Snow stopped her embroidery when she saw a figure in her doorway. She looked up to see her lady's maid, Anna, standing nervously.

"You're white as a sheet, Anna, what is it?"

"My lady," she said, coming forward, "Your uncle, he is dead."

Her stomach dropped. She searched for words. "How?" she asked.

"It was an ambush. He was headed for the city and a band of men overtook his carriage."

"Was he unprotected?"

"He was protected, my lady, but there were too many."

Snow slumped in her seat. She had barely known her uncle, but it was still a shock.

"Surely you must know what this means, my lady."

"I know," Snow said, standing up. She walked to the window. Feeling the stones on the windowpane, she wondered how many a day she had stood here, wanting nothing more than to leave. The Rosenshire castle had been her home for the past fourteen years, and in that time, she had barely been able to leave. Only three times had she been allowed to. Once for her uncle's coronation, another to settle legal matters with her uncle, and the last time was only because she had begged Lady Rila to let her go for months. The third time, she'd been attacked. After that, she'd never left the Rosenshire grounds again. Even walking the grounds required her to be heavily guarded. As much as this place had been her fortress, it had been her prison. And now, she was about to leave.

Remembering Anna, she turned around. "It means I'm to be queen."

ooOoo

It was almost a month before everything was settled. During that time, Snow felt quite helpless in her own home. Even though she was in name, queen, she felt powerless. Any time she had tried to ask the treasurer or chief adviser anything concerning the coronation or legal matters, they would wave her off, claiming that she wouldn't understand. She knew that it was within her right to demand answers. After all, she was the queen, their sovereign. However, having been in a position of submission and dependence on others her whole life, she was not accustomed to giving orders.

The only decision she had made herself so far had been the selection of ladies in waiting. Against the Lady Rila's instruction, she decided to keep Anna as her head lady. Now that she had left Rosenshire, she didn't have to listen to Rila anymore. It felt strange, yet liberating. The woman had never treated her kindly, and was very strict. Snow looked forward to never having to see the wretched woman again.

There were four others; all of which were her distant cousins. Although she didn't know them, she felt better asking them instead of non-family members.

She began to think about James. They had grown up together. After her parents died, her Uncle Ivan sent her to live in The Glades in King George's kingdom. King George, ever eager for an opportunity, made sure that James visited her often. He did it most likely in hopes that Snow would fall in love with him eventually and they would marry, thus gaining more wealth. James had been one of the only ones to come visit her. She remembered playing with him, trying to escape her bodyguards. One time, they had actually succeeded for almost an hour when they climbed a tree. They must have seen them pass by underneath half a dozen times before one of the guards finally looked up. Of course, she was punished severely for her actions. Lady Rila had been livid; upon seeing her, she slapped her in the face. She was confined to quarters for a month after that, and it was only after tearful pleading and constant nagging from King George that Rila allowed James to come again.

After the attempt on her life, however, no one was allowed to come except by the express permission of the king himself. Snow tried to fill the void by writing James, but after a few years, he stopped replying. Snow asked Rila about it several times, but she always brushed her off, so she assumed that Rila was keeping them from her.

She then found a kindred spirit in Anna, although she was nearly ten years older than her. Sometimes, Snow believed that Anna was the only one who saw her as a human being.

Now, years later she was going to see James again. She'd inquired about him to Anna, who told her that he no longer lived in The Glades with his father. There were rumors that they were estranged. In any case, he was living nearby, mere miles away. She wasted no time in sending for him. It seemed odd, telling someone to come to her rather than go herself, but that was the way of it. Besides, after years of being confined with Lady Rila, she was still daunted by the prospect of being out in the open.

Time went by slowly as she waited for him. Her cousin Rose told her that it would be improper to receive him in her quarters, and suggested they walk in the gardens. When one of her ladies finally told him that he'd arrived, it was all she could do not to rush outside to meet him. Suddenly, though, she grew nervous. What if he had changed? She certainly had. They weren't children anymore, so whatever they had had in common when they were young no longer existed.

When she saw him, she almost laughed. He looked the same, but he was much older, and no longer the skinny boy she'd known before. "James," she said in greeting.

Smiling slightly, he knelt before her. That was unexpected.

"Your majesty, I cannot express how good it is to see you again after all these years," he said respectfully.

Taken aback, Snow didn't know what to do. "James, please rise; there is no need for that."

Standing again, he looked at her in surprise. "Of course it is, Your Majesty, you are the queen."

Ignoring him, she took his hands. "James, it does me good to see a familiar face."

They began talking, catching up on old times. Although she still felt like she knew him, or at least a part of him, she could tell he was a bit uncomfortable. When she took his hands, she felt them tense and he cast an almost nervous glance to her ladies and the guard that accompanied them. She understood that it was natural that he felt a barrier between them. After all, she was the queen, and he considered himself her subject, even though he was a prince himself.

And it wasn't just that. He was different. He was gentler, kinder. When they were children, he'd been much rougher, and bossier. It seemed though, that he didn't remember a lot of what happened back then. It hurt a little, because it made her feel unimportant, but perhaps the past few years had been hard.

Still, she didn't regret inviting him. Saying that she didn't have a friend in the world wasn't exactly an understatement, so it was a relief to know that she still had James after all these years.

"James," she bit her lip before starting again. "Lady Rila did all she could to keep me away from the world. I'm ashamed to say I don't even know what has happened in my own kingdom these seventeen years. I don't even know much about my own parents; she never told me about them." She turned around, frustrated. "It's as if I have just been thrown into a new world with its own history that I know nothing about, and having everyone expecting me to make it better. How can I rule like this?"

"What do you wish to know, Your Majesty?"

"Please, James, if you will do nothing else for me, please call me Snow like you once did," she said with the smile she nearly always wore.

"I don't think it's proper for me to address you by your name," he said uncertainly.

"Alright, but when it's just you and me, please, call me Snow."

He smiled slightly. "Very well, Snow."

She smiled again. It was good to hear people call her by her name without any title attached.

"Well, Snow, what do you wish to know?"

"Everything. Everything you know."

Still, James hesitated. "Snow, a lot has happened. Some good, but mostly bad. You may not want to hear it."

"It doesn't matter what I want to hear or don't want to hear. What matters, is this." She gestured to the rest of the kingdom. "I need to know everything. It doesn't matter what I think."

"You may want to sit down."

Well, this is my first attempt at writing. Hope you liked it! More to come in the next few days.
Lots of love!