Of Queens and Witches
Chapter 1
The sound of heels hitting the ground hard resonated throughout the empty halls. These heels were familiar to the figure lying in bed, sprawled under the covers to hide from the still dark skies outside. The heels stopped short in front of the closed door, as customary. The figure would have ignored the sharp rapping against the door on a normal day, but before they could burrow deeper into the bed, the door knob turned and without preamble, in stumbled an older maid, clad in deep grey robes. The figure in bed turned against the door, ignoring the intruder completely and raising the covers higher to block out her presence.
Maid Lisa continued inside the room, stopping short of the bed before declaring, out of breath,
"The King is dead."
The figure in the bed sprang up, dark unruly curls flying around her face; the covers pooled at her waist as she stared at her maid in shock.
Maid Lisa stared at the young girl's face, all sleep erased from her striking brown eyes. The light from the hall illuminated the girl's dark skin, and in turn, illuminated the conflicted joy present in her complexion.
"Regina. Regina, baby, the King has passed. He's gone. And his successor, his successor is a woman."
The young girl's mouth, previously open, shifted slightly upward into a small smile. She raised her eyes to the older woman, a hopeful gleam showing through as she hesitantly said, "And Mother. She wouldn't… she would never-"
"She wouldn't, baby, she wouldn't. You're staying."
As Maid Lisa uttered these words, a multitude of things happened at once in a nearby room; the ear-splitting sound of metal hitting stone reverberated through, curses from a male's voice, and a strangled scream of frustration from a woman's voice.
Regina's small smile spilled slowly over her cheeks and turned into a beaming grin.
Cora was raging, throwing men against the door, shoving maids aside, pacing back and forth across the wide room. She had everything prepared for her daughter's ascend. The King had taken a liking to her daughter, and although he gleamed at her a little too forcefully, as Kings had the right to, Cora presumed, she was pleased with the results of her little manipulations. Her daughter would have been Queen, could have been widowed straight off the coronation seat and taken the kingdom by its shaking paws if only, if only, Snow White had married sooner. Six years back, Cora had made sure Regina attended the marriage, made an impression on not only the King himself, but on his insipid daughter and her prince. They were smitten with one glance at her, Cora was sure of it, had prepared her to be that way, had molded her and squeezed her into her best dress to catch the eye of the family. Snow, not much younger than Regina, had been captured by her beauty, and after an "accidental" spill of some beverages, Cora hardly remembers what she had upturned, Snow had risen and pleaded that Regina come along with her to help her clean herself. The rest unfolded rather nicely, with Cora counting on her daughter's curves and foolishly easy smile to win over Snow and have her presented to the King. If only Snow had married sooner, and that stable boy had not succeeded in hiding Regina, she would have been Queen already and she wouldn't have to present herself to a Queen younger than her, much younger than her to really be fit for such a position. And the most puzzling idea of it, the worst Cora could come up with, was that nobody knew who this Queen was, how she was granddaughter to a King with one child on the run, from Cora and Regina of course, but the King hadn't realized his daughter had fled because of a secret spilled and a silly little murder that Cora was sure Regina could have gotten over. That was more than a year ago, and the girl still sulked under the covers and cried whenever her now not soon to be husband was brought up.
If only Snow White could have married sooner, Regina would have been presented to the King sooner and married in less than five full years. Now that the King is dead, Cora cannot go up to the castle and demand the Queen to take the fatal bride to be. No, she'd have to plan sooner, present the Queen with Regina in her best dress, make her seem older, more alluring, and make her Queen, even if she had to marry a woman, even if she had to go in blind, Regina would meet the Queen.
Cora stood to her full height and stormed out of her room, as if she hadn't destroyed the walls, and the ground while deep in thought.
"Regina", she called. "Regina, dearest, up, now."
Author's Note:
Hello! This short chapter is the beginning of a longish story that was inspired by mishka47's tumblr edit, "a curse doesn't make a witch; and a crown doesn't make a queen" which can be found here- tagged/mine . All errors are mine, and if something is going wrong with this story, let me know!
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