An awful lot of stuff to cover here so this chapter is longer than usual as I didn't want to cut it in half again.
Thanks for your patience and reviews following the last chapter, you have taken me over 2,000 reviews which is a massive milestone for me as a writer, and not a goal I have quite managed to achieve on any other fiction to date. So, yeah, you guys rock :D
On a more relevant note, this chapter is the pivotal chapter for the whole story and I hope that it begins to take things in the directions you have been hoping for and offers some explanations. A lot of the previous chapter/s contents have been to tie up as many loose ends as possible, even though it may not be obvious how just yet, so that I can progress the SQ relationship. The majority of the story to date has been built around events occurring here, this was one of the very first chapters of the story I drafted over 2 years ago so very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Enjoy!
(it's late (2.30 am), please forgive any typos!)
Xxxxx
Previously on The Collar
"Pet, take her to my chamber and warm her up, she will at least take pleasure from the experience." Emma stood, looking to the queen and seeing only dark arousal in her mistresses eyes, interspersed by magic. Deciding that she was comfortable with the situation and the queen's approach Emma nodded, taking the girl's elbow, Eva following obediently but Emma had detected a bitter tone to her mistresses voice and it made her curious. But, she was not left alone with her thoughts for long as the queen joined her almost immediately and had the girl naked in the bed as fast as Emma could blink.
xxxxx
Red ran to the queen's chambers. Only hesitating to knock because her queen abhorred bad manners.
"Enter." The queen was at her desk, Emma kneeling by her side, she was dressed but not in very much. A silken nightdress that complimented the slave's pale complexion. Red liked it though but now wasn't the time to be admiring her friend's body.
"What?" Regina looked up, raising a brow, slightly concerned by her wolf's dishevelled appearance.
"Snow White's coming, with Prince James," Red blurting but becoming perturbed when the queen started laughing, throwing her head back and laughing. Emma thought she looked beautiful and so much younger when she laughed. The blonde catching Red's eyes, the wolf looked cutely confused but seemed to be thinking the same thing she was, the slight upward curl of her lips giving her away.
"I've known since they breached the wards on the edge of my kingdom," Regina smiled at her confused little wolf. "Tell Braxas to assemble the guard in the throne room." Red nodded. "Then, go change. I've left you something in your rooms, the pup too."
"Yes, My Queen. Thank you," Red bobbed her head before leaving to organise the palace for the pending arrival.
"Come," Emma rose obediently following her mistress into the bedchamber where their 'guest' still slept, totally exhausted from her experiences the previous night. To be fair, the girl had lasted well and proved a quick learner, plus her physique was fascinating, the queen entranced by the faye characteristics that Eva had inherited. Emma had felt Eva's magic mix with the queen's, it must mean that it was very strong as she had never felt that happen when Red had been involved, also intriguing were the faint, horn like nubs hidden in her hair and the ridges on her shoulder blades, these had particularly fascinated the queen who had mumbled about speaking to Maleficent but then returned to tasting the girl's flesh. Eva was also seemingly fragile but actually incredibly strong, stronger than the average human woman. That was something that she should learn to use to her full advantage, or hide, Emma mused, it was always better to be underestimated by people.
As the queen selected an outfit from her closet Emma had a moment to herself to recall the pleasure of the encounter, when the girl had fallen unconscious after the last of several magically enhanced climaxes the queen had turned her attentions on Emma. It had not been as intimate or free as their earlier encounter but neither had it returned to the clinical sex Emma had previously been required to perform. It had fallen somewhere in between and for that Emma was grateful, she had been allowed to give her mistress pleasure but had also received attention to her own needs as well as exchanging extremely satisfying fevered kisses with her mistress.
When Emma had woken she once again found the queen curled into her body, sandwiched between the slave and the faye in the large bed but seeking Emma's body even in slumber. Emma had no idea what it meant but it pleased her competitive nature. Once the queen had stirred it had been a quiet but enjoyable morning, her mistress feeding Emma as she began reading through the pile of reports that appeared every morning, little needed to be said but the air relaxed and comfortable while the girl was allowed to rest,
"Pet," Regina softly recalled her slave's attention from where it was lingering on the bed and the sleeping girl. "Help me dress then wake her, she will be an interesting addition to our meeting with your parents," dark eyes seeking troubled green at the mention of the relationship. "I think they come for you," Regina sniffed, Emma staying silent, not knowing how to respond.
