Disclaimer: I own nothing. This fic was written by littledragonflyson.

Another chapter, the story is slowly moving forward. Please follow and review, as I do like, and respond to reviews on my fics. If you know anyone who might like the story let them know.

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Guest: No I am not claiming that this story is mine. This fic belongs to littledragonflyson. He has made an wonderful fanfic and his writing skills are awesome. However, he has left the story incomplete for nearly a year. So, I have gotten permission to continue the fic from where he left off. I really enjoyed the fic, and I too ship SwanQueen.

ml: This fix was originally created by littledragonflyson. Credit for creating this fix goes to him. He hasn't updated the fic in nearly a year. I got his permission to continue the fic. I am NOT claiming this fic is my original work. It is NOT.


Emma woke, confused and in pain. She was in her cell. She was laying on her stomach, on a pallet that had been placed there and she hissed as she felt the pain of her wounds. They had probably carried her here.

"I smell blood, a lot of blood. I'm surprised you're still alive." Her neighbour commented darkly

Emma's head was pounding, her back still burned and she felt sick to her stomach. But, she'd been through this before and if her wounds didn't get infected she would recover.

"It seems she's taken a liking to you," were the last words Emma heard before she passed out again.

It burned, she was on fire. Her head pounded and she thought she heard, a wolf, howling? There was noise and movement. More pain.


Regina had the woman carried away and back to her cell. She had magicked enough clothing to keep her decent, she didn't want her men looking at what belonged to her.

When she was alone in her chambers she undressed and slipped into her bathing pool, a luxury she enjoyed a great deal. It had been an interesting day she mused as her mind wandered over her meeting with the strange woman, her new pet. She smiled at the thought. She would have a lot of fun educating her in the ways of this land. But, she would have to do so in a way that would bind the woman to her, she was undeniably strong and could cause problems if not handled correctly.

She would also compliment her other pet extremely well. One dark, one fair. Both beautiful. Both hers. With that thought on her mind she stepped out of the pool, dried herself with a wave of her fingers and retired to bed.

It was the howl that woke her from a deep slumber.

Regina immediately went to investigate what had upset her other pet at this time of night. She trusted it was not a minor matter otherwise no-one would dare wake her.

"She's sick. Infection. I can smell it." She was informed when she reached the dungeon where her guest had been taken. Regina frowned, the blonde had been clean before the whipping, her bath oils acting as a cleanser. The whip itself had been magical and would not have caused any infection.

However, when she saw the blonde sprawled on her stomach it was obvious what had caused it. A dirty blanket had been thrown across her naked back, switched for the clean linen Regina had provided and even from the doorway of the cell Regina could see where it was sticking to the scabs of the wounds, not doubt introducing the infection.

"Imbeciles!" Regina hissed. "Who gave her that blanket?" The queen inquired.

"She had it on when they brought her down, your Majesty," the prisoner informed her queen.

"Help me." The door to Emma's neighbour's cell sprang open and its occupant followed the queen into the next cell. As Regina lifted the blanket they were both hit by the stench of weeping flesh. They both looked on in shock at the seeping welts.

"She was clean," the queen confirmed to her companion. "This has happened very fast." She was frowning as she studied the wounds, it had only been a few hours, the infection should not have spread so quickly in an otherwise healthy body.

"Maybe -," she looked to her queen for permission to continue. "Maybe she is not used to the infections of this land. I have heard of many strange diseases in other lands to which their natives are immune," she reasoned.

"Well, your intelligence has kept you alive this long, I think you're correct." the queen murmured her agreement.

"What will you do, Majesty?" It was not her place to question the queen on the treatment of her prisoners.

"I don't want this to scar, she is a rare prize and not just some whipping girl," the queen replied and her companion's suspicions were confirmed, the queen valued this woman. Otherwise she would have been sent on her way out of the palace. Or, at the very least thrown in the common cells, not here where it was just the two of them, each in their own individual cage.

The queen levitated the blonde's palette and guided it out of the cell.

"Come," she bade the other prisoner who obediently followed her out of the dungeon and up through the palace. "I want you to track down who gave her this blanket. She left me with clean linen and if that had remained I would not be subject to this inconvenience!" She hissed. Her companion was rather astonished by the investment the queen seemed to be making in this woman. But, she reasoned, the queen was known for treating her animals well, until they displeased or failed her. Then they were sent to the slaughterhouse, or just thrown away with the garbage.

"Yes, My Queen," she murmured respectfully as they came to a stop at the door to a chamber not far from the queen's own.

"Fetch the Captain and have him meet me here. Return with him," Regina instructed as she manoeuvred the palette so it came to rest on a large table. The blonde was heavily unconscious and had not made a sound during her transport which concerned her. "Then find me the man that did this." She hissed, a wave of her hand dismissing her other captive. "Oh, Red?"

"My Queen?"

"Bring him to me -, alive!" She commanded and smirked at the hint of fang that still graced her werewolf's smile, even now the full-moon had passed.

"If you insist!" Red pouted at which the queen let out a dark chuckle before turning her full attention to the injured blonde.

Emma woke to more pain. Someone was touching her back and it hurt like hell. She tried to move away from the probing fingers but found herself suddenly immobilised.

Red soon returned with the the captain of her guard, he was the one who Regina had originally sent to bring the woman to her chambers earlier that day. Captain Braxas was a seasoned solider but even he winced when he caught sight of the blonde's back. He knew his queen had a vicious temper but it had been a long time since he had witnessed anything quite so brutal.

