Page 16 of Blood of the Fairest

It's quiet for a second. "What? My queen, open the door. There is someone who has urgent business with you, and we have many other matters to discuss."

If only no rest for the wicked wasn't so literal.

With a lot of grumbling, I leave the warm bed and search through the wardrobe for something to throw on top of my tattoo-less body. I settle on a long, ugly green dress.

For all her supposed vanity, either the real evil queen doesn't give a rat's ass about fashion, or she just doesn't know better. Either way, if I don't find a way back to my world pronto, I'm going to have to fix her depressing wardrobe.

On the way to the door, I check the giant ornate mirror. It's still free from the Adonis-like mirror ghost, but I see that my dark red hair is a frizzy mess coming out of the braid. I untangle it, letting the queen's hair fall almost to my hips before I unlock and open the door.

A middle-aged man with a mouth wide enough to swallow Frisbees whole smiles back at me without any warmth. He's dressed in tailored wool robes, a cap, and long pointed leather shoes. Some kind of animal fur is draped around his neck.

He sweeps into the queen's room. Just walks right past me without a word, as if he owns the damn place.

I gawk after him in disbelief so hard that he notices and raises his eyebrows.

"Is something amiss, Your Majesty?"

"I'm sorry, I just hallucinated," I quote one of my favorite movies of all time. "What the hell are you doing, wandering into a queen's room without asking first?"

"Am I not your chamberlain? I always enter first thing in the morning to discuss your day."

Aha. So this fucker is Schultz.

"And as I said, there is someone urgently seeking—" he begins.

"Stop."

"He's seeking⁠—"

"Ah, ah, ah. No."

I have to keep interjecting every time Schultz tries to talk over me until he gives me an irritated look. Then I gesture toward the door, which is still wide open.

"Go back out. Let's try this again."

He gives me a dead-eye stare. "You cannot be serious."

"You cannot be serious," I mock in the same patronizing tone.

Maybe I sound immature to this asshole, but I don't care. Few things get my blood boiling faster than a condescending man. Pair that with the awful day I had yesterday and my lack of sleep, and I'm not exactly Miss Sunshine right now.

The chamberlain is stewing as he walks back out of my room. I shut the door behind him, wait for him to knock impatiently, and open it with a saccharine smile.

"Why, yes, Schultz?"

"There are some things for us to discuss before you speak with your visitor, Your Majesty," he says through gritted teeth. "Not to mention, your breakfast will be here shortly as usual, so we haven't much time. Let me in."

"No. These are my private quarters, so we'll talk business right here," I declare, staring him down.

Schultz scowls at me. Clearly, he's never experienced the queen drawing boundaries before. Just how much license did she give this guy to boss her around, when she's the entire reason he had this position in the first place?

The chamberlain takes a deep breath in like he's about to berate me, so I interrupt him.

"Who's here to see me?"

"The Huntsman of the North. One of your Favored went out to seek this northerner, but it seems he has returned on his own. He says you are expecting him."

That gets my attention. If the Huntsman hired by the evil queen to kill Snow White is back, maybe I can ask him where she is.