Snow's White | ✓

24. Sweetest Nightmare

A/N: Just a sprinkle of sexual content in this chapter :)

Keir awoke with a cry, sitting up in his bed. His dark hair stuck to his face moistened with sweat, chest heaving with effort as his eyes frantically searched around the room for the shadows that tormented him. He was greeted with tranquil moonlight, which cast silver patterns across the floor. 

"Another nightmare," Keir groaned to himself, pressing his hands to his face as he tried to calm his beating heart, the chilling sensation of Eleona's puppet shadows starting to ebb from his ankles. Reaching to the side table, Keir picked up the goblet of water, which had become lukewarm over the course of the night, and drank it slowly, his mouth dry with fear. 

Lying back down, eyes unable to closed as he feared what was behind them, Keir could only wait restlessly for morning to come.

~~~

In a darkened castle, a sated Queen sat on her wicked throne, sharp nails resting on her lips as she smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Her smooth skin, only days ago wrinkled and peeling with rotted sores, glowed with stolen youth over her high cheekbones. 

"Mirror, mirror on the wall," the Queen called, the mirror's face rippling with silver as it stirred. "Show me the fairest man of them all." After a moment's wait, the shaking mirror sharpened, the Queen releasing a raptured sigh as Keir's divine form appeared before her, dripping with sweat, his fear emanating from him in thick waves that the witch could taste.

"Soon," the Queen whispered, licking her lips as her snake coiled around her neck, tongue flickering as she pressed her hand against the mirror's surface, cold under her touch. "All your torment, your fear, your self-loathing only make your soul sweeter, and you will ripen before I taste you again, my prince."

As Keir's face fell from the mirror's surface, the witch curled her fingers in the air as she pulled the energy of the mirror in her favour, Lucas's castle appearing before her. Smiling, the Queen let her dark robes drop to her feet, as her skin wrinkled and lightened, peeling away from her muscles and bone. Like a snake shedding it's skin, the Queen pulled the dried flesh off her body, revealing a new identity, which pulled on simple commoner garb. Stepping into the mirror, the Queen's feet landed on the lush grass of the forests on the outskirts of the castle. 

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most cursed of them all?

~~~

"I see that you are working hard, as always," Keir laughed, as he patted Finnian's bustling form on the back, the boy whirling around with surprise.

"Prince Keir!" Finnian exclaimed, immediately bowing in a blur of red hair, which bounced in glossy curls. "How do you fare today, Your Highness?" Finnian's bright smile dulled slightly as he noticed Keir's dark circles under his eyes and the tired look that offended his most beautiful blue irises.

"A little tired," Keir admitted, Finnian's frown deepening, making Keir laugh and ruffle the boy's hair. "Everyone has nights where they can't sleep, Finnian. You needn't worry."

"You have trouble sleeping, Your Highness?" Finnian asked, still worried despite the prince's relaxed smile. "Have you ever tried sleeping tonics?"

"When I was younger," Keir said, Finnian nodding, "though after a while they didn't work as well. I probably developed some tolerance to them, so I haven't used them since."

"That is similar to my grandmother's case," Finnian spoke, before his eyes widened as his mouth opened in a panic. "Not that I'm saying you're like my grandmother, Your Highness! Not at all! You are much more handsome, a-and intelligent, though you're as kind and gentle as she is. W-Which is a lot!" Finnian blurted out, coughing after running out of breath. Keir doubled over in laughter at the boy's panicked speech, the other stablehands giving the pair apprehensive looks as Finnian bowed repeatedly, murmuring a chorus of apologies for his offence.