Chapter 25
"Sydney?" Regina threw over her shoulder to the mirror as she walked to her desk. Emma stopped near the doorway and watched the Queen search for something. "Have the Captain join the princess and I in the war room. Tell him we'll be there immediately."
"Of course, your highness," the mirror said and disappeared.
"You have a war room?" Emma asked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
"Why wouldn't I?" Regina said with a smile. "Surely you didn't think I prepared my strategies out in the open." She pulled out a paper and began to walk out the door and down the hallway.
"What's that paper?"
"After we have devised a plan, I will sign this. It will alert my army to prepare for a possible enemy invasion."
"Couldn't you just…I don't know, give a speech?" Emma asked.
"Your parents were going to let you run the kingdom after they were gone?" Regina asked smirking slightly. "A speech may improve morale, but a written message will ensure that my intentions are not misinterpreted." Regina stopped in front of two large doors and turned back to face the blonde. "You would have been so easy to conquer, my dear," she whispered, leaning close. Emma raised her eyebrow and frowned.
Regina opened the door to the room behind her and waited for Emma to walk in first and closed the door behind them. The room was dark, but with a wave of Regina's hand, candles were lit around the room. A long table sat in the middle with chairs lining both sides. At the head of the table sat an ornate chair which looked like a smaller version of the Queen's throne. On the wall opposite to it was a round mirror with what appeared to be tentacles spreading out from it. A map sat in the middle of the table with lines surrounding the different kingdoms.
As she looked at the map, she realized just how large both her parent's and Regina's kingdoms were. Falasia, her parent's, was in the southern part of the realm and almost spread all the way across the map and was broken up into various provinces. The far north of the realm was known as Malithian and was ruled by the Evil Queen herself. Mountains surrounded Malithian to the west while the Never-Ending Forest was to the east. Directly in the middle of the forest was a small clearing that had the writing "Rumple's Estate," in it. The entire kingdom of Falasia was surrounded by the Enchanted Forest, and on the far west, the Caspian Sea cut into the land.
Looking at the kingdoms, Emma realized just how firm of a hand Regina must have to solely run such a large kingdom. In fact, in many ways, it seemed as though this kingdom was running much better than Falasia. In her lessons, she had heard that Malithian had suffered through countless civil wars under the Queen's rule, but Emma had yet to hear of any sort of uprising. Were her parents deliberately telling their citizens how horrible it was in the Queen's realm, or perhaps they were being fed misinformation by the spies they thought were loyal to them? It was a line of thought for later.
"You will be sitting there," the Queen said, motioning to a chair to the right of her own. Regina went to stand behind the chair in question and placed her hands on the back of it. She watched Emma walk over and sit down in it. She then placed her hands on the younger woman's shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Do try to behave yourself. I'd hate to remind you who is in control here."
"Rather sudden change in mood, your majesty," Emma said with a smirk, watching Regina walk to stand behind her chair at the head of the table. The Queen looked back at her, her eyes piercing.
"Perhaps I'm preparing myself to be the Queen again."
The doors burst open and the Captain walked in, his clothing lined in fur. A bow was slung over his back. To Emma, it appeared as though he was about to go hunting. He bowed before standing before the Queen. Emma briefly wondered if she should start bowing when they were in public. Queen outranked princess, after all.
"Is there news of Snow and Charming?" he asked, standing behind the chair to the left of the Queen's.
"Sit," the Queen said, taking her own seat. She explained to him what Maleficent had told her. With every sentence, his brow furrowed even further. When she had finished, he looked to Emma.
"And you accept that the Queen will be killing your parents?" he asked.
"Actually, I will not be," Regina interjected. "I have promised the princess that I will not harm them."
Graham looked at the Queen, confusion written on his face. "Then you will allow another to kill them?"
"No," she said, leaving no room for argument. "No one in my forces will so much as lay a hand on them, do you understand?"
"With all due respect, your majesty, I don't. For as long as I have been in your service, your sole goal has been to make them suffer. Now, you have the opportunity to take their lives and rise to their throne with their daughter at your side."
"You will not question my decisions, Captain," the Queen spat, sending a small jolt of fear through Emma. No matter how familiar she was with Regina, she felt as though this side of her would always intimidate her. "While taking their kingdom is something that certainly is still in my mind, this is not how it will be done."
