Rags to Royal
Wow, I wasn't expecting to make this chapter so long! I know I said it would be a week before this chapter came out, but my ideas are flying right now, the best time to write! Anyway, enjoy and please share your thoughts!
Chapter 2
Emma's mind was spinning, surely this had to be some-kind-of-joke, or maybe she heard wrong. Yeah, she had to have heard wrong, right? But, judging by the hateful glare she was receiving from the daughter, it doesn't look like she heard wrong at all.
"Mother we've talked about this!" Emma watches as the princess gracefully storms her way over towards her mother's desk, slamming her hands flat onto the desk. "If I am to marry a peasant, then it is to be with Daniel. Why would I marry this woman?" She points at Emma without even looking at her. This causes Emma to frown. "I wouldn't be able to have any children with another woman"
Cora just smiles and chuckles. "You know that is nonsense Regina. With our magic, we could easily make it so that either you or Emma were to become pregnant"
Emma hates that she can't stop the blush forming on her cheeks at the thought of being pregnant, or getting another woman pregnant. Hell, she's only ever slept with one person in her life, but that relationship didn't end well. She vowed never to love again after that, this woman was insane if she thought she'd go along with this plan.
"That is beside the point mother. I love Daniel! I want real love like you and father have, why can't you see that?"
Cora sighs. "That boy is not good enough for you Regina, I am only looking out for you. I only have a year to find the right person for you and then you only get another year to get to know this person and really fall in love. If not, then I may be forced to hand you over to that Neal Charming from the White Kingdom. No other Kingdom will accept you because of our dark magic, they fear strong powerful women" Cora grumbles bitterly. "It doesn't help that the White Kingdom has told tall tales about how we use are dark magic"
"I heard that you crush the hearts of your servants if they disobey you" Emma speaks up, momentarily ignoring the tension in the room. 'Oh shit, that was stupid! Why did I say that, will she take my heart now to keep me silent? Wait, she did just say the White Kingdom was lying, maybe this is just a tale as well' Emma nervously questions her stupidity as she waits for the queen's response. She noticed her dark eyes growing cold, completely void of emotion, it only lasted for a split moment, but Emma feared her own soul in that moment.
"One of the bigger lies they've spread throughout the lands" Cora sighs again.
Suddenly a man appears to the right of Regina with a tray of three tea cups. "Man, you got to stop doing that pop-up magic" Emma jumps slightly in her seat. It would be hard getting used to this guy; hopefully, she didn't have to.
Sydney ignores Emma, while Regina rolled her eyes and took her seat next to the blonde, only because it was the closest free seat to her mother's desk. "Your tea is ready your majesty" He places a cup in front of each woman.
"Thank you, Sydney, that'll be all for now" He bows and magically takes his leave.
"Do all your servants have magic?" Emma turns to Regina, questioning the princess.
"Of course, not" The princess doesn't even bother to look at Emma as she takes a sip of her tea.
"We have a few powerful servants that do work for us; however, they are not stronger in the arts of magic than Regina and myself. As for your questions about the hearts. That rumor most likely spread because Regina and I have had to kill a few servants in the past"
"Most of them were traitors and thief's though mother, or assassination attempts"
Emma's eyes go wide. "Assassination attempts?!"
Cora momentarily places her tea down, while Emma hasn't even had a chance to try hers' yet. She was too interested in the conversation taking place. "Well, most have been towards my husband. It doesn't help that he doesn't have the gift of magic on his side. He makes an easy target as he moves up in his age. The cowards are afraid to even try and come at me or Regina, at least not without poisoning. Thankfully, we have trust worthy poison testers who work for us"
"Wait, you make other people try your food and drinks before they are handed to you, what if they die? What about their families?" Emma frowns.
Cora smiles, she knew picking this girl for her daughter was right. There was something about the look in this girl's eyes that just instantly grabbed her attention. She has an interesting soul. "The poison testers are well-aware of the risks involved and they are paid a great deal. Should anything happened to them, I have promised their families will be well taken care of, financially"
Emma nods finally taking a sip of her tea. She still didn't like the idea, but at least she treated the poison testers fairly; well, as one could, given the risk the job entitled. "Wow, this is amazing!" Emma greedily takes another sip.
Cora chuckles as Regina just rolls her eyes once more. "Thank you dear, we have the best people working in our kitchen after all. So, are there any other rumors you would like cleared up?"
"Umm, I think that was the worse of them. Oh, I did hear that you terrorize villagers who can't pay their bills? Even hear you killed them, again by pulling their hearts out and crushing them"
Regina just sighs irritably. "Do you peasant believe in every rumor you hear?"
