When they woke the next morning it was edging towards midday. Emma pulled in a deep breath and stretched as much as she could with Regina nestled against her. She was surprised the woman hadn't heard the trumpet at the first light of dawn like she normally did. But then again they had had a tiring night, and if Regina hadn't been sleeping well like she had, then they deserved a night of true rest.
But now it was morning and now it was time to deal with the fact that Cora had put a spell on them, and would almost certainly know that her spell was well and truly broken now. If she hadn't felt the pulse of magic that had flown from them when they had broken the spell she would be infinitely surprised. Then again her spies had probably told her that her spell had been weakening for weeks, if the woman couldn't see that herself. They had to act now before the woman came up with anything else to try and take her revenge on them.
Emma rose from the bed and started to get ready, leaving Regina right where she was. A few more minutes rest wouldn't hurt when she had a feeling that rest would be the last thing on their minds soon. The rustle of fabric and the absence of warmth beside her roused Regina just as Emma was pulling on her dress. She looked over and smiled at Regina as she sat up, sheet slipping off her body and pooling at her waist. Emma's eyes raked over her hungrily. She had missed this woman in every single way. She wished that they had a bit more time before they needed to be anywhere. She'd show Regina all over again how much she'd missed her. But there wasn't time so Emma waved her hand and laced up the back of her dress with a sigh.
"Good morning, my love," Emma said, walking over.
Regina rubbed her eyes and yawned. "More like afternoon."
Emma leaned forward and kissed Regina gently, careful not to let her hands wander too far. She had self-control, but only so much and touching would definitely break what little she had. "It's not quite that late yet, but yes, the council meeting for the day will be soon. Your soldiers are probably wondering where you are as well." She pulled back and stared at Regina, face just far enough away to make sure Regina knew she was serious. "Regina, no more of this planning without my knowledge. I need to be brought in on the plans to take your mother down. She's separated us once because we are much more vulnerable apart. Together you and I and our magic are much better matched. And gods know we need to get her out of this kingdom before yet another pawn falls to her games."
Regina sighed, a long breath out of her nose. She looked away from Emma for just a second before she met her eyes without flinching "You're right."
Emma blinked for a second trying to make sure her ears were truly working right. She hadn't thought it was going to be anywhere near that easy to convince the other woman of the necessity. Since they had started this Regina had always been so adamant. But then again that was before they were cursed, so that might have had something to do with her change of heart. Emma wasn't sure she cared exactly why just so long as they could work together now.
"Wow, that's actually rather nice to hear." Emma smiled and sat back. "But that's beside the point. How far are you guys actually to figuring out a way to get Cora gone?"
"I think it would be easier if you just came to one of our meetings. There are a great many moving parts in our plans and not everyone knows everything, not even I do. At the beginning we all thought that was for the best."
Emma scrunched her brow. "Are you sure that's the best way to go about it? I mean, yes, I agree that not everyone should know everything, but someone should, that way they can make the right moves so everything comes out the best it can and everyone can come out unhurt."
Regina shook her head. "In theory it sounds like a better idea, yes, but what if my mother got a hold of that one person? It would be catastrophic. Now if someone gets captured there are still a few things that will be outside of her knowledge that we can build up from again."
"I see your point, but isn't that why you make the leader the least visible person in the group? They take no risks, they only work behind the scenes. To anyone else it would look as if they aren't involved at all."
"Who would we appoint at this juncture, Emma? This planning has been going on for months now. As secretive as we are I'm sure my mother knows at least part of what's going on. Choosing you or I as the leader would be completely foolhardy. It's the obvious choice. Lord William would be the next as he is the oldest. Who would that leave left that's truly capable of running a plan like this? Who has the experience? A great many people working with me were alive during the last war, but they had nothing to do with the fighting of it. They have no strategic experience. They are smart men, for sure, but that only gets you so far. My mother is battle tested and knows a great many tricks in the book. The only way to truly surprise her is to come from so many directions at once there's no way she can predict any of it."
