Emma found Regina in the mausoleum, lying in front of a pile of hearts. They glowed, the only light in the darkened room, a sickly light that made the tomb look as blood-smeared as a slaughterhouse. Behind her, the boxes that had held the hearts laid scattered on the ground, their metal glinting against the light. That was what disturbed Emma the most. It was all so messy. Regina was never messy. Not the Regina she knew.

"I've actually forgotten who all these belonged to. Awfully careless of me. But do you think that if I crushed them all, I'd get someone Mary-Margaret loves?" Regina said, as if Emma weren't there, or weren't the daughter of her arch-nemesis, or was just a convenient thing to hear her innermost thoughts. Draw the venom out of the wound. "She loves everyone, right? But that's what makes it so meaningless. Because she can always love other people and I will never have anyone who would be… satisfied with me the way Mother was."

Emma felt a tingle in her gut, an unpleasant feeling. Like she wished she had her gun and was glad she hadn't brought it, all at once. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"I would've put them back if someone had asked. If someone had just asked. You all knew I had them, you all knew what that meant. I thought you wanted the leverage. After all, you never know when a heart will come in handy. Maybe I should've offered. I was thinking about it, the morning Hopper was murdered. Or not murdered; it is so hard to keep track of these things, isn't it?"

"I came here to talk, Regina. We can talk about anything you want. But maybe we should just set those aside… or something."

Regina continued, in a louder voice that echoed dimly through the tomb. "You almost had me believing it. I almost thought that I really was the Evil Queen, and Snow White was good, and pure, and would welcome me into her grandson's life with open arms if only I let her be. But that's wrong. She's the Evil Queen."

"She made a mistake. She's a person."

"Yes. A mistake." Regina rose slowly. Her unsteady legs staggered around the hearts, her heel nearly burying itself in one. Emma winced but didn't let herself move. "And she's so sorry. She just regrets it to bits. So if I can just let it go… pretend it never happened… move on with my life… then I can find someone else that matters to me. And she can kill them too. An innocent little accident."

"That's what I came here to talk about."

"Oh?" Regina asked, and stepped over the hearts. Emma breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't so much as brush against them. Only now Regina was in her face and Emma could feel the power coming off her, magic like a swarm of bees under her skin, aching to break out and sting. "Oh really?"

"Yes. Really," Emma said. As Regina stood motionless in front of her, expectant, somehow more threatening than if she were doing anything. Emma wondered if this was how she'd feel trying to defuse a bomb. "You have every right to be angry, but Cora was… she was a threat. She had to be stopped."

And, almost impossibly, Regina got closer. She bent forward toward Emma, like copper wire to a magnet. "If Mary-Margaret had wanted that, she could've crushed her heart the moment she found it. Or just forced her to go to jail, meek as a kitten. We have one of those. It's quite comfortable, as I'm sure you're aware. But using me—me—to get her revenge? That's something I would do. It's what you do when you want to win."

"This isn't a game, Regina. We don't have to keep scoring points off each other. We can negotiate. We can try to reach an understanding—"

"I understand. I absolutely understand. She'll never forgive me for the death of her father. And neither will her friends. But she doesn't have the strength of darkness. She can't stand the thought of having me loose, hating her, plotting against her. She wants to feel safe in her nice, warm bed with her nice, warm family. So she'll play at being the innocent like she always has to make me go away so she can hate and despise me in peace."

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?" Regina looked down, to Emma's attire. The usual, jeans and a leather jacket, with a gray hoodie underneath that had an ex-boyfriend's college logo on the front. Regina plucked a corner of the jacket and lifted it a few inches. No more than that, but Emma felt herself start to sweat. "You've known Snow White for a few months, and most of that was a lie. Well, an irony. What if Snow White really were as sickly sweet as she made herself out to be? But I—I can't even remember my life without her in it. I know her better than you ever will. I know the truth she lies to keep from herself. How, odd as it seems, things always just seem to work out for her."

"Like the time she refused to take a life to save her mother's?" Emma asked, fraying, frustration showing in her knotted jaw. "To save her from your mother's poison?"

