A/N: Just a small update, thought I'd throw some Neal/Baelfire drama into it. The response to this has been a lot more than I've expected so far. Thanks for wanting to keep up with the story. It's actually my first fic I've been brave enough to publish and your response means a lot to me and actually has inspired me to already get the next chapter done. Think I'll leave you hanging just a little bit longer though, wouldn't want it to be over too soon ;)
Disclaimer: God my life would be easy if I owned them :P
"Thank you," I breathed excitedly as the guards let me through to the palace. My palace. My heart gave a little jump as I stepped onto the marble floor and looked at the sun beaming through the windows, causing the walls to shine in brilliant colours. As I bowed before His throne my breath caught in my lungs. I could be sitting on this throne. It was rightfully mine. But I chose against that decision many years ago because I had been cowardly and weak and now I knew I had to pay the price for my selfishness.
I looked out the window once more, remembering a warm summer's day when I had been playing with Juliette in this room and ripped apart the blue velvet curtains. I remembered father throwing a raging fit, hissing at my little sister and me. I begged him not to punish Juliette, it hadn't been her fault. I had gone a little over the top in our game of "catch". Juliette got away free, while I was punished with the burden of washing my dresses myself for the entire next week. My hands were covered with red, burning blisters after a few days; cleaning those gowns was no easy job. Being a princess was no easy job. I knew this because I had seen my father hunched over paperwork so many nights, caught him tortured by impossible choices and found him weakened by his power. My heart hurt for him and for the fact that I would once go through the same pain.
And so, when these wretched pirates came and attacked our kingdom and killed my beloved father, I ran into the woods with Juliette and hid out there for a few days, waiting for the panic and the sorrow to die down, afraid to face my citizens and having to lead them in this dark time. Everything was burnt down, our food, our valuables were stolen and the castle had been plundered in every corner. It was no longer the beautiful, majestic masterpiece of architecture it had once been, but a black fort that stood looming over our city and the darkened beach. Mothers were still kneeling on the black sand, wailing for the sons and daughters that had been cruelly taken or ruefully killed. When Juliette and I returned from the Enchanted Forest and wandered through the houses that had once been the pride of all the land we were so dirty that no one recognised us. We were scolded and scowled at and told to make ourselves useful or run away. I was sixteen then, my poor, innocent little sister only 6. I could have told them who I really was. I should have told them who I really was. I was the princess. I was the queen, now that my father was gone. But I was scared. Scared of the responsibility and the power and the choices I would have to make, the decisions I would be burdened with. So I decided to let them believe the princesses had been taken together with their father.
We voted on a new king, who had turned out to be a cruel and evil man. I had let my kingdom down and now I had to bear the consequences. The curtains that surrounded me were no longer the beautiful royal blue, but black as ebony. Black as the King's soul. Long live the evil King.
I had found a place to live for Juliette and myself. We worked with a grumpy old man, the only one willing to take two orphaned peasants into his household, on the condition that I learned to work. So I did. I studied architecture with him. I learned how to build and sail ships. I learned every detail about them, from the sails to the canons to the cabins to the rear. I started by building my own boats. I started going on excursions with the King's men to guard our seas. They hated having a woman on board, but they needed my knowledge. I was a fast learner. I was clever. Now I worked as architect and designed boats and ships for anyone who needed them. The design I held in my hand right now was meant for the King. It was special. It was my masterpiece. My best work until today. If it were built correctly, it would be the fastest, the strongest and the most beautiful ship in the seven seas. The dreaded pirates would for once dread us and they would never touch anyone in my kingdom again, as long as the King had this ship. With great pride I presented to him my work. He was as impressed as I knew he would be, but the price he paid me was unexpected.
"Robert! Juliette! Robert, look at this! Robert, come quick!" I called to my master. He stumbled drunkenly down the stairs to the table at which I was standing.
"Why do you call me? What could possibly be so urgent?"
"Just look!" I said and his eyes widened impossibly as I emptied the content of the little purse onto the table. "It's the money for the ship."
"So he bought it."
"And how he bought it! Robert, you can pay off your debts. We could move into a bigger house. Robert, this money is more than we've ever earned from all my other projects combined!"
Robert was not one for hugging. In fact, he was grumpy, moody and very old and he always thought he was better than anyone else. But he had so many gambling bets that got him into more than a few troubles and fights. Seeing this money on the table in front of him, being able to touch it, seeing all his problems solved in one day…that could make even the King happy for a moment. He hobbled over to me and grabbed me into a tight, drunk hug, slurring a thank you on the way.
"You're very welcome," I smiled.
"What's going on here?" another manly voice said from the stairs.
"Neal!" I exclaimed in happiness. "Neal, look what the King gave us for his ship!" I ran to him, showing him the pile of golden coins on the table.
"Wow," he breathed in astonishment. "Perhaps his soul isn't as dark as it always seems. This is incredible!"
"I know! Isn't it amazing?" I laughed, jumping into his arms. Neal was Robert's assistant, he had been living with us for a couple of years now. And well, what can I say? We were both grown ups. We both had certain needs, certain desires, certain…feelings. Up until two months ago neither of us had been brave enough to make a first move, but when he kissed me underneath the moonlight on the beach, well, something just sparked. He was a good man…and a great one, too! I blushed at the thought, staring happily into his piercing green eyes.
That night I dreamed of my parents. Oh, how I missed my father. He had been a good King. He was kind and pure to the soul. When I asked him where he got all his strength and goodness from, he always replied rather bitterly that he had it all from my mother. But he would never tell me what happened to her.
"Snow White was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. Her skin was white as snow, her hair black as ebony and her lips red as blood. And she had the lightest heart of them all. She was truthful and brave and kind spirited. She was the best Queen this land had ever had," Papa said in my dream.
"But where did she go?" Juliette would ask, sitting on his lap after listening to his nightly bedtime stories.
"It's time for you to go to bed."
"But papa-"I objected from my seat on the soft carpet.
"No buts. Good night, my darlings. May you be as truthful and brave and kind as your mother ever was." And he turned out the light and closed the door.
But something was wrong. He returned only minutes later and opened the door again, however he didn't turn on the light.
"Papa?" I asked. "Papa, what's wrong?"
"Oh, I'm not your Papa, dearie." His voice was all wrong, rough and deep and gravelly and very, very scary.
In the faint moonlight I could make out the silhouette of the evil King as he grabbed me by the throat and put a blindfold over my eyes. I started screaming for help, but something hard banged against my head and I was knocked out cold.
It was a nightmare. It had to be. But however hard I tried to wake up, tried to move, tried to get back into my little bed of hay I shared with Juliette in Robert's hut, I could not. Everything was black and the searing pain in my head felt very, very real. I tried to call out for help, but I couldn't find my mouth. I didn't know where my eyes were. My breath hitched in my throat. What was going on?