When Emma awoke, the bed was cold, despite the many furs and blankets. The room itself was warm because of the fireplace. She was used to it by now however, since being by Regina's side meant understanding things about her and accepting them, even if they bothered her to the core. Like waking up alone. Though, with Regina in the room, she was not technically alone. There she sat, clothed in only a light robe, on the satin padded pew, staring at that damned mirror again.
Emma wrapped herself in one of the blankets and tiptoed over to Regina on bare feet. Where the reflection of her lover should have been, was instead, as usual, her mother. It seemed that ever since Emma had decided to defy her parents and join the Evil Queen in her War against them, Snow's Army had become more desperate with each passing day.
She watched for only a second as Snow gave orders to her general, before she gently laid her hand on Regina's shoulder.
"Won't you come back to bed?" she asked knowing she wouldn't receive an answer.
As Snow and David brooded over maps of what was once their kingdom, Emma wished Regina would just diminish their army and be done with it. Instead she toyed with them, like a cat with a mouse already on the brink of death.
With Regina's tact and superior army, in comparison to the lack of leadership a shepherd and a spoiled Princess could offer, there was no doubt that the war would be over soon - or so Regina had said, or has been saying, it's been over four years now.
They never spoke about why she had waited so long to rekindle their war or where she had been after she was exiled during Emma's early childhood. Emma knew not to ask. Just as Regina knew never to ask what terrible things her parents must have done to her to make her leave the safety of their castle in the middle of a war and join the opposing faction.
In truth they hadn't. There had been no abuse or abandonment, just the constant pressure of being herself. Of being a Princess. And not just any princess, the White Princess, Savior of the land, whose birth had stopped the Evil Queen from casting her curse. Her whole kingdom believed that the love in Emma's heart was so great that even someone as wretched as the Evil Queen couldn't help but take mercy on her and turn back.
Emma knew this was absolute nonsense since the minute she was old enough to understand it. There was nothing special about her. Only years later when she came to Regina's side did she find out from one of the servant girls that Regina's father had died before she was able to cast the curse.
When Regina finally turned away from the mirror there was a twinkle of mischief in her eye.
"There's work to be done" she said dressing both herself and Emma with magic.
4 years earlierShe shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have left the castle, or her room. She shouldn't have even left her bed, but she just couldn't help herself.
From the time she was ten, when she lifted the dusty white sheet off of the old portrait leaning against a wall in the castle's forgotten East Wing, she had been obsessed with the Evil Queen. For hours she had sat on the cold stone floor and stared at the image of the beautiful, stoic-looking woman. Only after two weeks had passed did it dawn on her to pull one of the wooden chairs in the room up to the painting. That was a wonderful day. She was eye to eye with the Queen.
But her bliss hadn't lasted long. About a month after her discovery, her parents started to notice her absence from their meals. She was sneaking food - into what she assumed was a former bedchamber - to eat with the Queen. Her secret was out after David had her followed one day.
Her father had the room sealed to "protect his child" and Emma was left to imagine the dark brown eyes, high cheekbones, the scar above her lip and her plunging neckline.
She lay in her bed making up stories about the Queen to fill in the gaps of what her mother had told her. She pictured her ordering the portrait artist to add the scar in afterwards as he had wanted to leave the blemish out. She pictured her reading in the same library Emma was given lessons in or spending nights in the stables sleeping on hay, even though it was completely unsuitable for a royal to lay on the ground.
She was about sixteen years old when one day - as an escape from her everyday duties - she pictured the Queen riding her horse, not in side-saddle, as usual, when suddenly the daydream changed. It became something different. It became a fantasy.
Nearly a year after that fateful day, while Emma was picking flowers, as was ordered by her mother, the Queen appeared out of nowhere. Emma would have recognized her even if she had been an old hag or cloaked in rags, but she wasn't. She hadn't aged a day from the time the portrait was painted and she was dressed in an intricately patterned red gown with wide sheer sleeves and a high collar laced with black feathers.
Emma's basket fell to the ground as the Queen spoke.
"You are the infant that was to ruin my great curse, my how you've grown." she said looking Emma up and down in a predatory manner.
Not that Emma could blame her for it, nor did she mind. Most of her own mental faculties were currently busy admiring the large gold necklace adorned with small rubies that was seated right on top of the Queen's exquisite cleavage. Her mouth had fallen open and she was unsure how to close it again.
"Does the Pride of the White Kingdom not speak?" the Queen smirked.
"The Queen. You're the Queen." Emma gasped stepping closer when her mind told her she should have stepped back.
