Mirror, Mirr- A Twisted Tale (Disney Twisted Tales) - Jen Calonita Page 0,52

in the castle gardens.”

“You did?” she asked, unsure why she was so taken with the fact that he’d mentioned her.

“Yes.” Henri smiled shyly.

“Oh, brother,” she heard Grumpy mumble.

“After I spoke of you, he started asking me all these questions about the princess and her relationship with the queen. I said I didn’t know anything about that, so he asked if the princess seemed happy.”

“What did you say?” Snow asked.

Henri hesitated. “I said you were lovely, but you seemed sad.”

“That is not untrue.” She had been disheartened at the castle. But then again, she had also chosen to make the best of her life and not let the sadness consume her. She’d tried to find happiness in even the most ordinary ways—shining a castle suit of arms that a visitor might pass, or feeding the birds in the aviary. “But I tried to be happy as well.”

“He would be pleased to hear you say that,” Henri said with a smile. “When I didn’t have more to tell him, he excused himself and went to bed. I was confused as to why he had this reaction when it came to you, so I tried to bring it up again, but his answer was always the same. ‘Knowing the truth about my life will only put you in harm’s way.’ It had been so long since he’d talked about his kingdom, he started to think he’d dreamed his previous life.” Henri paused. The fire licking the pot in the kitchen made a small popping sound in the quiet cottage. “Snow, your father never wanted to leave you or his people. He left because Queen Ingrid banished him.”

“What?” Snow stood up.

“Yes,” Henri said with conviction. “She tricked him into leaving the castle one day. He said he doesn’t remember leaving or why he agreed to go. In truth, he says he doesn’t remember what possessed him to marry her in the first place.”

“Dark magic.” Snow was only just starting to understand her aunt’s powers. She closed her eyes, feeling relieved. She had never been able to understand why her father would have married that woman.

“All he knows is that when he tried to return to you, he couldn’t,” Henri continued. “Any time he tried to reenter the kingdom, some strange force would prevent him from walking on your soil. He tried everything to get around it, going to every possible part of the border to get through, and the same thing would happen—a jolt of electricity so strong it would practically stop his heart.”

“Black, black, black—achoo! Magic!” Sneezy repeated, and the others nodded in agreement.

“He’s never stopped trying to get back here for you,” Henri added. “He hated knowing you were growing up in that castle with a woman so wicked. He begged for mercy, hoping Queen Ingrid would hear him. He prayed she would take pity and give him you in exchange for his throne, but if she has heard his cries, she has done nothing. After years of trying, he gave up, thinking he was doomed to live in his own prison for the rest of his days.”

Some of the men were crying. They all held their caps in their hands.

“I knew King Georg wouldn’t abandon us,” Bashful said with a sniffle.

Tears trickled down Snow’s cheeks. So he truly hadn’t left her. The Evil Queen had pulled the two of them apart, making each of them live their own personal kind of hell. All the while, Ingrid had lived in wealth and privilege upon her throne. If she could kill Snow’s mother, was it so unbelievable to think she would banish her father? “I need to see him,” Snow said. “If he can’t come to me, I will go to him.”

Henri smiled. “He was hoping you would say that. I will take you to him. I know the way.”

“Then we will go,” Snow said. “First thing in the morning.”

At last, she had everything her heart desired.

As she stared down at the red heart on the carved wooden box in her hands, she couldn’t help thinking the mirror had been right about everything. The heart inside the box beat no more, which meant not only was she queen, but there was nothing left to threaten her reign. And she was the fairest in the land. No one else could get in her way. Finally.

The mirror probably already knew what she had in her possession. She was so in tune with it that she could hear its thoughts without even being near it. And