As White As Snow

Chapter 1

A cursed mirror, a broken-hearted king, a power-hungry madam, a bribed young huntsman, twelve midgets, a rich trader's son, and a partially-orphaned princess.

Let's not forget the fridgid winter...

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It was a cold, damp day. The pungent scent of black mold was dampening, setting itself even more pronounced in the mind of Rivera White. Now Rivera White was quite a young lady, at the young age of 25. She'd married early in an arranged marriage to Jonah White, the village's only surgeon. Rivera walked down the stairs of the gallant edifice in which she resided.

She'd already reached the end of the stairs when she noticed her husband waking up. She smiled lightly and sauntered over to him.

"Oh, Jonah. Your trousers have torn. Give them to me, I'll sew them." He nodded and went to their bedroom to switch clothes. She waited outside the bedroom, not wanting to intrude on her husband's privacy.

"Here, darling. You're always so helpful," he'd complimented. She nodded obediently and grabbed his trousers. She walked down towards the basement where she'd kept her sewing set, which consisted of her needle and some dyed thread (which was hard to find in their circumstance). When she'd started to sew, she hummed to herself a song her mother'd sang to her when she was young:

Don't be afraid little fairy,

You are the one for me,

In the shadow of darkness,

There is a light,

That will help you bring saftey.

As she sang the same verse over again, her mind had abandoned her body, causing her to absent-mindedly prick her finger.

"Ah," she'd hissed at the miniscule numbness of the bloody dot on her finger. She shook her finger around until the blood dropped on the snow-covered ground. Oh, what a lovely color. How I wish I had an heir to give to my lovely husband. A daughter perhaps. Yes, he'll love that. A daughter, with skin as fair as snow; she'll have the fullest lips of blood red; and hair as raven as ebony. She smiled to herself as she cleaned up her wound with the ice on the ground. After a while of wiping on her garment, she'd continued sewing.

A daughter, perhaps. Yes, a wonderful daughter.

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At the end of the night, a star came by, as it shot through the sky. My goodness, a flying star. How nice, Rivera had wondered. Then, she had come to an idea, Perhaps if I wish upon it, it might give me my daughter. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"I'd like a daughter, please. With hair as raven as ebony; lips as red as blood; and skin as fair as snow. Please, give me my daughter." With that, she opened her eyes. She walked down the cooridoor into her room, walking towards her closet. A strange presence was in there, she'd wondered.

Your daughter shall come, a woman's voice had entered her head. It hadn't woken the cat yet, the cat that had always come at midnight to meow at the moon. The force came again, pushing her to take off her garments and change into lingerie, showing most of her skin.

"Why? Why this?" The force laughed manaiachally.

You said you wanted a child, didn't you? A daughter. Ha! A lovely daughter for your wretched husband. This caused Rivera to shriek.

"Who are you? What are you doing?" But the voice kept shrieking with laughter.

A daughter! A stupid daughter for your "lovely" husband! Ha! With that, the voice tied her to her bedpost, reluctantly awaiting her husband's return.