(Daniella's POV)

"We find the accused not guilty," announced the representative from the juror's sector.

My breath hung in mid-air. I was unable to think as I felt blood surge to my head and hands. It all crashed down onto me. The room suddenly seemed as if it was suffocating me. I gaped at the jury. They couldn't be serious. They've witnessed mother's memories, yet their verdict was that the king wasn't guilty?!

My fists curled up, but rather than anger, in fear. The judge couldn't do anything to help us now. Everything rested with people and they had failed us. I immediately wanted to be back in the Enchanted Forest. There, mother had power, and to a certain extent, so did I. Justice would have been served in a different way.

The juror continued in detail, "Charges of sexual assault...not guilty. Charges of attempted child murder...not guilty."

I shifted with restless confusion and disappointment but mother's hand held me down. This wasn't possible. They saw the king command the soldier to take me away to be executed. In fact, I would have been, if it wasn't for the knight's disobedience.

The remainder of the court session passed by in a blur. Soon, the case closed. People stood up. No one was charged. No one was condemned.

Mother's lawyer approached us once conversation had started to augment in volume. His face was etched in disappointment, but no emotion could be seen on hers. She began speaking to him in a harsh tone as soon as he came near us. "What was that?!"

"I'm sorry?"

"You assured me that we would win the case. You said that the evidence was piled against him-"

"I didn't anticipate that his heart was missing."

"You could have found a way around that! Now, I'll never be able to seek legal means to avenge the trauma my daughter has experienced," mother spat.

Several heads turned our way. Mother didn't make any indication that she had noticed, other than surrounding the three of us in smoke. We appeared outside, under a tree in the gardens on the side of the building. I stood on her side as she continued questioning the lawyer. "What went wrong hmm? Did you want to see them let him go?!"

The man quickly replied, "No. I assure you, your majesty, that 'm on your side. I tried my hardest to persuade the court-"

"NO YOU DIDN'T!"

I looked up at mother's outburst. She continued with a strained tone of voice, "I trusted you with my past, and not only did you let the court see those memories, you failed at your task to ensure justice is served!"

"Your majesty-" he paused, evaluating my mother. Then, he stood his stance and began his sentence again. "Your majesty, the jury's decision was completely out of my control. I am a hundred percent sure that my argument would have won. The charges that we pressed against your former husband were reasonably argued with sufficient evidence. I had evaluated this with my colleagues. I did not fail-"

"How dare you?! Failure is not yours to deem otherwise."

He set a confident look onto his face and repeated, "I did not fail." Mother continued fuming as he spoke again in an attempt to convince her, "People will always be influenced by a bias, and I cannot do anything for that matter. We have shown them the truth. Their interpretation will determine the result of this case."

"And what if their interpretation is a disillusion?"

"We cannot change the hearts of those who do not want to be changed."

There was a moment of silence. Then, my mother added in a low voice, "Is there nothing else your expertise in this world's legal system can do for me?"

After a sigh, the lawyer replied, "We could open the case again, but it would be futile. As your lawyer, my recommendations is for you to go home and ignore the king. He can no longer do anything to harm you nor your daughter. We are in a world that strips him of his regal rights and absolute power-"

"And yet the people seem to favour his miserable existence, despite now knowing my history with him!"

He ignored my mother's remark and continued, "My recommendations as your former knight of honour are different."

That's why I recognised him! This curse has really managed to alter my memories. I studied the man's appearance once more and suddenly, I remembered his name. Mother's next words confirmed it. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she spoke in a slightly taunting tone, "Well then, Sir Richardson, what do you suggest that I should do?" He leaned in and whispered in mother's ears, "If you were to frame him, I could act as prosecutor." As she was thinking it through with a slightly agap mouth, he turned to me and winked. "And of course I trust that your highness wouldn't mention this to anyone."

I nodded. He smiled back at me but mother cut into our interaction. She demanded quietly, "Why are you doing this?"

"I did not forget my sworn oath of loyalty, my queen."

"You-" Then, she frowned and simply replied, "Alright. How can I know I can trust you? How do I know that you aren't just doing this to set me up?"

Sir Richardson looked to one side and chuckled. Gesturing to the people in front of the building, he explained, "Look at them. How do you think they see me? They know who I am. They remember that I had commanded the slaughter of villages."