"Yes, Mistress," Emma nodding her understanding but blocking out any deeper thoughts for later analysis, helping the queen dress until she was dismissed to attend to Eva.
"The Queen has requested that you be woken," Emma murmured, reaching out to touch Eva's shoulder. Those golden eyes opened and before they could focus the faye had Emma's wrist in a firm hold.
"Easy there," the slave gave a half smile, appreciating the swift reflexes but not the iron grip. "Only the Queen gets to mark me," Emma winked, stepping back from the bed as soon as she was released.
"I am so sorry, I -", the girl sat up in the bed, still sleep fogged and confused, trying to get her bearings, delicate hands rising to rub at bleary eyes.
"Dress, um -?" Emma looked around the room now lacking the queen's presence but quickly spotting a dress laid out, a smaller size than the queen wore, hanging from the large mirror standing in the corner of the room.
"May I bathe?" Was the polite request from the surprisingly unmodest young woman in the bed.
"There is time," both of the room's occupants jumped as the queen herself entered the bedchamber. "Bathe, dress and I shall have food sent for you. I trust you slept well?" Regina purred, brow raising as eyes roamed over her latest conquest's still naked body.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Extremely," a playful smirk was offered by the girl, tossing her long hair out of her eyes.
"Good, you are not as talented as my pet here," Regina admitted, "but you have potential. You take instruction well but that will not be your role in your life."
"Thank you, My Queen," Eva inclined her head, acknowledging the compliment before cocking it to one side. "Please forgive me, I am unfamiliar with post coital etiquette. Should one offer ones' monarch full frontal nudity before breaking fast?" Emma blinked as the queen let out a genuine bark of laughter, head dropping back, throat arching.
"Oh, you remind me so much of your mother," Regina smiling at the young faye before her mood shifting dramatically. "But had our lives not been dictated as they were you would not be here today and she may have been lying where you lay now." Emma stiffened as she felt the queen's magic begin to escape its host as it was inclined to do when her mistresses emotions were running high."I shall be in the tower, be ready within the hour," a puff of purple and the queen vanished, her comment as abrupt as her departure.
"My mother and the Queen were extremely close as girls," Eva offering the confused slave a brief history lesson. "My father says that they courted in secrecy until the king laid eyes on Queen Regina, his wife had recently passed and -."
"I know the rest," Emma cut the girl off curtly, not wanting to hear a repeat of that story.
"Well -," Eva hesitating before she spoke, Emma picking up on the girl's nervousness and after a pause gave a brief nod of encouragement.
"Later, maybe," Eva cut the conversation short, climbing from the bed and making her way to the bathing room. Emma hesitated for a moment before deciding to seek out her mistress, the queen's mood was off and it was in her own best interests, and those of the palace's inhabitants, to attempt to minimise any eruptions of royal pique this may cause.
"Mistress?" Regina hearing her pet on the stairs was not surprised but did not turn at the greeting. Emma taking the shallow, worn steps to the tower two at a time as she was unaccompanied, her long legs appreciating the exercise. Emma approached the queen, who was standing on the balcony, but keeping her distance, not wishing to crowd the obviously troubled woman. A complex woman who Emma was realising she hardly knew, even after spending over four months with her, in the most intimate yet impersonal of situations.
"I had a puppy once but I didn't have enough food during winter and she died, it was too cold." Emma murmured, Regina heard the confession and although seemingly irrelevant she knew it was her pet's way of telling her that she understood, that she knew what had caused her mistresses abrupt change of mood. Whether by her uncanny intuition or words from the girl. it did not matter, all that mattered was that she was here, stoically supporting in a way that not even Red had been able to acheive.
"That was most unfortunate," Regina replying, imagining the self-deprecating shrug that would be taking place behind her. The room was silent again except for the exterior noises carrying up through the open window.
"I think she was sick before I found her," Emma reasoned with another shrug, finding the quietness oppressive.
"If she had been abandoned then that was likely, the cold can be lethal to the young and weak," the conversation continued with the queen's reply, neither woman was comfortable but neither was the silence welcome.
"It can," Emma's tone caused Regina to turn and observe her pet, the blonde biting her lip and toeing the floor.