It also meant that this young woman was strong, the queen rarely continued to lash an unconscious victim.

"Some idiot with a death-wish switched her cover for that!" Regina flicked her wrist at the offending blanket. "Red?" The wolf nodded and she went to pick it up, taking a sniff then wrinkling her nose at the smell. Ugh! "Can you find him?"

"Yes, My Queen," the brunette ducked her head in acknowledgement.

"Then go, bring us a name," she was dismissed and went to do her queen's bidding. "When she returns you will have him locked up by the training yard," she instructed her captain.

"Aye, My Queen," he replied and waited by the door until she decided to dismiss him. He'd not survived this long by being impolite or disrespectful. The wolf either, although he knew her relationship with the queen was complicated he didn't question it. He knew Red had her uses both in and out of the queen's chambers.

Emma was beginning to come around. She felt weak and was desperately thirsty, she tried to lift herself up to look for water but found herself unable to move.

"Stay still," a stern voice commanded and with a flash she recalled what had happened, collapsing back onto the palette as she did so. "Wait outside," Regina instructed the captain who did as he was bid. "Send Red in when she returns." He nodded and left the room.

Regina held out her palm and a jar of salve appeared just as Red re-entered.

"I found him, the Captain has left as you ordered," she informed the queen, then fell silent as she eyed the blonde laying on the palette. Red looked on as the queen began to apply the salve to the woman's back, she wasn't gentle but neither was she unnecessarily rough, just working the cream well into the skin.

Last night Red had watched as the prisoner had been carried back to her cell, the smell of fresh blood invading her nostrils. Another one gone, she had thought but why was she back in the cells? She gave it no more thought as the moon called her and she felt the shift to her wolf that indicated the beginning of her change. She could control it but it was violent and she preferred to be down in her cell rather than wreck a more lived in part of the castle. Red stretched out her spine before curling up and resting her head on her paws to wait out the night.

A few hours had gone by and the new moon had passed it's peak before the wolf heard incoherent mumblings from the cell next to her. Walking to the bars she inhaled and was immediately hit by the stench of sickness. So, choosing to risk her mistress's anger and wake her she called to the queen knowing she would heed her call. If the woman was to be left to die, so be it and the wolf would take her punishment for disturbing the queen. But, if the woman died and she had issued no warning the punishment would be severe and lasting. Death, even.

Red was guessing she had made the right decision by the fact the queen herself was attending the woman.

It burned, it felt like her back was on fire and Emma struggled to escape the pain. Regina frowned as the woman began to move. A flick of her wrist immobilising the blonde, invisible ties holding her down. Emma registered what had happened, it still hurt like hell but the bonds calmed her slightly.

"Red, hold her head." The wolf obligingly came to stand by the woman's head, squatting down so she could look her in the eye.

Emma blinked as she came face to face with a pair of green eyes, they were obviously not the queen's but she could tell the owner was young even though she could not see any more of her face.

"You did well," she heard the queen's voice and focused on that and the eyes in front of her as she controlled her breathing and fought against the pain. Regina heard the woman's breathing even out and watched as her body relaxed. She exchanged a look with Red, they were both impressed. "I don't think anyone except Red here has taken more lashes than you did," she commented as she continued to cover the wounds with the salve, the coolness of it bringing Emma some relief. "But she has an unfair advantage." Emma couldn't make any sense of her words. Except that the young woman holding her head was called Red.

Emma hissed as the queen touched a particularly nasty cut, Regina pausing to examine it more closely to see some of the blanket fibre forming part of the scab.

"Those idiots!" She growled as she surveyed the wound. This would require more thorough cleaning. "This is going to hurt," she warned the blonde who managed a nod, despite Red's grip on her head then another deep breath and her body went totally limp, her head held only by Red's hands as they cupped her cheeks. Emma entered her zone, one which pain could not enter then she felt the movement of her skin as the queen pulled off the existing scab but not the pain that accompanied it.

Regina examined the now open wound and summoned some warm water which she squeezed over it with a clean cloth before covering it with the salve. It was her own concoction and possessed both antiseptic and healing properties. Normally she wouldn't waste it on a slave as it took her time to make but, as the woman had performed so admirably and the infection was through no fault of her own she felt obliged to ensure the woman's good health. Plus, the infected wounds would have scarred terribly, ruining her masterpiece.

"Done," Emma felt the invisible bonds release although she had not been fighting against them. "Red." The queen passed the young woman a cup containing a bitter smelling liquid. "Get her to drink that then accompany her back to her cell. Make sure she reaches it in one piece," the queen commanded. "Then meet me in my chambers."

"Yes, My Queen," Red stood and bowed her head as the queen preceded her from the room.

"Here, drink. If the Queen says it will help you, then it will," Emma was so thirsty that when she felt the rim of a cup pressed to her lips she drank greedily, gagging at the taste but finishing it down to the last drop.

Emma was aware enough to recognise the young woman's voice as the same one that had been occupying the cell next to hers. Why then was she out? She was too exhausted to think it though, she suspected there had been something in with the drink or salve that was making her sleepy, as she felt her back being covered and as the pallet lifted she lost consciousness.


Chapter 3- 08/31/22

Next Chapter- 09/03/22

Next on The Collar

"I have a proposition for you, a wager," Emma frowned, she wasn't a gambler, she preferred hard facts to games of chance. "If, within a year, I can break you, you remain with me until I tire of you. Then you will be given a place to live and enough money to have a comfortable existence in this land." Emma frowned, she didn't like the sound of that.