"Regina?" she hears him whisper.

Her eyes are closed, her whole body tingling as she comes back to consciousness – for what she had just lived had to be an out of body experience, that amount of pleasure could not possibly be felt in normal circumstances. She sighs out a breath opening her eyes to meet his. They are still in the very same position, her legs straddle him making her a few inches taller. His hands have come out from the confines of her skirts and she blinks a couple of times diverging her attentions to them.

Her breath is still coming out a little difficult as she reaches out for one of his hands with both of her own, she feels his intense eyes accompany her movements. She brings the hand up, it is moistened with her slickness, a slippery substance Regina does not recall ever having in between her legs.

"What is this?" she asks still inspecting his fingers, a faint blush of embarrassment flushes her skin.

He chuckles at her question and Regina presses her lips together as more shame invades her chest. She averts her gaze from his even more, looking to the side out at the starry sky, feeling suddenly foolish, so very foolish. He must realize he has made her uncomfortable with his humor for he brings his free hand to cup the cheek she had turned to him. He runs his calloused thumb along her skin and says in the softest tone he's used all evening,

"This is something your body creates when you feel pleasure Regina" he explains, she still does not meet his eye, her grip on his hand now loosening. He guides the hand upward and Regina slowly turns her head back to face him and catches him as he takes one of his soaked fingers inside his mouth, her hands still limply hold on to his hand.

Regina lets escape a small gasp, her mouth remaining slightly agape at the sight before her eyes, confused she should feel a small burning sensation down below at his actions. She watches as he cleans his fingers off her juices licking all the slickness away. When he is done she blinks several times before finally meeting his eyes, they twinkle as his lips curve into a smirk.

"You taste exquisite," he tells her before bringing his lips to hers giving her a quick kiss before continuing, "You are exquisite milady" he entwines his fingers in hers and Regina leans down again and kisses him, longingly, wishing this moment would never end.

She draws back from the kiss and holds his face in both her hands and gives him a watery smile before confessing, "Thank you Robin,-" she bites softly on her lower lip, "I never thought this was possible, I-" she cannot find the words to express herself and gives him a small laugh instead.

He kisses the finger which is nearest to his mouth smiling back at her and says, "The pleasure was all mine milady."

She tilts her head to the side and gives him a humorous frown, "I think it's safe to say the pleasure was all mine." She drops her hands from his face and they rest loosely on his shoulders, this whole situation is so alien and yet feels so natural to Regina. She feels his hands on her waist; one of them has a finger drawing tingling patterns on her cloth covered lower back.

"Well you see milady," he brings her torso closer to his and Regina can feel his hard member in between her legs, "-some people find it rather pleasurable to give pleasure." He winks at her and grins.

Regina feels as if she might melt but does not want to miss a beat, "And I presume you are one of those people" she arches an eyebrow at him.

"Indeed I am milady." He peppers one single kiss on her neck, hitting a perfectly sensitive spot.

She sighs but escapes his next kiss with another question, "But aren't you-?" she finds she does not really know how to put it, she swallows, "Don't you want to-?" she blushes and groans, looking up at the dark ceiling above them, "Oh, I'm hopeless."

"You are no such thing Regina," he tells her running both his hands to her side soothingly.

Her head snaps back so she can face him, newly acquired curiosity winning over her embarrassment, "But aren't you still-" it falters, she fights to finish, "-hard?" she whispers the last word as if it is a mortal secret. She looks down between her legs where she feels him, firm as a rock.

"Why yes, I am," he chuckles a little, looking down as well, he brings his gaze back to hers and says in all earnest, "But this isn't about me, it's about you." She lowers her head and their foreheads bump, "I can take care of it later."

Regina's cheeks are red hot with excitement and awkwardness, she feels him pressing against her and wants to give back, wants to know how to make him squirm and moan. He is the kindest man she has come across in a very long time, the only who showed true respect towards her, the only one who understood and valued her boundaries and limitations. She wants to give back, wants to know how to turn the tables on him. Although that will prove to be rather difficult since she knows very little about how to please a man.

She decides that bold and honest are the best ways to go and asks, "And what if I want to take care of it?"

Robin does not respond right away, but instead looks at her with his mouth hanging slightly opened. Regina's heart is hammering against her chest in anticipation; she refuses to give into her insecurities, the ones who are telling her she is acting like a fool and that she should not have said that.

He swallows and finally gives her, "Regina, you don't have to-" but she cuts him, a newfound surge of confidence boosts her.

