I own no one but my own people
If Regina had to be confined with her husband and step daughter in this carriage for one moment longer, she was going to strangle someone.
Leopold had decided to throw an archery tournament in Snow's name for no other reason than his daughter had come back from one of her adventures with a bow she had picked up and declared her newest interest was bow shooting. So the king decided to throw her this tournament and the insufferable little princess wouldn't shut up about it.
Archers from all across the Enchanted Forest had been invited to attend, to try to win the favor of the pasty pale princess, and the whole kingdom had been invited to watch.
The Queen has been to several different tournaments, either thrown in Snows honor or Leopold's, before this but it had been sword fighting and jousting, this was the first time archery had been the focus.
Leopold had thrown Regina one of his tournaments to celebrate the first birthday she spent with him, back when Regina still had half a hope that she could have a husband that could at least liked her, at the behest of Regina's father to try to cheer her up from the depression that had seized her. But it had been small, meager and organized at the last moment and had just furthered her sadness when she realized just how little her own husband thought of her.
"I hope Prince James is there," Snow gushed to her father and step mother. "He's so handsome…"
Regina held back an eye roll at her step daughter's comment. Prince James was one of the cruelest royals in the land, yet all Snow saw was a pretty face and ignored what everyone else knew.
Such a naive little brat, Regina thought to herself as she looked out the window at the passerbyers who were calling out Snows name and waving at the carriage, ignorant to the fact their little princess was oblivious to the crowds.
"I believe Prince James talent lies with the sword, not the bow," her father explained kindly.
"Oh please father, can you throw another tourney with swords!" Snow begged. "it would mean so much to me if I could see him again!"
Another internal eye roll from the Queen. She hadn't even arrived at this particular tourney and was already making plans and begging her father for another.
If Regina had ever begged her mother for anything the way Snow begged her father, she would have another scar to match the one on her lip that Cora had given Regina when she was 8 and had embarrassed her mother by showing up with a few specks of mud on her dress when they had invited some lord from a neighboring land for dinner.
"Of course, my fair princess," Leopold told her, his voice dripping with affection. "Anything you want."
Satisfied with the prospect of seeing her prince at another time Snow leaned back and gazed out the carriage window, adoring the sounds of the crowds cheering her name.
Five minutes later they arrived at the stands and Regina made her way out of the white carriage first.
The usual custom was that the youngest left the royal carriage first so that the applause from the peasants could grow as the order of succession showed themselves to the crowd and then be at its loudest as the King and Queen made their appearance but Leopold had decided that particular custom didn't need to be followed.
No one deserved more applause then his precious Snow White after all, certainly not the Queen…
Regina didn't even bother with the false smiles or waves to the crowd who could have cared less about her, ignoring the explosive cheers from the peasants as Snow got out of their carriage, beaming and waving at the crowd surrounding her.
Let the smallfolk worship and adore the murderous traitor and her fat weak father all they wanted. Eventually they would learn the truth...
The royal family made their way to the stand and Regina was grateful for at least one custom that still held, the one custom the Queen demanded be followed.
Her throne, equally as beautiful as the King's was a stunning white marble covered in those dreadful gold flowers that was Leopold's sigil, with a white and gold cushion rose above the princesses and was on equal level as the King.
As long as Regina was alive, Snow White would never sit higher than the Queen.
"Aren't you excited?!" Snow gushed to Regina as they took their seats. "This is going to be so much fun!"
The only way this will be of any fun at all is if one of those arrows find its way up here and pierces your heart Regina thought to herself, the image of the dead Snow with an arrow protruding out of her chest while Leopold wept over his daughter's lifeless body brought the first smile to the Queen's face all day.
Taking the smile for agreement, Snow turned to her father.
"Do you think the archers will like my dress?" she asked the gray haired man, smoothing out the gown of white and gold lace and satin.
"They would be fools not to," Leopold told her with a smile. "You are quite clearly the fairest in the land, my Dear Snow."
