Prologue
The sound of hooves beating the ground echoed through the forest. With a worried look on his face, a handsome prince raced back to his castle. He had dirty blonde hair, ocean blue colored eyes, and stood very close to six feet tall. The drawbridge lowered, and the horse ran on beyond the castle walls. The bridge rose to a close when the horse cleared it. The prince dismounted from his horse when he reached the castle steps and ran up them.
A beautiful, heavily pregnant princess walked in from her balcony and sat on her bed. Very fair is she; blue of the sky is her eyes, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow is how she’s described by all who know her. The time for her to deliver her child was fast approaching, and something was troubling her. There was a knock on the door. It opened, and she turned to see who was walking in.
“Snow, Queen Evanya has been too quiet. Something’s about to happen. I just know it.”
“Jacob, she will strike when we’re at our weakest, and that’s when I’m going to give birth. It’s getting close. I feel it.”
The prince placed his hand on his wife’s belly, and she put her hand on top of his.
-Castle of the Evil Queen-
A beautiful woman dressed in black leather pants, a purple velvet riding coat that looked like a dress, and black heeled boots with heels that could kill stood in front of her large golden-framed mirror. She had long dark brown, almost black colored hair pulled back into a straight ponytail, eyes the color of chocolate, lips stained like red wine, and on her neck was a faint scar serving as a constant reminder of her past. She closed her eyes.
“Enslaved person in the magic mirror, come from the farthest space! Through wind, rain, and fire, I summon you!” Thunder crashed after a flash of lightning; she opened her eyes and continued, “Let me see your face.”
Flames rose, and a masculine face resembling a decorative green, black, purple, and gold masquerade half-mask appeared.
In a deep baritone voice, he acknowledged, “Her Majesty summoned me.”
“You know what I seek.”
“His presence is no longer in this realm. Rumplestiltskin made sure of that.” Evanya hung her head, and the mirror continued, “I cannot see beyond the Mystic Kingdom.”
With disgust, the Queen remarked, “What sort of magical object are you? You should be able to see in realms beyond! I need to know if he still lives or is dead.”
“He was alive when he left this realm. That is all I can give to you.”
Evanya shook her head and asked, “Answer me this. How much longer until Snow White and her Prince Charming give birth to their baby girl?”
“Time is not on her side, your Majesty. The baby will be here by the end of the day. She is laboring as we speak.”
A wicked smile formed on Evanya’s face as the image in the mirror transformed into Snow White lying in bed, sweating profusely and breathing hard.
She chuckled evilly and said, “The time has come that Snow and Jacob will feel what I am feeling day after day. It’s time they feel what Jonathan and I felt for so long. Rumplestiltskin cast his curse as a promise between him and King Harold. Now, it’s my turn to cast mine.”
She spun on her heal, walked out of her bedroom, down the textured covered purple wallpapered hall, and down some stairs leading to a room that contained multiple floating shelves of potion bottles, ingredients of different shapes, sizes, and smells, books of different types of magic spells, and potion making, and in the center of the room was a large black cauldron. Evanya pulled different bottles, vials, and glass containers. She removed the lid of a skinny black bottle and poured the red liquid into the cauldron. After tossing the bottle, causing it to break into tiny shards, she removed the cork from a navy blue vial and quickly poured the black liquid into the cauldron. Smoke rose up and over while the mixture bubbled. Evanya repeated the process until every bottle, vial, and glass container she pulled was used.
With outstretched hands, she mumbled, “Mescolare, mescolare, bollire, preparare. Che la rabbia, il dolore e l’odio brucino! Unisciti per aiutare la mia vendetta!” The mixture bubbled rapidly, and the smoke turned a dark purple color.
Evanya looked up at a beautiful ornate box, reached for it, and took it from the shelf. She opened the lid, and tears grazed her cheeks.
“Oh, Daddy, you always ensured you had my best interests at heart. You wanted me to be happy where Mother promised me off to marry Snow and Jonathan’s father! You knew my heart belonged to Jonathan and didn’t stop the arrangement. For years, Jonathan and I suffered from being so close, yet we couldn’t share the love we had for one another. When King Harold finally passed, Jonathan and I were free! We were planning our future. We were to be married, rule the kingdom together, and start a family. So, we thought. Our happiness didn’t last long until Rumplestiltskin came and took it all away, thanks to Snow and her Prince Charming! Now, it’s time for you to help me one last time. It’s time I get my revenge. Snow and Jacob will feel what it’s like to live side by side but never be able to show their love and affection without being burned!”