"And you think an attack with that many moving parts can really work without someone coordinating it. Fine, ok, so maybe you could get away with someone not knowing everything, I think it's stupid, but you could do it if you really wanted to, but someone has to be in charge of timing."
Regina waved off the concern. "We've talked about timing. I said not everyone knew everything, not that we were fools and didn't do our due diligence in making sure that everyone knew the extremely important details."
Emma sighed. "All right then. But I still don't see why someone like Lord Roderic couldn't be at the helm. He's younger, yes, but he has proved staunchly loyal to us and I don't think he would let us down."
"If it really bothers you that much Emma bring it up when we meet with them. Call for Henry, I'll request a meeting when I send out my latest report on the status of the soldiers I'm training."
Emma nodded and moved towards the door. "I'll send out a few things as well. Maybe we can trick them into thinking we've been doing paperwork all day instead of sleeping." She shot a weak smile over her shoulder at Regina.
She walked to the door with an unsettled feeling in her stomach. This all really didn't sit right with her. She had had classes when she was younger on the basics of strategy and court intrigue and how to navigate it. She hadn't paid a great amount of attention of course, but she had learned somethings and this seemed to go against the most basic rule, stay organized and always know your battle plan. She sighed again and wished she'd paid much more attention in those lessons. Perhaps she could actually make her point to Regina and not have the other woman brush her off with platitudes to bring it up to the others in the group.
She opened the door to her rooms and caught a maid just as she was walking by. After she'd told the maid she wanted the little page boy Henry and the girl had scurried down the hall. Emma walked back into her rooms, gathering the paperwork she would send with Regina's. She had just gathered up everything when a knock came at the door. Regina walked out of their room right on time and strode towards the door. She opened it to a smiling Henry who walked in just as Regina waved him on in.
"Wait here just a second." Regina smiled down at him, warm, open, and so very reminiscent of the smiles her mother used to send her way when she was Henry's age. She stood there watching them for a second, considering everything about their interactions, before she snapped out of it and walked over to the boy.
"These will go to the members of council that have their names on the tops of the pages." She had made sure to sort out anyone who wasn't in the immediate circle of trusted advisors. She didn't want anything to accidentally slip through the cracks when the boy was handing out papers. He looked like a good, careful boy, but they couldn't be too careful.
He nodded fervently, looking for all the world like his only mission in that minute was to please his Queen. He was a cute little boy. She could see why Regina liked him so much.
She stepped back and motioned over where Regina had gone with a tilt of her head. "She'll have more for you but that's all I have for now." She paused for a second considering something. "Come back after lunch and the council meeting. I'll have another round of papers for you to deliver then."
"Yes, your majesty."
She sighed and walked over to the couch again. She was ready for the day and technically she could go to the council meeting now and get there perhaps a few minutes early, but she didn't want to leave without Regina by her side. There was still a possibility that she could come with her to the council meeting now that so much time had passed and the day was almost half over. Plus there was at least one thing that she wanted to discuss with the other woman about the little page boy that was standing in their living room, mostly just to assure herself.
Regina came out a second later, a bit of ink drying on her fingertips from where she had written too fast and had smudged the drying ink. Emma smiled at that little detail as she handed the stack of papers to Henry. "Those will do for now." She reached out and ruffled his hair lightly. "I'm sure that cook might have an extra treat for you later for doing such a good job recently."
The boy lit up and Emma thought it only had to partly do with the fact that he was getting a treat. Regina's praise was rather an intoxicating thing.
"Thanks, 'gina!" And then he was out the door in a flurry of little legs, scurrying off to do the job he'd been asked to do.
Emma walked forward to stand at Regina's side, now clad in her armor, sword around her waist, looking at the door wistfully. "He's a lovely little boy."
"He is."
"'gina?" Emma turned to her and cocked an eyebrow. She knew Regina hated that nickname. She wouldn't even let Emma use that nickname, even when tired.
"He's young, he hasn't quite grasped some proper pronunciation yet."
"Ok, sure, but you are his Queen."
She shrugged. "I informed him a good while ago that he could address me informally when in private."