"But I want to" she insists, she shakes his shoulders a little bit, he gives her a half incredulous smile, "I mean it, I-" she stutters, "I just don't know how-"

He tries again, "Regina-"

"Please show me how" she interrupts him before he is done saying her name.

"Are you certain?" he asks her finally, he tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "You don't have to do anything you do not want to. Do you understand?"

"Yes" she breathes out, excited, giddy and curious; she gives him a sweet smile, which he kisses upon sight with fervor.

He breaks the kiss and lands an adoring one on her cheek telling her, "But I think that before anything we should get your lovely knees off of this awful floor"

It is then that Regina realizes her knees ache, they had been enduring quite an unpleasant rasping section with the stone floor. During her ecstatic moments the pain ran by unregistered by her senses but now, as she lifts up from Robin's lap and straightens herself up, she can feel a sting on her knees. She innocently lifts up her skirts in order to inspect the damage and sees that soft red adorns her skin, it is slightly scraped.

Robin has just gotten to his knees when she does so and so he is met with the same sight. He immediately reaches out for her legs, placing a single loving, soft, and butterfly kiss on each of her harmed knees. She can hardly feel it, the deed itself is light and filled with carefulness but it sends shivers all over her body.

He looks up at her as he finishes treating her left knee and smiles, getting to his feet, only a small gap now separates their bodies. He takes her right hand in his and lifts it up to his lips, he places a small kiss on each of the pads of her fingers, Regina watches him like a hawk. He then kisses her palm and wrist and Regina feels butterflies on her stomach, a warm sensation stirring up inside her.

"I thought I was the one who was doing the pleasing," she said in a quiet voice, nearly a whisper.

"Patience milady" he whispers back, he guides her hand to his chest and she rests her palm against his beating heart. It thumps strong and fast, she can feel the warmth of his skin through the fabric of his linen shirt.

He lets go of her hand and Regina's palm ever so slowly starts to inspect the man's chest. He is muscular and strong beneath her questioning fingertips, the rise and fall of his breathing accelerating whenever her hand chooses to go south.

Regina's bottom lip is trapped in between her teeth, her other hand joins the exploration to feel at his side, a little of his taunt back, and his well-defined stomach and his strong arms. The shirt suddenly feels like a barrier, like a weight. She longs to see him what she touches, to feel his steaming hot skin against hers, so she untucks the edges of his shirt from his pants with a little too much impatience.

Her actions draw a small laugh from Robin and her gaze snaps back to meet his, her eyes big with wonderment, "May I take it off?"

He gives her a smile that makes her heart skip a beat and replies, "Of course"

She sprawls her fingers just above the waistband of his trousers and feels at the fabric before tucking it and pulling the shirt upward. The dress jacket he had been wearing lies somewhere on the floor, neither of them sure of when it had been discarded. The same can be said about Regina's shoes; suddenly she realizes the soles of her feet meet the cold floor unprotected. But she cannot care less.

Regina gasps when her eyes meet his naked chest; she is not used to this imagery, not at all. He is painfully attractive, almost too good to be true. Her hand runs freely about his bare skin, up and down his spine, about the planes of his pectorals, delighting herself in feeling and adoring his every curve. A dumb smile pasted on her lips.

The man in question sighs and closes his eyes. Regina places a soft kiss on the patch of skin near the middle of his throat and brings her body closer to his, she then whispers in his ear, "You are incredible" she hears him sigh out a breath in response and feels his hands encircle her waist hugging her closer to him.

She nips at his earlobe earning, to her ears delight, a groan from his part, a sound that flares her up, makes her feel powerful and confident all of a sudden. She starts to place tender kisses along his neck until she reaches his right shoulder and gives him a soft bite there.

"Are you certain you do not know what you are doing milady?" He manages to humor but his voice has grown thicker.

Regina's cheeks flush pink as his remark hits her ears but replies in the same slurry tone of before, "Well, I know a little bit-" her hands start to skim down his skin again.

This time she goes lower, she watches her hands as her fingertips trace the skin just inside the waistband of his trousers and Robin sucks in a breath in between his teeth. Regina is rather uncertain of how to proceed, her finger trembles a little, as she tentatively traces his hard length through the fabric of his trousers. Two other fingers join the lone one in feeling Robins sex, she puts a little bit more pressure on this time gauging at his reactions.