The King turned his attention to Regina for the first time since they left the palace, any love and affection he had spoken to Snow with now gone.
"Regina, it wouldn't kill you to dress appropriately," he told her, his voice low enough so that his precious Snow wouldn't hear him chastise her step mother. "Or at least if you're going to look the part of a harlot, you could do so in the Kings colors."
Where as Snow and Leopold was dressed in the white and gold colors of the White family, Snows poofy innocent gown dawned with those damned flowers that they plastered everywhere, Leopold in his unattractive nauseatingly dark golden outfit that looked like someone had vomited on him, Regina wore a sleek sexy dark purple dress that clung to her curves and narrow waist, her hair pinned up with plum lips and dark eye makeup, her cleavage on full display for the kingdom.
"You don't like it, my King?" she asked feigning ignorance, knowing it upset him when she wore outfits like this, also keeping her voice quiet enough so that the girl sitting beside her could remain blissfully unaware of the issues her father and step mother were having.
He opened his mouth to argue with her but the sounds of trumpets announcing the start of the tourney cut him off.
Leopold gave her a look that told the Queen they would most certainly be 'talking' about her insubordination later, in which talking would include him demanding his guards destroy her wardrobe and then afterwards he would treat her exactly how he had described her just then; a 'harlot'.
But while they were in public he was forced to play the part of the loving husband and would never DARE raise his hand or his voice against his wife in view of others. So, for now, Regina relished in her small victory.
Regina and Leopold applauded politely as the crowd cheered while the archers made their way to center of the ring, Snow clapping enthusiastically as she grinned and waved at the archers.
There were forty competitors, all of them with various bows and a quiver of arrows slung at their back and a single white rose in their other hand.
Reginas eyes looked over the competitors, none of them particularly exciting to look at.
All except one.
He was in the second row wearing a forest green leather metal studded tunic, white billowing sleeves and black archery gloves with a dark green wool cape.
Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer than she should have, out of the group standing before them he was the most attractive, only a year or two older than her with sandy brown hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen with sandy brown scruff on his face before Regina looked over the other competitors.
All of them stood proud and strong, honored for the chance to be shooting in front of the royal family, their faces hard as stone. All except him. He stood there with his bow, smirking and mischievous, like he was in on some grand joke no one else had the privilege of knowing.
Regina raised a slight brow at the smug look and he caught her eye, his lips turning upwards into a smirk, inclining his head in a slight bow. The Queen rolled her eyes at the presumptive archer before she turned away from him again.
The first Archer in the first row took a step forward.
"My name is Donald of LaRay, and I compete for the honor and favor of our fair princess, Snow White," he announced to the crowd before handing the princess the rose in his outstretched hand, who looked positively elated at the gesture, even though the same thing happened very tourney with every competitor.
The first archer made his way back in line and the second archer took a step forward.
"My name is Jaime Tarth and I compete for the honor and favor of our fair princess, Snow White."
He too gave the princess the rose and he too took a step backwards.
Regina sighed softly as the charade continued, each archer stepping forward, saying their rehearsed line, handing Snow their rose and stepping back into their respected space.
The showmanship went off without a hitch until they reached the second row and the man with the blue eyes swaggered forward.
"My name is Brian Thomas," he announced to the crowd in his thick accented voice, "and I compete for the honor and favor…" Regina narrowed her eyes in confusion as, instead of turning towards Snow and handing the thirteen year old the rose as his other archers had done, he looked towards the older woman and offered her the flower. "Of our beautiful queen, Regina Mills."
Regina could hear the confused murmurs from the rest of those in attendance and she could practically hear the wheels spinning in Snows empty little head, confused as to how anyone could pay attention to anything other than her, but at the moment she didn't care.
A light blush broke out on her cheeks as she reached for the rose, only for Leopold to put a hand out to stop her from accepting the token.
