Page 218 of Naughty Nelle

“He banned me from his bed.” My voice is hoarse from crying.

“That’s a lot for a young woman to handle. The loss of a child and spousal abandonment. Plus the trauma of your mother. How old were you?”

“Thirteen.” So long ago yet now it feels like only yesterday.

“You were practically a child yourself,” Shrink says with a gentle flutter of her wings. “How did you feel?”

“I felt nothing.” Sadness had numbed my heart.

“What happened to The King’s other child, Snow White?”

“She grew more and more beautiful every day. The King doted on her.”

“But he didn’t dote on you, his wife.” She’s getting tough with me again. “How did you feel about that?”

“I was jealous. I thought The King loved her more because she was more beautiful than me.”

“What did you do?”

“I was alone most of the time. I spent hours standing in front of my mirror—”

Shrink interrupts me. “What mirror?”

“My mother’s. She had ordered The King’s men to move it from our flat to the castle.”

“Ah, the mirror from your childhood. Remember, Jane, there was nothing magic about it.”

My stomach muscles clench at her words. I still don’t believe her. I go on, taking precaution to make her think I do. I so badly want out of this place.

“Every day, I stood before it, making myself as beautiful as possible, until I believed I was the fairest of all. The King still paid no attention to me. The more he ignored me, the more time I spent with my mirror.”

Shrink nods. “Of course. The more he ignored you, the more you felt unloved. Continue.”

While I’m sure I’ve fooled her, her words make my blood run cold. I take a deep breath before going on. “The King went off to war and left me in charge of Snow White.”

“How did you feel about that?”

“At first, I resented it. Then I saw an opportunity to bring her down. So I dressed her in rags and treated her like a servant.”

“Understandable. You modeled your parenting after your mother’s.”

Like mother like daughter.An image of Snow White on her hands and knees scrubbing floors flashes into my head. Singing no less! No matter how poorly I treated her, her beauty remained intact. In fact, with every passing day, her beauty was more evident. I was nervous that my little plan was backfiring.

“And tell me, what was going on between you and your mirror?” asks Shrink, interrupting my thoughts.

“My mirror continued to assure me that I was still the fairest of all.” I pause. “Then it gave me a scare.”

“How so?” asks Shrink sharply.

“On the day Snow White turned seven, it told me she would one day be fairer than me.”

“Correction.” Scowling, Shrink adjusts her spectacles. “Your mirror didn’t say a word. You were merely facing reality.”

“Right.” I nod like one of those bobblehead toys. Why can’t I believe that my mirror wasn’t magic?

Shrink gives me a fleeting smile. “How did you feel when you realized that Snow White could possibly be more attractive than you?”

“I panicked. I worked her harder. Fed her practically nothing.”

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