The Poisoned Princess: A Snow White Retelling (The Skazka Fairy Tales)

DIMITRI

I’m on my feet instantly, taking Ivanka with me. Keeping her behind me, I grab one of the knives from where I dropped them earlier and turn toward the noise. Nothing has come this close to the cottage before, not in all the months we’ve been here. I didn’t imagine the noise, not if Ivanka’s tight grip on my waist is any indication.

“Go inside,” I say, not taking my eyes off the forest.

“Absolutely not,” she responds. I growl a warning, but she’s unfazed.

“Ivanka.”

“Don’t Ivanka me. The other men aren’t here. You need someone to watch your back.”

“I don’t need to worry about you—”

“Then don’t.” She stops me before I can continue. “There’s something out there, so let’s go see what it is.” Then she sprints around me, stopping only long enough to grab one of my daggers. I swear this girl is going to be the death of me.

I take off after her, and catch her around the waist just as she’s about to enter the woods. I pin her to me with one hand, holding my dagger with the other.

“Weren’t you listening to anything I’ve said? You run away from danger, not toward it.” I hiss into her ear, my grip around her waist tightening.

“I don’t want to run, Dimitri,” she says, and there’s something in her voice that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “I feel like all I’ve done my entire life is run away. I don’t want to be that person anymore. I want to face things head on and on my terms.”

I want to argue with that, but of course I can’t. I had to come to the same realization in my own life, so it’s not like I can take this moment away from her. But I don’t have to like it.

“I’m glad you’re learning these things about yourself, but maybe blindly running into a magical forest isn’t the best way to start.”

“Well, too late now. We’re here. Can we please just go?” She turns her head to the right, meeting my eyes over her shoulder. I want to kiss that constantly smiling mouth until she’s too dazed to do anything this foolish, but I also see the determination in her eyes. I groan.

“You are a nuisance,” I say, which earns me a grin for some reason.

“Thank you!” she replies a little too brightly. I shake my head as I drop my hand from around her waist, but I don’t move away. Instead, I lace my fingers through hers and pull her after me, before she can protest. Or before I can make a big deal about the way her hand fits perfectly in mine.

“I think there’s something to the left,” Ivanka whispers the same moment I turn us in that direction. The growl reaches our ears again. I have no idea what kind of animal that could be or if we’re walking into some kind of a trap.

“Ivanka—”

“Don’t waste your breath,” she interrupts me, giving my hand a firm squeeze. “Focus on the problem at hand.”

“You’re the problem at hand.” I retort, which for some reason makes her chuckle.

“Glad to see I’ve made an impression.”

This girl. Seriously. But I don’t get a chance to respond, because something moves up ahead. I pull Ivanka beside me as we crouch behind a fallen tree. I blink twice to make sure I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing. On the branch of a tall tree, not even six meters in front of us, sits a bird, but it’s one I’ve never seen before.

It’s large, maybe the size of a newly born calf, but it has no wings or legs. A long tail is curled around the branch three times, holding her upright. I know it’s a her because she wears the face of a woman, her hair is white and long, and she wears a small crown. She’s strange but beautiful; the feathers that cover her body are probably the length of my arm.

“Oh my,” Ivanka breathes out beside me. “She’s beautiful.”

My mind tries to go through all the creatures I’ve read about that could reside in this forest—all the potential threats. There are a few birdlike creatures who wear a face of a woman and not all of them are good. In fact, most are bad. Although, she doesn’t look like a threat. Which means she’s probably more dangerous than I expect.

“We need to go back.” I keep my voice as low as possible, moving closer to Ivanka. “A sirin isn’t to be trifled with.” I tug on Ivanka’s arm, but she hasn’t taken her eyes off the creature, and she’s not budging.

“That’s not what she is, Dimitri,” she whispers. The conviction in her voice makes me pause. She always has such a different view of the forest, and she’s so certain.

“Ivanka—” I almost say it doesn’t matter, we still need to go, but I don’t. It feels important somehow that I trust her in this. “Then what is it?”

At first, she doesn’t answer, but continues to study the creature. Because I’m focused on her, I see the moment she reaches a conclusion. Her eyes light up as she turns to me.

“I think she’s a gamayun.”

The word sounds familiar, and it takes a moment to pull up the memory, before I glance at the creature again. Gamayuns are highly spoken of in the history books: a beautiful woman with the body of a bird and a tail that brings tidings of the future. She is told to bring divine messages.

“I thought gamayuns only reside on an island in the middle of nowhere,” I say, trying to remember the specifics.

