Lies My Mother Told Me
The few servants up and working in the hallways at this early hour hastily dropped to curtsy or bow to their princess as she propelled herself over the well trodden flagstones. If the speed of her passing didn't indicate the urgency of her quest then the set of her jaw and the narrowed eyes certainly did. The tapestries, heavy as they were, fluttered in the breeze created by her passage.
"Someone's in for it," Matilda whispered to Jasper.
"She's had a face like thunder since the Lord Chamberlain announced the date for the courting two weeks ago," Jasper stated, shaking his head. "T'is a shame. I hear he's old. More than twice and half again her age. Already gone through two wives, both lost to childbirth."
"And she so young and fair and full of spirit. What's the Lord Chamberlain and the Council thinking forcing that old frog on our princess. Makes me heartsick," Matilda said sadly. "What's to become of that gorgeous young Lieutenant of hers once she's been packed off to that miserable frozen mountain? Poor soul like to throw himself into the sea and what a waste. Surprised the King and Queen are standing for it. Johanna says they always wanted her to marry for love like them."
"That's a grand fancy, letting a royal marry for love. Things weren't usual when the Queen married the King, you know that. Situation's much different now and you know why," Jasper lifted his eyebrows in remonstrance
"I know, I know. I'm just thinking they could have held off renouncing absolute power of the throne until their daughter could have the man she wanted. Would that have been so bad?" Matilda asked. "I can't bear seeing her married off like this. It's wrong. Just plain wrong."
"They didn't want to take any chances. If the Evil Queen manages to get back in power then she still has to abide by the Council," Jasper reminded her.
Matilda snorted. "She'd abide no-one but herself and everyone knows it."
"Well, nothing's completely settled. Council might change their minds when the old boy gets here. One thing to order a sweet young thing to be married off when they can't actually see the result. Every one of them Council members has known the princess since she was small. Sitting on her father's lap during meetings as such. They might not be so keen when they actually see her standing next to him looking thoroughly heartbroken. 'Specially if she gets that bottom lip of hers quivering like she used to do to get her way when she was a little 'un. Had 'em all wrapped around her finger, she did." His tone didn't sound overly hopeful on that score.
"Not the Lord Chamberlain. Something off about him. I know he were a fair general during the war and saving the Queen, but I don't like the way he won't look people in the eye. He's the one been pushing so hard for King Klaus."
"His kingdom is rich. All that ore. Make the best steel, they do. We need the supplies and the surety of them looking after the northern borders. So the Lord Chamberlain says," Jasper said.
Matilda narrowed her eyes and leaned right into her husband's personal space. "Rubbish! This is about something else. I'm sure of it."
"That as may be, but you better not let him hear you say that. Now, finish off that sweeping and let's get moving onto the hallway outside King and Queen's chambers. I'm guessing that's where the princess went and we need an excuse to be outside and listening," Jasper winked at his wife.
Emma had indeed stormed off to see her parents. She hammered on the door of their chambers, yelling for them. "Mother! Papa! Open this door, now! Do you hear me?"
Emma huffed and, unable to keep still, paced back and forth with her ear cocked for sounds indicating that her parents were coming. She stopped pacing when she heard the heavy bolt slide back. Her father, King David, looked sleep rumpled. Hair askew, robe not tied together properly, eyes owlish.
"What's wrong? Emma? Has something happened?" The King saw the flushed cheeks and angry expression his daughter wore and took a step back to gesture she could enter.
Emma stalked passed her father and right through the ante chamber into the bed chamber. Her mother, Queen Snow, was standing near the bed and had just finished tying her robe. She had anxious eyes turned on her daughter as her husband came to stand at her side. Before either of them could utter a word Emma jabbed a finger into the air at them and began to express the immense displeasure that had brought her here.
"How could you? How could you do this to me? You lied! You lied to me, Your own daughter. Something as important as this and you outright lied to me," Emma's voice rang through the room. The air fairly crackled with her fury. "You looked me in the eye and told me it would be a few moments of unpleasantness. It was my duty to tolerate the inconvenience, you said. INCONVENIENCE?" Emma shouted the word so loudly that her mother thought she felt something in her ear crack.
Her father tried to reach for her, to lay a calming hand on her arm but Emma wasn't having any of it. She was fully worked up into a rage, the like of which her parents had never seen from her. White sparks began to flicker about her fingertips as her magic reacted to her roiling emotions. Her anger such that her usual control was slipping.
"How could you? I'm your daughter. You claim you love me. It's bad enough you endorsing the Council trying to force me into marriage with that hideous old man but to lie to me about what the bedding would be like? That is the most cruel, the most contemptible thing you have ever done." Emma's chest heaved with the weight of her words. Belatedly, she realised she had to wait for her dumbstruck parents to catch up on the subject matter at hand.
