I own no one but my own people
Regina smiled as Robin twirled her around the ballroom floor. As she looked into his dazzling blue eyes she couldn't help but feel the weight of her problems lifted off her shoulders. Freeing Merlin, helping Emma, pretending to be the savior, the child growing inside Zelena… It all took second place next to staring into his eyes and enjoying the feel of his hands on her as they danced.
He pulled her in close and kissed her, sending waves of pure bliss though out her. Everything was forgotten. The music, the people around them, nothing existed outside the two of them.
When the kiss broke they realized they had fallen behind in the steps and they both laughed as they tried unsuccessfully to catch back up.
"May I cut in?"
The voice belonged to Percival, the man who had given her the necklace earlier that day. "It would be an honor to dance with the savior."
Regina's face fell slightly as she looked back at Robin who seemed like he almost was going to say no before he gave a half-hearted smile and a half bow as if to say 'if you must'.
Percival grabbed her hand before he led her away from Robin and into the middle of the hall.
"I trust you're having a lovely evening?" he asked as he began twirling her around.
"Oh yes," Regina said with a smile. "Everything is-… Who's that girl talking to my son?" she demanded as he eyes fell on a young brunette talking to Henry.
"The better question," said Percival, his voice shifting from polite to almost dangerous. "Is who are you?"
Regina forced another half laugh again. "What are you talking about?"
"Let me tell you a story. Many years ago, a boy returned to his village in the enchanted forest to find it ablaze. Villagers screaming. Terror in their eyes. His whole world burning like a funeral pyre."
Regina's face had now fallen, and she was stiff as he continued his dance.
"The boy hid," he continued. "Praying for mercy but none came. Only an angel of death. She slicked through the flames, relishing in the horror she wrought. But before she escaped she saw the boy and amidst the carnage do you know what she did? She smiled at him."
"You were the boy," she breathed as she looked at him.
"And you were the evil queen."
Regina took a step back from him, swallowing hard as she glanced around the room, half expecting every eye to be looking at her in hatred. "Who else knows, who have you told?"
"No one."
Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why not?"
"Because." He took a step towards her and she took several of them back, no longer caring about appearances to the crowd. "My plans for you involve far more pain and misery then you are rotting in a dungeon."
Regina swallowed hard as he took another step towards her but as if out of nowhere Robin emerged from the crowd and was standing in-between them. Regina grabbed hold of his hand almost out of instinct as she stood behind him. "I'm so sorry, Sir, but I insist on having my date back. I couldn't stand to be away from her for a moment longer, I'm sure you understand."
The words were cordial enough, but the look on his face told Percival everything the thief wanted to say.
The knight gave Robin a fake smile and a half bow. "Of course. Enjoy the rest of the ball, Locksley." He looked over Robins shoulders and met Regina's eyes. "You too, Savior."
With another bow Percival turned and walked away leaving the couple standing in the middle of the ballroom.
The second he was out of earshot Robin turned towards Regina who appeared more terrified then he had ever seen. "Are you alright?" he asked, taking hold of both her hands.
Regina let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Yeah… yeah he didn't hurt me."
The thief wrapped the queen in his embrace, allowing her to put her head on his shoulder.
"Regina… Regina, you're trembling," he said as he felt her body shiver in his arms. "What's going on?"
"He knows," she breathed just barely loud enough for him to hear. "We have to tell the others, tell them to meet in our room."
Robin nodded, taking the time to kiss the top of her head before he led her over to Snow and David, not letting go of her hand even for an instance.
Robin put on his best face, forcing himself to smile in front of Arthur and his queen. "Snow, David, are you enjoying yourselves?"
"Of course," David answered before turning to Regina. "And may I say you dance beautifully, Regina, you must have had a fantastic teacher."
"Yes, she's quite talented. But I came over to ask rather or not I might be permitted to have a dance with the famed Snow White?"
It took a moment for Regina to catch onto what Robin was doing but once she did, she forced a smile to her face. "Yes, and David I would be so honored to dance with you as well."
The royal couple appeared confused as they looked at one another before turning back to them.
"It would mean the world to me," Robin told Snow, trying his best to convey the urgency with only his eyes.
"…Sure…" said Snow as he took ahold of the outlaws outstretched hand, glancing back at David for a moment before Robin led her to a more secluded part of the dancefloor.
"David?" Regina prompted.
"Go on and dance with the woman," Arthur told him with a hearty laugh and giving him a playful nudge. "Don't be so shy, Charming."
David chuckled and gave Regina a tiny bow. "It would be my pleasure, Regina."
The prince took Regina hand and led her onto the dancefloor as well.
"What's going on?" asked David as the two of them danced rather stiffly. "Is everything alright?"
"Someone knows," she whispered to him the first chance she got. "Percival, one of the knights. We have to get someplace private and talk about this now."