"Wouldn't you rather compete for the favor of your fair princess?" Leopold said, nodding towards his daughter who, even with a lap full of roses, appeared put off that this one didn't fawn over her as the others had done.
"As lovely as our princess is," Brian said with a polite nod towards Snow without withdrawing his hand, "she's a child. I'd rather compete for the honor of the enticing woman sitting beside you, your majesty."
The murmurs grew louder and Regina's smile grew, the red in her cheeks deepening.
It had been so long since she heard compliments from the mouth of a man.
"Thank you, Archer," Regina told him, as royally as possible, avoiding the angry fire in her husband's eyes as she grabbed the rose from the bowman, ignoring the fact that as she grabbed it, his finger stroked her hand. "I wish you luck."
Brian bowed slightly, his blue eyes locked on Regina's as he made his way back in line. After a beat, the next archer stepped forward, almost flinching under Leopolds glare as if to say 'give that flower to my daughter or lose your head.'
"My name is Boris of House Benson, and I compete for the honor and favor of our fair princess, Snow White…"
Regina brought the flower to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent of the rose, unable to help the smile that grew on her lips.
Leopold leaned in, his voice low enough once again so no others could hear him.
"Give that flower to Snow," he murdered. "And give it to her now."
"It's mine," she argued, clutching the flower to her chest. "He gave it to me."
"Then if he wins," he continued if he hadn't spoken. "You're going to tell him how flattered you are, but you can't accept his flattery and tell him to give his win to Snow."
Regina turned to glare at him.
"It's one man," she told him. "One out of twenty, and you're not even going to let me have this?"
Instead of arguing, Leopold snatched the flower from her hands and cleared his throat to gain Snows attention.
"Here, my dear Snow," the gray haired man said, offering her the rose that had been Reginas. "For you."
Snow looked between her step mother and father. "But… the archer gave it to Regina."
"And now she's giving it to you. Take it, my dear, it's yours."
Regina bit her lip, holding back a slew of curse words and tears as Snow cautiously took the rose, adding it to her growing collection.
The Queen shook her head before she turned him back to the archers, her eyes finding the blue eyed man again who was glaring daggers at the king and her heart fluttered.
No one since Daniel had ever been offended on her behalf…
After the last archer had promised to fight for Snows favor, the trumpeters sounded as the archers got into position and took their mark.
Two archers would all take aim at the target, the one closest to the bullseye would move on to the next round where they would move the target back until there were only two left. Then whoever won would get 1000 gold coins, a golden bow and a kiss on the cheek from the princess.
Or, in Brian Thomas' case, a kiss from the woman who he had competed for; Regina.
The first two archers took aim, one with fiery red hair and the other with her black hair, both of them hitting far outside the bullseye but the red head was closer so he got to move on.
Regina politely clapped as the red head took a bow and two others came to the line and shot, this time one of the archers only missing the bullseye by a feathers olength while the others arrow hit the wooden post where the target hit.
It went like that for a while, some of the pairs evenly matched, some of the archers a force to be recommend with, others missing the target entirely.
Regina wasn't particularly interested in the tourney, watching with indifference until Brian Thomas came to the line.
The Queen straightened up a hair as she watched him offer his hand to the man he would be shooting with, the first of the archers to offer the kindness to his competition.
Please be good, she thought to herself as she watched him pull an arrow from his quiver and nock it in his bow. Her prayers were answered when she saw him barely glance at the target and loosed the arrow, hitting it dead center while his competition hit the lower right part of the target.
"He's great," Snow said with a grin, cheering along with the rest of the crowd.
"Yes he is," Regina offered as Brian looked up at her and smiled at the Queen, giving her a polite nod before he got in line with those who had also advanced.
After the first rounds where the amateurs had been weeded out and the target moved back 25 paces the tourney got a bit more interesting for the crowd, with every arrow hitting the target, several more of the archers hitting the bullseye, and giving one another real competition.
Regina waited almost impatiently for Brian's turn to come up and when he did he shook his competitors hand and turned to face the target.