"Is that the title you've chosen to call me?" she asked, her right, perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised.
Emma didn't dare answer. There was nothing she could have said that would not have gotten her in trouble. Under no circumstances would she call the Queen evil, but she also didn't want to show weakness and explain to the woman of her dreams why not.
When Emma didn't answer and just continued to shyly stare and blush at the Queen, she nodded and said:
"Interesting." and vanished into a cloud of purple smoke.
When Emma returned to the castle, she said not a word to anyone about their meeting. It only took about a week for word of the Queen's reappearance to reach the White Kingdom. She had been assembling an army and moved into her fortress in a less than secretive manner. Snow and David declared war two weeks later, when Regina started collecting tax and invoking her own laws.
Now it was 6 months later and Emma was standing in the middle of the dark throne room kneeling before the woman who had caused her family so much hardship. She wasn't sure how she had ended up here. After years of rationalizing the Queen's actions and listening to the tales of her power, it was as if Emma had been staring into the sun. She couldn't tell if she was now blind or if she had begun to see clearly for the first time.
Either way Regina never once asked her why, all she asked for was loyalty, Which Emma gave freely, along with her love.
Flashback endAt the edge of the forest, looking out over the tiny village, they sat on their respective horses. Regina's as black as night, and Emma's white as the snow surrounding them. She could still remember the smirk on Regina's face the day she had given Attila to her. A white stead for the white Princess.
Those were the kind of small joys the Queen allowed herself. Most of the peasants assumed that Regina was a self-indulgent ruler, out for power to feed her greed, but it was quite the opposite. The only person who seemed to hate this war as much as Emma did was Regina. She didn't enjoy sending her men into the fray, or having to adjust the taxes for the public to fund them. But she did. It was a necessity to her. Hoping and wishing would not keep Emma's parents from banning Regina from her kingdom, or trying to execute her for taking her own throne.
Regina's war was about self-preservation as much as it was about revenge.
It was the middle of the night and Snow's army had made a stop in the village to warm themselves. Warfare in the dead of winter meant compromise. Instead of waiting for them to come into the Queen's territory, Regina had decided to meet them halfway.
Emma thought that Snow was perpetually too soft with her army, taking pity on them and babying them. As a general of Regina's knights and the commander of the front line of defence, she knew real leadership when she saw it. In Regina's army there was no rest, no sleep and no pit stops. Not even for Emma, unless of course, she was in the Queen's bed, and even then they never jeopardized war strategy.
Snow's men were sitting ducks, hanging around in taverns, getting hot baths from village maidens. It was almost as if Snow had forgotten what a relentless enemy Regina could be. She was getting soft in her later years.
"You would think Snow White's army would fare better in the winter," Regina spoke for the first time since they had left the stables.
"Should we leave them to the elements?" Emma asked looking back at the horde of footmen ready to strike.
"No. Kill them all" Regina demanded after a quick pause.
"As you wish, my Queen" Emma said, giving the signal to her men.
They were stealthy and quiet, and in no time they surrounded the village. Panic broke out soon after they attacked. Not that the men were bothered. Over the years, Regina's soldiers have learned the kind of precision and discipline that has kept them alive during and after the fight.
Not a single soldier escaped and only three of Regina's men were lost in battle.
After the fight Emma carried the general's bloody head to Regina on foot to present her with her victory.
"It is done." she said bowing her head to her Queen.
"I don't believe so" Regina says. When Emma followed her line of sight she sees the last of the fleeing villagers scramble into the forest.
"Only women, children and the sick, your Majesty" Emma reassures her looking up into Regina's face. She hadn't moved an inch and neither did her horse.
"Did I not clearly say 'all'?" she said giving Emma a cold look.
"Regina-"
"All" she demands. Slowly the other soldiers return from their battle.
"I ca-I won't. Order one of the other soldiers." Emma defiantly lifts up her chin.
They stare each other down. Regina not making any attempt to address one of the other soldiers.
"Your Majesty, the battle is won shall the soldiers return to their barracks?" Berkeley, Emma's second in command asks.
Emma can see the vein pulsing in Regina's forehead and she knows she overstepped, but women and children are the line she draws in the sand, or snow in this instance.
"Yes, Berkeley. All of the soldiers should return to the barracks and await further orders." Regina announces, still not taking her eyes off of Emma.
Emma hated the barracks. The men didn't bother her, the smell didn't bother her, neither did "roughing it" bother her, but the barrack was basically the dog house for Emma. When Regina was displeased with her, something that didn't happen often, she slept in the barracks. What bothered her was sleeping alone, and knowing Regina was angry and also alone.
