Chapter 2: the rule of the red queen
Emma stood tall upon the dais, her throne standing starkly behind her as a reminder of her status as she peered over the crowd bowed in deference before her. Her mother stood just off to her left, her proud smile and haughty demeanor mimicked in every line of her daughter. Before her stood a traitor, a man loyal to her enemies.
"I plead for the the life of my wife and daughters," he stated simply, daring to look her in the eyes.
"Why should I spare the lives of traitors?" Emma asked, as her gaze ran over the man's ragtag family. They were practically encrusted with mud and other various filth, but that isn't what brought her scorn. The fact that this family with no education, no training, no concept of how to even run their home much less a kingdom had seen fit to try to overturn her rule.
"We do not betray the rightful ruler!" spat out the man's wife. His daughters fiercely nodded and Emma sighed. She would have spared them but now she had no choice. She turned to face him and felt pity as his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Then you will die on the morrow as does the one you give your allegiance," Emma's voice, while soft carried through the entire hall. It was only the fool who mistook his calm for complacence, her beauty for someone who could be brushed aside as inconsequential. "Guards, please prepare a place at the execution tomorrow for this illustrious family."
"You are a false queen, and, one day, the people will rise and overthrow you!" the man's wife shouted, seemingly undeterred even after dooming the entire family to death.
"That may be, but today is not that day," Emma intoned as she turned and made her way to her throne. "Today you are under my rule. It will be fair rule and good citizens will be rewarded with prosperity and respect. I will not allow dissidence in my kingdom to undermine that which we will build. I will care for the citizens and guide them with a stern hand when necessary. Anyone who is hungry need only visit the castle to be fed, properly clothed, and employment found if necessary. Merchants who overcharge for their goods in an attempt to gain wealth while depleting the common man will not be tolerated. Justice will no longer bow to mercy, but mercy will be utilized when the situation warrants. I am your Queen, and I will guide you with a fair hand."
SQ SQ SQ SQ
Emma sighed as she sat at her vanity allowing her dressing maid to unpin her hair. The blonde curls sat heavily on her shoulders and she felt as though her face was frozen in one expression from the intricate paint applied to heighten her features. Luminous green eyes gazed back at her from the mirror and Emma found she had a hard time meeting her own eyes. Her door swung open admitting her mother who bustled in, her expression curled into a look of disdain.
"Mother," Emma said cautiously, dismissing her maid with an impatient flick of her hand. Her eyes followed the woman who practically fled at the appearance of Emma's mother.
"That was a disgraceful showing," Cora spat, and Emma knew she wasn't referring to the traitor and his family but to Emma. She waited patiently and quietly for Cora to continue. "You let that woman call you a false queen and spout her allegiance to 'the rightful ruler' and you did nothing to countermand the ideas she placed in people's minds."
"Mother, I didn't respond to her because I didn't want to give her words any credibility. You are the one who taught me never to engage verbally with those less than me."
"You weren't have a conversation, Emma. You are the queen! You could have struck her down where she stood and you should have. It is expected that when someone challenges you that you will stamp them out like the common vermin they are."
"Yes, mother," Emma said, as if by rote. Indeed it was words she had learned to say from a young age. Her mother had always guided her and only by her hand and masterminding was Emma in the position of power- a position to right the injustices and wrongs in the kingdom.
"Honestly, Emma, sometimes I see your father in you and it distresses me greatly. I would see you be someone more than a doormat who does nothing but feel and talk about things as though either of those ever accomplished anything."
At the mention of her father, Emma's back stiffened. As a child, she had rarely spent time with her father. He was content to let her mother rear her as she would, and when she was a child, Emma longed for his presence in her life. She used to wish for him to come save her from her mother and she resented every kind word her bestowed to the servants' children. Emma quickly realized that her mother, while strict, only wished to teach her, make her better so that she could rise to the place she was destined to be- to be the savior of a people worn from years of a rule under a king who cared for nothing save his young daughter.
"No one will stand against us, mother," Emma intoned, her eyes shining with the same fervent light that reflected from her mother's gaze.
"She is with child, you know," Cora said casually. Emma's eyes widened; she had not known the king's daughter was pregnant. She swallowed thickly.
"I did not know this. Why was this information kept from me?"
"Because I know that you still battle with sentimentality. You would spare the brat's life fleetingly for the sake of the child and allow the people time to form a rebellion against you. You must act quickly and concisely."
"Why tell me now?" Emma practiced a breathing technique taught to her but her mentor as he had taught her the magical arts. She still used the exercises from time to time to school her expressions and calm her emotions.
"Because you shouldn't be blindsided by any pleas she would make. You must be firm in your resolve and remain unswayed. Snow White is too dangerous to be allowed to live."
Emma's mind flashed back to a time when she was 16 and her mother had discovered a relationship between Emma and one of the herders.
"Your mother would never understand your true potential," Nathaniel said as he was led away by the guards. "She wishes for nothing more but your servitude and unfailing submission to her wishes. Come away with me and I can show you what real love and acceptance is." Emma couldn't look away from the sincerity in his eyes. His spell over her was broken by the dry chuckle from her mother.
"You aren't worthy of even being in the same room as my daughter, much less worthy of her love and affection. You are the last expression of rebellion from a child who is hesitating making the final step towards adulthood. Emma do not be swayed by these pathetic pleas. You are destined for greatness, and I will stay by your side to see you achieve it."