Once more he barely glanced at the red and white target before he loosed the arrow, the wooden shaft finding its way dead center yet again and drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
"Father, he's so talented!" Snow told an unamused Leopold. "If he wins, we should hire him as one of our guards."
For once Leopold ignored his daughter as he studied the archer who had won the hearts of the crowd. "... He looks familiar. I've seen him before."
"Maybe he was a hero in the second ogre wars?"
The King shook his head, offering nothing more than silence as he watched Brian instead of the tourney.
Regina found his blue eyes and couldn't help the smile that rose to her lips as he grinned at her from across the field.
"Put your tongue back in your mouth, Regina," Leopold muttered just loud enough for her to hear.
The brown eyed woman rolled her eyes at her husband's comment before she turned back to watch the tourney.
With only ten competitors left the target was moved back another 50 paces. Nearly all the pairings had to shoot twice because both of the archers had hit the bullseye and Regina couldn't be bothered to hide her excitement when Brian stepped up to the line again.
This round the blue eyed man took a second to aim but just like before, his arrow found its mark and Regina joined in the un-Queen like applause.
Leopold didn't even bother to clap as he gazed at the sandy haired bowman, more specifically his face. Brian realized the king was staring at him and stared defiantly back for a moment before he turned away and headed over to his spot.
The gray haired Kings eyes went wide as realization struck. Regina watched as he motioned a guard over and whispered something to him, nodding towards Brian who had been too busy speaking to someone in the crowd to notice.
"Your majesty?" asked Regina as he turned back to watch the archer, now with a smirk on his face. "What's going on? Is everything alright?"
"It's none of your concern."
Regina glared at him but nevertheless turned back to watch the final few archers.
It had dwindled down to three and the target had moved back 100 paces. It was now at the very edge of the field and Regina swallowed hard. Brian was good but so were the others.
An announcer walked out to the middle of the field, clearing his throat before speaking.
"Each archer will be given two arrows and each must hit in the center of the ring," he explained to the crowd as well as the archers. "The Archer who's two arrows closest together wins. Good luck."
The crowd cheered as the three men took their marks, all three of them staring down the range at the target. There was a tanned man with jet black hair and dark brown eyes, someone from Regina's father's kingdom where dark features and thicker accents were prevalent, an older man with hard grizzled look sporting a long white beard and matted gray hair, and then finally shooting last was Brian.
The dark man took aim at the target and fired his first arrow which sunk into the Center ring but as he took aim with the second one he accidentally coughed and the arrow flew from the bow string and landed on the lower right corner of the target.
Both the older man and Brian clapped him on the back and congratulated him for making it this far and the tanned man bowed out gracefully, waving to the applauding crowd before he turned to watch the last two competitors.
The old man took aim and the first arrow found the bullseye. He nooked the second arrow and, after aiming carefully released it, the second arrow landing so close to its predecessor that there was hardly a half inch between them.
Brian looked rather impressed with the older man and clapped for the competitor along with the crowd before he took his spot.
Brian stared down his arrow at the target, not holding the string taut long enough for his arm to grow weary and released the string, the arrow finding its dead center.
Regina watched with bated breath as he plucked his final arrow from his quiver. had to win, Regina had to have her champion, Leopold would not take this from her…
The archer took a deep breath as he took aim, his keen eye sharp and his aim sharper. He didn't blink, didn't breathe, didn't move a muscle… Brian released the bow and watched as it sailed down the range and with a loud 'CRACK' split his first arrow in two.
A loud roar went up from the crowd that Regina happily joined in on, proper etiquette be damned, as Brian threw his hands up in triumph, beaming at the crowd before he turned towards the royal box and smiled at the Queen, bowing low for her. Not for Leopold, not for the Princess, but for her…
He made his way over to the royal box, ignoring the guards that had fallen in step behind him, thinking it was just part of the ceremony.
