Snow had started to get used to the rhythm of the castle. When her father was living he would stay up late into the night and sleep in. Regina was a morning person and she did much of the day to day running of the kingdom in her study in the hours after dawn.
She was drawn to speak to her today, mostly because in the evenings they seemed to be both prone to other things.
"I ... wanted to thank you Regina. I never have felt like that before."
Regina shifted paper from the black wicker baskets that the correspondence was organized in before looking up. "Not doubting the fairy magic yet?"
"Oh... I'm doubting it all the time. Especially when you keep promising to kill me."
Regina scrunched her face a little, "Not today, perhaps tomorrow."
Snow tilted her head, "Is that going to be a thing?"
"Until you stop making me want to kill you yes."
Snow swallowed, the banter reminding her just how dangerous this dalliance was. "You have a busy day ahead of you. The seamstresses will be by to take your measurements and arrange for proper clothing if you will be staying in the castle. So if you want to avoid corsets sneak out and back to your bandit life."
Snow smiled, "I think I can take a corset again as long as it's not one of the torture devices you wear."
Regina smiled, "There are advantages to torture devices."
The sparkle in her eye made Snow shiver and the shiver made the grin on the Queen's face grow wider.
"After you are done with them you are to go with the castle steward and pick appropriate rooms for your companion."
"My what?"
Regina set aside the set of papers she was working with. "Take it from me, being alone in this castle is will drive one mad. You need someone to speak to, confide in, and so I am arranging a companion for you."
Snow's eyes went wide and she worried immediately... "I saw a large party of Black Knights leaving the castle grounds this morning..."
"I'm not capturing your werewolf friend dear. Though technically she has committed treason and should hang for it. Caging a wild thing like that is a sin." Regina said icily.
"More than murder?" Snow ventured carefully, still unsure how far her she could push things.
The look in the Queen's eyes told her not much further. She nodded, "May I be dismissed, Your Majesty?"
"Go now, Snow."
The day was busy. Proper dress fitting took hours and as the women worked the Queen had come to check. Something about Snow on the dress maker's stool and Regina looking up at her sent a shiver down her spine and a memory of a distant day struck her. If it struck Regina the Queen said nothing except to order a few changes to the fitting before leaving.
Part of Snow wondered if she was going to be dressed in some ... mini version of Regina's ridiculous wardrobe but instead the fabrics and dresses the women brought out were soft. More womanly than those she wore as a girl. Less virginal. But still they were more Princess Snow than the Queen's Tramp. She'd heard a house servant call her that that morning before breakfast and she had to wonder to herself if that was what the others thought but did not say.
Which made Regina's comment about a companion make sense.
She picked out rooms not far from hers that had once been Princess Abigail's when she fostered at the castle for a summer. Her eye now accustomed to running for royals she realized they were probably the most secure rooms in the castle short of the dungeons and she wondered back to her youth and the pretty blond girl and wondered if there was some more potentially deadly politics to that summer she had a playmate.
She made sure the linens were fresh and that the suit was brightened as much as could be in the dark and somber mood of the Winter Palace.
That evening Regina didn't call for her to her bed, and she did not find her way there on her own, it was the first night since she arrived in the castle and she found herself missing the companionship. It reminded her of how insane and dangerous this game she was playing was and she thought of the fairy that had led her to this unexpected romance.
Would she have even thought of Regina in those terms without the pixie dust? Would she have dared to think that Regina might stand in a room with her without trying to kill her much less... what they'd done without the fairy?
Those thoughts drifted away only when sleep came to her and the sound of the castle's bustle in the morning told her that she had slept in. Dressing as quickly as she could... still not in the dresses made measured for the other day as proper fitting and tailoring took time... only to discover that the Queen was gone. Without Regina there everyone in the castle seemed to move easier without the potential threat of death hanging over them.
"Where is the Queen?" She finally asked.
