Their deep cover seemed to be working. No one was paying them much attention except in the way that uncivilized men do, and certainly no one noticed how the shyer traveler looked a lot like the soon-to-be queen. Everyone was bustling about with their own wedding day preparations, and Emma decided there was no reason this part of the walk should also be spent in silence.

"How did you get to marry the king?"

"Excuse me?" Regina threw her a confused but cautionary look. It didn't matter though. Something was up in this magical mystery land and Emma was feeling even braver than usual.

"How did you come to marry the king?"

Regina scoffed. "What do you care?" It wasn't even really a question, just a dismissal.

"C'mon, Regina, I'd like to know."

"I'm sure you would."

"Seriously, Regina, why not tell me?"

Regina so didn't want to be having this conversation, but she unfortunately knew that Emma tended to be as stubborn as she was when there was something she wanted. The childish questioning would persist until the blonde got answers or Regina got angry enough to lash out. Considering their mission, the former option was preferable. Still, Regina wasn't about to discuss her past with the Sheriff.

"There's a reason the villains don't get their own fairy tales, Miss Swan."

"Excuses. You're not a fairy tale, you're a person. Besides, evil's always the most interesting. Why do you think Breaking Bad's so popular?"

"What?"

"Really? Look, I know you're not big on TV, or the world outside Storybrooke, but Breaking Bad?"

"Repeating it is not going to make me understand it, Miss Swan."

"Ugh, when we get back… Anyway, it's not important." Regina's hope of distracting the blonde from her initial line of questioning died as quickly as it had ignited. "I want to know how you became queen."

Realizing there really wasn't anyway around this, not without her magic or at least some duct tape, she answered with a sigh. "My mother accepted his proposal."

"Wait, for you? How…?" Realizing this was Cora they were talking about, and that was absolutely possible, Emma altered her question. "How did he even know you existed? Were you a princess from a foreign realm? You go to a ball with a glass slipper? You win some sort of contest for fairest in the land?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. She could go for the fact Emma was getting her fairy tales severely mixed up, or, she could go for something that might actually get a reaction from the blonde. She put on her lowest voice and looked over. "I'm the fairest in the land, am I?"

And it landed right as she expected. Emma's face instantly went rosy.

"You know what I mean. How did you meet him?"

Apparently Emma wasn't going to be thrown that easily. Regina should have expected it, but her unfortunate companion's insistence was still infuriating. Whatever patience she had was quickly disappearing.

"Miss Swan, this is really irritating."

"Oh, come on, I want to know the story. Complete the book. It's really too bad it doesn't chronicle all of your outfits." Emma was teasing, trying to get the surly brunette to loosen up, but she soon realized with horror that it was the second time she had commented on Regina's good looks in as many minutes.

"Now, Miss Swan, I know that you don't care about those outfits for the fashion."

Regina's voice was dripping with sensuality. She was a pro at this. And even behind layers of rags, Emma knew that it wouldn't take much to get any man—or woman for that matter—to do her bidding. And that was exactly what she was trying to do. Emma was the toy in her game. Though as much as she was starting to wonder about how far she'd go—to do what the queen asked, of course—she wasn't going to give up what she started.

"C'mon, Regina," she replied more steadily than she felt. "It's a joke. How did you meet the king?

Emma was aggravating beyond belief, but she was a worthy adversary. Regina really wasn't going to get out of this without telling at least some of the story.

"I rescued his daughter."

"His daughter. Snow White? You rescued …my mom?" Emma's brain kicked into high gear piecing together the parts of the story that she knew, trying to sort them in chronological order, make some sense of it all.

"Yes. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that she didn't tell you."

"I mean, she sort of did, but why? What happened?"

"Miss Swan, I know you and my son believe otherwise, but I was not always the Evil Queen."

She didn't realize what she had said until it hung in the air. In an effort to hide one truth, she was revealing too much of another. She unclenched her fists and changed tactics. The story was safer. Maybe it would get Emma to shut up.

"Her horse got away from her. I caught up before she could be thrown."

Emma recognized she was getting into even more dangerous territory than usual, but it seemed Regina was still willing to cooperate. Maybe it was only because of the unusual circumstances, but Emma was determined to capitalize on it, particularly because with Regina the more answers she got, the more questions she had. Still, she asked softly, "And he was grateful?"

Looking into the green eyes beside her, Regina knew that Emma probably wouldn't push if she simply ceded her discomfort. But Regina would never admit to that, and there was something else, something from the pit of her stomach compelling her to continue.

"He came to our house to thank me and decided that I was the one he had been looking for. 'The Fairest in the Land,'" she tried to tease to regain some of her control, but it came out heavy. "He proposed."

Unaware of when, they had stopped walking and simply looked at each other for a moment, oblivious to the sounds and people around them. Their moment, whatever it was, was broken only as the crowd swept them up in its movement through the newly opened grand gate.

Jostling against the rabble she once ruled over, Regina instantly slipped back to her usual snippy self.

"And now here we are, the big day. Looks like you will have to stay for the festivities after all, Miss Swan."