"Come, it is time," the queen announced, snapping Emma out of her reverie, stormy green eyes meeting her own contemplative stare.
"Yes, Mistress," the slave following the crooked finger before traversing the spiral staircase, Greta and Red found waiting at the bottom.
"Fetch the girl," Regina instructing her pet, Emma disappearing briefly inside the queen's chambers, then reappearing with Eva by her side. "Good," Regina nodding her satisfaction at her entourage. "You look the part," she complimented her wolf with a smile.
Red was dressed in leather pants with her typical long boots, all of the finest tooled leather, her tunic was of red silk, tied at the waist in with a black sash, the cloth heavily embroidered with gold and sliver thread. Emma noting that the wolf's sword and knife scabbard were equally finely decorated, Alex's work maybe?
Emma's eyes flicked to the other members of the party, Greta was wearing a barely there leather skirt and small chain linked triangles of leather covered her breasts. A gasp as the cool air hit her skin, Emma blinking as she found herself in a matching outfit. Eva had fared better it seemed, the queen leaving her a tasteful but skin tight gown in a flattering amber hue, one suiting her station as a noblewoman. A lecherous look from her mistress was met by a raised brow before Emma composed herself, face setting itself to its usual stoic expression.
"Red," Regina speaking as she took the head of the procession as it begun winding its way through the palace, "act on will, that is your station now but be prepared to accept full consequence for your actions," the queen cautioned.
"Yes, of course My Queen," Red murmured, she was nervous but only the queen and possibly Emma could tell. The wolf having an idea how this was going to play out. Would the queen punish Snow for trespassing in her kingdom or let it slide to prevent a war from developing? How would she react if they demanded Emma? The queen was nothing if not unpredictable and Red was trying to brace for any eventuality.
Greta was buzzing with adrenaline, unhappy that she was still not able to transform at will as she felt weaker in her human form and distracted by the Eva's presence, still ashamed about her lack of control during their last encounter. Sensing the pup's disquiet Regina lifted her hand, and the young wolf shivered, the fine hairs on her arm raising as her wolf was uncaged.
"A temporary precaution," Regina warned, paying close attention to the pup's reaction, especially considering her close proximity to the faye girl. An assessment showed them concentratedly ignoring the other so that seemed settled, for now, and the main reason for Eva's presence in the palace. Red needed a second and the pup would grow to the part well, regardless of who Red selected as a mate. But pairing Red's second with a strong magic user who could also control the pup's wolf then -. Regina's train of thought ending as they reached the throne room.
"We're putting on a show!" The queen announcing as the doors flew open to admit her party to the throne room where queen's guard were already assembled. A flourish of her hands her guard were dressed in matt black armour, the effect rather intimidating Emma thought. So much better than that shiny shit the blonde chuckled to herself but expression remaining neutral.
The queen swept through the large room, empty except for her guard, the young women following close behind.
"I want you both here," Regina gesturing to the step below her throne. "Kneel."
"Yes, Mistress." Both Greta and Emma murmured as they dropped to their knees, taking up their requested positions, Emma pleased to see Greta's posture much improved after their session yesterday.
"Girl, stand down a step to my right," the queen instructing Eva, silently taking her designated position.
"Red, take your place by my side. I realise your succession has not been officially announced but I see no reason to hide this from anyone, especially today."
"Yes, My Queen," Red waited for the queen to seat herself in her own throne then taking her seat in the slightly smaller but otherwise identical one created to the queen's left, a click of the queen's fingers had the main doors opening and Braxas announced the arrival of Snow White.
Snow entered the throne room. Ever since Regina had left them she had been desperate to know if the blonde slave really was her daughter. A much older version but anything was possible with magic. Her daughter did have such a birth mark but how would the queen know? Was it all a wicked ploy? That was not something Snow would put past her step-mother.
She had to know if it was her daughter. If it proved to be so, to be her Emma, she had brought the Blue Fairy with her to break the spell and take her home. Home, were she belonged.
What she hadn't expected to see was Emma kneeling at the queen's feet with the other young girl that had been with Regina the day they had visited the White Kingdom. Or Red seated with equal status next to the dark queen. Snow's eyes roving over the slave's bodies, a lot was on display. They wore matching outfits, The girl's in blue and Emma's in green, matching their eyes. Short leather skirts, so short they barely covered their sex as they knelt by the queen's side, their breasts fared little better, covered by small triangles of the same leather held together by black chains. It left little to the imagination and Snow was angry and disgusted by the display.
