Hypocrite. Liar. Two-faced bitch. Reginald thought with venom. He could hardly stand to be in Isidora’s presence for a second longer. “Goodnight, Isidora.” He stalked down the hall in the direction of his own bedchamber. Isidora watched him go with sad eyes.

Reginald entered his room and made sure to lock the door behind him. His attention immediately went to the mirror that stood next to his bed. The mirror was oval-shaped, six-feet-tall, and its gilt wooden frame had hearts engraved into it. Reginald staggered over to the enchanted mirror and gripped the frame with trembling hands as his composure started to crumble. “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the handsomest of them all?”

The silvery surface of the mirror rippled like a pond that had a stone cast into it and when the surface stilled it revealed the image of a beautiful woman with a regal appearance. Her thick, luscious black hair had been styled into a heart-shaped bun on the very top of her head. The glittering gold crown she wore that was decorated with rubies stood out against her dark hair. The gown she was wearing was black and gold and decorated with red hearts. “Greetings, King Reginald. You are indeed handsome as always, but…there is one who has grown more handsome than you this day.”

“What? Who?” Reginald growled, spit flying from his mouth in his anger. “Tell me who, Cordelia!”

Cordelia twirled her heart-shaped scepter nervously. “Your stepson…Prince Snow Flurris.”

“Snow,” Reginald snarled. “I should have known it was that cocky prince bastard!”

“Snow has become the spitting image of the late King Evan Flurris,” Cordelia explained.

“King Evan!” Reginald spat, backing away from the mirror in horror. “I cannot escape that man’s ghost this day! He haunts my steps! Today I discovered that Isidora never stopped loving Evan. She loves him still! Even after having been married to me. I should have easily replaced him in her heart. How dare she miss him?” Reginald began to pace back and forth across the room. “But why should I be surprised?” His voice was laced with bitterness and self-hatred. “No one loves me. They all hate, despise and fear me. Nothing has changed since coming to this realm from Earth. They’re disgusted by me.”

“Don’t be silly, Reginald,” Cordelia purred silkily. “How could they be disgusted by you? You no longer look like…this.” The reflection in the mirror changed and revealed the image of a slovenly, overweight, middle-aged man, who was wearing a wrinkled business suit and carrying a scuffed, brown leather briefcase. The man’s long, oily, blonde hair had been pulled back into a messy ponytail. A pair of nerdy, square-shaped glasses was perched on his nose, there was stubble on his chin, and the man’s shirt was stretched over his bulging stomach in an unsightly manner.

Reginald’s expression turned horrified as he gazed upon the image of an ordinary salary man. “No! How dare you show me that, Cordelia?”

“I dare because I’m beginning to wonder whether or not you will truly keep your promise about reuniting me with King Maleficent after you’ve managed to conquer all of Fantasia,” Cordelia explained, her black eyes glittering with malice.

Reginald frowned. “You doubt me, Cordelia? I will not break my promise to you. Now, get rid of that image! I am not that pathetic man anymore!”

“No…you’re not,” Cordelia agreed smoothly. “I used the power of the mirror to watch your past, you know. It was an interesting and entertaining show. I especially enjoyed your exploits while you were in Oz, Good Wizard of the South. I wonder who cast that green tornado which took you from Earth to Oz. That’s where you discovered you could use magic. That’s where you changed. You’re lucky that when you were banished from Oz to Fantasia you were able to keep your magical powers. Without them…I wonder if you would have reverted to your overweight self? That would have been a real shame. Your appearance now is easy on the eyes. But your true self is…well…”

“That is no longer my title,” Reginald snapped. “I am King Reginald now…and soon I will become known as the ‘Evil King’ throughout all of Fantasia. The time to reveal my true colors approaches. I tire of this game of playing the part of the benevolent King.”

Cordelia tilted her head pensively as she eyed Reginald. “Why choose to be evil? With as much power as you have…you could have chosen to be the most powerful hero in all the land.”

“Why ask me such a question?” Reginald asked, his eyes narrowing at the Queen of Hearts. “Are you not evil too?”

Cordelia shrugged. “I’m only curious. You were destined to become the Good Wizard of the South, but you became a villain instead. I just wondered why.”