The Huntsman bowed his head slightly. "Then how do you plan on your men surviving?"
"I fear the only possibly solution is to stop Rumpelstiltskin. But I won't even be able to reach him without help."
"Ursula?" he asked.
"No," Regina said, looking in the distance. "I would only ask her to join me if Triton was mobilizing. Her army is only effective against his troops, in all honestly. On land, they would only be more men to be slain. We will stand alone."
"What about mother and father?" Emma asked, earning a piercing a glare from the Queen.
"I know you have problems keeping up with the conversation, but I would think that even you would remember that they are the ones my kingdom is going to war against."
"But if they knew they would be betrayed, I know they would join you," Emma said, holding Regina's gaze. "They don't take kindly to that."
"And you really think they'd believe me?" the Queen asked, leaning towards her. "We've both tricked each other far too many times for trust."
"They'd believe me."
The Queen leaned back and arched an eyebrow. "I wouldn't allow you to go to their castle alone. Even though they are your parents, I fear for what may happen. Most likely, they would keep you there and not allow you to return to me. Then, I'd be in an even worse position."
"We can both go," Emma said. "You're the Queen, you should negotiate the alliance. I'll simply be there to confirm your story."
"The princess is right," Graham interjected. "Their forces are our only hope."
"I don't need your help," Regina snapped. "Negotiating a treaty with your parents would be nearly impossible. They will require your return to them and that is not something I am willing to give them."
"They'll respect my wishes to stay with you," Emma said. "You need to trust me on this."
Regina continued to study Emma closely. Her eyes were still piercing, but Emma could see something else in them. It looked almost like pride. But that wouldn't make sense at all.
"I will speak with Snow and Charming," the Queen said, speaking to both Graham and Emma but only looking at the blonde. "But I will be going alone." Emma and the Huntsman both began to protest, but were immediately silenced by the Queen's raised hand. "End of discussion," she said. "Now, Captain, if you will excuse us, the princess and I have business to attend to in the village."
With that, Regina rose from her chair and picked up the paper she had brought with her. She quickly left, Emma following behind her.
"You can't just leave me behind!" Emma said as she walked beside the Queen. "I told you I would stay with you through all of this. I'm going."
Regina whipped around and got dangerously close to Emma, backing her up against the wall. "And I told you to remember who was in control," she said. "You will not argue with your Queen."
"Your majesty?" came a deep voice. Regina turned her head quickly to see who it was.
"Keep walking," she said to the guard. And he did, trying to get out of range from any magic the Queen might throw at him.
"You're letting me ride with you into battle, Regina. Accompanying you to see my parents can't be any more dangerous than that."
"I don't want them to take you from me," she said, some of the Queen's demeanor leaving her.
"I won't let them."
Regina smiled and backed away from the blonde. "You always seem to win these arguments," she said. "Not many people can say that."
"So I can go with you?" Emma asked.
"Under one condition," Regina began. "You will follow all of my instructions."
"Deal."
"Good," she said with a smile. "But now we must visit the blacksmith in town."
Regina began walking again and Emma walked beside her. It wasn't until they had reached the stables that Regina's words registered with her.
"Why the blacksmith?" she asked, following Regina.
"Well, I want you to have armor and a sword to protect yourself," she said. "The armory doesn't have women's armor, and if you are to face my enemies with me, you'll need a sword much like mine. The blacksmith in the village makes the finest weapons and armor in the realm and I would want no other to fashion yours. And you'll need to begin practicing with your own sword and armor as well."
"Awesome."
"And I also want to introduce you to your steed," Regina said, stopping in front of a stall. "While you were training with the other knights, I was preparing this. I had planned on waiting and giving you more riding lessons, but it would appear that you will have use of him far earlier than I had planned."
The Queen stepped aside and Emma looked inside. The steed was brilliantly white, almost glowing in the soft light that managed to find its way inside the stables. It walked closer to her and she rubbed her hand against its neck, causing him to snort and shake his head.
"He's mine?" Emma asked, awestruck.
"All yours," Regina said with a smile, leaning against the stall.
"Does he have a name?"
"I told you that you could name your own horse once you got one. So no, he does not. You may name him."
"What about…Uriel?"
"If that's the name you want him to have, it is the name he shall go by," she said, still smiling. "And now, we must get him saddled up if you are to ride him into town."