"I never said she wasn't weak. Just that weakness and ruthlessness make for an ugly combination. You should be glad I spared you her upbringing. Brought up in the lap of luxury, you would've been as spoiled as her."

"I'd have taken my chances," Emma said tersely. "Look, you wanna vent, I can get us some beer, we'll vent. I may not know much, but I'm a helluva drinking buddy. But if you want to negotiate—"

"You keep saying that word." Regina took a step back, the leather of Emma's jacket slipping from her fingers. "What exactly do you think it means?"

"Restitution. Some kind of truce. I don't know, name your terms."

Regina laughed. It was almost a cackle, a clichéd evil witch sound, but too broken to be that. It was a noise you'd make when you needed to show your pain, but couldn't let it be in tears. "They don't know you're here, do they?"

Emma said nothing, which was as good as saying everything.

"The Savior! Not enough to break the curse, now she'll end the blood feud! You child. You pathetic, ignorant, willfully ignorant—child! Meddling in affairs you can't hope to understand—"

"No, I get it. She hurt you, you want payback. Happened in the orphanage all the time. Someone broke something, someone stole something, we settled it in trade. There must be something you want."

"Your mother's heart." Regina smiled like a scalpel was cutting it across her face. "Since she's so sorry, so remorseful… why don't you have her reach into her chest and pull out her heart for me?"

"Not an option. The deal is for you not to come near my family again. What's that worth to you?"

"Gold."

Emma's brow furrowed. "Like… jewelry?"

"Rumpelstiltskin, child. As responsible as I find Snow White for all this, I'd be remiss to leave out that old sorcerer. He benefited from my mother's death. You want to make restitution, that's a good start."

"I can't just kill him!" Emma cried, exasperated despite herself. She couldn't believe how bloody-minded Regina was. Well, she could—but she'd been trying to think better of Regina than that. "He's Henry's grandfather."

Regina blinked a few times. "Well now. Is there anyone that little runt isn't related to? I should've gotten a cat. But this is good for you—you can make restitution and protect your son, all with the same bullet."

"I'm not killing anyone!"

Now Regina sighed. "Perhaps I was wrong about you. You are weak. Possibly it's an issue of the blood. But as long as we're on the subject of Henry—he listens to you. If you told him to stay with me, he'd listen. And I'm sure you'd find ways to keep in touch. Perhaps this Twitter I've heard so much about."

"I'm not giving Henry to anyone who asks for two people dead before she wants him."

Regina's face twisted, stung. "That's the problem with you people. You're not willing to make any sacrifices because you have things just the way you want them. You know nothing of loss or compromise. Shall we go down the list? Let you say no to me having Ruby as a wine taster or Grumpy as a valet? What grand gesture are you going to attempt to make up for my mother's murder? Do my laundry for me? What are you prepared to sacrifice?"

"Ask something of me. Not Mary-Margaret. Not Gold. Not my kid. Me. Then we can talk."

"And what do you have that I want? Natural blonde hair?" Regina chuckled. "Amateur hour magic?"

And then Regina stopped. Thinking. Emma could see it in her eyes, that look she'd given on their first meeting. Cold, calculating appraisal. Ever since then, Regina had dismissed her, or at least written her off, mind made up. Now she stepped to the left, beginning to circle Emma, who felt compelled to hold herself still as a deer in headlights.

"Amateur… hour… magic…" Regina stomped down on each word like she would make wine with it. Emma felt as if she were being weighed and measured a thousand times over, and there was something bizarrely flattering about it. "Your family has taken everyone that I love from me. Now all that's left for me is power. You want something to offer me? More power."

"That hasn't made you happy so far. What's a little more going to do?"

"Power is freedom. Freedom from fear, for what fear have I of those less powerful than me? Freedom from hate, since I can destroy those I hate and be done with them. With Mother, our twined magic made us a force to be reckoned with. Restitution would entail I return to that state of power. Not as the apprentice. As the master. Tell me, child… hasn't Gold been grooming you for his side?"

"I'm nobody's sidekick," Emma said, but with Regina behind her, the words drifted into empty space. She looked to her right, expecting Regina to continue circling, but the witch was poised directly behind her.

