Day 5 of EC Week! Role Reversal - Evil King and Peasant Regina. This is going to be three chapters long. I will post the second chapter on Day 7 as I won't be writing for that day's topic because it is being saved for...something else to torture you all with ;) and then the third chapter will be posted on the nonexistent Day 9 that I have created just now lol! Enjoy! Please leave a review :)

Dear One,

I was halved the moment I was born

The other piece of me is inside your mouth

And I was found whole the moment you spoke

His interest and amusement was peaked when his black guard brought in a furious woman. She was kicking and pulling and fighting with her livid shouts and hissed insults and demands that they let her go. They didn't, of course, but it did take two of his guards to keep her there and a third tailing behind to catch her if she did escape. It was quite a sight to be seen really. Most peasants his guards brought to him were terrified or pleading and begging for mercy. She was neither of those things. She was only angry. It humoured him.

"What is this?" He questioned after his men pushed her at him. She was beautiful. For a peasant. Long dark hair pulled back in a tangled ponytail, equally dark eyes glaring back at him, soft pink lips, and a figure that was practically flawless beneath the simple ivory linen, dark green corset, and rusty brown skirt that cut off just above her ankles. She was beautiful and angry and as she was working to steady her furious breaths, one of his men decided to give her one last shove forward. She didn't take kindly to it.

With a snarl she swung around and didn't hesitate to connect her fist with his nose, "quit pushing me around, you bastard!" She roared as he stumbled back and swore as the blood poured from his nose. It was hardly a moment before his friends' hands were on her again and she whirled around to face them. They stopped and let go of her at the wave of their king.

With one final glare in their direction she turned and faced the man himself. He was taller than her by a good few inches, his clothes were black and the shoulders of his heavy black cloak looked to be the fur of a grey wolf. He was strong but that was only physically. His eyes were a cold blue and were so empty and lifeless they were haunting. Inside he was weak and tired and dead. She could tell. And when he smiled there was no smile to be found. His lips curled in to something like a sneer. Condescending, arrogant, careless. She was half expecting to find his teeth to be filed to a point.

"She was stealing, your majesty."

"I paid every copper for those loaves," she retorted in a growl over her shoulder before looking back at the cold king looming over her, "quite frankly I don't know why they dragged me here."

"Well I am certain there would have been very little dragging involved had you cooperated and used your feet for walking rather than kicking," he replied smoothly and danger flickered in those dark eyes of hers.

"I didn't steal any bread," she reiterated hotly with a sharp tongue and a tight jaw as she quirked her head and scowled.

"It wasn't the bread you stole, wench," the bloodied guard snapped and she spun around again and moved to lunge at him but when he flinched, she stopped with a satisfied smirk and the king took her upper arm in his grip and tugged her back to him. So the guard finished, "it was the coins from Richard's coin sack she snagged."

"Is that true?" He inquired slowly with a blatant threat and she slowly drew out a furious breath through her nose as his grip remained tight on her arm and her hand remained above her head because of it. Even with her slack elbow bent.

"Not entirely, no."

"Do tell the rest of the tale then, my dear," he offered quietly with a tilt of his head. But she remained silent. "Tell me!" He bellowed in her face and she didn't so much as blink.

She let the silence linger in the throne room for awhile longer and when she did speak it was on her own terms. He clearly didn't appreciate her stubborn behaviour but she didn't care. "Your people are hungry. A child took your oblivious guard's coin purse and I took it to buy him bread so he wouldn't spend it all on sweet confectionaries. That is when this Richard character decided to start paying attention."

"You didn't return the money to my guard?"

She heard his threat, heard his game, and she rose to the occasion, "I never said I didn't take it. It is curious to me how you are still breathing if your black guard can so easily be robbed blind."

As tempting as it was to take her bait, he simply sneered and leaned in closer, "stealing from my guard is stealing from me. It is a crime punishable by death."

"If you caught every man, woman, and child who stole from your guard, you would have entire villages of dead people with full bellies," she hissed and he leaned in closer with a sneer that was tainted with a snarl.

"Shall I have my way with you before I send you to the archer's post?" He was answered with a hard slap across his face. It stung and sent him spinning away from her as his hand released her arm. In hardly the blink of an eye he had unsheathed his sword and spun full circle so the blade was against her throat and his fingers hooked in to the tight laces of her corset over her stomach so that she couldn't step away.

Her rage was finally matched by his. The blade was cold against her skin and his teeth were bared in a vicious snarl only inches away from her face as he loomed above her but she didn't flinch. "You are a coward," she growled and the pressure against her throat grew enough to make her worry he would break her skin.

