Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]

FIVE

The Queen stared at Ruby, a sly, side-on stare that seemed to weigh her importance as if she were gold.

Ruby felt crowded and scrutinized even as the majestic woman's dark pools-for-eyes bore down on her in a non-direct way. The woman had only a moment ago glided into the quiet round room as if a dinghy on a quieter lake. She had moved towards the floor-to-ceiling gilded mirror, admiring her own reflection as Ruby's mother might admire a grand renaissance painting—awed into silence. Reverence. A hint of jealousy, followed by a sad realization that nothing could top it—that image.

The Queen's gaze flitted across the mirror's surface to find Ruby's upon it.

"Come here, child. Let me look at you this morning."

Snow's crisp voice sent a shiver down Ruby's spine.

Ruby felt a strange fear as she stepped towards the cold queen. Something in her heart told her: she is the Snow Queen, the one in the stories—with her frozen heart. Elsa without Elsa's heart.

Ruby caught Millie and gave her a nod. Go ahead. Please.

Ruby stepped closer than she wanted to. This was Snow White. The poor princess who had survived a homicidal step-mother. She was a sweet thing in the books. A sweet, sweet thing that won a Prince Charming of her own. She was all right, no?

Snow White turned then, her icy eyes locked on Ruby's face. Her cold, long fingers grabbed Ruby's chin and pulled her face this way and that. The grip was soft enough, but the icy touch froze her to the core. Snow wasn't just her name. The woman felt as cold as ice itself.

"You look a little different this morning, my dearest." The Queen sounded like the cold hiss of winter. "What is it?"

She turned to Ruby's handmaiden. Her now glimmering moss-colored eyes—the same colour the odd wood upon the first door to the chamber had been—fixated upon poor Millie.

Millie dared not look at the woman. "Nothing is different, your majesty. The Princess isn't feeling her best this morning."

Snow's head snapped back towards Ruby.

Ruby wished she hadn't. It was hard to not look at the woman—

"... and whatever you do, don't look the Queen in the eyes..."

Dang it! Ruby tried to look elsewhere, suddenly catching the Queen's unwavering eyes. She wasn't meant to look the woman in the eyes, and she'd done just that.

A fire of sorts danced in Snow's eyes. Like she was internally laughing, but intrigued. She pulled Ruby's face up by her chin.

"Look at me, child."

No.

"My dear, dear Ruby-Rose," the name dripped saccharine. "Why, you grow prettier every day... if only your father were alive, he would think you're the prettiest of them all."