“According to the reading I’ve done,” Ivanka replies, “Skazka has the power to summon whomever she deems necessary for the good of the land. I have heard seeing one may bring good luck, even if she has no tidings of the future to share with you.”

“I don’t think you should ask her any questions,” I say, because I can see Ivanka wants to.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think we’re meant to talk to her.” Ivanka nods at the creature just as she unwinds her huge tail, spreading it out like a bird would spread her wings and letting it take her into the sky. We watch until she disappears past the trees in fascination. When she’s completely gone, Ivanka stands.

“I think she is an omen of things to come,” she announces. “Good things.”

“You believe that? You seem to have a lot of trust in this forest.”

Ivanka doesn’t reply right away, looking out toward where the creature disappeared.

“I was always afraid of her,” she finally says. “Of Skazka. A land that could pick and choose whether she takes care of us seems scary—even more so because I got to experience the terror of the forest firsthand when I was younger.

“But I don’t know if those memories hold true anymore. Since I—” she stops, as if looking for the right words, and I wonder if this is when she’ll tell me who she is. I want her to. I want her to trust me with the truth. But then she sighs, and I know she won’t. At least, not now.

“I’ve been in these woods since then,” she says, finally meeting my eyes, “and I think this forest has a lot of good to offer us, if we’re willing to accept that there’s still beauty in the world and we don’t have to expect the worst-case scenario every time.”

“Spoken like a true optimist,” I say. She chuckles.

“My optimism is here to balance out your pessimism.”

“Well, at least we make a good team.”

She glances at me then, a small smile on that temping mouth of hers as she nods.

“That we do.”

IVANKA

As we head back to the cottage, I can’t get over the fact that I saw a gamayun with my own two eyes. No one can even say I was hallucinating because Dimitri was with me. He saw her too.

She was breathtakingly beautiful. The combination of white and yellow in her feathers seem to shine. It would’ve been incredible if I’d had the chance to speak to her, to ask what the future holds for me. But just seeing her has lifted my spirits somehow. It made me almost tell Dimitri exactly who I am. There was a moment there, that I thought that he would simply accept it and then help me figure out what to do next. But then the fear that he won’t be the same Dimitri around me anymore—that he’d treat me differently—overshadowed my fleeting bravery. I know I have to tell him eventually. But right now, I’m choosing the coward’s way out and keeping him to myself for a little while longer.

“Wait, Dimitri, what was the growl we heard then? It couldn’t have been her.” I say and realize that he’s been walking on full alert next to me.

“Exactly,” is all he says. I focus on our surroundings. But I don’t see or hear anything, so I suppose we will never know. We come back into the clearing next to the cottage just as voices reach us. The men have returned.

“Greetings!” Maxim calls out coming around the corner, stopping when he sees us. “Wow, Ivanka. A merchant outfit suits you well.”

I don’t miss Dimitri’s soft growl in Maxim’s direction and neither does the young man, who just grins broader.

“Why thank you, Maxim. I’m quite taken with these trousers myself.” I go to do a little spin when Dimitri’s hand reaches out and grabs my wrist.

“He doesn’t need you to spin.”

“Yes, he does,” Maxim replies. If looks could maim, Maxim would be in trouble. Instead, the younger man is unfazed. He chuckles, giving me a wink, before he backs up with his hands in front of him.

“I’ll leave you two to it.”

Then he spins on his heels and rushes back to the cottage. I turn to Dimitri, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Must you always be so mean to him?”

“He’s the baby. He’s used to it.”

I can’t help but chuckle at the grumpy way Dimitri delivers that statement. I think he might protest my assessment of him, but I find Dimitri adorable. Which isn’t exactly good for me and my situation.

“I—”

I don’t finish whatever I’m going to say, because I hear rustling in the bushes at the edge of the forest, and Dimitri is, once again, grabbing my arm and pulling me behind him. But before we can begin to move, the rustling reoccurs, and an animal steps out of the forest.

“Oh my gosh, a puppy!” I exclaim and move forward immediately. Dimitri pulls me back, looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Seriously, Ivanka? Must you collect all the creatures that live in the forest?” Dimitri asks as the dog comes a few meters closer and then sits again. But he’s not interested in me, he’s staring directly at Dimitri.

“Actually, I think this one is for you,” I reply, grinning. The dog seems to be completely taken by Dimitri, and I can’t even blame him. I can tell it’s a he, the same way I could tell Kroshka was a girl. I just know it. I’m not even going to question how I know at this point.

He’s beautiful too. Thick fur coat, triangular ears, almond-shaped blue eyes. His face, stomach, and paws are white, and the rest of him is copper red. The white around his eyes makes him look like he’s wearing a mask.

