the best beauty regimen in the world means nothing if you are an empty, bitter shell. But this isn’t the time for me to feel sorry for her, this is the time to drive her to a point where she makes a mistake.

“How sad that you don’t know what real beauty is,” I say, just as Kroshka hops over to the fireplace. I move to the right, keeping the queen’s attention, and give her a smile. “You have to do all that, and you still can’t reach the level of beauty I possess.”

Before anyone can blink, the queen’s hand is on my cheek, the sound of the slap resounding in the quiet room. The men move as one, but I raise my hand to keep them at bay.

“Do you feel better now?” I ask, staring the queen right in the face. “Should we ask the mirror its opinion on the matter?”

“You are playing at something you do not understand. You think these men will keep you safe? I have only kept you alive until you are no longer useful to me. I think that time has come.”

There is so much venom in her voice. Even with her beautiful outward appearance, she is rotten to the core. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Kroshka jump on top of one of the side tables and turn to me expectedly. I stare at the bunny in confusion for a moment, but it’s enough to catch the queen’s attention.

“What is this?” she asks, turning around. I rush toward Kroshka the same moment the queen does, but before either one of us can reach her, a loud growl vibrates through the room, and I watch as a great shadow rises out of Kroshka. The spirit doesn’t have a concrete shape, but as it flies toward the queen, she screams.

“No, not the monster—” she thrashes around, trying to chase the spirit away. I wonder what she sees in the mist, but I don’t have time for that right now. I glance at Kroshka, who meets my eye and nods her tiny head toward the lamp.

I walk straight over, wrapping my arm around the base, and at my touch it transforms into the mirror. Clever illusion trick. When I turn toward the queen, the spirit is gone and Kroshka has returned to being her fluffy white self. The queen stares at the mirror in my hand, completely in shock.

“Let’s see,” I begin, “How does this go? Ah, yes.

“Tell me, pretty looking-glass,

Nothing but the truth, I ask:

Who in all the world is fairest

And has beauty of the rarest?”

“Give that back,” the queen says, but the men have put themselves between us, looking just as surprised as I feel at the display of magic all around us.

The mirror ripples in my hand and then the voice answers.

“You, it cannot be denied.

You in all the world are fairest

And your beauty is the rarest.”

“Thanks, mirror,” I say, right before I smash it to pieces.

The scream that comes out of the queen is otherworldly. The men jump back immediately as she sinks down to the floor, writhing as if she’s in pain. We watch as all of her beauty melts away like it was never there. And now, all that’s left is a very old and wrinkled woman.

“What am I looking at?” Maxim asks, and I only shake my head.

“I have no idea.”

Clearly, some information had been omitted when my father married this woman.

“Ivannochka?”

I jerk around at the sound of my name spoken with such endearment. A nickname I haven’t heard in ten years. Dimitri moves toward me, and I clasp his hand as I face the man stepping out of the queen’s bedroom.

He looks older, tired, like he hasn’t had much sleep. His hair is gray now, and he’s lost weight. But I would recognize him anywhere.

“Papa?”