Snow's mouth hung open and her brows furrowed in shock as it dawned on her what her daughter had said. David got there a heartbeat quicker and he flushed crimson and didn't know where to look.
"You know I know when people lie to me. I knew you were holding something back, so I went and got my own answers." Emma took great pleasure watching her parents digest that bit of information. She saw the exact moment that her mother seized on the notion that Emma had gone and got herself bedded to find out these answers to which she had alluded. With a smirk of pure malice she let her mother chew on that thought for a very long moment. David had looked up and witnessed the triumph in his daughter's eyes and cringed.
Emma waited for both her parents to reach the same conclusion. The second her father's eyes narrowed and his mouth opened to ask the inevitable 'who', she jumped in knowing her next sentence was likely going to send her parents into apoplexy and, oh yes, she would enjoy it and serves them right.
"I went to a brothel," Emma announced. She was not disappointed with the result. David's face went a stunning shade of purple. He was so angry he literally couldn't force enough air into his lungs to speak. Snow's face went whiter than Emma had ever seen it. The Queen's legs gave out from under her and she dropped on the bed with a soft thud. Her fingers clawed into the bedcover as if she could claw back her daughter's lost virtue.
"Yes, I said brothel. Just in case you thought you misheard. The Madam was very helpful. She let me hide and I watched several, shall we say, transactions, take place." Emma leaned right into her mother to make sure she had her full attention. "Moments of unpleasantness? That's not what I saw! I know now what really goes on. What a man really looks like and how he uses it and where he shoves it. And how the woman has to take it. What you told me wasn't even close to the truth of it."
Her voice a near screech, Emma ploughed on. "Down my throat, Mother! Klaus is going to shove his cock down my throat and probably up my rump, as well! That awful, hideous old man is going to do the most disgusting things to me and I won't have the right to stop him . . .and you, you are going to let him!"
"I, I, I was going to give you a few more details as you got closer to being wed. I was trying to protect you. I didn't want you to be afraid," Snow started to explain. She had never intended to send her beloved daughter to her husband's bed completely naïve of sex, but it was not an easy subject for her to discuss. Especially knowing there wouldn't be any love in the marriage at the beginning.
David still didn't know where to look. In fact he looked like he was about to faint.
Emma's expression turned vicious. "If you force me into this marriage with Klaus or anyone who isn't Killian, then this is what is going to happen. I want to be sure and give you all the details so there is absolutely no room for any sort of misunderstanding. I've been doing some research of my own. All I need to do is set off a vague whispering that I might not be the virgin that Klaus is expecting. When he questions it, I can stand on my dignity and demand the presence of my parents and his at the first bedding. Well, his parents are dead since he is so damn ancient, but I am sure one of his brothers will do. So that when he rapes me for the first time and, marriage or not, let's call it for what it is because it certainly won't be consensual from my point of view; his representatives are there to witness the blood proof of my virtue and you'll be there so they can't lie and say it wasn't. How's that for a plan?"
David found his voice. "Emma, I know you're angry about the marriage. Your mother and I haven't given up hope on dissuading the Council on this."
"HOPE?" Emma seized on the word most often bandied about by her parents. She was beyond rage at this point and went for the kill. "I hope you both have strong stomachs as you watch that disgusting old man strip me naked, force my legs open and drive his cock into me. I hope you've got good hearing so you don't miss me screaming in horror and cursing your names every time his thrusts hit home."
Emma's voice grew louder until her shouts could be heard in the courtyard below. "I'll want you standing next to the bed so I can look right into your eyes while I suffer through the humiliation and misery you'll have condemned me to for the rest of my life. The endless rape that you'll have forced on me because you wouldn't stand up to the Council!"
David's face had turned from the purple of rage to the green of the severely distressed. Images of what Emma had described burned themselves into his brain and he promptly vomited on the rug. Snow's mouth tried to form words but nothing would come out.
Emma looked on her parents' reaction with deep satisfaction. She enjoyed her moment of revenge then felt a twinge of guilt for going so far, but she felt they deserved it. She gave them a good ten minutes more of suffering before she judged them ready to receive the rest of her news.
"You can stop looking so mortified. As his Crown Princess, I ordered Killian to marry me about three hours after you told me about the Council's intention to wed me to Klaus. Killian and I have been married for nearly ten days. We've been bedding like rabbits ever since." She paused as a brilliant smile lit her face. For a few seconds she was somewhere else entirely. With a shake of her head she was back with her parents. "Last night I used the Woman's Charm that the Blue Fairy gave me and I know I am already with child, so don't even think of trying to dissolve the marriage." Having said her piece she looked expectantly from one parent to the other.
"Just think, Mother. Instead of a wedding you can plan the presentation of the new heir to the people."
"What do we do about Klaus?" Snow wasn't sure why she asked, but her brain really wasn't up to much at the moment.
"I hear Granny Lucas is in the market for a man," Emma offered, sweetly.