Uttering the words to anyone would have been ridiculous, and would probably earn her a death sentence, but she worried about Regina. When she pulled back so far behind her walls that even Emma couldn't reach her, it worried her. It worried everyone else as well, but they were worried about themselves. Emma was concerned with the Queen's wellbeing.
The only upside to the barracks was that she could avoid that mirror. She felt as if Snow was in the bed chambers with her every time Regina used it. She didn't enjoy seeing her mother, much less in the state she was usually in when she was in that room
It has been three days. She has not seen Regina in three days. Emma should have been used to it. She had spent her first year almost entirely in the barracks while trying to win Regina's trust. Emma believed she had it now, but defying her direct orders in front of her men? It was a wonder she hadn't taken Emma's head clean off right there. Which probably meant there was an even worse punishment in store for her.
And it came that afternoon. Berkley felt it his duty to inform Emma that the Queen had sent the dragon to char the remains of the village.
Emma was livid. Not only had Regina gone over the top to show her that she didn't give a fuck about Emma's moral compass, but she had used Maleficent - the Queen's former lover, who also happened to turn into a dragon - in order to do so.
When jealousy and anger became too much, Emma grabbed her sword and headed to the dungeons.
Hours later, when the candles were burning low and the straw men in the practice chamber were dismembered, she had taken to bow and arrow. Trying to control her breathing enough to actually hit the target was hard as she was still full of anger.
"Well you've made quite the mess." She heard Regina behind her. She dismissed the young guard. He had been sleeping against the stone wall anyway.
"I made a mess?" Emma said not turning around. She knew what Regina was referring to; there were straw, scraps of leather and pieces of wood all over the floor from the dummies.
"You acted, and continued to act like a petulant child. I did what needed to be done." Regina said nonchalantly. She may have even smirked but Emma was not foolish enough to think she was no longer angry.
"Why did you have to send her?" Emma growled giving up on the bow and arrow and turning around to resume with her sword.
Damn that woman. She was wearing a blue velvet dress so tight Emma would have wondered how she was even breathing had she not been so distracted.
"To rain fire of course. That is what dragons do." This time Emma was facing her, so she didn't miss the smirk on Regina's face. She clenched her jaw and reached for her sword, only to have Regina slide it barely out of reach with magic.
Emma lifted her head to look into Regina's eyes just in time to see her face soften almost unnoticeably. Almost.
"Come, you are filthy" she said, and before Emma could react, her eyebrows raised "I won't tell you again." she turned and there was a light chiming noise made by the intricate jewels hanging adoringly from her shoulders and naked back.
Emma couldn't help herself and frankly, she didn't have the energy to fight with Regina. She followed her to the bath next to her bed chambers. As she slowly undressed, trying to avoid straining her muscles too much, Regina magicked her a hot bath smelling of rose water and oils.
"Come" she said again as she guided Emma towards it.
Emma carefully let herself into the stone tub winching as the hot water touched her battle wounds. Regina could have healed her, but she knew she had forfeited that privilege with her defiance. Instead she used her magic to completely undress herself. Emma's eyes went wide, not expecting Regina to join her in the bath. And she didn't.
"You wouldn't want my pretty dress to get all… wet, would you?" Emma just shook her head.
She was already way too turned on by this whole situation to give way to the thought in the back of her mind that tried to remind her that she was still to expect her punishment.
After making a stool appear on the floor next to the tub, Regina dipped the sponge taken from a shelf into the soapy water and sat down. She then ran it deliberately slow and painfully soft along Emma's arms and then her shoulders. Even though Emma felt the need to close her eyes and give into the feeling, she couldn't take her eyes off Regina. She looked almost playful, with a smile and her eyes flashing.
Emma watched Regina stand and move the stool. It was now behind her back where she could no longer see Regina.
She reached Emma's back, letting hot water from the sponge flow over the nape of her neck. She hadn't spoken. No snide remark or joke about Emma's jealousy. Maybe she understood Emma's dilemma and was showing her that she accepted her choice, or maybe, in reality, she was planning all the things she'd do to her later.
"I'm sorry I didn't do what you asked." Emma said trying to get in front of this whole thing.
Instead of answering, Regina's hands moved to her chest, gently drawing patterns on her skin getting closer and closer to her already hardened nipples. She could feel Regina's breath against her ear as her right hand traveled lower, between her breasts and stroked past her stomach lightly, the sponge floating and forgotten above the water's surface.
Finally, Emma's eyes closed as Regina reached her center. She knew it wouldn't take much. She was primed and ready considering all the pent up feelings she'd been avoiding for the last three days.
