“It’ll be fine, Marzell,” Gregori rumbled.
“You are needlessly worrying,” Rupert added. “We will have the cottage yard surrounded. Any attack would have to get through us before they could reach Snow White.”
“Fine, fine.” A sigh leaked out of Marzell, partially deflating him before he smiled. “Do not hesitate to call for us.”
“We won’t,” Snow White promised.
Marzell nodded and joined his comrades, slipping into the forest where the mellow browns of their cloaks almost immediately camouflaged them with the trees.
“Good luck.” Angelique waited only until she was sure Marzell wouldn’t let any of them circle back around. “Quick, Snow White, now is our chance!”
Snow White followed her inside. “Our chance for what?”
“I don’t know,” Angelique admitted. “It’s simply that we’re not left alone often, so this seems like the ideal time to poke around the cottage or to burn some of those ruddy portraits Aldelbert keeps giving us.”
Snow White smiled like the good person she was. “I’m cleaning the mushrooms Wendal found this morning.”
Angelique sighed and leaned against the table to display her disappointment. “Such a diligent and good future ruler.”
Snow White silently retrieved the overflowing basket—which was a generous name for it since it was lopsided and some of the weave was coming undone—of mushrooms.
Angelique watched her for a moment, then added, “You’ll make a good queen—though with your king, you two might go down in history as the quietest royals ever.”
Snow White fumbled with her basket and dropped a few mushrooms on the floor. “What?” she squeaked.
Angelique wiggled her eyebrows. “You can’t say you thought you and Fritz were keeping your mutual admiration a secret?”
“I don’t know—mutual admiration? What makes you think—there’s been no indication,” Snow White babbled.
Angelique patted Snow White’s hand and impishly smirked. “Don’t you worry. Fritz is a patient lad. When you finally get the courage to say that you love him six years from now, he will undoubtedly accept.”
Snow White gaped at Angelique, who pushed off the table with a hop in her step. “Though now that I reflect on the matter longer, I think you’ll muster the starch to tell him much sooner. You have moved rather fast.”
“Fast?” Snow White asked.
Angelique paused and tapped her chin, pretending to think. “After all, you fell in love with him in about two weeks! For a shy girl, you do not poke around.”
Snow White set the basket down and slapped her hands over her cheeks to hide her blush. “I don’t know that I would call my deep admiration love, and at the very least I cannot presume to say that Fritz feels as I do.”
Angelique scooped up the mushrooms Snow White had dropped—penance for embarrassing her. “It’s odd. Folk stir up such a fuss about falling in love and are always so terrified of what the object of their affection thinks.”
“It’s scary,” Snow White said, “to know someone has enough power over you to crush your heart or give you boundless joy.”
Angelique picked up a mushroom and held it over her head, staring at it. “Maybe so, but falling in love is easy. It’s the years that come after love that are the real challenge.”
“What do you mean?” Snow White asked.
“Falling in love is frightening because it means your heart is no longer under your control, yes, but when the other person returns your affection—that is not the end of your trial but merely the beginning. It’s the heartache and pain that come with life that test you. It’s the times you feel like you have been beaten to within an inch of your life, like the whole world is against you. It’s the years that pass and gradually change how you look—how you spend your time. That is the real challenge in love, and that is where it most often fails. People fall in love with an ideal—not a person.”
I’ve seen it with Elle and Severin, my own parents, Stil and Gemma…
Angelique swiveled on her heels and dropped the mushrooms into Snow White’s basket, then stared into the princess’s bright blue eyes. “You are right about yourself and Fritz. Despite my teasing, I’m not certain you fully love him yet. But you don’t need to fear it. The way you strive to save Faina, the tears you’ve shed and the fears you’ve conquered? That is love. Fritz knows that, and he values it. So, don’t worry yourself over whether he returns your feelings or not.”
Snow White pressed her hands into the worn counter. “Instead, I should look ahead to the trials I might face and conquer them early.”
Angelique snorted. “That wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but given your strategic mind, I guess it’s not a surprise that was your conclusion.”
“If I had thought this way sooner—if I had attacked my shyness with everything I had—this fight we’re in might not be quite so difficult.” Snow White curled her hands into fists. “Maybe we wouldn’t even be in it.”
Angelique stiffened. “Snow White. You have to stop blaming yourself and agonizing over the past. If you made mistakes—which I’m not even saying you did—they are already done. What is important is your actions now.”
She sighed, and all the fight in her abruptly sagged out. It’s like I’m talking to a slightly younger version of myself—when I blamed myself for Evariste’s capture. I think a part of me still does.
She stared up at the ceiling. “Though I must confess, I’m not entirely certain how you are supposed to let go.”
Snow White fidgeted. “Is there something I can do to help?”
Once again, she reaches out without hesitation. Snow White is a treasure.
Angelique sharply shook her head, rattling her regrets loose, then smiled at the princess. “Not at this time. But I’m grateful you asked.” Angelique playfully ruffled Snow White’s black curls and winked.
Snow White blinked in obvious confusion before her expression shifted to a warm smile, and she shuffled closer to Angelique, shyly patting her on the back. “Thank you—for being here and helping me.”
“Of course,” Angelique said. “It’s my duty—and my pleasure.”
The words were out of Angelique’s mouth before she thought them over. She was so used to saying it was her duty as an enchantress-in-training.
Judging by the way Snow White narrowed her eyes and the wrinkles that spread across her forehead, the princess hadn’t missed the wording.
She’s going to figure it out soon if I don’t distract her.
“I’m going to clean the horse paddock next,” Angelique declared. She paused for a moment, then nodded, assured the half-cooked idea was a good one.
I’ve been missing Pegasus. The warriors’ horses will be a poor substitute, but there’s always been something comforting about horses.
“What happened to poking around the cottage?” Snow White asked.
“Abandoned in favor of horses.”
“I did not know you loved horses so much.”
“I’m on fine terms with them, but I’m missing my pet,” Angelique said. “You’ll come so I can keep an eye on you?”