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Apple Tree
Date: 8/13/2015, Categories: First Time, Author: FeliciaGreene, Rating: 9, Source: LushStories
brought him down to earth. "What’s the matter, Roget? The apple didn't hit you that hard! What did you catch today?" This has to stop. No more laughter, no more games. The Queen; she’ll see my heart. She know it. And then there’ll be no hope. I have to make her hate me. Roget stiffened his back, adjusted the reins in his hands. "You shouldn't be out in these woods. Especially not in trees; it’s unbecoming." The princess laughed; Roget remembered that laugh, there on the stairs, he shook his head. So wounded, that sound. "Well that’s a change of tune, Roget. Especially when you were climbing this tree with me last week." "There’ll be no more of that." Roget made himself sound curt, disinterested, and felt a part of him die. "I’ll conduct my duties alone from now on." “Roget, I don’t understand...” “Then allow me to explain.” Roget kept his gaze trained on the falling leaves, avoiding Snow-White’s eyes. “We are not friends. Our stations are too different; I am a servant, not an equal. I am far too old; you are practically a child. And you should stop calling me Roget; I am the huntsman to you. Nothing more.” For a moment there had been silence. Then the princess’s voice; soft, pleading. “Did she threaten you, Roget? Did that old witch threaten you? I know she has spies everywhere, but we’re not doing anything wrong . Don’t let her take you away from me.” “No one governs my actions other than myself, princess.” “Is that what I am to become? ‘Princess’?” Another laugh, bitter ... this time. “No more Snow-White? No more nicknames?” “I am required at the castle. You should be there anyway. The other hunters are not far behind; one will assist you.” Roget paused, wondering whether to say goodbye. Not knowing how. Then came Snow-White’s voice, cold, clipped. “ Go. ” As Roget galloped away, an apple had whistled past his head. This one had been thrown with serious force. And then, a year of hell. A year of seeing her in fits and snatches, always indoors, always in company, never for more than a few moments. The carefully studied disdain in her voice when she said, “Oh, the huntsman’s arrived.” The concealed wound deep in her eyes… and the Queen. Watching. Always watching. Every morning Roget had carefully hardened his heart, reminding himself that he was too old, too much of a loner, that his love was impossible and stupid and would leave the both of them dead. Every night, he would dream of her. Her laugh, her gaze, his name in her mouth, Roget . A soft tangle of limbs and shining hair, her lips on his, her hands slowly moving down the lines of his hipbones and - ah . His princess. His Snow-White. And today he had been told to kill her. The Queen’s voice that evening had been silky, dangerous. “I've been so good to you, Roget. So very good. No doubt you will be good to me, you have had time to consider the mechanics of your task. When shall it be done?” Roget had swallowed. “Midnight, ma’am.” “Good. You may wake me tomorrow morning.” And then, as Roget had ...