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I turned on my heel and stomped back the way I’d just come, filled with a level of rage I was having problems suppressing. I burst through the paneling in the hall and closed the portrait, heading straight for my bedroom.

I was standing in front of my magic mirror a few minutes later.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall. Show me the location of Snow White!”

The mirror swirled into its typical gray silk ribbon and then revealed. “She is on the seventh mountain.”

“No!”

“My Queen. I cannot tell a lie. You made it so.”

A knot lodged in my throat. “Snow White is dead. I just ate her heart and liver.” She touched her face. “I feel younger right now than I felt yesterday.”

“My Queen, you look as youthful as you did yesterday, but Snow White is not dead. She is living on the seventh mountain in a house with seven miners.”

“Yes! Yes! I heard.” I snapped, pacing around my room. I ran to my window to look for the huntsman, but he was gone.

“If you need something done right, then don’t send a man to do it!”

I will go handle her myself and deal with the huntsman later.

Chapter sixteen

Gage - Battle Within

“Doyouknowhowto get us out of here?” I asked Scarlet- Snow, unwinding my arm from around her waist.

I still couldn’t believe she was Snow White. I’d heard rumors she had died years ago, but there was never an official ceremony.

“No.” She looked up at me, her eyes a mixture of apprehension and shock.

A red mangor walking up to us caught our attention.

“Grab onto one another.” The bird said.

Snow looked from the bird to me, perplexed.

“Hustle now. I don’t have all day.”

Snow walked towards me, pressing her chest to mine as she wrapped her arms around my waist. She paused, looking up at me, almost questioning if it was ok, so I returned the gesture holding her in my arms. I felt her body release as she pressed her cheek to my chest.

This was not the same girl as earlier. This one was troubled, fragile, and something inside of me ached for her. It was a new sensation, one I hadn’t let myself feel before… ever. I wanted to hold her and keep her safe. Let her know I was here and that I would protect her, but the words caught in my throat.

The bird walked over and placed its beak on our entwined arms, and with a pop, it transported us to another place.

Baffled, we unwound our arms and looked around. We were in the middle of a small town, standing just outside of a tavern.

“Do you know where we are?” She asked, watching a small elf with large ears push a wheelbarrow of hay by.

“I don’t.” I watched the townspeople hustle around as if we hadn’t just popped in from thin air.

I looked up at the old wooden inn, which had a small sign tacked above the door that read Mernie’s Tavern. With the daylight quickly turning to night, we needed to find somewhere to sleep.

Inside were a few wooden tables with a bar on the far left side of the room and to the right, sitting behind the desk, was an older woman wearing a gray shirt, donning a blue cap.

“Welcome to Mernie’s Tavern. What can I do for you both?” She nearly cheered.

“We need two rooms, please.” I said, stepping to the counter.