IX. The book of fairy tales

…

Zelena had to wait for her next free evening to go back to the stables. She had finally decided to leave the book in there, what seemed safer to her. She was pretty sure that Freek wouldn't hesitate to destroy it, if he found it and realized it was precious for her. After all, trading her mother's necklace in for it shouldn't have been for nothing. She retrieved the digest from its hiding place and lowered herself with it onto a bale of straw that lay in the stable alley. The sounds of the horses, the soft pawing and snorting calmed her in a way. Carefully, she flipped to the beginning of the first chapter. It was the story of Snow White and the Evil Queen, which her mother had read to her back when she had been a little girl. To her surprise, however, this one turned out to be very different to the fairy tale of her childhood. The story was much more profound, showing the queen as a young hopeful girl and Snow as a spoiled little princess.

Not wanting to risk her father noticing her absence, Zelena couldn't get too absorbed in these beautiful stories, which at least drove her away from her dreary everyday life for a while. Her gaze lingered on the picture of the wedding that had already caught her eye in Gold's store. Although the drawings were lovingly designed, the figures in them did not have detailed facial features. In the context of the passage she had just read, the illustrated scene no longer seemed so fairy-tale-like to her. This girl did not want to marry the old king, but she had no choice.

The more she came back to continue reading, the more she found out that the stories of the Evil Queen, Snow White, her beloved Prince Charming, Rumpelstiltskin, the clever Belle and many other characters were all linked. The plot was episodic, so it spanned over many years. In her mind, the characters became tangible, almost alive, and she felt sorry for the beautiful young queen whose heart got more and more poisoned by darkness. Since she only had the chance to sneak away on her evenings off when her father was out of the house, it took her almost three weeks before she was halfway through the book.

"Zelena, this is really a surprise."

She had been so deeply absorbed in the magical world that she had simply blanked out her surroundings and now looked up at the forester, who was leading his horse by the reins. Confused, she quickly closed the book and glanced at her wristwatch. She had not yet overstayed her time, she realized with relief.

"Did I scare you? I didn't mean to." Robin gave her a warm smile. "What's that book you're reading?"

"Oh, just fairy tales." She wanted to hide it from him, but it was too big and heavy for that. "You know. About Snow White, the Evil Queen and so on."

He peered at the leather cover, which she partially covered with her forearms, and came closer with interest. "Will you let me look at it?"

Hesitantly, she revealed the squiggly gold letters that formed the title Once upon a Time to him, whereupon his eyes widened. Cautiously, he opened to the first page with the handwritten dedication on it.

"Where did you get this?"

Zelena bristled at his tone, which told her that he must have seen this book before. "I found it at Mister Gold's pawn shop."

"Gold" Robin repeated, puzzled. "All this time it was there?!"

"Do you know the little girl for who it was created?" Lost in her thoughts, she looked at the lines the father had addressed to his beloved daughter.

Robin nodded slowly. Holding Scarlet's reins loosely with one hand, he sat down next to Zelena on the bale of straw. "Those stories meant everything to Regina when she was a child. Then her mother took the book away from her because in her opinion she shouldn't waste her time on fairy tales anymore when she was ten."

"It belongs to Miss Mills?" she repeated incredulously. The realization stung her guts. "Her father must love her very much."

"Yes, he did. She was devastated when he died almost thirteen years ago." For a moment he paused, looking from her to the tome and back. "She believes she had lost it forever, and you really need to give it back to her. No matter what Gold took from you, for sure she'll be happy to repay it."

A sigh escaped her. Even the mayor could not return her mother's emerald necklace to her. She was reluctant to simply hand the book she had paid dearly for just back to Regina, who already owned everything she could possibly want. After all, she had acquired it in a legal trade, so it was rightfully hers.

"Please, Zelena. It would mean so much to her," he tried to convince her.

"You like her, don't you?" Jealousy gnawed at her as she looked into his blue eyes. "I haven't even finished it yet."

"We are best friends since we were kids, so I know how much she loves this book. She always found the Evil Queen the most exciting." A smile flitted across his face as he reached out for the tome again and flipped to the last third. "I liked the Wicked Witch."

She followed his gaze to the picture covering the page he opened. It showed a woman different to the queen she was already familiar with. Tall and dark, she stood in the middle of a marble-tiled hall. The black dress flowed around her body like midnight rain. Fiery red hair spilled out from under the pointed hat she wore. As on the other drawings, her face was undefined, but what really caught Zelena's attention was her emerald skin. Magical flames flickered from her raised right hand.

"The Wicked Witch of the West," she murmured in surprise. "The Wizard of Oz was my favorite story when I was a kid. My mom read it to me so many times."

