"You wil want for nothing after today my dear Regina. Tomorrow, you will be a queen."
The young girl had to bite her tongue and hold herself down in place to avoid slapping her mother for the positivity in her forced decisions being made for her own daughter. She felt hot tears sting at the corner of her eyes and her fists curled up while still tucked down next to her sides. Tomorrow she will be queen, and tomorrow she will be broken. In the small time-frame of twenty four hours she had had everything in the palm of her hands and lost it all by the words of that bastard child Snow White. Tomorrow she will go from one abusive relationship to the next, the only thing changing would be the abuser. She already possessed the necessary self-control to stay still and take it, to be the good girl that she's supposed to be. She had a routine in her head as a way to cope when her mother was beating her on too many occasions that she did not want to account for; a song that Daniel and her once sang together during the times in the middle of the night where Regina snuck away and found comfort in his arms. When the song came to life it gave off feelings of grandeur and a life full of wealth, success and happiness. She imagined large open fields full of sunflowers and daisies; she thought of a home that she had never had. The soft hum of lyrics inside of her head didn't take the pain away but it did make it easier, any distraction is a good distraction. As the internal music carried on inside her nerve-wracked brain she felt the stinging of a hand against her right cheek.
"Stand up straightened listen to me when I'm talking to you, you vile girl!", Cora ordered her. Others would be shocked at the older woman's ability to completely flip in personality and behavior, but to Regina it was just another day. Slapping was one of the lighter punishments she was used to receiving and if that is all she was belittled for today it would be a quiet blessing. She looked down at her knees that were currently covered by the wedding dress her mother had insisted on fixing up for last minute alterations, knowing exactly where the bruises on her legs lied underneath the fabric. The one on the top for the night that she had slipped in the dining hall and broken her mother's vase. The one on her hip for the incident where she spoke too far out of line and was immediately corrected as her father sat on the other side of the room and watched with wide eyes. The largest bruise in the middle was given to her just a day ago when she was caught trying to run away with her now-dead lover. The bruises that were once underneath the fresh ones were healed on the inside but still crumbled her to pieces on this inside. Taking a deep breath, she stared at her mother, the woman who wanted nothing more than for her daughter to be queen. She did not love her daughter, but wanted to be a part of the royal family so strongly that she was perfectly unaffected by moving anything and anyone that tempted to stand in her way. This was her dream and she was willing to put her child's life in the hands of an evil soul to gain it.
She was the type of monster that we only hear about but do not see.
"Now, are you going to do what you're told or must you receive more punishment for your poor stature?" Regina felt her eye flinch at the threat of being hurt once again, surprised that after all of these years she still is not used to these actions. She wondered at that moment where her father was and if he was thinking of the torture he was looking past with a blind eye. She had ran to her father in secret for years, letting him wipe the tears away that he helped cause. Those moments have faded long ago and she has gone from having people who pretended to love her to people who did not love her at all.
"Yes mother. I'll be a good girl.", she replied in the softest tone she knew how. The mother smiled and ran her fingers through her daughters hair in a false-loving motion, doing the best to play the part of a parent who is proud of her spawn.
"It's time for you to return to your bedroom for the night Regina. Take this dress off and get into your night clothes, you have an important day just around the corner. Remember, and tomorrow -", Cora stopped to let Regina finish the sentence. The young girl bowed her head down in silent shame and spoke the words that were being waited for.
"…and tomorrow I will be queen."