ChimeyGirl

It had been two weeks since Snow had told him she was pregnant, and Charming was worried. They hadn't announced it yet, but Snow was already beginning to take precautions that women in his village wouldn't have taken for months. She didn't seem cowed—he'd made the mistake of asking her if she was scared of something and she had threatened to lock him out of their room—just very careful. Charming knew it was the Evil Queen's curse that was bothering her. But he didn't know what to do about it. "James. Pay attention." Charming jumped and found that he'd stopped listening to his father again, and King George was glaring over the sm

"So this ring was your mother's?" The casual, almost sarcastic, questioning tone didn't distract Charming from noticing that Snow was biting her lip and staring at the ring. James took it as a small victory that she'd left the ring on her finger, instead of twisting it or pulling it off and staring at it. Both seemed to have become nervous habits in the past few days. But despite how ridiculously pleased James was that Snow White was wearing his mother's ring, he knew where this conversation was going. And what he would have to tell her. Namely the truth. He used his chin to point back into her room. He'd come to check on her and found he

In the ten years since Ewan's death, Clare had worn black and stewed in her dark feelings. Eventually, they centered on Snow White. The girl had started living in the forest somewhere, if she was alive at all. Clare stopped caring. In fact, when she saw Snow White again after eight years, she tried to kill her. The feelings seemed to be mutual, and for the past two years, Clare had been focused on Snow White's destruction. The worst part was when Snow White threw Clare off the throne and married King George's son. If Clare hadn't blamed Snow White, in jealousy and loneliness, for Ewan's death, she would have blamed George. And Snow White h

Clare couldn't stop thinking about the broken young man next to the Fitzgeralds' bodies. It was odd. The Captain had returned a few days ago, and reported that the castle was in good hands. He'd said nothing about the young man, but Clare didn't imagine there was much to say. If he'd loved Marian Fitzgerald like Clare had loved Ewan, she knew how he felt. It was a horrible emptiness that yawned inside her, and Clare felt as though she'd been swallowed whole by grief. Ewan had been dead when she'd returned. Not long dead. Snow White was still sobbing over his body when Clare entered the sickroom. But she could smell it before anyone told her

"What happened?" Captain Penn asked, dismounting as the Queen stopped her horse in front of the castle. John didn't feel the need to answer as the woman's intelligent brown eyes swept the scenery. Robin with the bodies of his lover, her father, and some more who'd fought on their side, placed neatly. Several more bodies of De Lacey's men thrown next to the wall. And De Lacey himself, his face being shoved into the ground by two of Robin's men. "Thank you for dealing with our problem," The Queen said. John nodded, even though the comment had been directed at no one in particular. "I'm sad to see the Fitzgeralds were causalities, and some of y

John respected Robin as much as he could when Robin was at least ten years younger than him and hadn't seen the suffering John had. Things could be odd between them sometimes, when Robin and the others—all his age—looked to John to play Father. Then Robin wanted to be in charge again, John felt like an odd uncle. But it was definitely time for John to step in. Robin was practically out of his mind. A part of John wanted to smack him, yell at him, (It's not your fault, you young fool. Yes, she's dead, but it's not your fault, and at least you're only losing her, not her and your children and the home you built yourself) but then h