David froze for a moment before he glanced over at Snow whose wide eyes revealed that Robin had just told her that same piece of news as well.
"Go tell the rest of them," Regina told him as he twirled her, completely ignoring the proper steps. "Then meet us in mine and Robins room."
"Why your room?"
"Because I put a sound proof spell on it the first night we got here, no one will be able to hear us," she told him, almost wanting to laugh at the deep blush that overtook her son in laws face.
David cleared his throat and nodded. "I'll meet you two up there in ten minutes."
A curt nod and she went over to Robin as Snow made her way over to Emma and Hook. She grabbed hold of Robins hand and without another word they escaped the crowded hall through a side door and made their way up to their bedroom, by far the biggest and most comfortable guest bedroom in Camelot.
"My guards found Snows cloak in one of the villager's huts," she explained to Robin when they were finally alone. "I- they wouldn't tell me any information on her, one of them actually had the gall to spit in my face." She paced back and forth in the extravagant room. "I gave them so many chances before I-… I mean I shouldn't have done what I did but-."
"It was a long time ago, Regina," Robin interrupted her speech. "The person who did those things, it wasn't you."
"It WAS me though," she said, tears threatening to spill. "I did it, no one else."
"You've changed. You're not the same person you were when you did that." He kissed the top of her head and pulled her in close. "You've grown so much."
Regina sniffed and nuzzled against his chest inhaling his scent which had a calming demeanor on her. Even here in Camelot inside a stone castle he smelled of pine and the earth and fresh air, like the forest was apart of him no matter where he went.
He was beautiful.
They stayed like that until they heard frantic knocking on their door. Robin went to answer it but before he could open it all the way someone barged in.
"How did he find out?" Hook demanded as he stormed up to the Queen with Emma, David and Snow coming in the room behind him.
"Killian, calm down," Emma pleaded but the pirate ignored her words.
"Does he know about Emma? Did he tell anyone else, did you let it slip who you are?"
Regina opened her mouth to explain exactly how Percival knew who she was, but Robin stepped in before she could.
"It doesn't matter how he knows, what matters is that he does. Regina." He turned back towards her, "did he mention anything about Emma being the dark one, did he tell anyone else?"
The Queen shook her head. "He just knows I'm the Evil Queen and not the savior, he didn't mention anything about Emma. He didn't tell anyone else."
At that information Hook visibly relaxed and wrapped his arm around Emma's waist.
"Why didn't he tell anyone?" Emma inquired. "He could have Author execute you in a second if he wanted."
"He said he didn't want me to rot in a dungeon," she admitted. "He said he 'had a plan that would cause far more pain and misery than that'."
"He isn't not going to touch you," Robin said with a certain darkness in his tone. "Not as long as I'm standing."
Regina couldn't help the small smile that graced her face as she reached for the thief's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before turning back to the crowd.
"Of course, he isn't going to hurt her," Snow added, "But Regina, you have to keep up the Savior farce. If they found out Emma is really the Savior and they make her use magic…"
"I know, I know, she slathers on gold face paint and starts calling people 'Dearie', I got it," the Queen said a bit testily. She sighed, rubbing her forehead in both annoyance and exhaustion. "Can you please just go down there and tell Author that I wasn't feeling well? I don't want to go back down to that ball."
Snow frowned at her step mother, feeling her heart break for the woman standing before her. Regina had been having so much fun dancing with Robin and had truly been enjoying herself before this thing with Percival happened.
It wasn't fair.
"Of course," David told her. "You sure you're alright?"
With a nod confirming that she was indeed okay, Snow, David, Emma and Hook left the room.
"I'm sorry," Robin told her the second the door had shut behind the group. "I should never have let him dance with you."
"It wasn't your fault," said Regina as she sat down on the edge of the bed and took off her earrings. "He would have let me know one way or the other." She let out a weak laugh as she unpinned her hair and her chocolate brown locks came flowing down. "Besides, you burn down enough villages, eventually someone's going to remember you…"
Robin sat down beside her, gently rubbing her back through the soft fabric of the dress. He struggled to think of something that would make her feel better but instead all he could do was allow her to rest her head on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around him.
He had no idea that that simple gesture was all she needed.
…
Robin hated soft beds. When he was a child he had slept on a peasant bed with a firm hard mattress stuffed with straw, then when he lived in Sherwood forest, it was just a bed of hay on the ground. While he lived in the Dark Ones castle he had chosen a few blankets on the hardwood floor rather than the plush luxurious beds the Dark One had.
Even in Storybrooke he choose a sleeping bag when he was at his camp and then he pulled out an inflatable mattress when his Queen stayed over. Regina had magicked her own feather down bed to feel like he was sleeping under the stars once more while she enjoyed all the luxury the expensive mattress had to offer.
But tonight she had been too exhausted to cast the spell before she went to sleep so he had been tossing and turning all night trying to get comfortable to no avail.
