Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]

THREE

"Ow, ow, ow... Millie, gentle!"

"But miss, we haven't much time left. You'll just have to—"

"Suck it up, Princess?" Ruby winced as Millie tried to slide the comb-of-doom through her curls, which were tear-inducingly-knotty—not that Ruby was going to cry.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes tight, gripping the edge of the seat as hard as she could until the ordeal was over.

Moments earlier, Millie had tried to 'assist' Ruby with her lukewarm bath. Ruby had refused—not accustomed to standing naked in front of another or having the said person 'help' with the task. What kind of person needed someone's help when bathing?

Ew! It's called privacy and decency, and no thank you.

Not that she'd had the heart to say it to eager-to-aid Millie.

Millie, now rushed beyond words, secured the last of the pins into Ruby's hair, which she'd plaited and coiled into a gorgeous neat crown on Ruby's head. She clamoured to the bed and fetched the dress hanging there, along with something Ruby had never thought she'd wear. A corset.

You're joking! Her eyebrows reached for her hairline. "You want me to wear that?"

Millie clicked her tongue, roughly flipping her around—in exasperation. She'd had enough of this foolish girl who seemed to take far less pride in her look than the real princess.

The real Princess would not have peeped a word of protest. Not one word. Nor would she have denied Millie the right to carry out her job. What sort of woman didn't seek aid getting in and out of a slippery bathtub? What idiot would risk their noble little head?!

Millie had to shake that thought out of her head. The girl in front of her, fussing over this and that, and squirming like a worm, refusing to wear a corset, wasn't a noble. Not really.

"What was that you said earlier, Lady Black?" Millie pushed the girl against the bedpost, her knee digging into the girl's back to anchor her as she pulled tight the silk laces of the Princess's corset.

"Suck it up, Princess, wasn't it? Well, I don't know what sucking has to do with princesses, and you may not be my Princess, but for all the good it will do us, my head hangs tomorrow morning if you and I can't convince the Queen you are who you are meant to be—her only daughter."

Millie yanked hard on the lace once more, acutely aware that Queen Snow White—with her rosy-red lips, her snow white skin, and her black hair and heart—was not one to suffer a wide waist on her daughter. The need for a tiny waist was greater this morning. The combination of a less than ideal candidate, urgency, and an unwilling waist were not really helping. There was still the task of putting the gown on before the guards came to fetch the Princess for her mother.

Millie pulled the strings again, desperately hoping to shrink that waist one more inch—what did the girl eat? Her stomach, though flat, seemed to be as taut as a hard-working man's.