‘So, now you’re calling me stupid? A little girl like you who wants to play with dwarves thinks she can laugh at me?’ Where the candlelight accentuated each of Snow’s soft curves and full features, the queen knew it hardened her sharp cheekbones and cast shadows under her eyes. She wondered how she must look. Still the great beauty of the North, or a harpy? She found she did not much care. ‘Or do you really want to marry one? Maybe you’d like to marry all seven of your friends? It could be arranged. They’d tire you out soon enough.’

‘Why do you have to be so horrible?’ Snow White reeled slightly, and stepped backwards. ‘What happened to you? Why must you always be so mean?’

Lilith opened her mouth to laugh and then Snow White’s gaze shifted from her to something behind them in the dark shadows of the room. The familiar creak of the cabinet. The queen’s eyes widened.

‘She is so beautiful. Snow White, the fairest in all the lands.’

‘What is that?’ Snow said, curiosity replacing her hurt. ‘Have you got someone in here with you? Their voice is . . . strange.’

‘It’s nothing.’ The queen flashed a look behind her, seeing the mirror glint slightly in the dark. ‘Nothing for you to—’

‘None can compare, none shall ever compare, to Snow White.’

‘Is that a talking cupboard?’ Snow White tried to push past, but Lilith blocked her way. ‘One of your crazy magic things the servants talk about?’

‘I said it was—’ The queen shoved her backwards.

‘Such a beauty. Such a heart. So easy to love. Snow White. Unbearably beautiful, isn’t she?’

The cabinet slammed shut and silent with the ferocity of the queen’s glare.

‘It was talking about me,’ Snow White said. Her eyes came back to the queen’s. ‘The fairest in the land. You have a cupboard that talks about me?’ She laughed suddenly, a short, shocked burst of emotion. ‘What is wrong with you?’

‘Shut up,’ the queen said. ‘Shut up and get out.’

‘You are jealous of me,’ Snow said. ‘Not of my father loving me, but of everyone else. It’s not that hard, you know, to have people like you. You just have to be nice.’

‘I said get out!’ She spat the words at the girl, her fists balled. ‘You know nothing. You’re stupid and blind and I hate you.’

Snow White’s jaw clenched. ‘Well, your cabinet doesn’t. Maybe I should take it back to the party instead.’

The queen could see the mockery clearly in the princess’s eyes. She took a deep breath and drew herself up tall. ‘You’ll regret this. All of it. I promise you.’

‘Look, why can’t we—’

‘Go back to the party. Enjoy it. Tomorrow your dwarves are banished from the palace grounds. On pain of death.’

‘You can’t—’