"I am not angry" Regina whispered trailing her fingers along Emma's labia slowly up and down. Emma's back arched.
"You couldn't do what I asked," she said now drawing slow circles around Emma's already swollen clit. Emma bristled at the wording; the Queen never asked for anything, she demanded, but she was too distracted by the hand to say anything.
"So, I got someone else to get it done" just as Emma was about to protest, Regina entered her, not roughly, but with enough force to make her mind go blank. Regina was leaned against her back and she could feel how hard her nipples were.
As she thrust in and out of Emma slowly the water began to slosh against the rim of the tub, spilling over the sides. Emma laid her head back onto Regina's shoulder and received a kiss against her temple. They moved together and Emma could feel her climax building quick.
"Regina… please" she whined, needing just a little bit more to put her over the edge.
"You did, however, confront me within earshot of my men," Regina continued as if they were having a dinner conversation.
.
"Please…" Emma begged as Regina pressed her thumb into Emma's bundle of nerves.
"My brave, foolish knight" she said and bit Emma's ear. She was right on the edge, and she ground her hips down to get more friction against Regina's hand.
"I love you." she breathed into Emma's ear, barely audible over the sounds of the water splashing and her own moans. And just like that Emma came for her Queen. When she had ridden out the waves of pleasure, Regina pulled her hand out of the water, stood from the stool and walked towards the bedchamber, looking back only to say:
"Now, come and receive your punishment for your defiance."
The only thing keeping Emma from closing her eyes was the fear of falling asleep and drowning in the bath. As soon as she could feel her legs again, or control them for that matter, she stood and walked over to the royal four poster bed on shaky legs. Her Majesty did not like to be kept waiting.
It was a restless night for Emma. She was exhausted and begging incoherently when Regina had finally relented. Even after they were both satisfied and sated Regina was always an unsettled sleeper. Nightmares and tossing and turning was another thing that they never discussed.
The first moments of Emma's morning were almost identical to the one before. All she saw was Regina's barely clothed back as the Queen stared into the mirror.
Unlike yesterday however, it was not a single image Emma could see. With each wave of Regina's hand the pictures changed from Snow's war room to the general's quarters, to the inside of Granny's hut.
"Do you know why this mirror is so dear to me?" Regina asked rhetorically as Emma slipped out from under the covers and made her way over to where her lover sat on the same satin padded pew.
"The frame was given to me as a wedding gift," Emma winced as she sat next to Regina's side, not just from pain but also from the memory of who she was married to.
"Just the frame?" she asked as she settled against Regina's back, the image suddenly flashing to the woods outside of Snow's castle.
"No, there was glass in it, but my mother thought it was an impersonal gift, so she broke it." there was a hint of amusement in her voice that Emma didn't quite understand.
Snow had told her about Cora while she was growing up, to make her understand the Evil Queen. For Emma these were never cautionary tales. They were almost legends. She had latched on to every detail about Regina even if it involved that horrid woman.
"Do you think it's more personal now?" she felt the soft fabric of Regina's robe against her cheek as she turned away from it. She hated that mirror with a passion.
"It's very useful to me. Almost like a loyal servant or admirer," she laughed a little but then turned serious, "I know you don't like looking at it, but you wouldn't want our enemies to gain the upper hand would you?"
"No, my Queen." Emma said plainly.
"And even though I cannot harm your wench of a mother, her armies are protected by no such magic." her tone was now harsher and bitter.
As Emma was peacefully listening to Regina's heartbeat and slowly drifted back to sleep, she was pulled out of her doze when she felt Regina's muscles tense up and her breath stop.
"What does she think she's doing!" as soon as the words were out of Regina's mouth, Emma lost her pillow. She regained her balance and looked to the mirror seeing Snow White herself lead what looked like a group of villagers into a cave.
"Are those-"
"Survivors! Like rats fleeing the ship they have found some driftwood!" The vein in Regina's forehead was more prominent than it has been for a while and her eyes were burning with rage.
While Emma watched her mother exit the cave and cover its opening with large branches (really mother? Your banditry has seen better days…), Regina magicked herself her red riding jacket, leather skin tight pants and all the jewelry that came with it. To Emma's great dismay she was also now dressed in similarly tight black pants and her chainmail coat.
"Regina-"
"She thinks she can hide them from me? When she was the one who put them in danger in the first place! In MY kingdom?" Regina said, now walking back and forth just getting more and more angry.
