Not the Villain - The Evil Queen's Retelling of Snow White

25 Years, One Month, and Two Days Ago

I realised then that I had been holding my breath. I blinked. Enough, I thought. I never had a fatherly figure in my life. All these years, this man standing in front of me had been nothing but an abusive authority. There was no forgiving some of the things he had done. No, I would not be bullied anymore. I stopped backing away and lifted my chin up. "What do you want?"

"Oh, my dear, ignorant girl."

"What is it?" I did my best to keep the quiver from seeping into my voice. Stay strong, I heard my mother's voice in my ear. I gritted my teeth and continued to meet his eyes, forcing myself not to look down.

He chuckled a little, but it was only a mock laugh. We both knew there was nothing funny about this. "Oh, Amethyst. Tell me. When was the last time you wrote a letter to me?"

Dread welled up beneath my skin. "After Casimir..."

"Yes." His voice was a deadly whisper. "After you said Casimir proposed to you."

"Well, he did, but--"

"SILENCE!" He roared. Then he continued on in that lethal calm.

"Now, let me ask you, Amethyst. Who is the prince, the sweet brat of a prince who will soon be the ruler of the entire kingdom, who is this... oaf he is married to now?"

How dare he call Casimir a brat. I regained my voice. "Her name is Evelyn."

He slapped me.

"Do you have ANY idea how disappointed I was? All your life, I've been training you, teaching you, so you could shine at the right moment! And what do I have in return? A failure! A disgrace! A nobody! And the girl-- a peasant no less! When I found out, I could've died from shame then and there! And now you dare, you dare show your face back here?"

That was when the dam burst. I had enough. I've never talked back to my 'father' before, but there was a limit to how much I could take. And he had reached the limit. "Oh yes, I'm sure it really upset you, didn't it? Yes, all my life, you've been waiting for me to marry a prince so that you could finally be someone important! I've always been your tool so that you could get into the Court, maybe, so that you could at last be a part of that hierarchy that you've only ever cared about--"

He shoved me, and I felt the back of my head connect to the edge of a bookcase. I struggled to get up, but he kicked me back down and grabbed my wrists roughly, and wrapped a cord of rope around it. Then he dragged me towards the pole in the middle of the study and tied my wrists to the notch above my head.

I knew what was coming next. I've endured many beatings in my life, but I've never seen Father so angry before.

There was still shock under the thick layer of terror, though, when he took out the black whip, glittering with tiny metal spikes.

I know that he's only used it twice before, on two different servants. Both died within a day afterwards. They bled to death or something. The whip had metal hooks meant to tear your skin and bring out the pain slowly, and the leather itself was long and thin.

Okay, okay. Calm down, Amethyst. "M-Maybe we can talk this out. You know, there has to be another way for us to reach an agreement."

"You made a terrible mistake, young lady. Now you will pay the price." He was seething, his face almost red in his fury, and I knew that no one could talk any sense into him. Still, I had to try.

"Listen, Father--"

I heard the whip crack before I got to finish.