Snow's White | ✓

18. Black Lace

Warning: child abuse, sexual abuse

Keir and Rose linked hands tightly as two servants held black parasols above their heads to block out the sweltering sun. The six-year-old twins walked solemnly beside their father as the royal funeral procession slowly creeped along the quiet street, the silence only broken occasionally by a distraught cry from onlookers that lined the road. Guards, dressed in their formal military uniform, wore dark sashes across their chests as they stood stiffly along the rode, raising their swords as the royal family passed. Keir squeezed his sister's hand tightly as he heard the girl beside him sobbing, her small, balled fist rubbing at her streaming eyes hidden by her black lace veil. Keir's face, though tears didn't fall down his soft cheeks, was struggling to maintain neutral as his feet shuffled forwards.

Keir peered up at his father, whose face betrayed no emotion as light blue eyes stared at the glass coffin lying in the hearse in front of him. King Frederic's wife, even in death, looked so serene, her dark brown hair braided with vibrant flowers, framing a peaceful face flush with rouge, lips painted a warm pink. She looked like the woman he had fallen in love with when he was still a young boy, and when he blinked he could still see the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed. He remembered how she cried when she realised she was pregnant after many years of failed conception, her thin hands clutching her swelling belly as she sang to their unborn children. 

King Frederic then looked down at his two children, his older child wailing as she tightly gripped the hem of her black dress, little fingers shaking. His eyes met his son's, who stared back at him with dry eyes, the only sign of his grief being a slight tremor in his chin as he tried not to cry. Frederic softened as his son reached up to hold his father's hand, the small gesture making Frederic loose a sob. At the noise, Keir also started to cry, biting his lip as his eyes blurred. 

When they reached the royal tomb, the glistening white building sparkling in the sweltering summer heat, soldiers clad in black gently carried the Queen's glass coffin from the carriage as a priest hummed funeral rites in front of the doors of the tomb. As he finished his speech and the doors of the tomb opened, the family tentatively stepped in to send off their beloved wife and mother to her final resting place. 

As they walked deeper into the tomb, passing lines of similar glass coffins willed with decayed, aged corpses of monarchs past, Rose clung closer to her brother, who released her hand to wrap his arms around her shoulders. As they reached their Queen's stone pedestal, the material still pristine and sharp compared to the dull stones of long-passed relatives, the King opened his wife's coffin to gently touch her cheek, which was icy cold despite the summer heat. Frederic swallowed a deep sob as he carried his children up, their short legs not quite tall enough to peer over the pedestal. Rose wailed as she held her mother's hand, Keir staring blankly at the woman who seemed to only be asleep. 

"Say good bye to your mother," King Frederic said gently, as he closed the glass coffin again, his children nodding. After a moment of silence, the royal family walked out of the tomb, soldiers bowing as they exited. Groups of nobles and royal family members all circled around the royal tomb, hands clasped in front of their faces in prayers of grief, as everyone mourned the passing of their beloved Queen. 

Keir's eyes scanned the crowd, their sobs and wails deafening to his ears. And then, as if time had slowed, his eyes fell upon a women clad heavily in black, her parasol falling across her slim face as she lifted her veil from her face, revealing a dark painted smile that chilled Keir to the core. 

~~~

"My precious children," King Frederic chuckled, standing as his two children entered the room. The King gently kissed his daughter's crown before ruffling his son's hair tenderly, his son blushing slightly, King Frederic smiling softly. Taking his children's hands in his, King Frederic guided them further into the drawing room, where a tall, slender woman stood with her back facing them. Keir felt a strange chill in the air as he looked at the woman, stepping behind his father's sturdy leg. Frederic chuckled at his son, gently patting him on the back as Keir gripped his pants.