“I don’t need a dog,” Dimitri says, still eyeing the creature.

“I think you do,” I chuckle, wiping at the sweat running down my neck. Dimitri’s gaze follows the movement of my hands, before jumping back to meet my eyes. I stand frozen under that gaze, my body immediately ten degrees hotter as my brain replays images of us tangled together, of him holding my hand in the forest. My breathing grows shallow, and I open my mouth to say—I have no idea what—when the dog barks.

“He likes you,” I say, shifting my attention away from the man. Whatever conflicting emotions I’ve been having toward him are just getting worse and worse. The best thing I can do right now is concentrate on our unplanned guest.

“Did I hear a dog?” Yasha’s voice reaches us before he does, then he comes around the corner and stops in his tracks. He stares at the dog and then at the two of us, before calling back toward the front of the house. “There’s a dog here!”

Within a minute, everyone has joined us in the clearing, staring at the dog as the dog stares at them. He’s also very specifically staring at Dimitri.

“I think you have an admirer,” Arseniy comments. The rest of the men chuckle.

“Someone has to like him,” Kostya says, which earns him a glare. The dog takes it all in, moving his gaze from man to man as they talk. That feeling that I had with Kroshka returns, and I feel almost comforted by the dog’s presence. I move toward him, and he turns his attention to me, sitting absolutely still.

“Ivanka, stop trying to give me a heart attack,” Dimitri says, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together once more.

“I only want to pet him,” I pout. Dimitri rolls his eyes.

“You’ve got to stop trying to touch every creature you come across in the woods.”

“But he’s so fluffy.” I smile at the dog and use my free hand to wave at him. “I bet you give great cuddles.”

“Okay, no one is cuddling anyone,” Dimitri says, and I give him another pout.

“But I want a cuddle,” Maxim says, sliding up to Dimitri’s other side and wrapping his arms around the man’s torso. “You give great cuddles.”

Dimitri doesn’t even shove him off, just hugs him with his free arm. I duck my head, keeping my smile hidden for a moment. He’s a softy, no matter what he might say.

“Where did it come from?” Pavel asks.

“He.” I say. All seven of them turn to look at me. “What? You can check, but I’m completely positive.”

They don’t check. I guess they trust me.

“He came out of the forest. Right after we saw the gamayun.” Dimitri’s words cause everyone to perk immediately.

“What?”

“No way!”

“You saw who?”

“We did,” I say, silencing their questions with those two words. “She was beautiful. We didn’t speak with her before she flew away. And then he showed up when we returned. Oh!” I turn to Dimitri, “Do you think that’s why she was here? To bring you the dog?”

“Ivanka, why would an ancient mythical creature bring me a dog?” Dimitri asks.

“I don’t know. Because you need one?”

“I don’t need a dog.” He repeats himself, but I level him with a look.

“You sound like a broken record, and I think a dog would do you some good. Help smooth out some of those rough edges.”

“I don’t have rough edges!”

“You do.” Igor steps up, and for a second, I’d forgotten we weren’t alone. The older man studies the dog, as it stares back at him. He walks all the way over, before he crouches down in front of him. The dog doesn’t even hesitate to step forward and butts his nose against the palm of Igor’s hand. The man chuckles, but obliges, reaching over to pet him.

“Well, we’ll have someone to stand guard when we leave,” Igor says, standing up, and just like that, I guess we’re keeping the dog. But then what he says registers.

“You’re leaving?” I ask, trying my best not to glance at Dimitri, who is still holding my hand so he can probably feel the tension entering my body.

“Da, Dimitri didn’t tell you yet?” Kostya asks. “We have some people to meet, so we’ll be leaving early in the morning.”

“Oh, I see.”

They’ve explained their whole trading system, but I keep forgetting this is something that they do, considering they’re around so much. In the month that I’ve been here, they have been coming and going a lot. I just didn’t expect Dimitri to be leaving again so soon. The dog comes over to stand beside Dimitri, and the men chuckle.

“I guess he really does like you best,” Yasha says, as he begins to strum his balalaika. Everyone turns toward the house and the dog follows them, as if he’s done it his whole life. Dimitri and I are the only ones left, so I tug my hand back.

“I should go see if Pavel needs any help with dinner.”

“Ivanka—”

“Thank you for today, Dimitri. It was…” I’m not sure how to finish that sentence, so I simply smile. “Thank you.”

And then I turn and head toward the house, because for some reason, the thought of him leaving, even for a short time, now weighs heavily on my chest, and I don’t understand that response enough to stay and be around him right now.