No one hates Snow White more than her younger half sister, Rosavere. Not since a star broke the world a thousand years ago and cursed humans with Grand Banes--powers never meant to be theirs--has there been a more traitorous tale. Snow murdered thei...
Confessions of Nana Lune on the blighted birth of Snow White
—1100 years after the Starfall (ASf)
Don't believe them.
The liars at court who whisper the princess was born under a demon moon or cursed unholy pale by a witch. They weren't there when the blizzard caught the Queen's party in the mountain pass at Hallowside and Isabeau fell into labor. They weren't there when the wee princess came screaming into the world, ruddy as a rose and still warm with her mother's blood. I suppose what happened next was inevitable with the elemental magic of Albemar, geomagy, running through the babe's veins. Her mother was dying, and the only way the newborn princess knew to save her was to take the cold away. As I swaddled the babe in my cloak, her screams quit so suddenly that I feared her heart had stopped. But the princess was merely holding her breath, pulling the winter bite out of the air, trapping the ice in her tiny lungs until all color had bled from her skin and the marrow froze in her bones. Frost sparkled on the child's lips as she began to breathe again—one breath too late. Queen Isabeau was gone, but not before she kissed her daughter's cool brow and named her "Snow White."
Excerpts from Her Majesty's Royal Correspondence
—1116 ASf
To Queen Estelle, the Living Star of Albemar—
Enclosed in the box you will find your heart's desire, but I fear you crave a loathsome and twisted thing. Do not be fooled by its lush amber skin or honey scent—goblin fruit is venom to the core. One bite will boil the blood in your enemy's veins to ash. Beware of what you wish, Your Majesty. There shall be no repenting of this vengeance. Has Snow White so changed you? Your stepdaughter's treachery is cursed across the Kingdom Isles, but surely even she does not deserve such a death. How will you explain your actions to little Rosavere? I beg you to reconsider and let me dispatch Snow myself! I would not suffer that unnatural creature's death to be a stain upon you.
Your Humble Servant,
Sanju
Most loyal Sanju,
When snow falls, it soils nothing.
Queen Estelle
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*Cover Art by Audrey Bagley
*Author's Note:
My star-crossed retelling blends the more well-known tale of Snow White, the huntsman, and the poison apple with the lesser known tale of Snow White and her little sister Rose Red, the dwarf and the enchanted bear. I started inking this frost-laced story in 2012 and am proud after years of multitudinous rejections and rigorous revisions to finally present it to readers. I hope you enjoy this fairy tale!