Finally, he gave up trying to sleep and instead opened his eyes and turned towards Regina who was sleeping soundly next to him. He smiled softly as his eyes washed over the woman who owned his heart. She was in a silk like gray teddy with her hair sprayed out on the pillow she slept on.
She was so beautiful.
He kissed her forehead before he got up carefully so that he didn't disturb her, put on a simple white tunic and a pair of brown rough spun trousers and left the bedroom. He headed towards the nearest entrance, needing to smell and see something other than stone walls. Robin needed to see the stars, hear the wind blowing through the trees, smell the fresh air…
He needed something to remind him of home.
The thief made his way out to one of the courtyards and while he was still surrounded with the gray stone, there was a brisk chill in the air and he could hear the leaves rustling in the trees. He closed his eyes and smiled as a vision came to him.
He was in the middle of the forest with Little John standing by his side and Friar Tuck standing on the other side facing the crowd. In front of him were his Merry Men and Regina family sitting on roughly carved logs that resembled benches, dressed in their finest. All around them were the songs that nature played them and tall green trees.
Then he saw her. Regina. Dressed in a white gown not befitting a queen marrying a king out of duty but befitting a woman marrying a simple outlaw out of love, with wild flowers in her hands as she made her way down the aisle that was just the forest floor littered with rose petals.
But the most beautiful part about her was that smile he dreamed about every night. And it was as big as he had ever seen it…
Then there was a knife at his throat and one pointed at his back.
Robins eyes shot open and he grabbed at the mans hand and opened his mouth to yell but the sharp steel was pressed further against his skin.
"One word," Percival growled in the outlaw's ear, "and I cut you ear to ear, Thief."
Robin swallowed hard but made no more attempts to speak. He had gotten out of worse scraps than this and his mind raced as he struggled to figure out how to get out of this one.
"I don't know what kind of spell Regina you under has," the knight snarled, "or if you're just as bad as her and you two deserve each other, but she's going to pay for what she did to my family."
"She's not that person anymore," Robin told him, his hands tightening against the man's wrist, "Just talk to her, try to understand her."
"I already understand everything about her that I need to understand about that witch," he hissed. "She's a danger to everyone in Camelot and needs to be destroyed."
Robin glared ahead of him, feeling both knives press against him tighter. If he tried to move forward away from the knife behind him he would slice his neck open, if he moved away from the knife at his throat he would get stabbed in the back…
He could only stand there and take the insults about the woman he loved.
"Do you know what it's like to watch your home burn? To hear your mother screaming in agony, begging for someone to save her, but you can't get to her because the homes were enchanted so that the doors stayed locked and the windows would remain unbroken? They never even stood a chance…"
Robin swallowed hard again. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to you but killing me isn't going to bring them back."
Percival laughed at the outlaw's words. "Kill you? My dear dumb thief, I don't want to kill you." He leaned in closer, his lips almost at his ears. "I want to make your queen suffer…"
Without another moment wasted Percival let out a loud yell and took the knife from his hostage's throat and sliced Robins arm, making the man cry out in pain and drop to his knees, grabbing hold of his injured arm.
It hurt. Far worse than a normal cut should. He wanted to scream out in agony, but he wouldn't give Percival the satisfaction.
A strange menacing red light emitted from the wound.
"Poisoned dagger," the knight bragged, showing the harmless looking knife to Robin who was doing all he could not to pass out from the pain. "That along with the spell I cast earlier in the evening… Tricky little spell, but Merlin has enough potions in his storeroom to make anything really."
As if on cue thunder clapped and lightning flashed, illuminating the dark red clouds over the castle.
"What did you do to me?" Robin snarled as he clutched the strange cut. "What manner of dark magic did you curse me with?"
Percival smirked and leaned forward, his eyes wild and crazed. "You wanted to be in love with the savior? You got it…"
Before he could question anything further, his mind became foggy and soon after he fell to the floor, whispering out one name before darkness overtook him.
"Regina…"
…
"Morning."
Robin half opened his eyes to a voice cooed at him before he felt a pair of lips on his.
"You know we have a few minutes before breakfast," the voice told him as she kissed the crook of his neck, honing on that one spot that drove him insane. "What do you say we finish what we started last night?"
Robin wrapped his arms around the woman, kissing her back before he opened his eyes, smiling at the woman he was lying in bed with.
"Morning to you too, M'lady," he told the woman lying beside him, running a finger down her muscular arm.
"Come on, Robin, you know I hate when you call me that."
The thief chuckled as he nodded, kissing the blonde woman once more, unable to turn away from her light hazel eyes.
"Sorry, Emma."
No, this will not turn into some weird Robin/Emma ship (I legit don't think they even have a ship name. Outlaw Swan? Maybe?), but will Robin and Regina as well as Hook and Emma be able to make their way back to each other? We shall see…