Sneaky Snow White (Dark Fairy Tale Queen Series Book 2) by Anita Valle Page A

outside.
    She plops the basket beneath the clothesline and lifts out a tiny white gown. “What have you been doing?”
    I shrug. “Stuff.”
    “At the palace?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And talking to The Mirror?”
    I hesitate. Cinderella narrows her eyes at me. “Yes, I can see you have. I suppose you want to be queen now, don’t you?”
    “Maybe.”
    Cinderella pins the little gown on the line. Her face looks peaceful. “You can have it if you want. I’m not going back there.” She closes her eyes momentarily. “You know, once, I wanted to be the queen. And I got what I wanted. But it wasn’t what I wanted.” She looks at me and almost smiles. “I don’t hate you anymore, Snowy.”
    “You don’t want to be the Evil Queen?”
    “Not anymore. I think I’d rather be queen of somebody’s heart than queen of a kingdom.”
    I don’t like the sound of that. Cinderella bends down to fetch another garment. As she stands up, the wind catches the folds of my shawl and exposes my hand for a moment. “What’s that?” Cinderella asks.
    Rats! She saw the apple. “Oh… it’s nothing.” I show it to her, hoping that will seem natural. “Just an apple.”
    “It’s pink.” Cinderella’s eyes widen. “Is that the Love Apple?”
    I cover it with my other hand. “No.”
    “It is. I can tell.”
    “It’s for me and Hunter,” I mumble, stroking the glossy pink skin. “Did you know that my mother was killed by my father?”
    Cinderella blinks. “I – yes.”
    “You never told me.”
    “Would you have wanted to know?”
    I look down without answering. I guess she’s right. Who wants to know something like that?
    “Where’d Hunter go?” I ask softly. “Maybe I can find him.”
    Cinderella bends down, picks up another little dress, and pins it on the line before speaking. “You’re going to ask him to bite the apple, aren’t you?”
    “That was the general idea.”
    Cinderella looks at me and there’s turbulence in her eyes. She’s struggling with something.
    “He’s a good man, Snowy. Kind and gentle and thoughtful. I like him very much.”
    “Thanks, I like him too.” But I don’t like this conversation. Something bad is brewing, I know it.
    Cinderella blows the air from her cheeks and slouches a little. Then she straightens up and faces me. “I want you to let me have him.”
    “Um, what?”
    “He’s the first man in so long who treats me well. I’m not willing to give that up. You’re young and pretty, you can find someone else.” She holds out her hand, the fingers curled upward. “So please, give me the apple. I get Hunter and you get to be queen. Do we have a deal?”
    I glare at her. “NOT… a chance.”
    Cinderella’s lips press together. Her blue eyes harden. “I would like the apple, Snow White.”
    “You can’t have it, Cinderella.”
    She hesitates for half a second. Then her hands shoot out and seize the apple. I gasp and jump back but her hands are over mine. She yanks my arms straight.
    “NO!” I jerk the apple back to my chest but Cinderella comes with it. She tries to dig her nails under my fingers and peel them off. Her teeth are bared.
    “Let it GO, Stepchild!” she growls.
    “You can’t…have…EVERYTHING!” I shriek. I try shaking the apple out of her grasp. “He’s MY Hunter!”
    “You don’t need him!” Cinderella shouts. We stagger across the yard, wrestling around the apple which is almost entirely concealed by our hands. I kick Cinderella’s shins. She curses and swings me around her, trying to snap me off with a whiplash motion.
    “I should’ve killed you when you were a child!” Cinderella shouts.
    “I should’ve killed you the day you became queen!” I shout back.
    We grapple around the apple, our elbows high. I push against Cinderella, forcing her across the yard until her back hits the wall of the cottage. We’re both breathless, shiny with sweat. But I think Cinderella is tiring. She just had two babies, after all. Her face looks