Robin hums and groans, his hips start bucking ever so lightly in the direction of her hand as her entire eager palm traces up and down. Regina's confidence boots and she starts to palm him, trying to take it in her hand through his now straining pants. She lets escape a moan as his grip on her waist gets more intense, she mimics it squeezing him tighter which makes Robin bring her frame to collide against his and bites down on her lower lip, Regina's hand is still in place, palming, hard.

He swallows hard before, uttering, his voice almost unrecognizable, "Would you like to see it?"

Regina manages to hum affirmatively, soon his fingers join hers, and together they blindly undo the bindings on his trousers, their eyes locked in one another. He kisses her tenderly as she feels the last bit of restrain is loose. Regina cannot help but snake her hand sightlessly inside his pants. She hums as she feels his tender skin against hers, he, on his turn, gives her a full on groan that reverberates inside her mouth as her hand wonders. She registers he is slightly moist on the tip, which she can only hope is a good sign.

She runs her thumb against the tip and Robin breaks the kiss gasping for air.

"Sorry" Regina manages letting go of him altogether, terribly afraid she did something wrong, she tries to put some distance between them but Robin stops her tightening his grip on her waist.

"Don't apologize Regina,-" she's trying to look everywhere but at him, her mother's incessant voice inside her head laughs at her and she tries her best to shut it out, to hear what Robin has to say. He continues, "- you weren't doing anything wrong." He takes her chin with one of his fingers and brings it up so her eyes met his, "you were actually doing it quite right, here-" he extends his hand to her, she places hers on his.

He guides her hand downward and tells her to take him; she wraps her fingers about his warm skin, her eyes wondering at what she is doing. She feels him warm against her skin and the feeling is so alien, she had never been able to simply examine the male anatomy. Tentatively Regina squeezes him feels at the skin, how the texture changes from the bottom to the top.

Her hands got down ever further to feel at his balls. Regina cannot help herself, she is too curious and Robin is making the most agreeing noises to her curious inspection. She feels the skin there is also different and traces her fingers along it before taking one of them in her hand, Robin groans at that and she squeezes it a little. Regina has a silly smile on her face as she continues to feel him through and through not only to satiate his needs but also to kill her curiosity. And so she strokes and touches and even pinches a little at his sensitive skin, studying his whole sex with keen interest and some fascination. She can hear Robin's reactions and from time to time looks up at him with a face of one who is up to no good.

He breaks the silence with a croaky voice, "Having fun?"

She meets his eye, a new glint adorns his now dark blue pools, and replies, "Actually, yes" she confesses, "I've never been able to inspect one of these so thoroughly. It's quite fascinating," she blushes because, really, she is talking about his manhood and that is a little awkward.

He gives her a hearty laugh, "Inspect all you want milady." He grins at her and Regina purses her lips before giving him a smile, her hand still wrapped about his length.

She wishes to go beyond the light touching, ideas, wild ideas, fly about her head and she unconsciously licks her lips.

"What do you feel like doing with it?" he asks her, all fun and games dropped, his tone is now incredibly sensual, his lips seem to move in slow motion.

Regina is out of words once more, she bites the inside of her cheek and looks straight into his eyes, hoping that he somehow can read her mind, for she cannot find the words to voice her wishes.

"You can do whatever you want milady" he traces one finger on the side of her face affectionately.

She nods and wets her lips once more, feeling her cheeks flush pink. Her gaze drops to his member and Regina bends her head slowly towards it until her moist lips make contact with the tip in a tender kiss. He sucks in a big gulp of air and says her name and Regina places another and then another, liking the feel of it, the soft tender skin against her lips and also enjoying thoroughly to hear the noises Robin makes every time she lands a kiss on him. She squeezes him a bit more, making some of that sticky substance erupt from the tip, and decides to lick it away. She does and a salty, sour, odd taste hits her senses and Regina makes a face and snaps her back straight again.

He has a smile on his face and Regina tries to school the distasteful expression from her features, "You taste-" she tries, shaking her head slightly, "-peculiar"

He takes her chin in his hand and gives her a tender kiss, and she can hear Robin hum against her lips. She parts the kiss and starts to stroke him, up and down; she watches her hand move with keen interest, hearing Robin's noisy reactions, which flare her to grip tighter. She looks up at him to find him wetting his lips with his tongue and cannot resist but kiss him. Her hand falters a little with the multi-tasking, her mouth moves in concert with his; she bites at his lower lip and pulls away.

