A/N: Legal stuff first: I claim no ownership of any of the characters portrayed in this work of fiction, they all belong to ABC and Disney, I'm just taking them from their world and playing with them in this one for a bit. Full disclosure, the content is based very loosely on a book called "The Elysian Blade of Truth" by Mealea Matthews. Not going to lie, it's not a great book, so I'm not recommending it, but I liked this one aspect of the book and wanted to expand on it and weave it together with the world of Once Upon a Time. Captain Swan is… there, but it's not a Captain Swan story, and it won't take too long to figure out what sort of relationship they have.
Unbeta'd; all mistakes are my own.
Materializing in a cloud of purple smoke, Regina appeared behind a carriage in the courtyard that was overlooked by the imposing castle of Queen Emma Swan and King Killian Jones. Hidden in her black hooded cloak, she was careful not to draw any attention to herself as she meandered through the throngs of people conducting their typical peasant business. As she stepped from behind the carriage, someone dressed in the armor of the royal's guards blinked twice, knowing she wasn't there when the vehicle had originally pulled up. Muttering a quiet incantation she wiped her appearance from his memory, ensuring that her presence wasn't known before she got to the castle. Opting for a more magical mode of transportation, she calmly parted from the crowd until she was safely out of anyone's direct sight, before disappearing in another cloud, reappearing within the castle walls.
Emma sat on her throne examining her nails out of boredom while her husband, Killian Jones sat beside her, looking pleased as ever. There were a few of the townspeople in front of them, heads bowed as they whispered their concerns about the diminishing crops due to the lack of rain.
Killian, always full of self importance got up in a huff, bellowing "Can't anyone else take care of this? To be honest, I really don't care about your crop problem."
Emma looked up at her husband thoroughly annoyed. "You know it's our job to make sure our people are happy Killian. If you wish, you may leave, but just remember this is one of the responsibilities that comes with being royalty." Emma wasn't much happier with the arrangement, but she knew how to behave unlike her husband who'd spend a few too many years at sea to understand basic etiquette, apparently.
Killian looked to be weighing his options before defeatedly sitting down in the throne adjacent to his wife, turning his gaze to the small group of villagers. "Listen, I'm really sorry about your plants, really I am, but what exactly do you want us to do? Short of us magiking up a rainstorm there isn't much power we have here. Even us royals have our limits." Emma rolled her eyes at the asshole the King was making of himself. Just as she took a breath to try a more sympathetic approach, the heavy wooden doors burst open, a person with their features covered behind a dark cloak stepping in.
A smooth female voice emerged from the dark void under the hood. "Perhaps I can be of some help?" Waving her hand in a motion that mimicked flipping the pages of a book, a large grey cloud rolled in, bringing with it thunder, lightning, and a torrential downpour. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the villagers quickly scurried out of the room, praising the woman shrouded in darkness, spewing endless gratitudes until the doors fell closed behind them.
Emma sat up impossibly straighter in her throne, wary of the woman who barged into the castle, apparently easily surpassing all of the palace guards. Using the commanding tone she seldom used, Emma asked the cloaked stranger "who might you be?"
If you could hear someone raising their eyebrow in defiance, you would hear it now as the woman replied "Regina Mills, your new court mage."
Emma turned a questioning glance to her husband, who replied with a useless shrug. "We didn't send for a court mage." She replied carefully.
"No, but yet here I am. You need me, even if you don't know it yet."
"How did you even get in here? There's no way our guards would have let you in." With a quick flick of her wrist, Regina disappeared and re-materialized in a cloud of smoke several feet closer to the royal couple. The Queen flinched back slightly as the sorceress opened her hands palms up as if to say "that's how"
Ignoring the woman's forwardness, Emma continued grilling Regina. "If you wish to get in our good graces and earn our trust, it would do you well to remove your hood as a sign of good will." She sighed before continuing. "You're in the presence of royalty, it'd be beneficial for you in particular if you showed some respect and didn't conceal your identity."
It was impossible to tell if the woman had shrugged in acceptance or just shifted under the layers of cloth, but either way she lifted her hands to the hood of her cloak, pulling back the fabric to reveal chestnut brown hair cascading in waves to the middle of her back. Regina flipped said hair over her shoulders and looked back up at the royal couple with her piercing brown eyes, not lifting her chin an inch in a final act of defiance.
Emma's jaw slackened and Killian sat back in his throne stroking his beard and leering at the woman. Every mage that Emma had met prior had been some old hag with some sort of facial deformity. As far as she could tell, Regina Mills was flawless.