"Those commands came from me."

He nodded with a dipped head. Then, he began, "You want another reason as to why you should trust me? Well, I have a pretty good intuition about the death clause of my now deceased colleague."

I held my breath. Mother didn't answer and although I probably shouldn't have interfered, my anticipation and curiosity won. "You don't mean the huntsman do you?!"

Mother gave me a stern look, as she glanced around us. Richardson started laughing. Then, he bent down and whispered to me, "That's right, princess. I doubt his heart failure came from an unprecedented stroke of bad luck."

I frowned and turned to mother in surprise. "You killed him?! When?! Why?"

Calmly, she shushed me and replied, "He was a threat to the curse, and I couldn't let him break it as you were still in your coma."

I nodded and looked down. "That's why I haven't seen him around Storybrooke."

Mother gripped my shoulder. "I'm sorry firefly."

I shrugged as I tried to blink back tears for almost the third time in the day. When I got bored back in the Enchanted Forest, I would go to the huntsman and Accalia. He had taught me archery for a few weeks before mother realised what was happening, and got me a proper teacher.

I glanced up at her as she sighed. "Alright, Richardson. I trust you. However, I cannot tell you right now what my plans will be. I will inform you of them when I'm ready."

He gave her a nod. "Of course."

In the background, someone called out his name. He turned around briefly before saying to mother, "I'm afraid I would have to leave this here. I feel the greatest regret surrounding the outcome of this case today. Please accept my apology."

There was a pause. Mother unlinked her arms from me and tossed her hair back. Then, she took a step towards him. "No need to apologize. You've always followed my orders to the best of your ability."

There was a hint of a smile on Richardson's face. Then, he bowed to both of us and turned around, meeting up with another man dressed very similarly to what he was wearing. This time, I didn't recognise his companion. "Mama-"

I was unable to finish my sentence for purple smoke had surrounded us. I was taken by surprise so I nearly lost my footing when we arrived back at home. Before I could inquire about the outcome of the session, mother lifted my head up with her finger and said, "Firefly, everything that you've heard Richardson say between him and myself must be kept secret, do you understand?"

I nodded. "Mama, what are you going to do to the king?"

Her eyes searched mine before they looked down. "I...I don't know yet."


(Three days later)

I found myself back in the vault with mother. She decided that my punishment for coming here myself was that I had to start learning elvish, which is a language used in many ancient curses and spells. It came as a surprise to me to learn that it was an expectation that skilled sorceresses and witches all knew how to read elvish runes. I knew that this 'punishment' wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I wasn't particularly looking forward to reading illegible scribbles written on pages of old dusty books.

"Daniella, are you paying attention?"

I left my daydream and looked down at the piece of paper in front of me.

"Can you tell me the meaning of the first phrase?"

I guessed, out of memory of the length and shape of the word, rather than my actual understanding of the language.

"Correct, now can you read it out?"

I sighed, "Why do I need to know this?"

"It's not enough to simply know how to read something but cannot speak it-"

"Did you ever have to speak elvish?"

"For enchantments, yes. And should you need to suddenly perform a spell out of ancient spellbooks, they will most likely be written in Elvish. In fact, the scroll of the dark curse was written in Elvish."

I frowned. "Isn't Elvish the same kind of language fairies use?"

"The tongues of Fae are similar but their script is rarely seen in dark magic. Therefore, you'd need Elvish, unless of course, you choose only to endeavour in light magic."

I didn't say anything for a second. Then, I commented quietly, "People say that only villains use dark magic. Is there anything wrong with me using it?"

"Firefly, why are you asking me this?"

I shrugged, thinking about how I should reply. Eventually, I settled with, "Everyone at school is afraid of me, they think that I will do something bad to them. I mean, I'm happy that I have Maria as a friend but I don't think everyone can see me without my magic. What if I am...bad. I don't want to be a bad person it's just-"

"Daniella, listen to me very closely." Mother sighed and gripped my chin with her fingers. "You're not a bad person. You do not have an ounce of wickedness in you. I know that because of your father. He was the most pure-hearted person that I ever knew. A part of him lives on inside you-"

I turned away but she continued, "No, dear. It's true. You are so alike your father, than you might think." Then, she added quickly, "Of course, you do possess the same fire as me as well."