As Nathaniel was led from the room, Emma suddenly felt as though she were making the biggest mistake of her life.
"Mother! Please do not take Nathaniel from me. I have done everything you've ever asked of me." Cora turned to look at Emma, her features contorting into the rage Emma feared. Cora backhanded her, sending her stumbling to her knees where she was too scared to move. When she was younger she had dared stand up against her mother's wrath, but those days were far behind her where even her memory dared not tread.
Cora had shown Emma the error of her ways. By the end of the two week punishment, Emma was weeping and thankful to be allowed a bath to wash away the crust of filth and blood that covered her skin. She realized that no one would stand in the way of her destiny, least of all herself. She knelt at her mother's feet and cried, thanking her for not allowing her to make what would be the biggest mistake of her life.
"You must not allow the herder's disrespect to stand," Cora had said and Emma nodded as she took her place beside her mother. With a cold voice and expressionless eyes, Emma had doled out his punishment as though she were ordered soup with her dinner. His cries as the lashes tore his back did not move her, did not sway any pity in her heart. Some would call her broken, but she knew her mother had torn her apart so that she could rebuild her into what Emma needed to be.
"I will not falter, mother." Cora regarded her for long moments before nodding in satisfaction.
SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ SQ
The day broke clear and still. Emma stood on her balcony, her eyes gazing on the distant mountains. Earlier she had thought she'd felt and seen a flash of magic and it had been gnawing at her ever since. She realized her mother was correct. She could not allow the pregnant queen or her offspring to live as either of the two would undermine her rule. Each served as a rallying symbol to the people, and Emma needed them to see her as their only leader. Her rule must be absolute to achieve the goal of peace and prosperity.
"Your Majesty?" a small whisper came from the door and Emma turned from the balcony and walked inside.
"Your name, girl," she said and barely refrained from rolling her eyes as the girl finally stammered out her name.
"Ava, ma'am." Emma fixed her with a cold look.
"I am either 'Your Majesty' or 'my Queen'. You will address me as such."
"Yes, ma- Your Gra- Majesty." Emma sighed and stepped forward as the child scampered forward and began laying out her dressings. The child and her brother were parent-less, and Emma had given both a position in her castle to prove her words were true. She hoped that she did not regret the decision as the girl began dressing her in her corset.
Emma allowed her mind to wander, and it unerringly chose to go over scenes from her childhood as though the thoughts on this day should be as dark as the deeds she had yet to do. She sighed and felt the calm fall from her face as a wave of sadness washed through her. Sometimes she felt as though she were supposed to be something more, something less- but she was who her mother had moulded her to be, and Emma was grateful, she supposed.
The door burst open and Emma knew it was her mother. She patted her hair one final time and turned to look at the woman who had held Emma's fate in her hands since Emma's first breath. Who was she if not her mother's daughter? It was her mother's planning that saw the two of them where they were now, the queen and queen's adviser of a powerful and wealthy kingdom.
Cora looked over Emma, her features forming a scowl. "They already call you the Red Queen and yet you wear red as though to make a mockery of yourself."
"White is her color, mother, and black would imply I mourn her. Instead, I will embrace the name given to me and remind everyone I am as they call me. I will run the streets red with the blood of traitors if need be." Cora's face formed a smile and her eyes shone with pride.
"I am impressed, Emma. I couldn't have said it better myself." Emma felt her heart swell with pride at her mother's words but she allowed none of the emotion to show on her face. A small voice whispered deep in her mind that it only took the promise of violence for her mother to show any pride in her.
They walked to the execution yard quietly, side by side. The servants parted as though shoved to the side and Emma frowned thoughtfully. She did not wish to see fear reflected in their eyes as she moved past, but she also didn't like the challenge she could see openly on several faces. She realized her mother was correct; either you could have the love of all the people or the respect of all the people and both were achieved through very different means.
Emma took her place on her seat in her booth and sat as they led out the fallen princess who had only been a self proclaimed claim deep within the woods where she had fled when Emma had seized control of the throne from her fool of a father. Snow White stared at Emma defiantly and Emma calmly returned the stare. She knew the woman's husband had been killed defending his wife, and Emma expected to see Snow White beaten and broken. Instead, she was proud and filled with a fire that Emma realized she herself had never felt in her entire life. And here was this woman filled to the brim with an inferno of emotion.
"You are too late," Snow White said loudly as she was tied to the stake where she would burn, her voice causing a hush to fall across the crowd as spoke. Emma's eyes dropped to the other woman's stomach and widened. "Our child, the rightful heir, has been born and sent far from here. You will never find her!" she screamed and Cora stood, shouting to the guards to set fire to the stake at once. Emma could not look away as Snow White spoke. "She is the savior and she will return one day to overthrow you and avenge her parents and her people!"
The people began shouting and the guards worked quickly to subdue them. It was pointless. As the flames licked higher up the pole and an oily smoke spread out over the crowd, the seed just planted was already growing. Emma felt her hopes of peace falling lower as the flames spread higher and she realized that Snow White died without a single scream falling from her lips except those words in which she incited a rebellion that would never die.
A plan began to form in her mind and as the words of the fallen queen washed over her, Emma allowed the last vestiges of her sentimentality to fall. There could only be a savior and a rebellion if people remembered.