That's it, Emma was tired of this princess' attitude. "Listen, I get that your mad at you mom. But, don't take your frustration out of me. I never said I believed in these rumors, I always thought them to be a bit exaggerated myself, I'm just telling her what I heard"
Regina is momentarily surprised at being talked back to, most would lose their heads or at least their jobs if they ever dared to talk back to her. Only her parents could ever yell at Regina. Cora laughs. "You are quite brave to snap at my daughter Emma, but I agree with you. Enough of this childish attitude Regina, you and I can discuss more once we've finished our little meeting with Emma. Do I make myself clear?"
Regina stares at her mother and can see she is in no mood for her frustrations. She frowns and leans farther into her seat, still aggravated with the blonde. "Yes, mother"
"Wonderful. Now then Emma, those are nothing but rumors as well. Well, there are cases where peasants have refused to pay their bills, but we usually allow them to pay in other means such as food or farm animals. However, there are lazy drunks out there with land they are supposed to be working on and thieves who must be dealt with accordingly. We have crushed the hearts of a few to make an example, it's extremely rare when we have-to go to those extremes. We have even caught murders and rapist, and crushed their hearts in front of the villagers, so they learn what happens to criminals in our kingdom" Cora gives a moment for all this information to sink into the younger woman. "Well, what do you think?"
"Well, I can understand your methods to a degree. Killing murders and rapist, I understand, not so sure about all thieves though, some only steal because they are hungry"
Cora nods. "Yes, we are aware of this. We often give first time thieves a fair warning, along with some money to help them with food and clothing and even try and help them find work. However, if they are caught three times, their warnings are up and we make an example out of them. Again, it's very rare that we actually have to go that far with thieves"
"Hmm, I don't think I've even heard of the White Kingdom helping the hungry find work. Usually they'll do charities by donating food, some money, and clothing, but I haven't heard tales of them finding work for those who need a little extra help. That's actually really brilliant umm your majesty"
Cora smiles. "Please, just call me Cora dear. And thank you, I always believed in that old saying, 'Give a man a fish whose hungry and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime' The same can be said for a thief. If you give him clothes, food, and some money for now, eventually it'll run out and he'll go right back to stealing, give him a job and then he can work for his own needs and earn them honestly. Plus, it helps the economy if we have more people working and less starving on the streets"
Emma can't help but agree with the queen's way of thinking, nodding as she takes another sip of her tea. "Ok then, it's nice to see just how exaggerated these tales really are. But, why would you want me to marry your daughter?" The peasant girl frowns.
"I need someone whom I can trust to look after my daughter's well-being. The moment we met I felt something different about your soul, you yourself maybe young, but it feels as though you have a brave old soul, filled with honor and loyalty that can't be broken easily. Your eyes told me many things about you Emma, you peaked my interest, and as I said, that is not an easy task for most. I know this is sudden and a lot to digest. But hear my story please. The White Kingdom and Dark Kingdom have been at each-others' throats for centuries, as I am sure you're aware. Over the year's dark magic has been passed down to each generation in our family, as white magic has been passed down to each generation for the White Kingdom. There are times when a member of the White and Dark family can be born without magic, this usually happens every few generations or so. There have once been very cruel rulers in the Dark Kingdom, our history is a bloody one. However, over the past century, we've had kind rulers, using the dark magic for good and trying to make a better image of the Dark Kingdom. Unfortunately, the White Kingdom wouldn't allow our history to die. They constantly remind the evils of our family's past and try to get people to believe we are still as cruel as we were in the dark days of the Dark Kingdom. We've made some process, getting our people to see that we care about them and their needs. But, there are still many wary people even in our own kingdom. My husband and I wish to retire soon but we would like someone to be with Regina as she rules the kingdom, someone working with her as her equal partner. I've tried bribing many other kingdoms to come at least meat my daughter, but many of them coward in fear, not even responding to my letters. The White Kingdom is the only one offering a hand-in-marriage with my daughter. The Charmings believe that Neal Charming would be the perfect husband for Regina" Cora rolls her eyes. "They also think it could help with our image, allowing the people to finally really see that we have changed and that we are good now. It's a brilliant idea, but I refuse to give my daughter to the Charmings so easily. I have no doubt they will only use my daughter for their personal gain. Since the other kingdoms refuse to have a child of theirs marry my daughter, I thought having her marry a peasant would be brilliant. It'll show other kingdoms and the White Kingdom just how much we see the people as our family, it'll also give us to have a link closer to the peasants than we've ever had before. A peasant would be able to show the other peasants that they can trust us without fear. It'll allow the other peasants to be open with the peasant whose married my daughter, making them feel more comfortable to speak of the problems going on in the villages, to report crimes to if needed, etc. It'll also irritate Snow and Charming if I choose a peasant over their pressure little prince" Cora smirks to herself at the end.
"But, Regina seems to already have someone in mind, why not just let her marry him?"