"What other talents do you have magician?" Killian raised his eyebrows suggestively, and while Regina bristled at being called a magician, which denoted sleight of hand and illusions rather than skill, she played to the lowest common denominator in the room and flicked her wrist again. The candles that lined the walls began to shudder violently before exploding in a light show, where sparks formed images of horses, lions, dancing mermaids and soaring swans, finally erupting into a spitting image of the castle they were in.
Regina summoned a fireball in her hand, hurling it at the nearest crest on the wall, which erupted in flames, before she directed a stream of water at it, moving her hands like the waves of the sea, rebuilding the charred crest from nothing. Turning to the guard closest to the door, she snapped her fingers and all of his armor and weaponry disappeared, leaving the man in his immodest undergarments. He turned red instantly and turned to shield the royal couple from his bareness.
Rolling her eyes, she snapped her fingers again and his armor reappeared. She turned back to face the royal couple, and rolling her wrist lavishly, took a small bow, raising her eyebrow in question.
"Bravo bravo what a show!" Killian rose from his seat applauding enthusiastically. When Regina turned to the Queen, she saw that the Queen wore an expression of indifference.
Emma was still wary of the bewitching cloaked woman, and her opinion seeped into her tone. "While I'll admit that was amusing, we have several court jesters to entertain us. Why do we need you?"
"I can do more than put on a show your majesty, I can protect you and your husband."
"We have guards for protection. I'll ask you one more time: why do we need you?"
Still standing, Killian turned to face his wife. "Of course we need her! She started the bloody storm and quieted the rabble! She can do magic for gods sakes! Even though magic is vile it has it's uses you know. I'm the King and I say we need a court mage!"
Raising an eyebrow in annoyance, Emma stood up, looking her husband in the eye, all formal language flying out the window. "For fuck sakes Killian! You're only King because you married me! It's my royal bloodline, without me, you'd still be a pirate sailing Gods know where and you'd do well to remember that every once in a while! This woman breaks into our castle, throws a fucking lightshow, disrobes one of our men and you just accept that?! Killian she's probably a murderer or something she came in here in a goddamn cloak, who does that?!"
Killian stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "I don't care if it was your bloodline, I'm King now which makes me just as royal as you. A Queen without her King is worthless and you know it. A woman can't rule, too many feelings to get in the way as you're making abundantly clear right now; get out of my face I don't want to see you right now!"
Emma was taken aback by his harsh words, although they were nothing new, it was the first time one of their subjects had been present for one of his outbursts. Trying to hold on to some of her dignity, she lowered her voice to a growl. "You know what Killian, do what you'd like. You clearly think you're so much smarter than me, so go ahead, hire the mage. It's your money anyways, and I know you'll do it either way. So go ahead."
With her head held high, she left the throne room without a backward glance. Behind her, she heard Killian clap excitedly and exclaim "you're hired!"
"Thank you, your majesty. What an indescribably honor." The witch replied as the heavy doors slammed shut. Emma's internal lie detector went off, and she sensed some insincerity in the woman's voice, but dismissed it at a disdain for power structures and moved on without another thought.
Reaching the room beside the royal bedroom, Emma retreated into what she simply called "her room." She hardly ever desired to share a bed with her husband, where he'd always attempt to crawl on top of her smelling of wine, grunting and sweating like an animal before collapsing like a dead weight on her chest, forcing her to push him off of her, which usually earned her a sharp slap across the face.
Checking to make sure there were no servants around, with a wrist flick of her own, swapped her gown for pants and a sleeveless shirt, and the uptight updo for a loose ponytail. Nobody in the kingdom knew she could do magic, save for her parents who were underground on a high hilltop. Even the purest magic was considered evil and corrupt, thanks to Rumplestiltskin and the way he obtained and then abused his power, and the kingdom would revolt if they knew their Queen was a witch. Climbing onto the bed that was almost too high to be functional, Emma pulled out a book called Sinners of Time, pulling the covers to her waist, and lighting the lamp by her bedside with another wave of her hand. She was pulled from her fantasy world moments later with a delicate but persistent knock on her door.
"If it's Killian go away."
The knocker was relentless.
"If it's Graham, Ruby, Grumpy or any of the other six dwarves, please leave me be." she said, her voice taking on a pleading tone.
The person on the other side of the door waited to see if they were on that list, and then knocked once more.
"For the love of Gods" she muttered to herself. "Come in I suppose."
The person she wasn't expecting to step through the door was their newly appointed court mage, still adorned in her black cloak, with the hood still down, exposing her radiant beauty for all to see.
Closing her book, Emma sat up straighter in her bed, attempting to look as regal and respectable as one could in what was considered undergarments.
"Mage Mills." She regarded the woman with a nod of her head. "How can I help you?"