“You know why…” Reginald said, rubbing the back of his neck in an uncomfortable gesture. “You’ve seen my past. I used to be a fat, unattractive, nerdy salary man. My colleagues at work bullied me, took advantage of me, and made me do their work for them. They also made fun of me and talked about me behind my back. Women openly rejected me. I was hated, ridiculed, rejected, and belittled by everyone. And then…when I went to Oz I had magic and discovered I had power. The power to change an entire world as I saw fit. It was…intoxicating. It was like being transported into a videogame. I am a god because I’m from another world. The rules of this world don’t apply to me. I can break them as I see fit…and I have, repeatedly. Using the Magic Mirror I’ve brought many things from Earth to this world and changed many things.”

“Using that logic you must consider the Lady Doriana Gray and Dr. Henrietta Jekyll to be goddesses,” Cordelia said, her voice laced with mirth and disbelief.

“They’re only women,” Reginald said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I thought Lady Doriana would be more useful to me to use against Snow, but his charm ability works on her. She becomes enamored of him with one glance.”

“If you take Doriana’s heart and use it to control her…she will be loyal to you and you alone,” Cordelia suggested slyly.

“That’s a good idea, Cordelia,” Reginald said, a twinkle in his red eyes. “I will do that later. But first, I must find a way to kill Snow.” He stroked his chin in thought.

“You’ve tried to kill him before,” Cordelia reminded.

“He has the devil’s luck,” Reginald grumbled.

“He needs to be isolated from his friends and family…” Cordelia began. “It will make him weak. Vulnerable.”

“What else do you suggest?” Reginald asked attentively.

“Have our ally Picasso Tremaine start some bloodshed in Glass City to keep Ashe Smoldris occupied. I can easily instigate a war between Rose Kingdom and Dragon Kingdom in order to keep Aurelion Borealis occupied. Blacksmith Rapunzel Solis shouldn’t be a problem…he was recently kidnapped from his tower by the Inquisitors and was taken to Cross Kingdom. If we’re lucky they’ll kill him for us. And lastly, take Snow’s heart and make him kill Queen Isidora.”

A flash of surprise crossed Reginald’s face, but then he smiled. “How positively devious, Queen of Hearts. I love it. It’s brilliant. But don’t think I have forgiven you for showing me my past appearance.”

“You’re too sensitive,” Cordelia tittered. “I only wanted to punish you a little. You said you would let me see Maleficent, and you haven’t.”

“All in good time, Cordelia. All in good time,” Reginald promised.

 ***

Reginald crept down the dimly lit corridor and made his way to Snow’s bedchamber. The trusting fool always left his door unlocked. The Evil King opened the door, entered, closed the door softly behind him, and paused while he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a single lit candle inside of the room that was sitting on Snow’s dresser. The flickering orange flame illuminated two pale figures sleeping side by side on the bed on top of the red silk sheets.

A sneer formed on Reginald’s face at the lewd sight. Apparently, Snow had seduced another young woman into his bed with false promises of undying love, no doubt. Reginald crept closer to the bed and peered down at Prince Snow and the woman he’d recently fucked. Reginald startled when he recognized her. Princess Florinda of Cross Kingdom - home to the Inquisitors. My, my, dangerous bedfellows indeed. But dangerous to whom, I wonder? To Snow? Or to me?

Reginald knew most of the people who’d attended his birthday celebration had probably assumed he’d allowed the Princess Florinda to attend to foster good relations between Apple Kingdom and Cross Kingdom. If a friendship between Prince Snow and Princess Florinda blossomed it could perhaps lead to marriage and a truce between their two Kingdoms.

Those people were wrong, however. Reginald hadn’t allowed Florinda to attend the ball for Snow’s sake, but for himself. He had an eye on the lovely princess. Despite the fact he was currently married to Isidora - something he considered to be a temporary situation anyways - he’d planned on wooing the princess. Of course, Snow had ruined his devious plans by stealing Florinda’s attention away from himself where it should have been. Curse you, Snow!

According to Reginald’s spies the pious daughter of King Cross had been a virgin. Reginald scowled as he gazed down upon her naked form. Well, thanks to Snow she wasn’t a virgin anymore if she’d ever been one. He had his doubts about that now. She had hopped into Snow’s bed a little too freely. Reginald started to grind his back molars unconsciously.

One of the pastimes Reginald enjoyed most was deflowering virgins. There was something thrilling about destroying their innocence and purity, and corrupting them. He felt as though he were bringing them down to his level. Princess Florinda was ‘used goods’, and in Reginald’s opinion no better than a common whore now. Snow stole this from me. She’s completely worthless now. I most certainly do no want my stepson’s sloppy seconds. So much for an alliance. I suppose I’ll just have to destroy Cross Kingdom after all. Oh well…it should be entertaining at the very least.

