Lady Regina could feel her heart thundering in her chest as she stood and waited for her private meeting with the King and Queen. These next few moments of her life could shape her future dramatically. The next few minutes of her life would dictate whether or not she would get her happily ever after, the perfect story book ending. Her happiness, her entire world, relied on the answer she received from the two people who sat behind the think oak doors in front of her. She could feel the anxiety building within her, bubbling away beneath the surface, making her self doubt grow as she waited. She needed the answer to her question to be yes. She needed a royal blessing and she needed it desperately.
Over the past eighteen months she had spent in the White Court she had fallen in love. As an official courtier she needed Royal permission to marry, but it was more than that. She had found herself becoming increasingly attached to the White Princess, Emma. As the months had passed, a fast friendship had bloomed between the two. With it came an unexplainable bond, a connection of such strength that neither of the woman had felt the like of it before. Throughout the months the woman had become closer and as time had passed Regina had some inkling of what was happening.
As the days slipped by, as the woman became inseparable, friendship had blossomed into something more. Regina had inadvertently found herself unofficially courting the sole heir to the White throne, Kingdom and fortune. Emma was sweet, beautiful, charming and witty. She was full of life and vitality.
Both woman had been perfectly aware of what was growing between them, but left it unchecked. Unlike most royals, Emma found herself in the unique position of not being betrothed to a prince that she had never met. Despite it being seen as her duty, her parents strongly believed that Emma should be left to find a true love match, much as they had been. Neither woman had addressed the feelings between them, not until recently. Over the past few months, Regina had noticed what she had hoped were subtle hints about their unofficial courtship from Emma's parents, David and Snow. Subtle hints that had seemed to nudge her further towards their daughter.
She took that as a positive sign. They must know, surely they must know why she was here. At least she certainly hoped that they did. It had taken more courage than she dared think about to find herself standing before these doors, requesting a private audience with them. It would save much embarrassment on her part of they already knew why she had come before them. It would make the rather nerve wracking task she was about to under take slightly easier. Emma, sweet Emma, didn't even know she was here. That was the way it had to stay.
If Regina had read the signals wrong, if Emma's parents didn't react in the way that she had hoped they would, then it was for the best that Emma never found out. It would save her a lot of pain, and if there was one thing in this world she hoped to never do, that would be to cause Emma pain.
Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that the White Kingdom was a much more liberal Kingdom than the one from which she had fled. The Queen's best friend, Red, was married to another woman. She was no longer with her mother and so she would never again be punished for her proclivities. Nobody here was shamed for the way they were born, all that mattered was that she loved the Princess with all her heart. If there was only one thing in her entire life that she had ever been sure of, then it was that.
Emma's name was now forever written all over her heart. No matter what happened over the next few minutes, she would never change that. Even if this audience caused her indescribable pain she would not take back her love for Emma. Not that she was any longer sure that such a thing was possible. She had thought she had been in love before, with a simple stable girl, Daniella. The girl had been young and pretty and kind and Regina had been so very alone and vulnerable at home. They had talked of the future in the way that only children can, in concepts and ideas. Then Daniella had told her mother, had betrayed her, and Regina had fled. Yet what she had felt for the girl paled in comparison to what she felt for Emma.
She loved her, and last night she had told her as much as they had danced on the grand balcony of the ballroom. Emma had looked too beautiful for words and it had stolen Regina's breath away. Her golden curls had been bleached of their colour in the moonlight, her grin had been too large for her face and her big, green eyes had sparkled in the soft glow of the lights from the ballroom. She had said the most important five words of her life with her face nestled against Emma's neck whilst being led around in lazy circles. She had felt Emma falter and had looked up, expecting the worst, but although her eyes had shimmered as though full of tears her grin had grown impossibly wider. Then she had pushed forward and kissed her for the first time, and this morning Regina had wondered whether she had dreamt the whole thing up.
So now she stood, waiting to enter the private audience chamber to address the king and queen on the most important matter of her entire life.