"I was just looking for my chambers, but I see I stumbled across your private quarters." Regina took in the room around her. "I thought the royal bedroom was next door, but it seems I was mistaken." She finished with a malicious smirk.
Emma made a face that begged Regina to stop talking, but not one for subtleties, she continued poking holes in Emma's happy marriage facade.
"Excuse me for saying, but the air is abuzz with magic in here."
Emma sat up straighter, concerned that the woman was going to expose her. "Have you stopped to consider that it's you?"
The sorceress continued to walk around the room uninvited, much to Emma's annoyance. "No, no, I know my own magic. Everyone's magic is different, and this one's different. Lighter"
Finally getting off the bed, Emma jumped off, landing with a dull thud, crossing her arms. Regina looked the blonde woman up and down, her eyes lingering on her lower half. "Pants? I didn't think a lady of your caliber would be wearing pants unless they were riding, and it's a bit late to be heading out the stables isn't it?"
"What I do in my private quarters is my business." Emma snapped while scowling at the audacious woman, talking both about her attire and the magic that was prickling in the air.
"That it is" the mage continued, still sauntering around the Queen's bedroom.
"If that'll be all…" Emma trailed off, hoping the woman got the hint. Instead, she walked right up to the lamp, running her hand through the flame.
"Such a bright light" she remarked. "Yet it's cool to the touch. Curious isn't it?"
"It's oil. The most expensive money can buy. I don't know what you're insinuating but if you could leave now, that'd be great."
Regina raised an eyebrow at the silently panicking woman. "I know they burn brighter cold, but if you're trying to fool someone, you have to make it warm. No natural fire burns cold. Just remember that." She cocked her head with a wink and a mischievous smile on her face. "Whatever goes on in here, stays in here. It's not my business." Emma still looked dumbfounded, opening and closing her mouth like she was simple. "My room?"
Finding her voice, Emma shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "Next door down on the right."
Regina smiled again. "So we're neighbors then? How nice." Opting for flare, Regina exited the room in a cloud of smoke, waving as her figure disappeared, leaving Emma both confused and concerned as to how her delicate facade was unravelling at the hands of the dark woman so quickly. Annoyed that she'd been caught, she decided on dimming the flame in exchange for warmth, desperate to keep up appearances, and not be caught off guard again.
Appearing on the other side of Emma's door, Regina made her way down the dark hall with a glowing orb hanging over her head lighting the path ahead. Bypassing the door that was indicated as her chambers, she made her way to the guard's quarters, rapping her fist lightly on a wooden door adorned with a wolf. With rumpled hair, one of the guards opened the door before his eyes widened in shock and horror.
"You! You're the sorceress who made me expose myself to Their Majestys" he pointed an accusing finger towards Regina, who didn't have it in her to care about his modesties.
Regina pushed her way into the room, kicking the door closed behind her, walking towards the man until he was pressed up against the wall. "Oh save it. No one gives a damn about your skivvies, least of all the King and Queen. Now; tell me your name."
"G-Graham Mage…" The man trailed off, unsure of the woman's last name.
"Mills. Now Graham." She pulled up her sleeve and plunged her hand into the man's chest before pulling out his beating heart. Regina brought the heart to her mouth, uttering her desires. "You are to be my pet now. Whatever I tell you to do, you'll do without question. Do you understand?"
Graham shook his head fervently, not wanting to provoke the woman who could clearly kill him without a second thought. "I have but one question." Regina inclined her head, pushing him to continue. "How am I alive?"
"Because I made it so. This enchanted heart here holds you lifeforce. As long as you obey me, you'll live. But if not…" Regina squeezed his heart in her hand lightly to punctuate her point. "All I have to do is crush it, and your existence will come to a swift end. Get the idea?"
The man nodded again, his hand on his chest where life-sustaining organ should be, fear ever present in his eyes.
"Good." Regina lunged forward, taking the guard's face in her hand, pulling him into a violent, dominating kiss and Graham submitted, returned the action without any fervor. Eyes alight with intent, she growled "mine" before dropping her hand and releasing her hold on Graham's face.
"What do you need me for anyways?"
Regina turned to leave with Graham's heart in her possession, her work for the night being complete. "It'll all be clear in due time. Goodnight dear."
A/N Me again! Thanks for giving this little AU a chance, and if you decided it isn't for you, that's totally cool! If you're thinking you'd like more, that's amazing! I wish I could say the next chapter would be out in a week, but I can't promise that. What I can promise though, is that I know where it's going, and I'm anxious to continue. With that said: if you're interested in beta'ing in the future, feel free to message me either here or on tumblr (link on my profile.)
Thanks again!