I gave her a small grin. Then, I argued, "But I don't think my classmates were happy with the fact that I had crushed hearts before. I mean, they only know about the Blind Witch incident but when Henry and I were stuck in the past, I..." Subtlely, I touched Henry's beating heart that I had slipped into my pocket. I couldn't risk anyone stumbling across it so I kept it with me at all times. I didn't know how or when I should return it. However, there was a growing desire of keeping it, that I didn't want to admit to myself.

I let Mama draw me out of my thoughts as she cut in, "Firefly, you must believe me when I say that I'm sorry for that. I should have known that it wasn't appropriate of me to force you into performing dark magic against your will. I..." Then, she sighed and put her elbows onto the table, with her hands through her hair. "To be honest dear, I wasn't used to caring for anyone, let alone my own daughter. I didn't...I'm sorry that I'm such a horrid example of a mother for you-"

"No you're not!" I cut in, as I got up and threw my arms around her.

Mama chuckled sadly. Then, she murmured quietly, "Who would even want the Evil Queen as their mother?"

I snuggled closer and rebutted, "I'd rather have you as my mama, instead of Snow White. Her family is annoying."

After a sad laugh, she replied, "Yes, and unlike Emma, you have both dark and light magic. You're powerful dear, even more than me."

I frowned, "Huh? But I couldn't do half of the things that you could with your magic."

"That is true, but I sincerely hope that you wouldn't fall down the same path as I did." Mother sighed and continued, "I don't want you to be unhappy like I was. All those things I did with my magic; I did it out of anger. I can't say that I regret them because it gave me power to protect you. That being said, I will try my hardest to help you grow up into a different situation than the one I found myself in."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters, I'd never arrange you into a marriage. Like my mother did...twice."

"Twice?! But didn't she get trapped in Wonderland on the night of your wedding with the king?"

"Oh, your grandmother's quite the fierce and persevering woman. I hardly think I need to mention my marriage with the king, but her second attempt happened whilst she temporarily came for a visit. Do you remember that?" Something in my memory clicked. Then, I blurted without thinking, "The man in the garden with the lion tattoo, that turned out to be not a tattoo!"

"What?!"

My cheeks reddened when I realized that I wasn't supposed to have seen that either.

"Firefly, have you been snooping?"

I looked down, expecting this to all go downhill but instead, mother chuckled. "You and Henry are the best little spies in town. I'd have to keep you both magically locked inside your rooms if you were to stay where I wanted you to be. Firefly, I haven't forgotten that village incident."

I rolled my eyes and argued back, "But at least I met Maria because of that! She's my only friend now..."

"Yes, but I thought I had lost you again. I had every guard to my disposal looking for you!"

My cheeks reddened.

"Anyway, going back to what I was talking about, your grandmother ordered that man to pose to be my 'soulmate' by putting that tattoo on him."

I grinned "Well it's good that he's not your soulmate. He seemed kinda full of himself. What happened to him?"

"I originally sent him to the dungeons but your grandmother decided to let him go. I found it absurd, especially since barely anyone who has crossed paths with her ended up alive."

I gulped. Then, I got off my mother's lap and murmured quietly, "What would she think of me?"

After a deep breath, she answered, "I don't know, but because she desperately wanted me to have a child, perhaps she wouldn't feel so strongly against your father's background as a stableboy. Besides, you will inherit all that was mine...and hers."

I frowned, "How about Henry?"

"Perhaps I'll give him my possessions of Storybrooke. But in the Enchanted Forest, our castle remains. I've protected it with magic before the curse hit. It'd be yours." I grinned but a worry still naggered me. "If we all really did manage to go back to our land, wouldn't Snow or her father take back the castle?"

"Snow and her charming prince inhabited the fortress of King George before the curse hit. I have no doubt they'd ever want to venture into our palace. Besides, don't forget that the castle is technically mine. The king was deceased, and Snow had relocated the kingdom's capital to her prince's land. Oh and if I may add, I married into that palace. But don't be concerned over these small issues, firefly." Then, mother glanced at the page of elvish runes on the table and added, "You, should be more focused on this."

I groaned, and that earned me a laugh in response. "Alright, if you're finding this boring, how about let's try and cast this spell?"

