Regina barely registered it when Belle brought in a tray of food and laid it on the desk next to her. She was bent over a spellbook reading it with intensity. Belle cleared her throat to get her attention. Regina looked up at her.
"You skipped lunch, at least have some dinner," Belle said.
"Thank you," Regina said sliding the book away from her and bringing the tray in front of her. Belle took a seat in a chair next to the desk.
"What are you learning today?" Belle asked.
"Traveling spell," Regina said before taking a bite of her dinner – several in fact. Belle remained silent as Regina ate. She was still worried about Regina. First, it was her depression over seeing Emma kiss that man, but now Regina was devoting all her time to learning magic. She was obsessive about it – going as far as to even wake Rumplestiltskin at all hours of the night if she had a question or wanted to show him some new skill she mastered.
She was either with Rumplestiltskin learning from him directly or up here in her room pouring over spellbooks. From what Belle could tell – and she was certainly no expert – but Regina was picking up the magic quickly and she appeared to be quite powerful. Belle didn't like seeing Rumple look at Regina as if he had discovered some new toy to play with.
"A traveling spell," Belle said after she had given Regina time to eat at least part of her food. "Are you planning on traveling somewhere?"
"No. I have no place to be but here."
"But with that spell, you could go somewhere, right? Maybe go visit your family?"
"I can't afford to take time from my studies," Regina said as she slid the tray away signaling that she was done with the food and most likely with the conversation. Belle stood and retrieved the tray.
"Have you thought about using that spell to visit Emma?" Belle asked.
Regina looked away from her. "I have no wish to see her."
"Regina …"
"I have to get back to my studying. Thank you for the food."
Belle knew that was Regina's way of dismissing her so she reluctantly left. Once Belle was gone Regina slid the book back in front of her. The spell was one that she was sure she could do, but she hadn't yet tried it. Despite the Dark One's instruction that her magic was instinctual, Regina preferred to learn a spell, study it and practice it. He didn't always give her the time for such things so she spent her free time doing it.
She hadn't exactly answered Belle's question because the truth was, she had thought about using it to go see Emma. She didn't know what she would do if she saw Emma though – not after seeing her share a kiss with him. She tried to block the vision of it from her mind, but there wasn't a day that had passed since then that she hadn't thought about it. It kept replaying in her mind if she didn't keep her brain occupied, which was part of the reason why she used her free time to continue to study magic.
What would she even say to Emma if she saw her? She was afraid of the answer Emma might give if she asked her if she ever really loved her.
In those first couple of days after seeing Emma share a kiss with Killian, she did think she was going to die. Before that, she never thought it was possible for a person's heart to break, but that is exactly how it felt to her. Her heart remained broken even now and she didn't believe anything would ever make it whole again – not even the magic she had now dedicated herself to. Rumple had told her that with magic she could become strong enough that no one would ever hurt her again and she wanted that. She wanted to never feel pain like that ever again.
While thinking about Emma and that kiss made her sad, now it also made her angry. It had been Emma's idea for her to be brought here to the Dark One and he had told Regina that he had not heard from Emma that entire time as he expected to. He said he believed it would only be weeks before Emma came for her and at that time he would teach Regina a spell that would take them somewhere that they would not have to worry about their titles, their statuses, and they could be together. Regina had no idea what kind of spell it was, and she doubted she would have the ability to cast something too powerful because she was still just a novice.
But he had assured her that this was a spell she was born to cast and it would be easy for her when the time came.
She had asked him about the deal he made with Emma and what it was that he was supposed to be asking her. When she brought it up the first few times he merely dismissed it as if it wasn't important. Earlier today she had again asked him about it. She told him that she needed to know – and she did. She needed to know what was so important for him to ask her that he would make a deal with Emma in the first place. She was looking for a reason, any reason not to believe him – she realized this. She wanted an excuse to be able to say that he had cheated on the deal or that this was some sort of setup.
When she made it clear that she wanted to know, she was surprised when he took a seat on a bench where they had been practicing in the courtyard. She remained standing as he began to speak. He told her that he wasn't always the Dark One and that he had come upon this power and because of it he lost his son. The question he wanted to ask her was if she would help him find his son.
Of course, she asked how she could help – after all, he was the Dark One and his power was limitless or so she thought.
He confessed to her that his power was not limitless and he needed someone who could wield magic to open a gateway to the place where his son was now at. He said he had been waiting a long time for someone like Regina to come along, someone who had innate magical talent, but also a power that could light the heavens on fire.
He told her that it was the question he had once asked her mother, but her mother had refused.
"Why? Why would she not help you find your son?" she had asked.
"I knew your mother when she was younger, much like you. This was before she married your father. I am sure you know that your mother and Queen Snow do not get along."
"I do, but I do not know why."
"They were friends once upon a time if you can believe it. When Snow was princess; Cora was one of those in a close circle of friends. Has your mother ever mentioned your uncle to you?"