Her pumping becomes more intense, quicker and Robin buries his face on her shoulder, landing several kisses, groans, hisses and moans on the exposed skin. She imagines this is the right way to do it; she flushes in pride of undoing him as he had undone her, she enjoys her handiwork, and even though her working arm starts to ache, she pays it no mind, feeling ecstatic by this exchange. His arms have come to encircle her waist and he bucks his hips towards her hand, meeting her every pump, their bodies so close, his smell so strong, his noises so damn arousing.

Suddenly Regina feels the urge, the need, to have him nice and warm moving in such a fashion inside her, and not just on her hand. She whispers his name, slowing down her pace, which makes Robin groan but look up at her curious, a frown wrinkles his forehead.

"Robin-" she wets her lips, she realizes she's still very slick herself and she burns, aches for him, "-I want you"

She realizes her free hand is at the nape of his neck, grabbing at his hair, their foreheads touch and he breaths out her name, her lower hand has stopped moving altogether at this point. She brings it up to cup his cheek and breaths out, "I want you inside me"

He sucks in a big breath at her words and brings both his hands to her hair, he manages, "Are you certain milady?"

She chooses to answer to his question by closing the tiny gap in between their bodies rubbing herself against him. He lets escape a breathy, "Oh Gods Regina" and kisses her hard on the lips.

They stumble back, their mouths never parting, until Regina's back meets the surface of the stonewall of the tunnel. His hands start to roam about her body more urgently than before. Regina brings her head down and starts placing open-mouthed kisses on his neck as Robin begins to fumble with her skirts, his hands eager swimming against the many layers of her gown.

She shivers and bites down on his neck when his calloused hands find the flesh of her legs once more. This time his hands squeeze with might at her tights and behind, Regina hums, delighting herself in this moment. His now intense and slightly rougher attitude sets fire to her insides, stirring and swirling her desires and Regina lifts up one of her legs, hooking her ankle back on one of his legs moving in search of more friction on her sex.

He groans, one of his fingers runs about her sex, it is slippery with her juices and Regina gives a small wine when Robin inserts one finger inside her. She clutches her walls about his lone finger, arching her back out of the wall, wanting to meet him anyway she can.

He quickly takes out his fingers and removes his hands from under her skirt. Confused, thinking that maybe he is having second thoughts about this Regina acts upon impulse and grabs his hand and brings the finger that had just been inside her to her mouth. Robin is gap faced watching her suck on the finger with fervor looking at her in wonderment, he says once she's finished and lets go of his finger with a pop of her mouth, "Gods Regina, I'm crazy about you"

"Show me then" Regina slurs, Regina is now acting in pure instinct.

She takes the hem of her skirt in both her hands and lifts the fabric. For a beat, he just stares at her with ardent eyes but then his mouth is on hers and their tongues engage in a fiery dance, edging desperate. She can feel his sex press against her and opens her legs wider. She wants him so bad, wants him to move inside her, not only today but for every single day of her life. Wants nobody but him, his smell, his kindness, his eyes, his touch, his words, his body, his soul.

His length presses against that spot that makes her head dizzy and Regina takes it in her hands, she starts to guide him towards her entrance. He breaks the kiss and simply looks at her, as if once again asking for permission, asking if she was comfortable with his advances.

Regina reassures him with a, "Oh Robin, please"

He starts entering her ever so slowly, searching in her face for any trace of discomfort. Regina closes her eyes at the sensation of being filled by him, it feels like home, like warmth, as if for once, she is safe, she is in charge, she has chosen this and she is finally happy.

When he is, finally all the way inside her he stops moving all together, heat and electricity jump between their joined skins.

"Open your eyes," she hears him whisper, he traces his thumb about her forehead softly.

Regina's brown eyes open to meet his and she smiles, a smile of absolute and complete bliss. Trying to show him wordlessly how utterly happy he makes her, how absolutely complete she feels in his arms. He reciprocates with one dazzling smile Regina has to kiss; she does so fiercely, bucking her hips towards his creating a friction between their sexes she cannot believe feels so heavenly.

She moans loudly at this new sensation drawing her lips from his, he wears a smirk on his lips, a little smug thing she wants to bite away.

"That good?" he humors, but his voice is thick, his hands griping on her sides beneath her skirts. One snakes its way down to grip on her thigh and she lifts it, hooking her leg on his, making him sink even deeper inside her.

She hums, "Indescribable"

He starts to move, slowly at first, letting her get used to his size. He is not thoroughly long but is rather thick which Regina discovers to be the most marvelous thing, for the friction between them is almost maddening. He fills her to the brim and pulls back almost all the way in an unhurried motion that flares Regina's insides and makes her ache for more. Her nails dig in the flesh on his shoulder; her bottom lip trapped in between her teeth, her eyes squeezed shut, their moans and groans of pleasure mingling.