She removed a stilled heart from the box and tossed it into the cauldron. She raised her hands, and the entire room shook.
“Il vaso che contiene l’amore di un padre ora si aggiunge al mix! Ora vai con la maledizione e servimi bene! Attacca Snow e il castello di Jacob! Lancia il mio incantesimo!”
A column of dark purple and gray smoke erupted from the cauldron and filled the room.
“The curse is cast! Bring us to a realm where no one believes in magic, but it can be felt in the land’s history! To those who wronged me, let them feel the heartache and pain of living together but cannot express the love of one another without being burned by the touch!”
-Snow and Jacob’s Castle-
Prince Jacob paced the hall outside the birthing room. After pacing the floor for two hours, a baby cry sounded through the halls of the castle. Jacob stopped pacing, and a smile formed on his face. The midwife left the room, smiled at the prince, and said, “Your baby girl has arrived. Mom and baby are doing well. Congratulations, Your Highness.”
He smiled and asked, “May I see her?”
The midwife motioned for him to go in. He walked into the room and saw Snow White propped up against some pillows, holding her newborn baby girl.
She looked toward the door, held out her hand, and called, “Jacob!”
He quickly walked over to the bed, sat, and kissed his wife on her eagerly waiting lips.
“Oh, my love, she’s so beautiful.” He kissed his daughter’s forehead, and Snow said, “Our beautiful Raven.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead, and Jacob rubbed the infant’s head.
A bell from the bell tower sounded, signaling danger. Jacob rushed to the balcony, and his eyes widened in fear. Dark purple and gray clouds were racing in their direction.
“No, it can’t be!” He ran inside.
“Jacob, what’s going on?” He didn’t answer, and Snow asked again, “Jacob, answer me. What’s going on?”
He picked up a blue stone, turned to Snow, wearing an expression that read terrified, and called, “Merlin! Merlin, we need your help!”
White smoke appeared in the room, and a medium-height wizard with a long, flowing white beard, light blue robes, and skinny eyeglasses appeared.
“Prince Jacob, my boy, what’s the urgency?”
“Queen Evanya has cast her curse, and it’s almost upon us! Snow and I want our baby to be safe from this. Please, can you help us?”
Merlin walked over to Snow White and asked, “May I?”
Snow nodded; he took the baby from her arms and said, “Well, hello, little Raven! You are beautiful, just like your grandmother.” Snow smiled, and Merlin looked at the new parents and said, “I am sending her to the same realm that we all will be sent to, but I cannot promise she will be close by for you three to be instantly reunited. She is the key to breaking this curse. Alright, sweet one, off we go.”
He held his arms up, and a magical wind picked up. The baby began to cry, and Snow buried her face into Jacob’s shoulder. Jacob held his wife in his arms, comforting her. Merlin and baby Raven disappeared. The entire castle shook as the clouds drew near. Purple smoke appeared, revealing the one person Snow and Jacob didn’t want to see.
“I had to see how you two look before your pain and suffering set in.”
Through sobs, Snow said, “Evanya, don’t do this!”
“You gave me no choice when you both went to Rumplestiltskin because of your false accusations against your brother! You believed that Jonathan and I were formulating a plot to eliminate my parents to combine our kingdoms to declare war on the Western Kingdom! Like your father, you thought that your brother and I were evil and would corrupt the kingdom!”
“That’s enough, Evanya!”
She turned to Jacob and let him have it. “No, it’s never enough. I will find him, but until I do, you two will finally understand the pain we went through while I was in a marriage that I never wanted, having to live with the fact that I couldn’t love Jonathan the way I wanted to. You two will still be together, but when you want to be close to each other or intimate, you will feel the burn!”
The sound of windows breaking filled the halls of the castle. The stone walls were cracking and slowly breaking to the point of collapsing. Evanya evilly chuckled, then laughed as the clouds engulfed them and finished destroying the castle until it was a pile of rubble.