"Finally, the peasant says something intelligent" Regina mumbles. Emma rolled her eyes.
Cora shakes her head. "He will not do, I do not trust him. The boy is too nice"
"So, you wish for Daniel to be rude and obnoxious towards me?! Mother, you are being unreasonable!"
"Silence" Cora orders and Regina flinches but she continues to glare at her mother. "Emma if you agree to this, you will be living in our lovely castle. You will have all the clothes and food you could ever need, you will be educated in our history and customs, as well as how to run a kingdom alongside my daughter. You'll have much to study in a such a short amount of time, but I have a feeling you can handle it. So, what do you say dear?"
"Wait, wait!" Emma places her tea down. "This is a lot to digest. As amazing as your offer sounds, I don't think I can accept this. I wouldn't feel right about it, especially if Regina is against the idea. I wouldn't want her to be in a loveless marriage. Can't you just try and give this Daniel a chance?"
Cora shakes her head. "I have many doubts their love will last. And I am usually right about things that concern my daughter. I understand that an arrange marriage sounds cruel. But this could be good for the both of you. My daughter would be married to someone I trust and you could have a place call home"
"But how can you really trust me? You don't really even know me"
Cora smiles. "I trust my instincts when it comes to reading people, they've never once failed me. Please Emma, won't you even consider the proposal?"
Emma frowns, the deal was incredibly hard to say no to. Although, Emma loved to travel and loved to tell stories for money, as well as to get people excited, she's never had a real place to call home. She looks over at Regina who gave her a look of death with her dark eyes, narrowing at her. She sighed. "What if we can't love each other?"
Cora shrugs. "Just make it look like you do to the public, make it so believable it can fool the White Kingdom. Get to know each other inside and out, and if you still can't love each other, then do as you please behind closed doors. But to the public you must appear to be madly in love. Though hopefully you won't have to act it"
Regina beams as she looks at her mother. "So, I can still see Daniel!?"
Cora glares at her daughter. "Just don't do anything stupid, like get pregnant. That would ruin this entire plan" Cora hated the idea of her daughter being with that spineless man, but she knew trying to stop her daughter would be pointless. Sure, she could force her daughter never to see him again all together, maybe even kill him, but she doesn't want her daughter to hate her.
Regina couldn't stop smiling. "Don't worry, I use a pregnant protection spell, the only sure way not to ever get pregnant. You should have told me from the start that we only need to act like a happily married couple, mother. Though I still think it's stupid that you just don't let me marry Daniel, this way I wouldn't even have to act about being in love. But I can see I won't win this argument" Regina places her tea cup on the desk, having taken her last sip.
"Wait, I still haven't agreed to this plan" Emma frowns.
"What more would you like dear, it is only you I will trust to be with my daughter, even if it is just for show. You can have any man or woman in your bed when you wish, just be sure to keep it secret from the public. We may also need to place a pregnant protection spell on you just to be safe. You can have any food, amount money, clothes, education, whatever you wish in exchange, name your price"
"Hold on, hold on, give me a second, that's a lot you're offering up. You need to understand, I grew up as an orphan. I grew up with practically nothing and learned how to earn things by working with various types of people on my journey. I started traveling when I was only ten after running away from a bad family that had taken me in, one of many. I learned how to steal, hunt, fix random things, and various other skills that can earn me even just a little money for food or clothing. I don't exactly have a clean record, I don't think you would want a past thief to be married to your daughter, even if it is for show" Regina frowns as she listens to the tragic tale of an orphan. She hated the idea of any child being without a family. But, just because she felt sorry for the woman's past, doesn't mean her irritation has gone down any less. At least she was still allowed to see Daniel.
The queen smiles at the young honest orphan. "You, being so honest and up front with me about your past now, even if it isn't the entire past, shows I was right about trusting you. You can have everything your heart's desired if you agree to this arrangement dear, please consider that you will become part of the Mills family. I would certainly be proud to have you as a daughter, despite your past. It's not as if our family's history is the cleanest either, after all"
Emma's heart nearly skips a beat when Cora suggest having her as a daughter. She's never had a real mother figure before, or father figure for that matter. Nobody has ever wanted her to be a part of their family. Emma knows deep down, taking this offer might only end in heart ache, after all, this was all going to be for show. She was certain the princess would never see her more than a simple annoying peasant whose barged into her life. But, having a home, an education, a hot meal every night, a place to clean and clothes, never going cold or hungry again, it was all so tempting. And even if it was just more than likely only go to be for show, she would finally be part of a family, one that didn't abuse or torment her. How could she refuse? Emma sighs and offers the queen a small and nervous smile. "When can I move in?"
Cora can't help but allow her devilish smile to spread wide across her face. "Right away dear"
To Be Continued!