When Regina runs her nails down his chest, she notices a strangled noise erupts from him and he thrusts inside her a little harder, a little faster this time. Regina moans in agreement and manages to voice, "More, faster Robin"

He complies and starts moving in a steady wonderful pace. The deed is making Regina reach that wonderful haven he had taken her to with the fiddling of his fingers. In and out, his face buried on her neck on again, he kisses and kisses her there, sucks on the skin so much she knows he is bound to leave a mark. She does not care; she rather likes the prospect of having a love bite from such a man, a loveable man.

Sounds fly unbidden from her throat as Robin continues to pump in and out of her, her hips start meeting his movements as they move together towards ecstasy. Their mouths meet and muff a little the sounds their pleasure forces out of their mouths, their hands seeming to be everywhere, the desire rising more and more with every new-

"Regina?!" the voice she learned to dread on her wedding night spoke.

It takes Regina a little longer than Robin to realize that the voice she had heard was not in her head trying to sabotage this perfect moment but right there inside the tunnel being witness to it.

She opens her eyes and the first thing she sees the glint of his crown, then his hard unforgiving eyes, his mouth is a thin line, his arms crossed, he clutches her forgotten mask in one hand and her gloves in the other.

Regina's leg drops instantly from Robin's waist and he pulls from inside her quickly, tucking himself inside his pants but in doing so does not extinguish the nearness of their bodies. She is immobile otherwise, her back flat against the wall dread invading her body. She is petrified with fear of what might come to pass. Robin, on the other hand, turns his body so his back shelters her; he faces her powerful husband with no fear and no shirt on.

Leopold's gaze had not left Regina until this point, it was cold and deprived of any compassion, but now it lays on Robin, he narrows his eyes at the man and spits at him, "Get away from my wife you scum."

Robin's fists his hands hard still holding the King's gaze, "I'm afraid I cannot do that, your majesty."

Leopold's eyes widen at his words and Regina rests a delicate hand on Robin's shoulder and squeezes it reassuringly. For even though logic tells her that in order to keep her head in place she should scorn the thief, side with her husband, she cannot, she will not. The realization that she would rather die than be parted from Robin, that she would gladly walk to the guillotine alongside him hits her like an arrow on her chest.

She whispers, "Robin-"

Leopold snaps his gaze back at her, "Robin, is it?" he sounds disgusted and angry, he takes one step towards the pair and Robin's frame gets rigid, "I should have known you would turn out to be a dirty slut just like your mother."

Regina gasps at his harsh words and hides a tad further behind Robin, her heart hammers on her chest violently just at the thought of what the benevolent King might have in store for them.

"Do not talk to her like that," Robin says between gritted teeth.

"I can talk to her whichever way I desire, she is mine." Leopold retorts.

His words hit deep inside Regina, all of the times he has said those words, like a mantra, she has believed him, she has thought that was her fate. But now, Robin's reassurances invade her mind, her chest swells up with courage and determination and she steps out of the shadows.

She faces her husband for what it feels like the first time and says loud and clear, "I am no one's property." she can see from the corner of her eye a smirk work its way on Robin's lips when she finishes speaking, her soul burns with more confidence.

The King spits a laugh and takes yet another step towards the pair and Robin promptly positions himself in front of Regina again in order to shelter her.

"Did you learn to speak like that with your young friend, wife?" he mocks her, he brings his index finger to tap on his chin before continuing, a dangerous smile adorns his lips, "I was actually willing to forgive you wife. To seize this sorry excuse of a man and execute him in front of you so you would learn never to betray me again, so you would learn your place."

This time it is Robin's time to take a step towards the King, Regina can feel his rage simmering from his skin, Regina reaches at his side in order to restrain him from doing something impulsive.

"But upon reflection I do not want a wife that has been stained by another," he spits on the floor near Robin's shoes, "Like mother like daughter," he humors and Regina truly does not understand.

"I'll have you both executed, that is-" he gives Regina a disgusting smile, "-after I punish you for betraying me, after I show you to whom you really belong before I have that prized head of yours on a platter, and make your little friend watch."

Suddenly Robin's frame does not shield hers anymore, he closes the distance between himself and the King and delivers a long overdue punch on the man's face. Leopold is not an athletic man by any means, a thrice Regina's age, so it does not come to any surprise to her when the blow knocks him off his feet and he falls in all fours on the cold stone floor.