"I am no coward, wretch."

"You hide in this enormous dark castle all by yourself and throw around death sentences left, right, and centre," she snarled and he grew all the more livid, "you refuse to see what evil you have cast over this kingdom. You are a blind coward with a cold and selfish heart," she bit cruelly.

"I will kill you."

"I dare you to try," she hissed as she leaned in to his blade and another sneer pulled at his cruel mouth. When he moved to slice through her neck, she pulled her head back and kicked his feet out from beneath him. When he fell to the floor she kicked the sword up and out of his hand and caught it in her own before she pointed it at him. He was on his feet again in mere moments and he was absolutely livid. It only encouraged her. His guards moved to take her down but again with a wave of their king's hand, they stopped in their tracks.

"Nasty little minx," he breathed with a bitter laugh and a cold sneer. When he held out his hand his guard's sword filled it and with a couple swirls around his wrist and fingers, he began circling around the infuriating brunette. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself in to."

"You are an arrogant prick and I know exactly what I have gotten myself in to," she snapped back and his laughter was gone as he lunged at her. She stopped him with ease. He was quick but she was quicker. They fought hard and they fought dirty but she managed to narrowly escaped every blow and slice of his sword.

The clanging metal rang through the room and the guards had stepped back to give them plenty of space but the king and pretty peasant were getting nowhere fast. Her skill met his effortlessly and while she found it satisfying, he found it absolutely infuriating and to her that was the best part. She dodged and she skipped and he lunged and blocked and just by chance she managed to tear his borrowed sword from his grip and proceed to place her stolen blade against his throat with a good and heavy pressure.

Both of them were out of breath. Their bodies were pressed together and she could see the desire in his eyes to wring her neck in his hands but he dared not move as his blood started to slide down his sword. "What made you turn so dark," she whispered against his lips as his heavy breath shook against her jaw, the pair of them both trying to hide just how much effort they had exhausted on the other.

"It is a long story."

"Tell it to me anyway," she breathed out and then after a moment's pause she carefully withdrew the sword from his neck, never breaking eye contact. Not even to look at the blood trickling down his neck.

...

He very much despised going to these parties. Theses galas. He only attended them to make certain the upper class didn't assume him dead. This one was no different than the rest. Men and women alike all dressed in their finest and most colourful outfits, dancing, eating, drinking. In his opinion the music was too loud and the people talking over it were obnoxious. And there was one woman amongst the room somewhere who had the most grating laughter he had ever heard. It made him cringe every time he heard it.

He hated these events.

Bored, his gaze moved to the door to see who had entered now. An older couple. The man rather stout and round and a head of balding grey hair, the woman taller and thinner with a considerable bust and brown hair pulled up off her neck. He didn't think much of them at all really but he did notice the people around them respectfully dipping their heads in greeting which let him know they held a great deal of status or at the very least were incredibly respected amongst the upper class. For whatever reason, his eyes lingered on the younger woman in their company. Unlike the older woman ahead of her in a burgundy gown, she wore a dark forest green coat that fastened tightly around her slender waist and fell behind her and over her hips to skim the floor. The fabric was satin he decided, with black leaves and vines and swirls patterned in it. Or perhaps it was a darker green. It was elegant either way and was accented with black buttons and lapels. The black leather pants were also a far cry from the rest of the women's gowns amongst this gala.

But while her curious attire was what had caught his attention, it wasn't what made it linger. Her hair was twisted and braided away from her face but the rest fell behind her back in long silky curls. Her lips were blood red. Dark and full. Her eyes looked to be drawn on with black but he couldn't really tell for she was on the other side of the hall. Her posture was perfect and strong and graceful. She didn't smile but she didn't frown or scowl either as she looked over the couples dancing in the middle of the hall.

Still he couldn't quite figure out why his eyes stayed on her as she followed the older couple ahead of her. Perhaps they were her parents. His fingers came to his lips while his elbow remained on the arm rest of his chair as he searched his brain for where he recognized her from. It wasn't until she looked him in the eye that he realized who she was. It was but a split second of eye contact and her expression remained bored and neutral but it was just long enough for him to place her. He would never forget those dark eyes. She was the peasant woman who made him bleed some weeks ago.

He had let her go. He hadn't told her a thing about himself or his past but he had let her go. She wasn't particularly happy about it but she gave him back his sword and turned and left. She had earned it after all. He had never stopped thinking about her though and it annoyed him to no end. And now here she was again only now she was dressed and pampered to a vision no one could fault. Not even him.

