Chapter 39
T he ivy had taken over the balcony, crawling along the stone floor and then inching into the bedchamber. Seraphina was still on the ground, wiggling to try to free herself but it was no use. Snow checked to make sure the ivy was snug around her struggling form and binding her hands.
“What are you doing?” Seraphina said, watching with wide eyes as Snow stepped through the ivy.
Snow snatched up the brass candleholder. She swiped the enchanted blade from the floor near it and stuck it in the empty sheath on her belt. Then she headed for the alcove with the mirror. The mirror’s eerie face jerked to and fro inside the cracked looking glass, as though trying to get away.
“Stay away from there!” the queen shouted.
Snow lifted the candleholder and smashed it against the mirror. It cried out, as if in pain. Seraphina echoed it.
“Please! I beg you!” she said. “Please stop!”
“Please stop?” Snow glanced at her over her shoulder.
The queen managed to wiggle into a position to see Snow smashing the mirror. Good. She was glad the queen would see it destroyed.
“Yes, please.” She sniffed. Tears pooled in her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Snow said. “I know you worked with a dark wizard to kill my mother to become queen. I know you murdered my father. I know you used the dark wizard to become all powerful. I know you also tied the essence of that dark wizard to the Magic Mirror.”
Seraphina’s face paled as she stared at Snow in disbelief. “How do you know all that?”
“Because I found the essence of the dark wizard you left in the Wyldwood Forest. You tethered his soul there and have been siphoning his magic for your use ever since,” Snow said. “Do you deny this?”
The queen sucked in a breath, nearly choking on a sob. “Snow, please. I was young when I met Govan. He seduced me, made me promises he didn’t keep.”
“And so, you repaid him by stealing his magic and trapping him for all eternity?” Snow glanced at the mirror, wondering then if the visage floating there was what was left of Govan. “You saw nothing wrong with murdering my parents in cold blood and stealing my throne. You would have killed me, too, but hoped I would die alone in the forest, didn’t you?”
Her response was nothing more than a wracked sob. “Snow, I’m sorry. I was consumed with my wrath and drunk on the magic.”
“I do not accept your apology.”
With that, Snow smashed the mirror again. This time, pieces broke off and fell to the stone floor with a tinkling. The mirror itself groaned.
“I release you, Govan, from your eternal fate,” Snow whispered.
One more blow to the mirror and it shattered completely. Shards fell from the ornate oval frame, sprinkling the floor around where she stood. Pale blue smoke curled upward from the empty frame, dancing a moment over her head in a swirl, and then dissipating into nothing. Seraphina’s wail was deafening as she cried out.
Slowly, Snow turned to face the queen who still writhed on the floor in apparent agony. The same smoke lifted from her body in a hiss of steam and swirled over her. It churned as though realizing it was finally free and then floated upward, disappearing. Snow dropped the candleholder with a thunk.
“I release you from your bonds,” she said with a wave of her hand.
The ivy retreated back to the balcony. Snow held her breath as the queen got to her feet, her face wet with tears. In a fit of final rage, she clenched her fists as if to conjure a spell and then flung her hands outward. Nothing happened.
“You may have taken my magic, but I still have your throne. You swore a blood oath.”
Snow nodded and approached the queen slowly, relieved to see she no longer had magic. “That’s true. I did. But I am not willing to go without a fight.”
In one fluid motion, she whipped the enchanted blade from her belt and charged the queen. The blade in her hand sprang to life, the steel shimmering and glowing and humming, as if it knew what she intended to do.
She cried out when Snow crashed into her and managed to put her arms up in defense. The blade was inches from the queen’s face.
But Snow was determined. She wanted to avenge her parents. Revenge for a life of living in solitude. Vengeance for all the things the queen did to keep her away from the Mystic Vale, for torturing the villagers, for taking and taking and taking.
Frustration edged through her as she shoved the queen back toward the balcony. Even as she shoved her backward, the point of the blade inches from her face, the queen smirked.
“You can’t kill me, Snow. You don’t have it in you.”
Snow thought of the ivy lining the floor and sent a command to it. It crept upward, lifting just enough for Seraphina to stumble over. It was enough to make Snow release her grasp on the queen. She regained her footing and gave her a wicked grin.
