The face in the mirror looked annoyed as she entered the room.
"You didn't handle that well." He told her.
"Shut up. I am Queen here."
Regina swept towards her vanity mirror and began removing the pins holding up her hair. As dark curls fell, framing her face, she smiled at her reflection.
"Did you see? The girl has magic."
"So? It makes her a rival. You had the perfect excuse to execute her…"
"But Red wouldn't have liked it."
"That…wolf," He spat out the term, wishing he could use another but knowing she didn't like it. "Is just a commoner and should be beneath your notice."
"She is loyal to me. More than any of the other guards. She helped persuade Emma to stay and I now know exactly how to get Emma to like me."
"I know how loyal she is." The mirror sneered. "But you like collecting love-sick fools, don't you?"
Regina raised her hand and a sheet flew across the surface of his mirror. He instantly re-appeared in her vanity mirror.
"You think yourself so clever." She told him. "But that girl has power and I can use her to help me. There were things in her mind, strange thoughts, and if I can get her to trust me… well, I can finally have enough power to complete my revenge."
"I thought you just wanted the people to like you."
"They will. Once I remove those responsible for sending the latest assassin after me." Regina smiled. "His friends were so talkative once I visited them in the dungeons."
"I wish you would put a mirror down there so that I can watch you at work." He sighed.
"I allow you the mirrors in my bedroom. Isn't that enough?"
She waved her hand and replaced her dress with her nightgown. It was even more revealing than her dress, made of a dark blue shimmering material that hugged her body and left nothing to the imagination.
"It is a torture I willingly endure." He replied, smiling with a glazed look in his eyes.
Regina giggled and pressed her fingers to her lips before blowing him a kiss. "Goodnight."
Red hovered in the Emma's doorway. She didn't want to leave but it was getting late and she was tired.
"Emma, please don't hate me."
"What for?"
"I know you don't like what happened tonight, but it had to be done."
"You didn't have to kill that man. You could have, I don't know… stopped him some other way."
"There was no time. He was about to kill the Queen and it was my job to stop him."
"Is what Regina said true?"
"About the blood oath? Yes. But I believe in her, I know she is a good Queen and so I willingly fight to save her."
"But that's just …wrong, that she has to force people to protect her or suffer pain because they don't."
"It is rare that anyone suffers that way. She doesn't accept everyone. If she did, those seeking food for their families would attack the guards on sight. When they come before her she uses her magic to screen them, to make sure the person isn't insane or happy to murder others. She wants people strong enough to stand in the streets and keep order. If a guard dies, it is usually because they became too full of their new positions and a brave person stood up to them. That way she knows she is getting someone who is a good person." Red put her hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from her belt. "Look, the truth is that a long time ago she made some mistakes. She was young and those she trusted had hurt her. The people don't forget such things easily."
"What did she do?"
"That's in the past. Her mother had magic, but no real status and she was cruel to Regina, trying to make her into someone she wasn't. She was betrayed throughout her life and yet she forgave all those who hurt her. That's the type of person she is. We need her to rule because without her the people would have starved to death long ago. She cares for us and wants to protect us."
"Then why does she choose killers to stand as her guards?"
"Because no-one else would take the job." Red sighed and came to stand closer to Emma.
"How did you become a guard?"
"I killed someone I loved. I was brought before the Queen and she saw that it was an accident and offered to help me. I couldn't go back home after what I had done. Regina was wonderful."
"You sound like you're in love."
Red smiled and ducked her head. "Maybe I am, a little. You have to admit she is the most beautiful woman you have ever seen."
"I don't think I've ever met anyone like her." Emma admitted.
They continued talking for another hour, Red trying to explain about her early life and how only her grandmother had known her secret. Emma began to relax and told Red about her life, about not having a family and being passed from home to home knowing that no-one there really loved her, they were just providing a roof over her head for the money.
Neither of them noticed the smoky blue shadow in the mirror on the wall.