What angered her even more was the way Regina was petting both young women, stroking fingers through their hair and they way they were obviously enjoying her attentions. It made her sick. Especially the way both collars were on show. Snow now knew how those evil things worked, Emma was totally at the queen's mercy until it was removed.
It was then that Snow noticed Eva, positioned as an obvious ally in the confrontation and that added to her anger despite the fact that she had been estranged from her half-sister's family for as long as she could remember. Her sister had been born out of wedlock to a young noble girl but was never recognised by Snow's father in any official context, Eva's own family had always been some of her step-mother's strongest supporters.
Regina's eyes roved over the small delegation, Snow, James, or was it David if the stories were to be believed, a fairy and a handful of poorly trained soldiers going from their stance and musculature. Her gaze returning immediately to Snow who Regina watched carefully, seeing the changing emotions crossing her step-daughter's face, pleased to see the over-riding one seemed to be disgust.
"What brings you here without an invitation?" Regina purred, purposely setting out to annoy her 'guest', anger made people do stupid things.
"I need to know if she is my daughter and if she is I'm taking her home!" The petite brunette demanded as she stepping forward.
"And if she is? Am I simply to hand her over to you, to be whipped again?" Regina querying. Her response knocking Snow back a pace, both physically and emotionally.
"No! That was a mistake! We would never hurt our daughter!" Snow protested, greatly offended by the suggestion and Regina laughed.
"So -, it is acceptable for you and your husband to whip a slave girl in an attempt to free a murderer, but not if she turns out to be your daughter? Hmm?" Regina shook her head at the white queen's hypocrisy. She heard and felt Emma growl, Red and Greta too as they took offence at the remarks.
"Yes! No!" Snow was confused by the accusation. "I never meant to hurt her!" She protested. Emma staring dispassionately at the woman who may or may not yet prove definitively be her mother. What her mistress was saying was true, it seemed it was only her own flesh and blood that this Snow White cared for. Red had told her enough of the story surrounding her birth for Emma to have formed an opinion on the matter and currently it did not favour her supposed parents.
"So you didn't whip her as hard as you could in order to win Klar's freedom?" Regina questioned. "You weren't prepared to sacrifice an innocent woman for a guilty man?" The dark queen continued. "I mean, who knows how I would have punished her had she failed in her task?" As she spoke Regina fisted Emma's hair, twisting it back until Emma's neck was bent at an unnatural angle, smirking as the blonde moaned. Regina held her there as she ran a sharp nail along Emma's exposed throat, leaving a trail of blood behind as she cut the skin. Red and Greta growling, smelling the blood, both leaning forward to catch a stronger scent.
"Good girl," Regina's words gave the young wolf permission to move forward and lap at the blood, Emma felt herself get wet at the feeling of Greta's warm tongue caressing the wound on her skin.
Snow looked away, sickened by the sight.
"And how are we to know if my pet here," Regina smiled down fondly at the blonde who was obviously enjoying Greta's attentions, "is even your flesh and blood? She came from the same realm but so much older. How do you know that this is not just any young woman I picked at random in order to provoke you?"
"Is it Regina? Is this just a sick game for you?" Snow watching as a smirk appeared on the face of her nemesis.
"Yes, but one that is proving highly entertaining," the queen smirked "Who would have thought that your daughter would be so adept at pleasing me?" Regina let her hand drift down Emma's body until it was inside the leather of the slave's top, cupping her breast then rolling her nipple between strong fingers. Emma moaned, loudly, that felt so fucking good. She was incredibly turned on from Greta's mouth and now this. God, she hoped this was going to be over soon so she could find some relief.
Red could smell Emma's arousal and her queen's, this whole thing was driving her crazy with need. Emma too, she knew, despite the onerous circumstances.
"So how do we prove if Emma is who we think she is?" Prince James spoke up for the first time, his wife having warned him to stay quiet but he was highly disturbed by the show the queen was putting on and needing to be out of there as soon as possible.
"Well," Regina smirked. "My magic has told me that she is the child of true love." Emma looking up at her mistress, frowning at her words. Why would someone abandon a child conceived of true love? That made no sense, it didn't fit the puzzle.
