The first time Regina held Snow White's heart in her hand, it was unlike any she had held before. It was bright red, unblemished by darkness, and fluttering like a hatchling - pressing softly into the rough skin of Regina's palm. She could have crushed it then, should have.
But as Snow stood before her, slow tears streaming down her face, Regina did nothing but watch her heart.
This was what she wanted. A squeeze and it would turn to dust. Finally, she would have happiness. How easy it would be.
But with an unexpected fury, Regina slammed the heart back into Snow's chest - making her topple backwards with the force of it.
Sneering she said, "You think you deserve an easy death, Snow White?"
Her quiet tears threatened to turn into sobs, and Regina bit back a long abandoned tenderness.
"You don't deserve this."
A little tenderness made it out anyway.
Biting back all the harder, Regina spit venom instead, "You deserve to suffer."
And then she grabbed Snow's face, pulling her close. But as her fingers pressed into wet cheeks, she could feel Snow's heartbeat, and she pushed her away.
"You will have no easy penance for your crimes."
Her voice echoed into the forest as she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
Later, in the castle that was hers and yet never really would be, Regina trembled. Her hand quivered as she brought it to her face with a look of pain and awe and anguish.
She had held Snow White's heart in her hand and had not crushed it. Because even now, far from the loamy scent of the forest, leagues between her and the girl she had sworn to kill, Regina could still feel Snow White's heart in her hand, beating gently in time with her own.