"I…I'm riding him already?" Emma asked, taking a step back.
"Well, yes. I have nothing but confidence in you, dear."
Emma looked at her skeptically, but followed her to where the saddles were stored. Regina picked out a pure white one and handed it to Emma and walked back to Uriel. The Queen showed her how to prepare the steed for riding. After they had finished, Regina walked over to Heloise and saddled her. As the Queen was working, Emma noticed the same swan emblem that was on her throne was imprinted into the leather of her saddle. When the Queen returned, she motioned for Emma to lead Uriel out of the stable. She looked at Regina's saddle and saw the apple tree on her throne in the same place as the swan on hers. For some reason, the sight made her smile.
Regina instructed Emma to go ahead and mount Uriel and Regina did the same to Heloise. Once they had gotten comfortable, they set off down a path that Emma had never been down. It led through woods that had trees which seemed to never end, towering far into the sky. Squirrels and birds fluttered around them and seemed to stop and watch their progress.
"It would appear the animals like you," Regina said with a smirk. "Must be genetic."
Emma smiled and looked over to the Queen who looked back out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't always hate mother, did you," the blonde said as less of a question and more of a statement. She watched Regina closely. At first, her back stiffened, then she relaxed, but the smile slid away.
"No, we were not always enemies. For the longest time, I cared for her very deeply. But she came into the opinion that I wasn't good enough for her because I wasn't her real mother. You see, she had betrayed me in the most horrible of ways when she was young, and for a while I tried to forgive her. But with each and every passing day, she reminded me of what was taken from me."
"And you never could forgive her, could you?"
"Obviously," she said slowly. "I thought that exacting my revenge on her father would be enough, but it wasn't. I only learned that until she was miserable, I could never be happy."
"Then you found the curse."
"Yes. The curse that brought you to me," she said with a small smile as she looked at the blonde.
"I suppose an Evil Queen would think that a curse is romantic," Emma said as she rolled her eyes.
Regina smirked and looked back to the path in front of her.
"Ow!" Emma yelped as she felt a shock on the arm closest to the Queen. "What was that for?"
"Sorry," she said, still smirking. "Guess the Evil Queen is coming out of me."
"Yeah, well, try to keep her contained until later," Emma mumbled. She thought she heard the Queen laugh, but wasn't sure.
"Your majesty!" a few soldiers yelled, saluting. Emma looked up to see a gate that had seemed to spring up out of nowhere.
Regina nodded her head and proceeded through. The princess looked behind them to see that two guards fell in behind them, walking with their hands resting on their swords.
"Your knights seemed very concerned for your safety," Emma said as she turned back around.
"Well, that is what they're trained to do," Regina said. "And I do try to treat them well. The two behind us, if I'm not mistaken, trained together and requested to be stationed with each other. It just so happened that these positions were open."
"You know them all so well?" Emma asked.
"I find that if I show them generosity, they are more likely to follow my commands," the Queen said.
By now, the path had turned to stone and a few people were stopping to see what was happening. Mothers kept their children close to them and bowed their heads when the Queen passed by. Regina sat up straight and surveyed her subjects.
"It seems that they respect you," Emma said.
"I would imagine it's a mixture of fear and respect, actually," Regina said. "I treat them well, I ensure they have what they need to survive, but I also rule with a very firm hand. As they get older and they become more aware of what I'm capable of, they fear for what I may do if they cross me. The elders instill the fear in their children, telling them tales of my power. This fear, coupled with respect for the order and fair laws of my kingdom, results in citizens that accept my power over them."
"And you enjoy that?"
"Yes," she said simply.
Regina stopped Heloise and Emma followed suit. She looked around to see that they were nearly in the middle of the town. Emma dismounted and went to stand by the Queen. The two guards took the horses reins and walked them off to the side of the building that Regina was about to walk into.
Regina walked forward, not waiting for Emma. As she reached the door, she felt a bump on her leg and a small yelp. She looked down to see a little girl sitting back, looking up at her with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open. The Queen bent down and offered the girl a hand. She took it and Regina pulled her up. She bent down and brushed some dirt from the girl's front.
"You'd better get back to your parents," she said with a smile. The girl ran off, not even looking back. Emma walked up by the Queen and smiled at her.
"You like kids?" she asked.