"Has there been one spell you've cast that wasn't his idea, done on his instruction? He intends for you to prostrate yourself before him. Well, why should he have all the fun? Be my apprentice. Serve me and I'll leave Snow White alone."

"You're kidding, right?"

Emma felt Regina's gaze travel down her spine like a hot iron. "You don't seriously expect me to forego revenge for forgiveness. But I'd be willing to forego vengeance for power. It's the only card you have to play."

"And what do you get out of teaching me magic?"

"Oh dear, you don't know how an apprenticeship works, do you? You'd fulfill my every command, carry out my every whim. The only reason I'd be teaching you is to make you a more efficient servant. You would be mine, Emma. Body and soul."

"How about nine to five?" Emma asked. "Because if you want to kill me, just say so, I'll bargain you down to a couple toes. But I'm not going to be your slave."

"Of course. You want time to spend with your ill-gotten family. Well, I'll try to teach you the ancient powers of the universe on a schedule. And I won't even be capricious in your punishments."

"Whoa, wait, punishments?"

"Why, of course, child. If you fail at my teachings, I must teach you some lesson."

"So, what, I don't bring you breakfast in bed and you throw acid in my face? No thanks. I'll take my chances going to war with you. It worked out well the last time."

"You mean when your son was almost poisoned to death?" Regina puffed air from her cheeks. "I'll put it in the contract. No lasting harm. And don't worry. I'll be sure to reward you if you perform well."

Emma gulped. Neither of those sounded particularly pleasant. But Regina struck her as a cat with a toy. Whatever hell she put her through, she'd lose interest in it eventually. After all, after the Curse, she'd left her enemies with no more than white people problems for twenty-eight years. Emma could put up with this. She'd survived worse.

"And in exchange, you'll leave my family alone? David, Mary-Margaret, Neal, Henry…"

Suddenly, Emma felt Regina's arm clamped around her neck, the air stolen from her lungs. "Don't you dare imply I'd hurt Henry. Don't even think it." She held her grip for a few more moments, Emma turning blue as she struggled in vain, before shoving the other woman to the floor. "See? Punishment."

Emma had landed in front of a glowing heart. This close, it seemed blinding. "Yeah, last time I saw a teacher like you, it was in a Cameron Diaz movie. Just promise."

"Better yet… I'll sign on it." With a wave of her hand, Regina summoned up a scroll. She knelt down beside Emma, unrolling it. "Simple terms, as you can see. Your magic is mine to do with as I see fit, in exchange for the safety of you and your loved ones." Before Emma's eyes, she signed it with a fountain pen, which she then dropped in front of Emma. "Your turn."

Emma picked up the pen. "Just so you know… if anything happens to Mary-Margaret, I don't care what kind of contract this is. I'll get to you."

"Stop worrying about your mother, Emma. Start worrying about yourself."

With a deep breath, Emma signed it.

Instantly, she was hoisted up by magic, up to her feet. Regina regarded her with a winning smile. "Excellent! Let's get started."

"Right. What do we start with, Regina, card tricks or bunnies in hats?"

"General character-building. Oh," Regina paused thoughtfully, tapping her chin with exaggerated mindfulness. "And you should refer to me as Mistress. It's the proper terminology."

"And if I don't?"

Regina waved her hand. Suddenly, Emma was very aware of the nose on the left of her vision.

She was blind in one eye.

"What'd you…" she felt at her eye, wincing when she poked herself in it. It was still there, she just couldn't… see out of it. "Regina!"

"It can be rectified," Regina said amicably. "As soon as you show the proper respect."

"Mistress. Alright, okay? Mistress."

"Thank you for being so reasonable," Regina said, and it was written on every inch of her how much she was enjoying this. "And since you were so quick to correct yourself, I'll restore your eyesight in no more than an hour. Be sure to remind me. Come. There's work to be done."

"Regi—Mistress, you can't leave me like this!" Emma started after her, as Regina briskly left the tomb. She kept trying to open her eye, and though her eyelids obeyed her, nothing happened. "What if I… bump into something?"

Neither of them looked back at the hearts littering the floor.