"Blue?" Snow questioned the fairy that had accompanied them. "I would like my own confirmation of this," she demanded and Regina nodded her consent.
"Of course. Why would you trust my assessment?" Regina smirked. "Stand." Ordering Emma who gracefully rose to her feet, eyeing the small blue woman flying towards her with abject suspicion. "A simple check, that is all. Or I will know!" She warned the fairy who glared at her but nodded her agreement.
"This won't hurt," the fairy reassured Emma before placing her small hand on the blonde's breastbone, just as her mistress had done shortly after the blonde had arrived. Except the magic flowing into her felt different, wrong, and Emma scowled at the touch, trying to shift away from it but a calming hand from her mistress, placed on the small of her back relaxing her slightly.
"So?" Snow demanded impatiently, voice shrill.
"She is a child of true love. She is your child, the pattern is undeniable." The fairy announced and Snow clapped her hand over her mouth, overwhelmed by the discovery. She darted forward, intent on embracing the blonde but was swiftly blocked by two of the dark queen's guards who formed a wall between mother and daughter.
"Let her go! She is not yours to enslave!" The prince called as he too tried to reach his daughter.
Regina took a moment to check on Emma, she was frowning but obviously lost in thought.
"You may speak freely," Emma nodded, grateful for the queen's permission but unsure about what
to say.
"They are my parents?" She asked, speaking directly to her mistress, ignoring her biological parents.
"I am afraid so," Regina replied, noting the frown still marring the blonde's beautiful features and smiling to herself at the slight quirk of her slave's lips at the reply.
"Why did you send me away?" Emma demanded of her parents, voice strong. Yes, she had heard the stories but she wanted the truth from its source.
"To protect you. To protect you from her!" Snow cried, on her knees now as she spoke to her daughter. "She threatened to curse you, to take you from us so we sent you to a different realm so you would be safe!" She explained, desperate for Emma to understand why they had done what they did.
"Safe?" Emma growled. "Safe, you say? You sent a day old baby to a strange world with no protection?" Snow nodded. "What do you think happens to abandoned children there? That they have a happy ending like in fucking Fairy Tale Land?" She yelled, a look to her queen showing no disapproval.
"It was below freezing when they found me, I was almost dead, blue with cold." Snow's heart clenched and tears began to fall. "What would the Queen have done to me? Locked me up?" She looked to her mistress for the answer.
"You would have had your own rooms, clothes, food, warmth, an education." Regina confirmed and Emma nodded, having seen enough of of the queen's treatment of children in her realm to believe the words.
"Do you know what happens to orphans who nobody wants in my world? Do you?" She snarled at her parents, eyes flashing as she advanced a step down the dais, hands clenching into fists as she tried to control nearly twenty five years of repressed emotions. "They are passed around, sometimes beaten, often hungry, unloved, moving too often to gain an education. Then, when you get older you're lucky if it's just a beating you get." The blonde's voice was low and bitter but her unspoken words said it all, explaining a lot to Regina.
"Then you're left alone, a kid with no money, nowhere to live, no-one to care what happens to you. So, you do what you can to survive. I think our worlds are similar in that respect." She finished coldly. Regina watched as Snow fell apart, crying as she realised what harm had become her child because of her hasty actions, designed solely to spite Regina.
"Come with us. Please!" James begged as he tried to comfort his wife. "We can be a family!" The prince pleading with his daughter. Emma snorted and shaking her head.
"You have no idea what you've done, do you?" Emma growled. "Do you think it's all fixed with an embrace?" Another shake of her head, trying to tailor her words to fit the archaic lingo. "You can't fix it here," she pointed to her head. "Or here," she gestured over her body.
"Would you be able to look at me with anything but disgust or pity." Emma growled down at her parents. "Knowing how I sold my body, my skills, to survive, to have a roof over my head and food in my belly?" She snarled at them before turning to her mistress. "At least here I am understood. Needed." Regina dipped her head, graciously acknowledging the truth of her slave's words.
"Now!" Snow called, tired of hearing the lies Regina was forcing her slave to say. How could it be true? Her daughter had been, was beautiful. How could she have been anything but loved?"
