Fairest of All (Villains 1)

“I cannot see beyond the gr

ave. But I have the ability to see all things in these lands. I can see things that can make you terribly sad. And I can see things that might even make you very, very happy.”

“What could possibly make me happy again now that my husband is dead?” the Queen asked.

“I think you know,” the face replied, and then faded from view.

The Queen banged on the glass and called out to the Slave, but he was gone. Though the Queen did not know when he would return, she suspected he would. When he did, she would be prepared.

And in the meantime, she had a message to send.

Though they lived almost an entire land away, the sisters arrived just a day after the Queen sent for them. Verona sneered and scowled as they made their way into the castle scuttling about, chattering, as usual. She viewed the speed of their arrival as one more odd happening to add to the list of those the sisters had accumulated. Snow White made herself scarce, and the attendants at the court all seemed reasonably disturbed by the women.

They did not have to deal with them for long, however. The Queen requested that the sisters be brought to her chamber immediately upon their arrival at the court.

“Sisters,” the Queen said, “welcome.”

“We are—” Lucinda said.

“Privileged,” Ruby finished.

“The scars of your husband’s loss show upon you,” Martha said, reaching out and plucking a gray hair from the Queen’s head.

The Queen shifted uncomfortably. At one time she would have banished the sisters from the kingdom forever for doing such a thing. But there was something she needed, and she knew only the sisters could deliver it.

“Last we met…” the Queen began.

“The funeral—such a sad day—yes, sad, sad, very sad,” the sisters clucked.

“Last we met,” the Queen began again, ignoring their interruptions, “you spoke of my mirror.”

Three eerie smiles spread across the sisters’ faces in tandem.

“The Magic Mirror,” Lucinda said.

“The portal to the Other World,” Ruby continued.

“The one which contains the soul of the maker of mirrors,” Martha said.

“So you know of it,” the Queen acknowledged.

“Of course we do! It was—”

“We who created it—”

“Though not created it, as in tempered and gilded—”

“But we who captured the Mirror Maker’s soul—”

“Not captured”—Lucinda spat—“he granted it to us—”

“And we captured it, tied it up in spider silk webbing, as it floated out of his body and up, up, up—”

“And we who took it and locked it away—”

“In the Magic Mirror. Don’t forget, sisters—”

“It was he who had asked, he who had begged—”