"I do. But they are often intimidated by me. And slightly afraid," she said with a sad smile. She pushed the door open and walked inside, Emma following suit.
The door closed behind them, barely making a sound. Regina looked around and began taking off her riding gloves, finger by finger. Soon, Emma heard some banging around, and then a large muscular man appeared behind the counter.
"Yer majesty," he rumbled and bowed. "What can I do fer ya?"
Emma saw that his face was slightly disfigured. His face was in a permanent frown and one eye was half closed. The side of his face with the half closed eye seemed to be rougher than the other, almost as if it was swollen.
"Hephaestus," Regina said, inclining her head slightly. "I am in need of a suit of armor and a sword."
"Somethin' wrong with yer's?"
"Actually, it's for the princess," she said with a smirk.
"Snow and Charmin's daughter? Fer a prisoner, ya sure are treatin' her good."
"Yes, well, I do try to keep my guests well accommodated," she said. Hephaestus laughed, but to Emma, it sounded more like stone scraping against stone.
"An' how do ya want it done?"
"I have a design," the Queen said as she reached into her jacket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "I will be placing enchantments on it, so keep that in mind."
"The sword?"
"You will need to ask the princess about the specifications, but it is to match the armor in basic appearance."
"Very well," Hephaestus said. "Do ya use one hand or two hands when ya fight, princess?"
"Mostly one," Emma replied. "But I'll use two sometimes."
"Then yer handle will be one-and-a-half hands. An' have ya been trainin' with the armory's swords?"
"Yes."
"Then the blade will be the same. That's all I need."
"Thank you, Hephaestus," Regina said. "I will also be enchanting the sword. When will you have everything finished?"
"If I can get started on it now, I'd say around tonight."
"Excellent. I will have a soldier stationed outside your shop. When you have finished, tell the soldier and the princess and I will be back to retrieve it."
Hephaestus grunted and took the design of the armor and walked back to where he came from. The Queen tilted her head to the right and smiled before turning and walking out of the shop. Emma looked back to see if the blacksmith would come back out, but when he didn't, she quickly took off after Regina. When she walked outside, she saw Regina giving orders to one of the guards and mounting Heliose. Emma quickly mounted Uriel and looked over to Regina who inclined her head and began to ride off.
"The blacksmith was somewhat…strange," she said.
"He doesn't understand the proper respect owed to a Queen," she said with a smirk. "But he is excellent at what he does so I allow it."
"And the armor and sword will be done by tonight? How is that possible?"
"Hephaestus is able to do wonders with metal. Some even say that he can work magic."
"Can he do magic?" Emma asked, wondering just how common it was for people in Regina's kingdom to practice it. In Falasia, it was frowned upon unless you were a magical creature by nature.
"He doesn't tell his secrets, but I do have my theories. He went to the finest smithing school in my kingdom and I believe he is able to work some magic to form the metal and cool it. The magic isn't difficult by any means, but it takes skill to do what he does."
"What kind of enchantments will you put on it?" Emma asked.
"A few protection spells," she said as they passed through the gates of the village. Emma looked behind them to see that the guard who had been following them had stopped at the gates.
"When we get back, you will immediately find the Huntsman and tell him to spar with you," Regina said. "You haven't practiced in a few days, and I want you to be refreshed before I take up your training."
"And what will you do?"
"I need to speak with Red," Regina said.
"Hello, Red," Regina said, her hands clenched in front of her. She looked through the bars of the girl's cell and saw her sitting on her bed.
"Your majesty," Red replied, getting up and coming to stand near the bars. "Last night, I…I didn't-"
Regina held up her hand to stop her.
"There is absolutely no need to apologize for what happened. I am well aware of your…condition…and I knew the risks of it when I entered into your territory. I'm down here for another reason."
The Queen waved her hand and a soft click! rang through the dungeons. Red's cell door swung open and Regina stepped forward, almost entering.
"I'm not going to let you be locked up down here because you're afraid of what you might do. Last night, you remembered how to control yourself and I believe you will be able to from now on."
Red backed up, pressing herself against the wall opposite Regina. "I almost killed you," she said, shaking her head. "I can't go out in the world. I'm a mon-"
"A monster?" Regina asked. "I know what a monster is, Red, and you are certainly not one. I have instructed my guards to not let you enter the dungeon again."