Florinda stirred in her sleep and snuggled closer to Snow’s side. She was using Snow’s bicep as a pillow and one of her hands was directly over one of Snow’s nipples. It was a truly scandalous position for a young, unmarried woman to be caught in. For a moment, Reginald felt an overwhelming, murderous urge to kill Florinda rise up inside of him.

The Evil King raised his right hand, summoned a dagger from his pocket dimension, and held the dagger over Florinda’s chest, prepared to stab her through the heart with it. Reginald started to pant for breath and his hand trembled as he struggled to rein in his temper. I should kill her for betraying my expectations! But if I kill Florinda now it will wake up Snow and I’ll miss my chance to rip out his heart and control him with it.

Reginald took deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down. His body continued to tremble. He swallowed and vanished the dagger with a simple spell. Reginald turned his full attention to Prince Snow, who was sleeping soundly with a contented expression on his face. A half-smile was curling the prince’s full lips.

A twisted grin spread across Reginald’s face. Smile while you can, Prince. This is the beginning of the end of your happiness. You will never be truly happy after this day. The Evil King channeled his magic, chanted the words of a spell, and reached his hand out towards Snow’s chest. The wizard’s dark magic allowed his hand to pass right through Snow’s chest and he was able to grasp Snow’s heart. When Reginald removed his hand from Snow’s chest he was holding Snow’s beating heart in the palm of his hand.

Reginald looked down at the glowing, beating, red heart in his hand, and inwardly cackled. Buwahaha! Your will belongs to me now, my puppet prince.

***

A few minutes later…

“Ah!” Snow sat up in bed, and blinked around at his surroundings. He’d awakened from a nightmare. What the hell was that?

Florinda stirred beside him on the bed and absentmindedly stroked her hand over his muscular chest. “Hmm. Snow, what’s wrong?”

“I had a nightmare…” Snow frowned. “I think.”

Florinda’s tired expression turned concerned and she sat up before reaching out her hand to caress Snow’s cheek. “Allow me to help you take your mind off such things.”

Snow’s gaze dropped to Florinda’s bare breasts and he could feel the blood in his body rushing south as his cock began to harden. Last night, they’d had sex, and Snow had been hoping to feel something special during their union, but all he’d felt was the usual carnal pleasure that came from fucking a woman.

And now it was even worse. Snow felt even less for Florinda when compared to last night. Snow’s chest felt hollow all of a sudden. His emotions felt dulled. Snow unconsciously ran his hand over the center of his chest.

Shit. Maybe my heart really is faulty and I’m incapable of falling in love. Snow raked his hand back through his short, wavy black hair, and surreptitiously let his eyes rake over Florinda’s naked form. Florinda is smart, beautiful and brave. She’s perfect. It should have been easy to fall in love with her at first sight even. But I didn’t. And I’m definitely not in love with her now after we’ve had sex.

What the hell is wrong with me? Will I ever know ‘love’? Will I ever know what ‘being in love’ feels like? And how does Florinda even feel about me? Does she love me? Or is she just being affected by my charm ability? Maybe ‘lust’ is ‘love’ after all, and people are just being delusional when they say they’re in love.

Snow ducked his head down so that he could pull one of Florinda’s nipples into his mouth and suckle it. Oh well. At least, he could feel good for a little while even if that pleasurable feeling was rather fleeting.

***

Later that same day, Snow decided to summon the aristocracy to the castle in order to hold court and announce to his subjects that he intended to marry Princess Florinda Cross. Snow rubbed his stomach that had apparently decided to tie itself up into knots due to his nerves. Snow was plagued with doubts about whether or not he was doing the right thing.

Snow didn’t love Florinda, but he hoped that with time he’d come to love her. Their union would likely put an end to the war between their two Kingdoms as well. Eventually, Snow would become King, and with Florinda’s support he’d have the people accept that he wanted to put an end to slavery, and create an environment where wizards, witches and dullards could live side by side in peace and harmony.

A wizard, such as himself, marrying a dullard, who also happened to be the Head Inquisitor’s daughter, would set an example for the witches and wizards living in his Kingdom. Snow hoped his marriage would inspire the people to put aside their prejudices and look to the future.