She took Regina's hand. "You really like him, then."
"I do."
She bit her lip for a second before switching the subject. There were a few thoughts running through her mind that bared considering, but later after all this was over. "Are you going to the council meeting with me or are you going to find your men and work them for the remainder of the day?"
Regina considered the choice for a second. "I think I should go with you to the council meeting. I have this creeping feeling that somehow my mother will be there."
"You think she felt the spell breaking too?"
"Mmm, yes. That was a powerful wave of magic, Emma. Anyone with any magic ability in the area would have felt the magic flow through them. Some people who were near our rooms in the palace might have felt the magic even if they possess no magic themselves, though they would've brushed it off as just a very strange gust of wind."
Emma scrunched her brow at that. "Inside?"
"When given no other option the human brain usually goes for the simplest explanation."
"I suppose you're right." She gathered up the rest of the papers and her files for the meeting. She tucked them all into one arm and offered her other to Regina.
Regina stepped forward and twined her arm through. They both relaxed just slightly at the contact. If Emma had to guess the practical reason that Regina was accompanying her was that she wanted to be there just in case her mother was, but the real reason she was coming with Emma was that she couldn't quite bear to be apart from Emma just yet. Not that Emma really blamed her since she felt the same way.
They stepped together as one and started to walk down the hall towards the council chambers. "So I suppose since everyone felt the magic wave there's no real need to pretend it didn't happen," Emma said squeezing Regina's arm to let her know just what she was talking about. She hadn't really thought about the gesture when she had offered Regina her arm, but if they did want to hide it, walking through the hall arms joined wasn't really the way to do it.
"No, there really isn't."
"Good, good. It's not like we've been hiding the fact that we've been growing closer again anyway. Though I suppose we didn't quite know what that meant at the time." She shrugged.
Regina just hummed and said nothing more as they drew nearer to the council chamber. They entered together, still joined arm in arm and all those members of the council that were turned towards the door stopped for just half a second before returning to whatever it was that they had been doing before, but it most assuredly had been noticeable. So it seemed while news their slow reconciliation had been making its way through the palace, no one thought it would be this fast. She supposed that did make sense.
Emma swept to the head of the table, face cool and impassive. If there was one thing she'd take away from all of this at least it was the art of making one's face as blank as a mask. Regina beside her was smirking just a bit. Emma poked her in the side with her elbow before they took their respective chairs.
"So what have we got today?" Emma cocked an eyebrow and sat back as the council regaled her with whatever was going on in the kingdom and brought issues that needed her attention to the forefront.
It was just shaping up to be a normal council meeting for which Emma was glad. There was no Cora, a blessing and a curse. While she wasn't visible it meant surely that the woman was plotting in the shadows. She'd have to send an express invitation to the woman to join them for dinner. It would put strain on both her and Regina, but on this day she thought that seeing Cora at least once would do them good for their long term planning.
She reached out under the table and squeezed Regina's hand. She glanced over for just a second, sending Regina a look that clearly meant she wanted to talk before looking back at one of the Earls that was presenting on renovating a small part of the village where he made his home to make it more trade friendly. Regina nodded, just a bare movement of her head, indicating she understood. Emma wouldn't spring something like that on Regina, not unless she absolutely had to. If necessary she'd make some sort of excuse for Regina and face Cora on her own. She swallowed hard at the thought, but she would do anything to protect Regina if she could.
The meeting wrapped up and the councilmen filed out talking amongst themselves about whatever business they still had to do that wasn't quite important enough to mention to Emma just yet. Regina turned to her and cocked an eyebrow. Here was as good a place to talk as any, better really considering no one could listen in on their conversations.
"I'm thinking of inviting your mother to dinner," Emma said just diving in to the subject at hand. "She didn't show up at the meeting obviously, but I think seeing her might give us a better idea of where to head after this. If it doesn't, then it's just a dinner invitation and there's really no harm done. I just didn't want to do it without discussing it with you."
Regina nodded. "You're right it could give us some insight, but that will only really work if I'm there."