"What if I can't control myself?" Red asked, making her way towards Regina now. "What if what happened last night was a fluke?"
"Do you remember how it felt to control the wolf?" Regina inquired gently.
"Yes."
"Then tonight, when you turn, keep ahold of that same feeling. Don't let it go."
"And you really think I can do this?" Red asked, now nearly out of the cell.
"I can assure you that I rarely put my faith in anyone," the Queen said with a smirk.
"But what could I possibly do? Most people will recognize me if I go out like this and even those that won't will be able to tell what I am. No one would hire me. No one would let me live near them. I have nowhere to go but here."
"Then I suppose it's a good thing that I have an opening in the kitchen, if that suits you."
"And you really think I can do this?"
"If you keep asking, I'll change my answer to no and keep you locked down here forever."
Red let out a strangled laugh before completely exiting the cell. She looked at Regina and smiled. For all of the things she had ever heard about her, for all of the things that she had believed, this woman had a kind heart inside of her. A heart that she never let many people see, but was there. Even now, it seemed as though she was trying to be the Queen, but couldn't. As if something in her life was starting to change her.
"Thank you," she said to the Queen. Regina nodded and blinked slowly. Red walked off and Regina watched her disappear before returning to her chambers.
As Regina sat at her desk, she thought about Emma. Today was turning quite eventful, to say the least. No doubt, when she returned to the Queen, she would need to unwind. And if history served as a guide, Emma would be agitated after her session with Graham. Somehow, he always managed to aggravate her. Whether he did it on purpose or not, Regina didn't care. The fact was that Emma Swan would surely want to blow off steam when she returned.
And Regina knew just how to help her with her problem.
She rose from her desk and walked to her balcony. From there, she had an almost perfect view of where Emma and Graham sparred. She spotted blonde hair flying around and focused in on her. Using the kind of magic she was about to required being able to see the person she was casting the spell on. Why she had never thought of this, she didn't know. While using magic to get what she wanted was not uncommon, she hardly used magic on Emma like this. But this was different, she reasoned. She was doing it for both of them because, quite honestly, she knew both of them would enjoy it. And a small voice in the back of her head questioned when they would be able to do this again.
Regina reached out to the blonde with her mind, entering into her thoughts slowly as not to alert her to anything going amiss. Everyone's mind was different, but Regina seemed to know exactly where to go to find what she was looking for. As she got closer and closer to her goal, she noticed that it was becoming more difficult to travel through Emma's thoughts. Almost as if they were blocked out even from herself. Eventually, she found what exactly what she needed.
She sifted through Emma's fantasies, hoping to find one she was willing to indulge her in. Most were simple or things they had already one. Regina was looking for something special. Something carnal. As she continued looking through them, she noticed that the farther into this part of her mind she went, the more the fantasies involved Emma dominating her Queen. Regina couldn't help but smirk, knowing that Emma could very well offer up a good fight, and most likely in the end, Regina would even relinquish her power for a small while.
Ah, this one looks interesting, the Queen thought. Very interesting. But how did she come up with that outfit? When we were visiting the Mayor perhaps? Either way, Regina was certainly going to indulge her princess.
The Queen sent a spell Emma's way, causing a nearly overpowering wave of arousal to wash over the blonde. From her balcony, she saw her falter in her defenses before taking them up again.
That's certainly going to make her flustered.
"Claude!" she called, over her shoulder. A guard walked in and bowed. "Fetch the princess from her sparring lesson and send her to me. Be sure to tell her it's urgent." The guard bowed again and left quickly.
Regina quickly enveloped herself in purple mist and turned to the mirror, taking in her image. She smirked at herself, knowing Miss Swan would be simply delighted when she saw her.
A/N: Hello everyone! I think that this chapter is a serious information overload in a way, so I'm sorry if that bugged some of you. But, as you can see, I have left you with a bit of a cliff hanger. The next chapter is pretty much pure smut. And guess what…I HAVE THE NEXT CHAPTER DONE! So, if you guys review and everything, I'll put it up tonight, probably around 8. Or maybe I'll just be evil and sit on it until Sunday. Mwahaha.
Also, I just want to say thank you all so much for all of your wonderful reviews. At some point in time, this story received over 500 reviews and you have no idea how much that honestly means to me. Thanks so much everyone!