I widened my eyes as my interest immediately perked up. "Cast it?! Now?"

Mother had already gotten up and started collecting some ingredients from a trunk in the room. She began, "Read me the three highlighted words on the page, in Elvish."

I rolled my eyes and picked up the piece of paper. "Umm...carca, ereg, brethil."

"Do you remember what they mean?"

"Bat's fang, black rose thorn and...silver birch?"

Mother showed me the two vials in her hand. I grinned, "I was right! But what about the birch? What does that mean?"

"I have some at the bottom of the trunk, it's a type of petrified wood. Should the right enchantments be performed on these objects, we would be able to extract their combined magical properties and bottle it into a potion-like substance. After that, we can use it on our dearest monarch."

"The king! Is this how you'll frame him?"

"Kind of. We're making a potion that allows one to manipulate someone's thoughts without having the need to take out their heart. All I need to do, is influence the king into committing murder. Storybrooke will distrust him for that. There will be no way he could escape. The only reason why he wasn't condemned for what he did to you, was because you're still alive. Should his victim be dead, that would be different." I bit my lip, realizing that anything we do will always follow with death. So, I quietly mentioned, "But does he actually have to kill someone?"

Mother sighed. "Yes, but don't worry, I'll make sure he disposes a useless soul."

"Like who's?"

She took a deep breath before answering, "Well, while you were in your coma, I've walked past the hospital and realized that Snow's nanny, Johanna, has cancer. Although she hasn't died yet, should the king cause her premature death, he'd still be in hot water."

I frowned, "Johanna no longer worked in the palace after Snow left, right?"

"No, she stayed. However, I made sure that the kitchen staff gave her the toughest tasks. That woman has always been a nuisance. I have no idea why Snow's mother liked her."

Something from my memories started to nag me. Back in the Enchanted Forest, I remembered seeing two servants lurking around Snow's old rooms when I was exploring the corners and nooks of the palace. I could only assume that one of them was Johanna. I also remember accidentally knocking over something as I was hiding. I used magic to escape the situation, but the servant's voices were still clear in my head. In fact, one of them sounded much like the servant speaking the loudest from my mother's memories that were shown in the court. I gasped. "She's the one who...who said those things, wasn't she?"

"I'm sorry?"

"From the memories that were shown at court. The one where you were pregnant with me and there were voices from inside the kitchens..."

Mother nodded without saying a word. It was clear that she wished to talk no more on the subject. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air so I broke it by cautiously murmuring, "She was the one who compared you to Snow's mother, right?" Mother stopped in her tracks. Then, she replied quietly, "Yes. That was her." After a deep breath, she concluded the topic by stating, "As for her usefulness for us now, that peasant was trusted by the king to care for his daughter. There were times when he didn't allow me to tend to that spoiled princess. Rather, he'd let her nanny do it for her. Whilst I couldn't care less for Snow, it angered me that even though I became Queen to fulfil a precious idyllic portrait of a warm family, I sometimes wasn't even allowed to help that girl. But anyway, it seems perfectly feasible for the king to feel that his loyal servant should have protected Snow more when he died."

"And we can make the king think about that even more, with this spell, can't we? Considering that he doesn't have a heart right now either, he'll be more drawn towards revenge rather than kindness!"

Mother winked. "Exactly. Oh, you're a little genius, firefly."

I blushed. "No. You came up with this!"

Mother chuckled, "Nonetheless, perhaps you do possess half of me in you."

I quickly changed the topic. "So how do we make sure that the spell works on the King? Can we do it from here?"

"Unfortunately not. I would have to get close to him to be able to slip the potion into his drink-"

"Henry's party! He'd be there!"

"Firefly, what are you talking about?"

That's right, Henry isn't aware either that I know about his birthday celebrations. I heard him discussing it one day at school. He wouldn't have talked about it if he knew that I was there, so I could only assume that I wasn't supposed to know about it either. I replied carefully, "I overheard Henry talking about what he'd do for his birthday, and he mentioned a party. One that includes his family and friends from school."

"So he hasn't formally informed you about this?"

I shook my head. Then, I grinned and suggested with a shrug, "We could crash his party."

Mother nodded with a smirk on her face. Then, she held her head up and murmured, "The Charmings couldn't possibly expect the rest of Henry's family to not turn up."

