Snow White (Enchanted Fairytales) (5 page)

“By all means, interrupt,” he said, spreading his arms wide and bowing to her. Grinning, he stood straight and tipped his head. “You’re the one I’ve been hearing about.”

Snow’s brain turned to mush at the smile. She had to scramble to find the appropriate response. “You’ve heard about me?”

“I know everything that happens in Fableton,” he said, “Except how you got here.”

Snow shrugged. “I got lost in the forest. I found the cottage where Grouchy and Blithe and . . .  well, where they live.”

“You found the
cottage
of The Seven
? Without being shown?”

Snow might have wondered at the odd question, except that she now believed what they’d said, that she wouldn’t see anything without being shown.

“Yes.”

“Come closer,” he said. Snow walked toward him. When she was ten feet away, he said, “Stop there. I can hear you better now.”

“They told me . . . I mean, Blithe told me if I wanted to know about Fableton, I’d have to ask you.”

“Did he?” he murmured.
“What’s your name?”

“Snow W
hite,” she said, and he flinched
as if the name were familiar to him.
She didn’t know how it could be
since she’d never heard of another soul called Snow. Who would name their child after a weather phenomenon?

“I’m
Philip
Kingston. Welcome to Fableton, Snow White.”

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s quite an . . . unusual place.”

Philip
laughed. “That it is.”

“So, what’s the—”

Philip
held up a hand. Snow wanted to move closer to see the color of his eyes, but she was afraid she’d be overstepping her bounds. “First, tell me your story, Snow White. How did you come to be lost in the forest?”

Snow bit her bottom lip. Did she dare tell him? How did she know he wouldn’t go running back to Katarina and tell her where Snow was?

Philip
waved toward a fancy white iron bench to her right. “Please, Snow, have a seat.
I apologize for forge
t
ting
my manners. There’s a glass of water there for you.”

Snow moved to the bench and saw he spoke the truth. The glass of water was fresh, ice bobbing. How did he know she was coming? Then she remembered his words,
I know everything that happens in Fableton
. She supposed he was telling the absolute truth.

As she sat on the bench, he said, “Anything you say here, Snow, becomes my own secret. It will never pass from my lips.”

Somehow, she believed him.

“My stepmother, she . . .” Snow swallowed at the enormity of the words she was about to speak. It had been bad enough having the knowledge while she was escaping, and then wh
ile she was trying to
get away from Fableton, but now, in this beautiful, peaceful clearing, it seemed obscene and horrific. “She paid a man to take me into the forest and kill me. She was planning to make it look like I ran away.”

Philip
’s brows lifted in astonishment. He moved to sit on the stump he’d been using to chop the wood on. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow.” She took a sip of the water, letting the pure clarity of it cleanse her throat.

“How did you get away from him?”

“I ran when he wasn’t looking. He didn’t think I could escape so he didn’t tie me up.”

“Why wouldn’t he think you could escape?”

“Because she drugged me. I couldn’t move. I didn’t let him know the drug had worn off, so when he put me down, he left me alone.”

“Clever girl,”
Philip
said, smiling approvingly.

“Can you help me?” she asked. “Can you help me get out of the forest in a different place, where I can hide from her?”

Philip
tilted his head again. “Do you think this man would go back and tell her he failed? Or will she believe you’re dead?”

Snow shook her head. “She’ll know he failed.”

“How?”

“She . . . she told him to bring my heart to her. She even had a wooden box for him to do so.”

Philip
shot to his feet at her words. It was shocking, Snow knew. It went beyond simple murder. Then she noticed
Philip
’s face. He was pale, his brows drawn tightly together in dismay. His fists were clenched tightly at his side.

“She wanted your heart?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“I don’t know. Proof, I guess.”

“What did the drug she gave you do to you?”

“It made me numb. I was awake, but unable to move.”
Philip
bega
n to tremble and Snow became worried. “Are you okay?”

“Her name,” he said between clenched teeth. “What is her name?”

Snow stood also. She didn’t want revenge or anything. She just wanted to get away. “It doesn’t matter,
Philip
. I don’t care if she—”

“Her name!”

Snow clamped her mouth shut. She looked to where she thought
the path might be. S
he could find it if she really tried
—she hoped
.

“Katarina,”
Philip
whispered and Snow froze.

“What did you say?”

“Katarina,”
Philip
repeated.

Snow sunk back down to the bench, her legs unable to hold her upright. “How do you know her name?”

As if someone had pulled a string releasing
his anger,
Philip
also dropped
back to the stump he’d occupied. “Let me tell you my story,” he said. “Then you’ll see.”

Snow went to pick up the glass to take another drink, but when she saw how badly her hands were shaking, she didn’t attempt it, afraid she’d drop the glass.
Philip
stood again, and began pacing.

“A long time ago, I was living happily with my family. I had a mother and father who both adored me. Everyone in my . . . village . . . loved me.” He glanced up at Snow, and she
guessed
he was editing parts of the story. She just didn’t know why.

“And then I met a girl.” He smiled in remembrance. “She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And lucky for me, she also found me attractive.” In spite of the weird conversation, Snow had to bite her tongue from saying
Duh
. Who wouldn’t find him attractive?