A thump, thump, thump of staffs against the floor alerts her to the start of her audience. So with her throat as dry as a desert, her hands clammy, heart thumping and entire frame shaking, she enters the room to face the most important defining moment of her life so far. She sinks into a deep curtesy below the raised plinth on which the thrones rest and waits for the royals to address her, keeping her eyes on the floor and trying to gather her courage. The little that she had on entering seems to have vanished so close to this life altering moment.
She hears a throat being cleared, high and gentle, and takes this as the time to stand up. She stands and raises her eyes to the thrones before her, only to find two of the three empty. The occupied one seats Emma, and although her heart skips a beat to see her beloved slouched in her throne, she can't quite keep the confusion off of her face. In her confusion she forgets to be nervous.
"What are you doing in here?"
Emma raises an eyebrow at her, smirk plastered across her face.
"I could ask you quite the same thing, my lady." Regina can feel the flush spread across her cheeks at the use of such a possessive phrase, although it would seem like an innocent enough phrase directed at any one else.
"I requested a private audience with your parents this morning." Emma's smirk grows.
"Ahh yes, they asked me to deal with court affairs this morning as practice for the future. So what was the urgent matter you needed to speak with my parents about?"
She can feel the heat of her cheeks and she knows that they must look an alarming shade of red. Normally, she has an easy confidence about her, but not when faced with Emma. Her eyes fall to the floor, taking an avid interest in the spirals of colour that stretch across the tiled floor. She hears Emma stand, the heels of her shoes clicking against the tiles of the floor. She sees her feet come in to view as she steps down from the plinth. The feet stop very close to her, closer than they should be, for propriety's sake.
"Regina what is it you needed?"
She feels more heat flood to her face and mutters the words under her breath, even though she knows that this will not appease her. Far from appeasing her, it seems to resolve her determination. Gently, she holds Regina's chin between her thumb and her forefinger, raising it until their eyes meet. Emma smiles at her, all warmth and encouragement, and she feels the butterflies that never seem to leave her stomach flutter softly. Entranced by the proximity and all that is Emma she finds herself repeating her sentence "I was going to ask for their blessing."
For a second Emma is thrown by this, as though it is not the answer that she was expecting at all. She manages to gather herself enough to ask another question, a slight tremor to her voice that is coloured ever so slightly by hope.
"Their blessing for what?"
This time it is Regina who smiles and grasps Emma's hands between her own, a smile gracing her features even as nerves make her mouth dry. Emma looks at her from beneath her eye lashes as though she scarcely dares to believe that this moment, after more than a year of this building towards it, is finally happening. Regina, not dressed for the occasion in the slightest, gets to one knee before her beloved princess.
"Emma, I don't quite know where to begin, I have loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and I know that I will love you until the end of my days. I wish to share my life with you, I wish for us to raise a family together and I wish to spend the rest of my days showing how much I love you and making you as happy as you have already made me. My love, would you make me the happiest woman alive by becoming my wife? Will you marry me?"
Emma looks at her, not saying a word, tears spilling down her cheeks. Finally she speaks "Say it again."
Regina, puzzled for a moment, starts at the beginning but is stopped by Emma shaking her head gently. Using their clasped hands, Emma pulls Regina up until they are face to face, and pulls the woman flush against her. Regina smiles as Emma clasps her face within her hands, kissing her firmly but chastely "say it again."
"Will you marry me?"
She hears the sharp intake of breath from Emma and her lips meet Regina's again and this time there is absolutely nothing chaste about it. Regina's very glad that in that moment there is no one around to see them. She feels herself being walked backwards and before she is aware of what is happening her back meets with the wall of the room, Emma pressed against her front. Between heated kisses that threaten to consume Regina's very soul she hears Emma murmur a single word and it becomes a mantra. Yesyesyesyesyes.
Even as the kisses continue Regina can feel herself grinning like a fool, all her worries from before melt away until Emma is the centre of her entire world and with thoughts of happy beginnings and ever afters whirling around in her head, Regina knows that she wouldn't have it any other way.