My attention returned to the spell that we were casting. If this works, we would be able to get close to Henry's family. Not only would mother do as she pleased to the king, I'd be able to return Henry's heart to him. I knew I shouldn't be holding on to it, and I fear that the longer I do, the more reluctant I'd be to let it go.


(Regina's POV)

I put my hand around my daughter's shoulders as we walked to Granny's for Henry's birthday dinner. I let her hold Henry's present for she needed to distract them to allow me to get close with Leopold to slip the potion into his drink. I tightened my grip and whispered, "You ok?"

She nodded.

"Remember, there's no need to be nervous. Just remember to smile and act like yourself, ok? They won't suspect you if you act natural."

We arrived at Granny's very quickly, for I had only parked the car a street away. Coming closer, music and chatter could be heard from inside the diner. Tied up around the white fence, were balloons that spelled out, Happy Birthday Henry!

I smiled but with an uneasy feeling in my heart. My only wish was that I would have been either asked to take part in the party's arrangements, or even invited. As we walked up the steps however, my thoughts of fury were replaced by those of anticipation. A small part of me of course, wanted to take him away with my magic. However, I knew that this action would have annoying repercussions.

I reached for the door and whispered to Daniella, "You ready?"

Daniella looked up and gave me a nervous smile as she replied, "I've never crashed a party before..."

I chuckled under my breath. Then, I opened the door for her. As she walked in, I heard the noise from the diner suddenly died down. I came in behind her to see that everyone in the room were gathered around in a circle, along the perimeter of the room. They were all looking at us with shock. My eyes quickly swept across and I spotted Leopold beside insipid daughter at the back of the room. I spoke in place of my daughter. "Sorry we're late."

The grumpy dwarf was the first to react. As he retrieved a knife and pointed it at us, he demanded, "What are they doing here?"

I put Daniella behind me as I replied, "I hardly think its appropriate to not invite every member of Henry's family."

Emma dared to argue against me as she stated, "Henry's a part of my family now, not yours."

I huffed, "Oh please, Ms Swan. I raised him for 10 years but let's not have that again." I paused for the dramatic effect before adding, "Daniella wanted to come and give her brother a present."

Daniella stepped out from behind me and came up to Henry, who was standing in front of a table with a cake on top. With outstretched hands, she handed him the present. As he accepted it with a confused expression, she added quietly, "Happy Birthday, Henry."

I waited for a reply and to my relief, he gave my little firefly a smile and said, "Thanks."

I could see Daniella's tension ease a little. "You should thank Mama too. She told me what you liked when we went to choose a present."

My heart stopped for a second as he looked up at me. Then, he grinned and asked generically, "Can I open it?"

I chuckled. "It's yours." I ignored everyone's hesitant stance as I came closer to him. He carefully tore the wrapping away and I watched with glee as his face lit up.

Henry exclaimed, "The new xbox?! But it only came out a week ago! I wanted it so bad and I asked Emma but she said no-"

To my disappointment, Emma cut in and interrogated me rudely. "What the hell were you thinking, buying my son the most expensive gadget out there?! You think that you could win him over with your wealth?"

Oh, if it was only that easy. I curled my fingers as I fumed with anger. Snow immediately whispered something to her daughter and when she finished, I calmly replied, "I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from such vulgar thoughts in front of Henry."

Emma was taken aback, but she knew that I was right, for she didn't say anything else. I was too concentrated on what was happening with the uncharmings to realize that Henry had collided into me.

I looked down and gasped at the sight of my son willingly hugging me. I returned the embrace, with my arms firmly around his tiny body. I stroked his hair like have done so in the past. Then, I heard him murmur something. I bent my head and whispered, "What is it?"

There was a slight hesitation. Then, he said quietly, "I'm glad you came...and Dani as well."

I felt my eyes grow hot with happy tears but I held them back as I replied, "Me too."

Then, Henry unwound himself from me and asked his 'family', "Could they stay? Please?"

Reluctantly, they were forced to nod. I gave Daniella a grin and she too, returned a smile. Then, I caught a glimpse of the unburnt candles on the cake and exclaimed, "I must have interrupted the song..."

Charming gave me a look as he came forth with a box of matches and replied, "That you did. But we'll resume to what we were doing, if you don't mind."