"Just once," Regina said. And it had just been the one time. When she was younger she found her mother in their garden and she was sad so Regina picked some flowers for her to cheer her up. When Regina asked her why she had been crying, Cora had said that she was crying because she missed her brother who had died long ago. Regina didn't even know what his name was and Cora had never mentioned him again.
"He was older than your mother by a few years. This was during the time of the ogre wars. Your uncle was a young, but a promising knight. He volunteered to go to war but Cora didn't want him to go. She asked Snow to request to her father that he not be sent to the frontlines. Snow of course wanted to do what she could for her friend, but that's not what happened. Your uncle was killed in that war and Cora blamed Snow for allowing it to happen. That is why your mother and her do not get along."
"What does this have to do with my mother not helping you?"
"After her falling out with Snow, Cora was distraught by the death of her brother and she sought direction in her life I guess would be the best way to put it. She had the ability to do magic and decided she wanted to learn more. That is how I know your mother – she came to me to learn. I made no secret that I wished to train her so that she might return the favor and help me find my Bae. Then your mother met your father, she fell in love and well that was the end of her magical education. She wanted nothing more to do with it and refused to continue her studies and thus refused to help me."
Regina considered this. She always knew there was a reason for the animosity between her mother and Queen Snow, but she would never have guessed it had something to do with her uncle whom her mother mourned to the point she never even wanted to speak of him.
"This gateway you want me to open to this place where your son is, how much longer will it be before I can do that kind of magic?" she asked.
"Not long," he said. "Not long."
….
Daniel wasn't sure what kind of reception he should expect from Duke Mills and his wife. After speaking with Emma, they decided that Regina's parents at least needed to be told the truth. Emma hoped that Regina's parents could retrieve Regina from the Dark One. Daniel was not as optimistic. When Emma had told him what she had done in making a deal with that devilish creature, Daniel wanted nothing more than to yell at her for her stupidity. Indeed he had stood up and paced a bit to calm down so he didn't blow up at her.
He could tell from the look on Emma's face that she regretted her actions and was truly concerned for what might have happened to Regina at the Dark One's hands.
Emma had to convince him not to ride out to the Dark One's castle and demand Regina's release. The problem was that no one knew exactly where the Dark One's lair was. They knew the general area it was located but the land was protected by the Dark One's magic which made finding it near impossible. That didn't matter to Daniel as he was willing to try, but Emma got him to settle down before he left on such a fool's errand.
He wasn't sure that he wasn't on a fool's errand by coming to the Ander province to speak to Regina's parents. He had met both of them of course, but that didn't mean he knew anything about how they might react to this. He also had no idea what if anything they could do about it.
Emma said she didn't care if they showed up on her doorstep demanding action from the crown because that might make her parents do something to help find Regina. She told him to tell them the truth because at this point she didn't care if the truth came out. She didn't care if people knew she had fallen in love with Regina and that she was the only one she wanted to marry. She didn't care if it was scandalous or not – she just wanted Regina back safely.
Daniel arrived and had to wait as he made the request to speak to the Duke and his wife in private. He was shown to a room while the messenger went to relay his request. He was in there for what felt like a long time before the door opened and the Duchess came in.
"Duchess Mills," he said bowing. "Thank you for agreeing to see me."
"The messenger said you have news about Regina. My husband is out right now and will not be back until this evening. What is this news?"
"I know where Regina is at."
"Where?" she said approaching him. "Where is my daughter? Is she safe?"
"She is far from safe. Perhaps you should sit down while I explain."
"I do not wish to sit, I wish to know where my daughter is."
"Regina is being held by the Dark One," he said simply.
This time Cora did take a seat. She looked up at Daniel. "How is this possible? How do you even know this to be true?"
Daniel told her what Emma had told him – about how she and Regina had fallen in love, how they had seen each other in secret, and their plan to run away together. He told her that Regina had backed out of the plan to run away because she feared what effect it would have on her family whom she wanted to protect. Then he told her of Emma's deal with the Dark One.
Throughout Cora remained silent and continued to hold her tongue even as he finished telling her all of this. She did stand though and walk over to the window looking out of it.
"I do not know what to do to get Regina back," he said finally. "But whatever is needed I shall do it."
Cora turned to look at him as if considering who he was and why he was there for the first time.
"Good," she said. "Because I need you to accompany me."
"Where to?"
"That Dark One's castle."
"But no one knows where it is exactly. It's said that it moves from place to place within his realm."
"Those are but stories," she said. "The secret to his castle is that to find it, you must have been there once already."
"How does that help us find it?"
"I've been there before," she said with a hint of resignation. "I am afraid the princess has been duped. This was never about the Dark One helping her and Regina find a place to be together. This was about my daughter all along."
"About Regina?"
"We must leave immediately to get to his castle," she said getting to the door. "And pray we aren't too late."