Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]

SEVEN

Ruby-Rose II felt a chill in the air as Millie ushered her into the bed-chamber.

"Shall we get you out of this dress you so despise and get you into your riding gear, milady?"

Millie stopped just inside the door and flashed a pained smile. "My apologies. I nearly forgot. You are not her. But you did splendidly, I must say. I don't think the Queen suspected anything untoward."

Ruby ignored the girl for a moment. Painfully trying to concentrate on the ambience of the room. Something had shifted from the moment they had left it until their return. The air smelled slightly sour and...

"Is it just me, or is it freezing in here, Millie?" she asked as goosebumps prickled her skin underneath the dress's puffy, hideous sleeves.

Millie eyed the room curiously. "I feel nothing at all, your ladyship."

Ruby pulled Millie to where she stood. "There. Do you feel it now?"

She watched Millie scrunch up her face in concentration, only to shake her head a moment later. "I feel nothing of the sort, Ruby-Rose, but if you're cold, I shall call a hearth girl and have a fire roaring in all but a moment."

There it was again, a strange pulse in the air, like a soft brush of the wind. Ruby's goosebumps returned with fervour. She pulled her sleeve up to show Millie her prickled forearm. "See."

Millie eyed the fake Princess's forearm, and a worried look flickered on her face.

"What is it, Millie? Am I coming down with something—like smallpox? Please, I don't wanna die of smallpox, all blistered and stuff. Where I come from, it doesn't exist anymore."

"Smallpox?" Millie looked more troubled than before. "I know not what smallpox is ma'am, but if you mean, the Blight, then I shall not worry. Chills are the last stage. Before that you get a fever, you can't keep your food down, and you will become as frail as my brother Hans after that horrid nightmare he went through as a child." Millie shuddered at her memory. "No, milady. This is something else entirely, I'm afraid."

Panic welled in Ruby's chest then, of course. What could be worse than Blight then? Even the name sounded horrible.

She began clawing at her skin, trying to rid whatever had Millie look so concerned. "What is wrong with me? Tell me."

Millie's gentle arm stopped her frantic scratching. "It's nothing to worry your pretty little head with."

"Then why do you look so worried?"

Millie leaned in and whispered such a thing, it had Ruby stand there with her mouth agape and her eyes wild with shock.

"You're kidding me!"

Millie smiled awkwardly. "I wish I were the right person to explain this to you, milady, but I know very little about it, meself."

Ruby felt another round of chills then and couldn't help but notice Millie indeed stood undisturbed by whatever was happening to her. It wasn't the room at all.