I held back a remark and assumed a place next to Henry, with Daniella directly beside her brother.

After the song had been sung, and pieces of the cake split, everyone dissentegrated back to their respective conversations. After rubbing Henry on the back, I left to talk to my former husband.

I found him in one of the booths towards the back of the room. He was unfortunately surrounded by several people, including Johanna. I growled under my breath, at the sight of her. However, I kept a steady expression as I slowly approached the group. They looked up upon seeing me.

"Well, if it isn't my darling psychopathic wife."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fairly certain that being heartless does not exempt you from demonstrating manners. Afterall, we're civil here."

He chuckled under his breath. Then, he demanded, "What do you want?"

"Why, to talk to you of course. Why else would I be standing here, accepting the glares of your friends?" Then, as a side note, I added, "My my, how your standards have decreased. Here you are, with...a guard, a peasant and your daughter's nanny."

As his cheeks reddened, I relinquished in his growing discomfort. However, I didn't expect for Johanna to respond. She's never spoken so bravely, in front of me before. She stood up and replied, "And I suppose according to your standards, you sit at the top of the pyramid hmm? High as your former status might have been, your lack of morality makes you not worthy of even the peasants' respect, you snake."

I glared at her, wanting to rip out her heart and crush it in my bare hands right this instant. However, I managed to supress my urge as I bit out slowly, "Snake? I'd watch your tongue because snakes are adapt at killing their prey." Then, I drew an intake of breath and changed to a lighter tone of voice and continued, "Well good, you're already up. Perhaps the rest of you can vacate this booth whilst I have a talk with my dear husband."

The other two left as they were told, but Johanna lingered, simply to glare at me. My patience balanced on a thin line so I sat down opposite to Leopold. Luckily, he also seemed to be already annoyed with that woman so he requested in a firm tone, "You may leave now, Johanna."

She frowned and left, with an indignant look on her face. Then, Leopold grabbed his glass of wine without looking away from me. I inhaled and held up my head. He was the first to speak. "I assume you came here to express your concerns over what happened at the court a few days ago? Perhaps to threaten me somehow?"

I laughed. "No dear. I actually came to..." The pace of my heartbeats quickened. I felt my mind telling me to not ask this question but I ignored my thoughts and continued anyway. "I actually came to ask you about your heart."

He chuckled, but didn't reply. I sighed and pressed, "Do you have any idea who took your heart? Do you have any idea why?!"

There was no reply. However, I knew that look all too well but I played it to my advantage. Under the table, I magicked the vial of potion and uncorked it. Then, I curled it in my fists so that it wasn't visible.

Leopold continued sipping on his wine so I tore it from his hand. "What are you doing?" he seethed.

I leaned forward and hissed back, "Listen to me. I have no shred of remorse towards you and I couldn't care that you've lost all your freedom to the one who's taken your heart. However I need to know who it is. I need to know so that I can find out why they did this. I know whoever they are, is preventing you from telling me but I refuse to believe you can't utter a single thing. What is it? Regret? Guilt?!"

Although his gaze was harsh, I knew that I had the upper hand. His eyes were fixed in a trance onto mine so without leaving his, I subtly poured the potion into his drink. Keeping it with me, I continued questioning him, "Could you at least try to remember?! You'd want your heart back, wouldn't you?"

He tried to say something, but his hand immediately reached for his chest as he did so. Although I had successfully put the magic into his drink, I was anxious to see if he could recall anything to do with the reason why his heart has been taken. He seemed to be struggling against the effects of his heart's master. I knew it was virtually impossible to tear away from the impact of the one who hold's one's heart but I pushed on.

"Leopold, you owe me this one. I know you want to tell me something. I can see it in you right now." He gave me a frown of suffering in return. I sighed as his eyes trailed off my gaze. s

"Leopold, leopold!" They snapped back onto mine. I couldn't believe I was doing this but I began, "For goodness sakes, think about that bond you want to break with whoever's got your heart. Now, imagine your love for...your darling Snowflake as fierce as that desire."

I waited. It seemed like he was trying to follow my instructions. He grimaced. Then, it happened. The force of the bond breaking threw him back onto his seat. He panted. His eyes find their way to mine. In an unbelieving tone, I prompted, "Well?"