Emma knew what was going to happen next. She knew yet it still took her by surprise when the tingling of purple smoke faded and she was standing in a cave lit only by about half a dozen torches mounted on the walls.
Frightened villagers moved further into the cave, tuning their heads to avoid eye contact at any cost. There was mumbling and shuffling among the villagers, they saw Emma and Regina blocking the entrance, trapping the survivors inside the cave.
"You dare defy your Queen?" Regina snarled, her voice echoing off the cave walls. Emma took a quick head count. From what she could see, there were about twenty people in the cave.
A scruffy and unwashed man dressed in rags stepped forward.
"Please, your Majesty, our village was destroyed" he pleaded. He was hunching over to show her as much respect as possible but Emma could see the defiance in his eyes. She could always see it.
Regina was feared by her subjects, the mere thought of her existence made grown men shudder and shriek in Snow's territory, and yet even powerless villagers like these still found a way to retain some fight in them.
"And why was that? You were aiding an invading army!" Regina said, hardly containing her anger. All Emma could do was stand there, watch their exchange and feel torn. She had chosen her side long ago and fought for it daily, but these people were uninvolved.
Her anger at her mother began to build as she saw the scared faces. Snow did this. She had given them hope and promised them safety, even risked their lives by allowing her army to rest in their village.
"This is Snow White's land!" came a yell from the back of the crowd. It was impossible to tell who had said it in the dim light.
"Is this how you all feel?" Regina said suddenly, a wicked smile on her lips. Emma sent a prayer to the Gods that the man had his wits about him.
"She is the only Queen we'll ever accept!" He did not apparently.
Emma only got a quick glance at Regina's face - her lips slightly parted, her eyes burning with rage, and her pale cheeks colored a light shade of pink - before her hand twisted in a way Emma had become accustomed to.
Everything went dark. The only thing Emma could perceive was Regina's voice.
"Then you will die by the hands of the true Queen of this land!" this was followed by the sound of her sword scraping against her sheath.
Regina had reached over and pulled the sword hanging by Emma's side. She didn't usually use weapons but it seemed that today, magic just wouldn't do.
Panic broke out as the villagers tried to escape, pushing Emma aside, but apparently Regina had blocked the cave's entrance with magic. Emma swiftly moved to the side and pressed against the wall of the cave as people began pushing each other and trying desperately to escape.
All of this was accentuated by the sound of the sword slicing through bodies and hitting the stone walls of the cave. Screams of pain both male and female sounded like they were multiplying in the cave as if the more people died the more people were dying.
The human body has the tendency to increase the power of its senses when one is cut off. Emma could smell the fear radiating off the slowly dwindling survivors. There couldn't have been more than 8 or 6 people left. Regina was taking her time.
Shrieks of agony rang in Emma's ears, she knew these sounds. She was a seasoned knight and had seen many battles in her time with Regina. She knew what a body sounded like when it was being impaled on a sword or what a man screamed like after a limb was separated. This however was different from the background sounds of a battlefield that one could easily drown out. It was up close and personal because of the dark and amplified because of the cave echoes.
Slowly the screaming faded and there was only one voice left pleading for his life. Emma shut her eyes tight as if she could stop the inevitable. There was the sound of her sword whistling through the air and then two thuds followed shortly one after the other, a smaller one and then a large heavy one.
And then there was nothing. Silence had a new layer in Emma's ears.
Without warning the cave was lit again by the torches. Emma's eyes slowly opened to the carnage. There were about twenty bodies scattered throughout the cave ground. Men, women, even children lay, their ragged clothes soaking up their own blood.
Emma turned and faced Regina. The Queen was completely still, absolutely bathed in blood from head to toe, with a mad look still in her eyes.
Stepping over the bodies, Emma moved closer to her Queen, careful not to startle her. She remembered what bloodlust felt like; it felt like the world was just a series of flashes that moved too fast and you were just trying to catch on. She gently pulled the dripping sword from Regina's rigid hand and let it slide to the floor.
While she was bent down to make sure it didn't make a shattering noise - neither she nor Regina would be able to stand that loud of a noise in this moment - she saw something in a back corner of the cave.
Now that Regina's magic lit the torches, the lighting was somewhat better than from normal fire and no crowd was standing in the way so Emma could now clearly see two big dark brown eyes through the cracks in the back wall. Unblinking and afraid.
She placed her hands on Regina's shoulder to lower her still raised arms, using just the smallest amount of pressure. And when they finally gave in, she wrapped her own arms loosely around Regina's waist and spoke in her ear, not taking her eyes off the ones in the corner watching them closely.
"Breathe my love, just breathe."