Leopold grinned at the champion and stood up from his seat along with Regina and Snow, gesturing to the dark blonde man with open arms.
"Archer, I commend you, and because of your superior skills, you shall get what is coming to you."
Whether Brian was listening to the old king was anyone's guess as he had eyes only for Regina.
The Queen felt her heart flutter as she gazed into his blue eyes. Even if it was an innocent close lipped kiss, she could already imagine how much better it would feel then the clumsy wet kisses her husband gave her.
"Our royal congratulations," Leopold continued, finally tearing Brian away from Regina's glance.
"Thank you, your majesty," he told him. "It was an honor to play for the Queen's favor."
While his words were cordial enough, the archers eyes screamed what he really wanted to say. That he knew he had upset the king with his earlier proclamation but he also didn't care.
Leopold just smirked at the archer before he grabbed the sword at his side and raised it as Brian bowed.
"I name you the winner… I'm sorry what was your name again?
"Brian Thomas, Your Grace."
"No… No that isn't it. Ah, yes, now I remember…"
Brian looked up from the bow, the look on the King's face telling Brian all he wanted to say.
He had recognized him.
"Your name…" Leopold moved the sword from his shoulder to pointed at his neck, " is Robin of Locksley."
At the sound of the name the guards who had been standing behind him grabbed his arms and yanked them behind him, slamming him to his knees while one of them grabbed hold of his hair and yanked his head up so that he was forced to look at the King.
There was a loud murmur from the crowd as they heard the name of the famed outlaw, and Regina's eyes grew wide at the new information.
The most famous thief in all the realms was her champion?
Snow clutched her step mother's arms, looking at the champion as if he had suddenly pulled a knife on her.
"He's a thief!" Snow cried out, terrified of the man standing before them. "Father said he's a criminal!"
"He IS a criminal," Leopold announced, raising his voice so that it carried above the murmurs. "He is a criminal who had committed theft against countless nobles and royalty, including myself."
The crowd booed at the proclamation and Regina swallowed hard, knowing that the boos weren't directed at the man her husband called a criminal but directed at the king himself.
"Robin of Locksley is a traitor to the crown," he continued. "And traitors to the crown must die!"
"No!" Regina cried out, grasping her husband's arm. "Leopold, please!"
Her pleas were barely audible over the crowds cries of anger and protests but he heard her all the same. He looked over at her, raising a gray brow.
"Why would you have me spare his life?"
Regina looked down at the man who was gazing up at her, brown eyes meeting blue. He didn't appear fearful at the prospect that he might die at the Kings hand. Instead he actually was… smiling at the Queen, not a smug smirk full of boosting, but it was… comforting.
He was moments from death and this stranger was trying to comfort her.
The queen swallowed hard, forcing herself to look away from the man who with a few simple words and a single rose had captured her heart, and turn back to the king.
"The crowds would riot," she told her husband, doing her best to feign indifference. "He's the peasants hero, there's not enough guards here to protect us. To protect Snow," she added, knowing that the love for his daughter outweighed any sense of justice or jealousy.
Leopold seemed to consider her words, which were true even if that hadn't been the primary reason for her wanting to save him, and Regina hoped she hadn't appeared too eager to save his life.
The king turned from Robin to Regina before he stowed his sword, raising his hands to silence the crowd.
"This thief will not be dying today," he announced to deafening cheers. "I will spare your hero the executioner's ax."
Leopold nodded towards the guards. "Bind him in chains and bring him to the dungeons."
Regina took one last look at the thief, not even trying to hide her fear for the Outlaw as he was put in shackles and dragged from the arena.
"He's a criminal, father," Snow said as the royal family made their way to their own carriage, not wasting time on any formalities that usually accompanied the end of a tourney. "Why did you spare his life?"
"Don't worry, my Dear Snow," Leopold said once they were safely back on their carriage and on their way away from the tourney grounds, turning and looking directly at Regina. "Robin of Locksley's life won't be spared for long…"
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