He watched her a little longer before he stood up and slowly made his way around the dance floor. Somewhat like a predator planning his next move as he eyed his target. Only he wasn't sneaking. He was walking with his head held high and his focus on the intriguing brunette's back. Her mother noticed him first and she looked vaguely familiar to him but he didn't sit too long on trying to figure it out. Instead he stood beside the nameless and troublesome woman, "may I have this dance?"

She looked at him with a bitter scowl but with her mother's eyes boring in to the side of her skull, she couldn't say no to the king. Not with her mother's obsession with finding her a suitor of high status. There was nothing higher than a king. Even if he was a cold blooded murderer. So she didn't say no but she didn't say yes. When his hand gently took hers, it was cold and rough and unpleasant and she let her arm stretch out straight before she moved to follow him in to the dance. Once they were swallowed by the crowd of dancing couples her hand was given a hard tug and she was slammed in to his chest. It winded her just a bit but she didn't let him see it and covered it with a distasteful smile and a slow exhale as his hand settled on her waist and the other kept her hand with his beside their shoulders.

And then he started leading her to the music and kept her body pressed flush to his.

"I must say I was not expecting to see you here," he commented and her forced smile never really faded.

"Nor I you, your majesty," she replied plainly.

"I have yet to decide if you are a peasant playing out a fantasy or a noblewoman mingling with the common folk."

"Well which would you prefer?"

"I haven't decided yet," he replied and waited for her to speak next as he pushed her around the dance.

With a single humourless laugh and a roll of her eyes, she continued their conversation, "my father Henry is fifth in line to Xavier's throne. So to answer your question, I am not common folk."

"And yet you dress like them in your spare time?" He tilted his head with his mocking tone and she sneered a little deeper before he spun her out and harshly tugged her back in so her back slammed against his chest and his lips were over her ear, "rather odd. Is it not?"

"They are better company," she replied simply and purposely stomped her heel down on his toe causing a very satisfying grunt to sound off next to her ear before she was roughly spun back around and jerked in to his chest again. She simply gave him a resentful smirk with a tilt of her head and he mirrored the expression before pushing her around again.

"You seem to be a little underdressed, my dear. No gown?"

"Disappointed?"

"No. I much prefer to see a woman's legs," he smirked a little and she rolled her eyes.

"I was hunting. Trying to get out of coming here in the first place."

"But mother dearest waited up for you."

"Something like that," she answered shortly and he nodded.

"Did you kill anything?"

"Do you care?"

"No," he did not. But he was very much enjoying the smell that lingered around her. Pine and horses. "You hunt, you use a sword, you steal, and you lie. You are quite a busy woman."

"I have never lied to you."

"Dressing up as a peasant while you were a noblewoman?"

"You never asked my status. You simply assumed. Because you are an arrogant ass who believes he knows all," she smiled irritably and he gave a quiet and short lived laugh under his breath.

"That is something I will never forget while in your presence."

"Good. Now if you will excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be," she finished with as much politeness as she could muster. And then she snatched her hand free of his and slipped away from him, leaving him alone on the dance floor.

David watched her go curiously and after standing still amongst the dancers for a few breaths, he followed her outside. He didn't know what possessed him to do such a thing but he did. He met her out in the crisp evening air at the stone wall surrounding the back of the castle. When he settled beside her she gave an irritated sigh out her nose and rather than taking insult to it, he smiled just a little in amusement.

"What do you want?"

"This is where you needed to be?"

"It is as a matter of fact."

"Whatever for?"

"That is none of your concern."

David gave a short hum in reply but that was all as his cold eyes studied the profile of her face. She was a stunning woman with a fire in her spirit that he had never quite come across before. And he had come across a lot of people. It was a bold spirit that seemed unbreakable and could be tamed by no one and no thing. It was the polar opposite of himself. He had been beaten down and broken throughout time and he had very little interest in trying to recover. He found her admirable in that regard.

"What are you staring at?"

"I find you very intriguing."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"I hope you take it as such. I am not intrigued by many things."

"I am not a thing," she bit and he smiled. That one almost reached his eyes.

"I am intrigued by even fewer people," he corrected and she looked him up and down curiously before accepting it and looking back out at the wide moat surrounding the castle.

"You don't seem like the party type," she tried just to keep the annoying silence at bay.

"Neither do you."

"You already know I am not."

"As you do I," he countered and she grew irritated again. He found that as much as he liked the irritation on her face, he much preferred the calm and peaceful expression. So he fixed it. Which was something else he didn't ever do, "every once in awhile I make a point to make an appearance at a select few of these gatherings to make sure people don't assume I have died."

"So you come to parties to remind everyone that you're a murderous ass with a temper and too much power."