Leopold groans, "You will pay dearly for this." but does not rise.

Robin quickly grabs his shirt from the floor and passes Regina by to inspect something outside of the big cave's entrance. Leaving Regina to stare down at the man who had made her feel so little, so unimportant in the shadow of his late wife, like she was never enough. She wants to kick him in the gut for everything he has made her go through. All the endless nights she spent alone in her chambers crying after he had left after his nocturnal visits. For a moment, this moment, she can kill him; he is still on the floor, no guards or knights to protect his old worthless body.

She feels a sudden murderous edge prickle on her skin. She had been so hopeless in conjuring the fire spell Rumple had been teaching her. But now she feels the flame burn on her palm, the hatred she feels for her sorry excuse of a husband flares the spell and the fire grows. The old man still has his gaze fixed on the floor, his hand going to his now bloody nose.

Regina is about to make good on her lethal desires when Robin comes back as quickly as he went. He has got a big smile plastered on his face, which quickly falters as he sees the flames burn on her palm. Regina's gaze is fixed on the King but she can see Robin's features from the corner of her eye, he frowns and ever so slowly places a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Regina," his tone is so soft, almost like a prayer, "He's not worth it."

"But you said it yourself he's not worth the air that he breathes." she answers back, the flames growing, "Why shouldn't he suffer as I have?"

"And I stand by what I said," he tells her, his hand sliding down to her raised elbow, coming dangerously close to the flame but he was quite clearly unafraid of it, "But it is worth it for you to stain your hands on his dirty blue blood."

She finally turns to face him, her lips are a thin line and she is trying very hard not to break down in tears. The flame dies and as soon as it does Robin takes the hand that had housed it in his and entwines their fingers together, he kisses her knuckles before letting it go. The King tries to rise but is unsuccessful, the blow must have hit quite hard.

"My men are just outside the gates," he tells her, "Regina-" he extends his hand towards her, just like he had done a few hours prior at the ball, and continues, "-come with me. I cannot promise you riches or comfort but I can guarantee I will do everything in my power to help you regain your freedom."

Regina's eyes are moist with tears. She is afraid this is a dream and she is to wake up any minute now, miserable and alone inside her luxurious bedchambers.

Yes!

She would go with Robin, she would-

Regina looks down at his arm to take his hand and her breathing stops; the whole world seems to come to a halt when her eyes meet the dark ink in form of a lion on his wrist.

She gasps and retreats her hand and takes a step back out of fear. Robin is her soul mate. The man she had run away from at the tavern not two months ago. This could not be, this had to be some sort of trick laid by Rumple or even that crazy fairy.

"Come to your senses, wife?" she hears Leopold behind her and turns to find he is very much still on the floor, but wears a triumphant smile.

"Regina?" she can hear Robin's voice plead behind her.

"If you come with me wife, I will let your lover boy live-" the bastard is enjoying this so much Regina feels she might vomit, "But if you go with him I will hunt both of you down and make you both sorry for the day you were born." He grins, "The choice is yours."

"Regina don't listen to him-" Robin tries to reason with her.

For a moment, she feels like time has stopped. She looks at her sorry excuse of a husband, a man who has shown her nothing but pain, a man that can hardly stand on his own feet. She then looks at the man with the lion tattoo, the man who asked for permission to do something so simple as to remove her mask.

She wanted to protect him, knew he was the leader of a band of men that set out to do good, to help the ones who needed it the most. Maybe she should give him a chance at living; she could not bear having his death on her hands. Regina would go with Leopold and save Robin's life, it was the right thing to do, she did not deserve-

"Regina," he snapped her out of her delirious thoughts, "-don't listen to him; I have my fair share in experience to running away from royals." His hand is still extended, his tattoo still screaming at her face, "Trust me, they would never catch us."

Regina meets his eyes and the tears that had been prickling in her eyes finally fall down her cheeks. She takes a big breath through her nose and takes a decisive step towards Robin finally taking his hand. He smiles his dazzling smile, it seems to be heightened now, had never shone so bright. Happiness, true happiness awaits them, she can feel it in her fingertips, feel it course through her veins as their fingers entwine with one another.

She does not look back, not for a moment, never wants to see Leopold's sorry face ever again, but she knew the man would haunt them until his very last breath. Danger and peril awaited for them but she did not care. As the cold night air hit her delicate skin when Robin leads her quickly down the stairs at the side of the castle, Regina knows it, she can finally feel it.

She is free.