“Let me talk to her,” Elator said.
“What good will it do?” Snow asked.
“At least let me try.”
“Elator, Snow is right. Tasnia and the other Elders will never agree to fight for Snow or the Mystic Vale. The elves fighting days are long over,” Yirrie said. She reached across the table and grasped Snow’s hand. “You don’t have to leave. You can stay here with us.”
Snow appreciated the gesture. A small smile played at the corners of her mouth. If only it were that simple. If only she could forget Seraphina wanted her heart in a wooden box.
“But, Snow, if you stay here, you’re risking—” Roderick began.
She slammed her hand down on the table, rattling the dishes. “That’s enough. I know what I risk. Whether I go or stay is my decision, no one else’s.”
With that, she fled the dining area and hurried to her room, slamming the door behind her. She pressed her palms against her hot cheeks. She was tired of everyone trying to get her to do what they wanted her to do. Roderick wanted her to return to the Mystic Vale and reclaim her throne. The dark wizard wanted her to destroy the Magic Mirror and release him from his curse. Yirrie wanted her to stay in the village with them and live out the rest of her days. Even Master Harwin suggested she return to the Mystic Vale to confront the queen.
No one seemed to care or think about what she wanted. All she wanted to do was live in peace within nature. She didn’t want to think about the throne or the Mystic Vale or Seraphina. Did that mean she remained here with the elves? She didn’t know anymore.
She eyed the window across the room. The forest beckoned. The impulse to climb out the window and run to sit at the foot of Faradill was almost too much for her to resist.
Running into the forest would solve nothing, though. Roderick was right. If she remained here, the chances Seraphina would return to find her were great. Despite the Elder’s magic around the village, there was still a chance the queen’s dark magic could pierce through it.
She slid down the length of the door, resting her back against it and drawing up her knees, encircling them with her arms. She had a decision to make. She just didn’t know what that decision was going to be yet.
A soft knock sounded on the door.
“Go away,” she said.
“I just want to talk.” It was Roderick.
“You’ve talked enough,” she snapped.
There was a long pause, then he said, “Snow, I’m sorry. It was Faradill’s idea for me to come here but I should have stayed away.”
Faradill? Her brows drew together in question. She recalled something he said to her not long ago. That darkness had crept back into the forest and that it will return. Chills skittered up her spine then and now as she recalled the words of the oak.
She pulled herself to her feet, then flung open the door, but Roderick was gone. She rushed into the kitchen to see the enchanted blade was still on the table where he left it. Yirrie was in the kitchen washing dishes. Elator was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Roderick?” she asked.
Yirrie glanced over her shoulder at her. “He’s leaving. Elator is escorting him out of the forest.”
On impulse, Snow snatched the dagger off the table and hurried out to find them.
Chapter 24
“MagicMirroronthewall, tell me, who is the fairest of them all?”
Seraphina brushed her long, black hair with an ivory comb, content in the knowledge Snow White was dead.
The mirror came alive. “With dreams that sparkle and passions that enthrall, in your heart, you’re the fairest one of all.”
She stopped brushing to glare at the featureless face in the mirror. “The princess is not yet dead?”
“No, my queen. She lives.”
In a fit of rage, she threw the comb across the room. It clattered against the stone floor. “I knew I couldn’t trust that blacksmith to do it.”
He heart pounded like a war drum as she stormed back and forth across the room, each footfall echoing with her fury. Then she halted, staring into the mirror.