"Precisely."

"What a killjoy," she drawled out and he gave a quiet laugh and a shrug of his shoulder. "Why do you do it?" She asked with a furrow of her brow as she turned to face him and rest her hip against the stone wall.

"Do what?"

"Kill all of those people who cross you in the most insignificant ways, send your black guard loose on the kingdom like a pack of hunting dogs, slaughter entire villages just because it's Wednesday?"

"I am an angry person."

"That is not a good enough reason," she argued in exasperation.

"I do not need to explain myself to you," he snarled and she rocked her head back with a furious smile as her posture straightened further.

"Fine," she waved a hand at him, "shut yourself up in that little box of yours and don't let anyone in. God forbid they actually care about what goes on in that thick skull of yours," she snapped at him and then quickly slipped a small blade from her sleeve and cut the small pouch of coins off his hip.

"Hey-!" He growled and tried to catch her wrist but she moved too fast and the pouch was flung from her hand and caught by a peasant sprinting past them. A man that David didn't even know was there in the first place and was quick to disappear back in to the shadows. Then his head snapped back to the woman in front of him and she looked back with her arms folded over her chest as though it had never happened and they were still arguing over his unwillingness to tell her about himself. "What the hell was that?!" He bellowed and she furrowed her brow and shook her head.

"What the hell do you care? That was mere pocket change to you. You have entire rooms filled with gold back in your castle. To him that is an entire month's worth of food for his whole family," she told him harshly and he paused to come to terms with what she had just said. "You're a damn fool," she growled lowly and moved to step around him but he stepped to the side to cut her off. So she glared at him but it didn't change his mind.

"Who are you?"

"Are you finally asking for my name or are you asking what I am doing?"

It took her to bring it up for him to realize that, no, he did not know her name. He hadn't a clue. "Both."

"Tomorrow you will hear news of how this castle was raided for food and ignored gold by Robin Hood and his Merry Men. A band of men whose motivation for performing such jobs, I find entirely acceptable and promotable. I help where I can."

"The upperclass mole that helps Robin Hood pull off such bold endeavours," he stated slowly in surprise as the rumours proved true and the woman held his gaze without blinking, "and your name?"

"My name is Regina."

"It suits you."

"Thank you."

...

Weeks had gone by since that gala. Nearly three months had passed since their first encounter. He had crossed paths with her since then but they were brief passings. Hardly time for words and mostly only time for brief eye contact and a smug smile. She was getting to him. He couldn't say what it was about her but she was changing him. Slowly.

She lingered in his mind and when making decisions he had made a habit of weighing in the woman's opinion despite her not being there. Most days he hated it. But the calmer days...he felt a little less lonely with her knocking about in his brain. Today was one of his better days and when he saw her stride in to his throne room he was genuinely happy to see her. He hadn't felt that way about anyone in years.

"What is this I hear about the cold hearted king giving back this year's taxes his common folk have paid him? And forgiving those who have not been able to make the cost?" She inquired with a smirk and a raised brow and the blue eyed king smiled back at her. It reached his eyes this time and she was delighted to see the corners of them crinkle. He had also lightened his attire. Rather than layers of black on black he wore various greys that made his blue eyes stand out even more than before. She couldn't help but wonder what had stirred him.

"I don't quite know what got in to me."

"And not a single death in weeks," she commented with a pleased raise of her brow as he stood and walked the rest of the way to her.

"I believe it was a woman that did me in," he started as he walked down the stairs to her and she raised one eyebrow a little higher with her ever growing smirk. "One that hasn't left my mind since a few of my guards brought her in as a simple peasant with a temper," he stated a little softer with a gentler smile and came to a halt no more than a stride from her as he looked back and forth between her stunning dark eyes, "one that made me care."

She hated how his words touched her like they did. For a moment she got lost in those blue eyes and felt her heart warm at the kind life that had been sparked there and was fighting amongst the cold empty soul residing in him. But it was only a moment before a smirk was back on her mouth as she lifted her chin a little higher, "is that supposed to endear me?"

David let the laugh bubble up in his throat and he would do no such thing for anyone but her. She was different. She was special to him. She had given him a purpose to this miserable life he had been wallowing in. This woman who stole coin purses, wore pants to a ball, and aided thieves in their mission to spread wealth, this woman meant everything to him. He had no one but her and wanted no one but her. Even just for the company. "Have dinner with me," he offered and wished his heart hadn't jolted in panic like it had. Her smirk softened in to a pleasant smile and he worried that she would reject him. She had every reason to do just that.

But then she nodded. And he smiled and carefully took her hand in his.