Emma saw the blast coming before it hit. A blue flash heading towards the throne. Emma didn't hesitate before she threw herself in front of her queen, faster and better positioned than Red who was also already also moving but Emma taking the blast full in the chest. When it hit a bright white pulse bounced off the blonde, sending a shock-wave through the room and knocking the Blue Fairy, Snow and James off their feet.
"Emma!" Both Snow and Red cried out as they saw the blonde move.
Emma screamed as the blast hit but then felt the queen's magic envelope her, protecting, cushioning her as she fell. Regina was beyond furious. She was always ready for an attack but had not been expecting the blonde to intercept it.
"Guards!" She snarled, kneeling next to Red who had caught Emma's body as it fell. Her guards capturing the visiting royals and when she beckoned they brought their prisoners to stand at the bottom of the steps leading to the throne.
"Now see what you have done!" Regina turned to look at her step-daughter. "You had to interfere, didn't you?" Her face was a mask of rage but softening as she turned back to her pet.
"Emma?" Regina reached out to cup the slave's cheek, there was no reply so she let some of her magic run through the unconscious blonde, smiling when she received a groan in response. "Look at me." She commanded, Emma responding to the voice of her mistress, her eyes flying open to see concerned brown looking back down at her.
It was then it happened, the blonde gasped as a heat ran through her body, to everyone watching she seemed to be glowing, a silver hue emanating.
"You have magic," Regina murmured, in awe as she felt it course through her where she was in contact with her slave.
"The magic will destroy the collar," the Blue Fairy spoke up from the cage Regina had conjured to contain her in but the queen shook her head.
"You think she wears it against her will?" Regina laughing as she sneered down at the prisoners, cradling Emma's head protectively in her lap. Snow was confused, frowning at the dark queen."Emma offered herself to me. She will be free soon if she wins our wager. So, no. No magic except her true submission to me will break the collar, or the passing of a year. And, as neither have occurred yet, it will remain." Her words were met with silence.
"Mistress?" Emma murmured, head still foggy from the blow. And she ached. And she didn't want to have to see or deal with her parents right now.
"It is all right, I have you. You are mine and I will protect you," her mistress reassuring Emma, stroking her pet's forehead and for the first time in her life Emma felt that someone really cared about her so she relaxed into the touch. For the first time in her life she consciously let someone else take care of her.
It was then Emma felt it, a burning around her neck. Regina gasped, watching intently as her slave's collar glowed red before clicking open.
"No!"Snow called, struggling to reach her daughter, now knowing the full significance of what was happening.
"Oh Emma, all you needed was some love," Regina whispering in the blonde's ear, so only she could hear.
"Love?" Emma managed to snort. "No. It seems I'm so fucked up you only have to look at me with kindness and I'm yours. So don't worry. We're both safe." She muttered groggily before closing her eyes, Regina shaking her head and chuckling, both amused and relieved that her pet's brain was not addled by the spell.
"Maybe you're right, my swan," the queen smiled before looking to Red.
"I can carry her?" Red offered, also wanting to get away, back to the privacy of the queen's rooms.
"Yes. My chambers, now. I will be up shortly," Regina confirmed, Emma relaxing against Red as she felt the wolf lifting her up.
Snow watched the wolf carry Emma away from her and she broke down into more tears. James trying to comfort her from where he was restrained but it was hopeless.
"Please, Regina," Snow was begging. "Let us take her home. If there was ever any good in your soul, let us take her home," the white queen pleaded, totally bereft.
"No, Snow. She is mine. Completely and utterly mine. As is Red. Forcing either of them to leave would only hurt them. Surely you can see past your narrow mindedness enough to realise that?" Regina growled as she stood in front of Snow and James. "Plus, you attacked me, in my own palace. That is an offence punishable by death!" She roared, magic crackling around her body, making her every inch the evil queen of repute.
Snow suddenly realised what she, what they had done.
"Now leave, before I change my mind. I am going to go fuck your daughter," Regina smirked then turned on her heel, vanishing in a dramatic puff of smoke.
Xxxx
Next on The Collar
"Mistress?" Red called out, beginning to panic. She loped through to the queen's bedchamber, her fear of punishment outweighed by her concern. What she saw stopped her dead.
So, the collar is off but now the real journey can begin. Emma may have lost the bet but that is not the end of the story, more the beginning...