“Nice try,” she taunted.
Snow was not to be defeated, though. She charged again, this time crouching a little lower. She gripped the blade tight in her slick palm. It continued to glow and hum against her hand. The ivy wound around Seraphina’s ankles, obeying Snow’s command to keep her in place. A whisper of a voice flickered through her mind. The words were in concert with the humming of the blade. She is not the rightful ruler.
She crashed against the queen, who was unable to defend herself this time. Snow plunged the dagger deep into the queen’s chest. A hiss emitted from the blade and black smoke seeped out from around the wound, much like when Ardan had stabbed her.
Seraphina’s eyes widened with shock as she stumbled, glanced down at the dagger sticking out of her chest. The very one she had commissioned to kill Snow White. She tripped over the ivy on the balcony, stumbling toward the railing.
With a little help from the greenery, Seraphina was hoisted over the railing. A muffled thud resounded.
Snow moved to the railing and peered over. Seraphina’s broken body was on the ground.
The evil queen was dead.
A tingling sensation was in her cut palm. She glanced down at it to see a swirl of purple magic. It lifted from her palm and flickered into nothingness. The wound knitted itself back together, fully healed. The blood oath was broken. All her promises to Seraphina were erased.
Turning from the railing, she stood a long moment in the silence. The ivy wound around the balcony moving upward toward the turret over her head. The castle had grown completely still. Roderick still slept in the center of the room. Neither destroying the magic or killing Seraphina had released him from the sleeping curse.
She walked to him, dropping to her knees at his side. She brushed back a lock of hair from his forehead. He looked as though he were merely sleeping peacefully. Whatever poison the queen gave him had taken a deep hold on him.
“I will find a way to release you from this sleeping curse,” she said, her voice low, as if he was able to hear her. She knew he didn’t. “I swear this to you.”
On impulse, she leaned down and pressed a long, sweet kiss against his cool lips. She sat back on her heels, trying to push away the sharp grief punching through her. She failed him. She’d find someone to help move him to the bed until she was able to find the antidote.
He groaned then, his brows drawing together as if in pain. His blue-green eyes fluttered open and met hers, piercing her. Snow sucked in a sharp breath as she gazed down at him. With a grunt, he pushed to a sitting position and ran a hand through his hair.
“You’re…” Snow started but she wasn’t sure how to put it into words.
Roderick reached for her, cupping her face in his hands. His eyes were like summer lightning on a warm day igniting a faint smoldering flame that startled her. Her heart fluttered. He pulled her closer, only a breath between them.
“You broke the sleeping curse.” His lips brushed hers as he spoke.
And then he kissed her. His lips captured hers in a timeless kiss that seemed to go on forever, sending spirals of warmth through her. She slipped her arms around him. In that one moment, she felt as though she floated on a wispy tender breeze and everything was right and perfect in her world for the first time in her life.
When he released her, he held her face in his hands. Light smoldered in his eyes. He pressed his forehead against hers and for a moment, there was nothing but peace between them. Despite everything they’d been through since they met, Snow was certain he was the one for her.
When he pulled away, he still held her face in his hands. There was a tenderness in his gaze that made her weak.
“Snow, this sounds odd to even me, but I knew the first moment I met you that you were the one for me.”
She smiled. “I felt the same. I need you by my side always.”
“For as long as you’ll have me.”
He took her hand. He glanced around the chamber, question deep in his eyes. He took in the shattered mirror in the alcove and the ivy that had crawled across the floor.
“I take it you were successful.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a grin.
“I destroyed the mirror, yes,” she said. “Seraphina is dead.”
He nodded, as though he had expected that. They helped each other to their feet. He was still a little wobbly. She wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him.
“And,” she added, “King Alfred is here with his army. Know anything about that?” She tilted her head back to look at him.
He gave her his best innocent look. “I’m afraid I don’t know.”
She nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. “Yes, you do. Annilen already told me.”
“Ah, then, it appears I have some explaining to do.”
She laughed. “Yes, right after we greet them.”
“We?” One brow lifted.
“Yes. You will be joining me, won’t you?”
“If that’s what you wish, I will.”
“Good.”
She took his hand in hers and led him out of the bedchamber, leaving the destruction behind.