"This one is certainly different from the ones you know." Carefully, he closed the book again and touched the writing on the cover. "I don't think Regina will mind if you keep it a little longer. Promise me you'll give it back to her as soon as you finish it."

"I will." Out of the corner of her eye, Zelena noticed him raise his hand next to her and instantly flinched. However, he just held out a treat to his horse, which it chewed contentedly.

Robin registered in surprise that she was sliding away from him, and rose onto his feet. "I need to unsaddle Scarlet. If you want, I can take you home in the car later. It's started to rain."

"You don't need to, it's only a few minutes' walk." She wanted to touch the chestnut gelding, who wiggled its ears attentively, but the big horse also gave her proper respect, so she hesitated.

When Robin grabbed her hand, she felt it trembling and she tensed to hide it from him. Immediately, he let go again. "Are you all right, Zelena? You didn't even bring a raincoat, and besides, the book is getting all wet."

Quickly she nodded. "I'm going to take a hot bath at home to warm up."

"Hold out your hand for him to recognize your scent. Then you can stroke his neck." He smiled encouragingly at her, but was careful not to touch her again. "Or his nostrils, he loves that."

Zelena followed his advice and let the horse sniff her hand. The coat of his neck was silky soft and she felt the steady movement of his breaths.

"You see. When you're good to an animal, it gives you its trust in return." He stroked Scarlet's soft nostrils, which were completely smooth except for the fine tactile hairs. "Have you ridden before?"

"Yes, that day when you took me home," she answered with an uncertain laugh. "That's pretty high."

"I can teach you. Once you find your balance, it's not hard at all, believe me. Galloping across the fields on a horse is a great feeling. Let's start small, though. Do you want to help me take care of Scarlet?"

"Okay, but you should be aware that I don't know anything about it."

Robin grinned broadly at her. "That's why the this guy and I will show you how to do."

As she stood up, Zelena put the book on the hay bale and followed Robin to his horse's stall. He took off the saddle and showed her how to carry it best. She almost buckled under the unexpected high weight.

"Whew, that thing is heavy! Scarlet's going to have to do some lugging if you're going to sit on him, too," she teased as he took the load off her again and handed her the bridle instead.

"I'm not that heavy," he replied, playfully offended. "A western saddle is made to distribute the rider's weight much better. Cowboys and their horses used to go on cattle drives for days. You can't compare that to classical riding, which of course has its appeal. You should see how Regina goes over obstacles with her mare. It looks like Silver Queen is flying."

Zelena thought back to the day she arrived and nodded. "I saw the two of you riding by our house the other day. My husband didn't mean anything by it, he just makes it a point not to be disturbed on our property."

"Not bad, we could have thought as far as the farm being inhabited again now. It was empty for a very long time, we were used to it. Regina and I were still kids when the family moved away. We knew the daughter from school, she was a few years older than us. She had an abstruse double name Gertie-Linda or something, so everyone just called her Glinda." He motioned for her to go back to the stable alley and together they carried the equipment to the tack room. On the way back, he stopped in front of another stall whose occupant turned to them curiously.

It was a funny-looking horse, Zelena thought, looking as if a bucket of white paint had been dumped over the brown coat of its hindquarters. Its black mane was cut so short that it looked like a mohawk.

"This is Avocado," Robin said with a broad smile. "He's an Appaloosa, and he's also the perfect four-legged riding instructor, if you'd like to give him a try."

"I can't." Automatically, she took a step back. "I should be going now. My husband will be home soon and I still have to do the cooking."

Robin's brows drew together. "It was nice to meet you, Zelena."

"Me too." In the next moment, she inwardly scolded herself for the words she'd spoken without thinking about.

As he turned his back on her to continue on to Scarlet's stall, she grabbed the book from the bale of straw and hurried back to the tack room, where she stowed it in the chest she was using as a hiding place. She had to keep Robin away from her. Freek had never allowed her to make friends before, especially with men. Although he showed her no affection, he wouldn't allow anyone else to do so either. Even during her high school years, he had never allowed her to hang out with other teens her age. She hadn't had any friends anyway. Except for Harold, the flamboyant boy with the sticking-out blue-dyed hair who, like her, had been an outsider and had tried everything to set himself apart from his two older brothers. It had been him who had asked her out to the prom. This one time, she had actually defied her father's prohibition and snuck out of the farm. The festively decorated gymnasium was only vaguely in her memory, but she remembered Harold well, showing up in his scuffed leather jacket and finding her beautiful even in her mother's old Sunday dress. Together they had walked across the school grounds at night, quietly holding each other's hands. Harold had taken her home later in his car and kissed her goodbye. She swallowed as she thought of the distorted look on her father's face, who had already been waiting for her in the hallway. She had rarely seen him this angry before. He had beaten her half unconscious and dragged her into his bedroom to make unmistakably clear that she belonged to him.