I knew that the bond was only broken temporarily so I needed him to give me answers quick. "Who was it? Who took out your heart?"

My heart stopped when his reply hit me. In a pained voice, he breathed, "The Dark one."

No...."What?!"

He nodded and through ragged breaths, he continued, "He told me that it was either you or Snow."

"What are you talking about?!"

In a low voice, he replied in a shameful tone, "He told me that he'd use me to break either you or Snow. He said that if I didn't cooperate with whatever he wanted me to do to...to you, he will come after Snow. He said that it'd be a surprise, and that I'd least expect it when he'd come and kill her."

I breathed heavily and closed my eyes. "You told him that you'd rather your daughter didn't you?"

As I opened my eyes, I saw him look away. Then, behind gritted teeth, he argued, "I didn't have a choice, Regina!"

I huffed and in a low voice, I growled, "Of course you had a choice, and you chose your own path. Leopold, I was your wife. I could have had all the sons you wanted, and yet you gave me up for Snow?!"

"She's the daughter of my first wife-"

"Yes, Eva. I know. But-"

The king cut in and continued, "How could I give up Eva's offspring? Snow will always be my firstborn-"

"And you didn't seem to care when you forced yourself onto me, demanding for a male heir hmm?"

"Regina, perhaps I would have cared for you but you'll always be my second wife. You cannot surpass-"

"Eva. So I'm never going to be as intelligent, beautiful, important, lovely, graceful, queenly as her am I?" I paused in anger. Then, I seethed, "You could have at least tried to love me. I was forced to give up my own love, my own life for you. I tried to please you, and yet you've sacrificed my life and subsequently Daniella's, for your precious Snow White?"

I knew that I had provoked him for he answered simply, "You're just jealous. Besides, you're telling me now that you'd rather have my daughter dead." Then, in a sarcastic tone, he added, "Oh, right. You've attempted to assassinate her multiple times."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm telling you that you've neglected the lives of many for one girl. I will not talk about mine, but how about Daniella's? She's innocent of all this. How about the sons and daughters I could have delivered for you? You'd have lived to see an empire, a powerful dynasty, and I can't see you as the type who wouldn't desire that."

Leopold huffed. "Alright. You're angry, I can see that. But you're completely mental. The dark one is cunning, he played on me, and you couldn't expect me to give up the one who I love truly. Should I have chosen you instead of Snow, it wouldn't be fair on her either."

I looked down, flushed with new found anger at the very existence of Snow White. The king tore me out of my thoughts as he continued, "And speaking of, I believe you're the one who needs to apologize here."

"Excuse me?!" I fumes as my fists clenched together. There was nothing more I wanted to do than to set him on fire with my fireballs right now.

"After my mysterious death, you've terrorised my people, killed and tortured anyone who supported my bloodline and practically set a death warrant on Snow! This bond may have broken for now, but my anger towards you hasn't changed."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please...for politics sake, I expanded the kingdom and improved the economy. And as for you darling Snowflake, you've brought suffering upon her yourself."

Leopold growled at me a seethed, "If it wasn't for my great grandson's strange attraction towards you, I'd have ordered your execution right here on the spot."

I scoffed. "I have no doubt Daniella would eventually get you for that."

Before he could cut in with comments to insult my firefly, I slid him his glass of wine. "Now, I've had enough of this talk. But I'd like to make one last point. If any one of your family decides to come at mine, be that Henry, Daniella or myself, I will send you back to the underworld and this time, make sure that Hades pushes you into the river of lost souls."

Under his breath, Leopold replied, "An awfully large threat."

I evaluated him for a second. Then, I saw Daniella come back in from the back of the diner, with Henry. I turned back to my former husband and smirked, "Dear, an awfully large threat created this town."

I kept smiling as I stood up and left for he seemed to be needing his drink right now. Coming up to Daniella, I whispered to her, "Everything's fine?"

She nodded. "I heard shouts from the back. Were you two arguing?"

I shrugged, "To a certain extent." Then, I turned around and saw that many people had gathered around him with concern. I gave Daniella a squeeze on her shoulder as I bent down and whispered in her ear, "We did it."

She gave me a smile but I saw that it was hard and full of concern. I'd only realize a few days later, that it was because of something she was hiding in her pocket the whole time.