History of Fictitious: Volume Three

Chapter 6

The nobility and staff applauded when Queen Astrid stepped out behind forest green curtains. She wore a spring green dress, and upon her head was her gold crown with emerald jewels. The ends of her blonde hair were curled, and her golden eyes beamed. She was always the fairest maiden in the kingdom and continued to be after her marriage to the king. Every woman strived to follow her example when it came to fashion.

The queen thanked her people for their love, and the room stilled at her words.

"Thank you, thank you all, for your love. I know this gathering was sudden, but my youngest son has returned to us. I wished to share this moment with my closest friends. Once again united, my two beautiful boys—Crown Prince Richard and Prince Nathaniel of Hamilton!"

The crowd clapped once more as the princes emerged with Snow White and Rose Red. They had spent the last week learning to dance so that they could be introduced to the public. At the sight of the girls, chatter spread throughout the room. The sisters' beauty awestruck the crowd as the girls looked perfect next to the two princes.

Their gowns were similar in style, but the colors made the difference. Rose wore a black dress accented with red roses, while Snow's dress was blue with white roses. Richard and Nathaniel wore forest green tunics and golden crowns, but Richard's crown was far more extravagant, with multiple jewels, while Nathaniel's contained only a center gem. However, hardly anyone was paying attention to the princes.

"Look at those red lips and black hair," a nobleman said.

The other man next to him agreed. "Yes, amazing indeed, but the other girl. Her skin is flawless. It is of the fairness of snow itself."

"Their names are Rose Red and Snow White," Elijah said from behind the men, "They live on the mountain."

"The mountain? Why have they hidden themselves all the way up there?" one of the men asked.

The other laughed, "So they wouldn't attract unwanted attention from men like you!"

"How insulting! I would never!"

Queen Astrid caught wind of numerous conversations, and it sickened her to hear the people praise the girls while giving little attention to her sons. She wondered if the girls' beauty alone would be her doom. Perhaps her people would forget about her entirely.

She sighed. If that was the extent of her downfall, she did not mind. Richard would become king and possibly marry Rose Red. The girls would merely replace her as the fairest maiden, which meant she could finally leave the pressure of maintaining face. However, jealousy and mistrust easily itched Queen Astrid's heart. Her doom could not mean her retirement. It meant her death or much worse.

"May we all have a wonderful evening! My sons will begin the first dance with their chosen partners!" Queen Astrid boomed, winning everyone's eyes for a brief moment.

Snow gulped, having overheard some of the chatter. She looked like a lady, and now the crowd would expect her to dance and speak like one. Yes, they received lessons, but Snow wasn't prepared for the real thing. She knew Rose would be fine because Rose was quick on her feet, and when she watched her tongue, people found Rose's conversations engaging.

Nathaniel leaned closer to Snow as they walked to the center of the room behind Richard and Rose. He could sense that she was troubled and wanted to repel her worry.

"Snow, if anyone's going to mess up tonight, it will be me. I've spent most of my life as a bear, and I wasn't a dancing one."

A smile spread across her face, sending Nathaniel to the moon and back. He always wanted to tell her jokes like this but feared Snow wouldn't find them amusing. It was still awkward between them, yet she remained by his side. Snow was reaching outside of herself just so she wouldn't lose him.