“I thought I was in love with her. I wanted nothing more than to be near her, every day.
She was all I thought about. Before I woke in the morning and as I fell asleep at night.” He looked toward Snow, pausing in his pacing. “As time passed, however, I began to notice things about her. She was obsessed with her own beauty. Everything she did was done in a way to preserve that. She didn’t like to be around anyone who didn’t constantly praise her.” He laughed derisively. “She didn’t even want to be around anyone she felt was unattractive. She felt they were far beneath her.”

“Sounds like a nice girl,” Snow murmured.

“Not really,”
Philip
answered, and Snow blushed. She hadn’t meant for him to hear. “In fact, it didn’t take long for me to realize that as beautiful as she was on the outside, her heart was
as
black as coal. If I didn’t compliment her with my every word, she pouted. She was jealous of anything that took my complete attention from her.”

Snow squirmed. This story was beginning to sound familiar.

“I had a dog,”
Philip
said. “He’d been my companion since I was a boy. She really didn’t like him because he took my attention. And then he disappeared.” Snow gasped, afraid of where the story was going. “Then other things began to disappear.” He looked directly at Snow, though she was too far to read the expression in his eyes. “My parents disappeared.”

“No.” Snow couldn’t prevent the word from escaping on a rush of air.

“I couldn’t prove anything. She never dirtied her own hands. She had other
s
who would do it for her. I couldn’t figure out how, until the day I was visited by a man who told me to beware of her. She had magic that could wield immense power.”

Snow leaned forward, caught up in the story.

“I didn’t listen. I confronted her. I told her that though I couldn’t prove she’d done anything, I knew she had. I told her that I could never love anyone with such a black heart. She begged and pleaded with me to love her. She promised to change and become anything I wanted her to become
if only I’d make her my queen
. When that didn’t work, she became furious.
I told her to leave and never darken my doorway again.”

“Your queen?” she squeaked.

Philip
cleared his throat. “I was P
rince of
Lilyworth. I hadn’t yet ascended, hoping my parents would return.”

Philip
fell silent, turning to sit back on the log. Snow wanted to go to him,
comfort him. Pain and dismay etched
his features.

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

Philip
waved a hand around him. “This happened.”

“This?”

“This. Fableton. One day I went into the forest to hunt. I had no idea she hadn’t left the village as I’d told her to. I was separated from my men, but that wasn’t unusual during a hunt. I stopped to let my horse rest and drink from the stream when she appeared.” Snow clenched the edges of the bench, wanting to stop him from telling her the rest. Instead she clamped her bottom lip between her teeth and waited.

“She told me that if she couldn’t have me, neither would anyone else, ever. She told me that I would still rule
a
kingdom, but that it wouldn’t be the one I currently ruled. She informed me that I would be alone forever, in misery, with only the memory of her beauty to comfort me, and that I would never be able to escape the kingdom she built for me.”

Philip
shrugged. “I laughed at her. I thought she had gone completely insane. I pulled my water jug from my horse to drink from it, when suddenly I became completely numb. How was it you put it? Awake, but unable to move.”

Snow lurched to her feet. Was he saying . . .?

“She had a man, a rather large man, who came to carry me. Deep into the forest, into places no one would ever
be able to find me. When I woke
I was here, in Fableton. Alone. I lived alone for a very long time.” He smiled. “And then one day I had a visitor. A fairy. She’d heard about me. She was unable to undo the curse, but she could add a caveat to it. That was, anyone who was shown Fableton would be able to become a part of it with me. She brought the first person, my friend Dmitri
. He’d always been my loyal friend
and was happy to join me. It was him who brought the first few people.”

He sighed, and Snow cringed, knowing that whatever came next wouldn’t be pleasant.

“She found out, of course. So she returned. She also couldn’t undo what the fairy had done, but she could add her own extra layer of insurance. She cursed the rest of the forest, so that it would be feared and no one would wander into it for fear of being lost forever. Once in the forest, there are very few who can ever leave again.”

Snow was nodding. This she did know.

“It became harder to get others to join. And then the day came when I realized I was fulfilling my own selfish desires. All who had come were now stuck here with me, without a chance for escape. I commanded them to not bring anyone else in, unless the person asked to be let in. Of course, not many people know about Fableton, and so can’t ask to come in.” He lifted his gaze to Snow. “Can you guess who the girl was?”

Snow shook her head, wanting to deny the knowledge. Nonetheless, she opened her mouth and said, “Katarina.”

“Yes,”
Philip
said. “Katarina.”

Snow was stunned. Her head was reeling. “How could that be?” she asked. “I don’t know of any kingdoms nearby. We don’t
have
kingdoms here.”

“I don’t know where
here
is,”
Philip
said. “My kingdom was on an island
in the Celtic sea
. I don’t believe that’s where we are anymore. Or when.”

“When?” Snow repeated.

“What year is it?”
Philip
asked.

“Twenty-twelve,” Snow said.

“I’ve been here a full
half-millennium
then,”
Philip
remarked, awe in his voice. “I had no idea so much time had passed.”

Snow shook her head. “Wait. This is cr
azy. You’re telling me you are five
hundred years old?”

“
Five
hundred and nineteen, actually.”