"No one dares to ask such a thing of Her Majesty," the older woman who managed the castle said with a raised eyebrow. She reminded Snow of Granny but wasn't someone who had been there when she was a girl. Or if she was she didn't know her. "Most of the army is out of barracks so presumably she is off expanding her realms."
Snow raised an eyebrow, "I ... didn't... does she do that often?"
The older woman smiled, "You know we always imagined you were some sort of rebel leader who knew everything that went on in the kingdom."
Snow laughed, "Most of the time I didn't know more than what was going on with the knights on my trail."
She shrugged nodded for Snow to follow her. They went as far as the queen's study and Snow felt a little like she was intruding on Regina's space except servant's moved in and out of such spaces without ever inhabiting them. The giant map table was bigger than she remembered from her youth and getting a look at it she understood why. "Regina has doubled the size of the kingdom since my father died?"
"The Great and Terrible Evil Queen does not spend all of her time chasing the Noble Bandit Princess."
Snow nodded, "I can see. It's ... probably a good thing I came home. I was heading for the Northern Kingdoms where my mother was from."
"I'd have said you'd have gotten caught but none of us could figure out how you stayed alive as long as you did. The Black Knights quickly learned that it was better not to be chasing you no matter the rewards promised for your capture because you would always get away and the price of failing Her Majesty is steep."
Snow looked up from the map table. "So why do you work for her. I don't remember you from ... from when my father was alive."
The servant shrugged, "I was here. Just a lowly maid you didn't notice. Her Majesty rewards loyalty and competence. When Johanna asked to be released from service she recommended me and the Queen gave me a chance. The position has helped my girls immensely."
Snow wanted to ask about her children but the name reminded her, "Johanna is... is she alive?"
Snow hated to admit it but she assumed that she had been one of Regina's victims when she wasn't in the castle and though she missed her dearly she was rather glad not to have to explain how she'd ended up in the Queen's bed.
"She lives in a town about a half day's ride from here. She asked the Queen for her leave after she charged you with treason."
"And Regina let her go?"
The woman shrugged, "There were things in this castle you never saw as a girl, Your Highness. If you want to live through whatever games you are playing with her and she is playing with you it would be good for you to learn to read them better." She took her leave from Snow and Snow bit her lip, realizing she had been gently chastised. She already knew she'd been blind and a bit selfish when she had last lived in the castle but she did wonder about Johanna and why Regina had allowed anyone so close to Snow to defy her and live.
Regina was still not back by that evening but to everyone's surprise a young woman with brown hair wearing an elegant yellow dress appeared in a puff of purple smoke in the as Snow was reading a book in front of a fire. Snow got up quickly but the girl about her age looked scared and her eyes darted around. Snow held up her hands, "You're ... alright." She was going to say safe but that was very much the wrong word to choose for someone who had obviously been transported there by the magic of the Evil Queen. "My name is Snow. Did the Queen send you here?"
The young woman straightened herself and tried to look dignified except she was shaking like a leaf in the wind. Snow took her hand. "Yes... I ... the my father's lands were about to be overrun by ogres. We've been at war with them for years. She offered to defeat them and save us if he pledged fidelity to her and I agreed to come to her court as assurance. I... don't think he thought she meant that moment." She stopped speaking for a moment and looked around, "I don't think I thought she meant that moment either."
Snow nodded, "Probably something you only think about if you have magic. We were... we were expecting you let me take you to your rooms. I'm sorry, what can I call you?"
Realizing that she was at least not in immediate danger she nodded, "I'm sorry you said your name and I never told you mine. Belle. My name is Belle."
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you Belle. Welcome to the Winter Palace. It's a little... dark and brooding but it has its charms. I might ... avoid referring to her as the Evil Queen though."
She nodded, "We were about to contact the Dark One for help when she arrived with her army. Will... will she keep her word to my father?"
"I'm sure she will." Snow hated herself a little for the lie and hoped she was right. Especially has she had the sick feeling the only reason Belle's lands were being saved from the ogres at this moment was because Regina didn't want her to be lonely.