"Because she's so guarded, right. You'd be the only one who could read her." Emma frowned at that. She hadn't quite thought of that. She wanted to protect Regina, but then again she was her best asset as well.
"Send her the invitation. Something along the lines of she hasn't joined us in such a long time we'd be honored by her presence." Regina waved it off. "Something that will stroke her ego but won't alert her that something is wholly wrong with the arrangement."
Emma sighed. "Ok." She drew a piece of her stationary towards her and penned out and invitation quickly. There were only a few hours between now and dinner. She really hoped Cora didn't use that excuse to get out of dinner, but then again the other woman would never miss an opportunity to make her and Regina squirm.
She folded up the invitation and sealed it, standing up when she was done. Regina rose with her and they walked from the council chamber. As soon as she saw a page boy running down the hall she stopped him, gave him the letter to deliver and sent him on his way again. She felt a bit bad for sending the little boy into the snake pit but there really was no other choice. At least he was one of the older boys, not that age really did anything but made her feel a little better.
They walked back to their rooms as palace staff bustled back and forth around them. Emma sank down on their couch as soon as they entered their rooms. The day had barely begun but from all the thoughts running through her head at light speed she was beginning to be more than a little tired. Regina sat next to her for the first time in a while. Emma smiled up at the other woman before scooting over and leaning against Regina's side. It wasn't exactly comfortable with Regina's armor, but it was still nice nonetheless.
"When are we meeting everyone else?"
"After dinner is when I set the time, late enough that not many people will be about, but not too late that our wandering would be suspect."
"Ok, where then?"
"In the west wing in one of the sitting rooms I don't think has been used for the last century or more judging by the layer of dust that was in the room when we started this whole endeavor."
Emma frowned for a minute, tracing the paths of the secret tunnels throughout the palace. The west wing had several tunnels to it with entrances around their rooms. Emma was almost certain they were built once upon a time so that Kings and Queens could visit their visiting lovers without being caught. But there hadn't been enough visitors during Emma's lifetime to ever really use the wing to its full capacity. When the kingdom had been prosperous and a hub of culture, perhaps, but not now or really anytime in the last century as Regina had said, which she supposed fit their purposes perfectly.
"Do you know about the tunnels to the west wing?"
"I figured that there had to be some, but I did not grow up in this palace with an infinite amount of time to explore. I know only the ones you've shown me and the common ones that the servants know about."
"Huh, guess that explains how they get around so quick sometimes. I thought that only royalty knew about them, but then again now that I say that that's a bit stupid." She shrugged. "Anyway, there are a few tunnels to the west wing from here. They all lead into certain rooms, but they could get us close enough that it would severely limit the amount of time someone had to see us."
"And guards don't patrol that wing much, especially where we meet. There's no need for anything more than a cursory sweep every hour or so."
"Great, is it at the end of the wing or beginning?"
"More in the middle than anything, perhaps a bit more towards the end."
Emma concentrated again, trying to remember just where all the tunnels came out. She remembered that two were closer to the beginning of the wing, but there was one that was almost completely at the end. One of the first two had to be more near the middle than the other, but she didn't remember which. It was better, then, to probably go for the one on the end just in case she picked wrong.
"I'll show you all of them later, but for now the one we'll need is left and around the corner. There's a torch holder there that you can pull down. It opens a door to the passage and that will lead you straight into the west wing if you don't branch off."
Regina nodded. "Alright, seems simple enough."
Emma smiled at that. "Yeah, no one was really too clever hiding all these passages." She sighed and sat forward, bringing the stack of paperwork that she perpetually had towards her. There was still a fair amount of time between now and dinner. She should really get work done considering it seemed the rest of her night would not be anywhere near productive and the beginning of her day definitely wasn't either.
She waved her hand and Regina's armor was sitting in a neat pile in their room. She sighed and snuggled into Regina's side, much more comfortable now that Regina wasn't covered in metal. She wouldn't need her armor anymore today anyway since she'd just have to change out of it to go to dinner. Regina rolled her eyes at Emma put magiced a pile of her own paperwork and settled down to work on it.
