A/N: I had planned this story as a one-shot but I received a request to continue it. It gets dark. Please let me know what you think of it.
I Love Her
The last two months were the worst in Snow's life. Every time she looked at her father she remembered the feeling of Regina's lips on hers and it made her so ashamed. She knew she would never tell him but keeping it secret was a horrible torture. From the moment he asked her how she had got the wound on her lip she was constantly lying to him.
On the other hand, these were two of the best months in her life. Regina was smiling and was always around her and though the princess knew it was because her stepmother enjoyed watching her suffer, she couldn't help the feeling of joy that overwhelmed her every time she saw the queen. At least Regina was happy. Or so the girl thought until one night during a ball the queen decided to give a toast in her honor.
"To my beautiful stepdaughter. With her skin as white as snow, her hair as black as ebony and her lips as red as blood, which taste just as deliciously as they look, she truly is the fairest of them all." Regina took a sip of wine without noticing the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. "If you'll excuse me, I am tired and I would like to have some rest."
Snow watched her leave and wondered how to handle the situation. She lifted her cup and saw an imprint of lipstick on it. "She took my cup," the princess murmured but it was still so quiet that everyone heard it.
Immediately the shocked expressions disappeared as the people decided that explained the queen's words. Snow saw the relieved look on her father's face. It amazed her how easily people believed in something just because they wanted it to be true even though it was impossible. Regina couldn't have understood how her lips tasted simply by drinking from her cup not to mention the fact that she drank from it after she had made her speech.
After a while Snow excused herself and went straight to her stepmother's bedchambers.
"They bought it, didn't they?" Regina asked when the princess entered.
"What if they hadn't?" Snow couldn't understand how her stepmother was so calm. She had endangered her own life. She was too concerned for the queen's safety and she didn't question how Regina knew what happened after she had left the celebration. She should have but she didn't.
"Please! No one would have doubted your innocence. They all think you are too pure even to let me kiss you let alone hide it from your beloved father." The queen was now behind her. Her scent of apples invaded the girl's senses and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. "They don't know you like I do," Regina purred in her ear.
The princess felt like a vulnerable animal that had fallen prey to a vicious predator. Her stepmother had found a way to torture her even more. She wasn't betraying only her father but also everyone else by making them believe she was innocent and deserved their love. A single tear fell down her cheek and she could practically feel Regina's smile.
"This is insanity, Regina," she said. Her voice was hoarse.
"And whose fault is it?" the queen whispered.
Snow pulled away, unable to cope with the accusation. Her stepmother caught her hand and forced her to turn around and look at her.
"You took my love from me. You made me like this. Because of you no one will ever love me." Regina's even tone scared the princess. She preferred her stepmother had yelled at her but she had spoken calmly as if she was giving up. As if she admitted that she was unlovable. Snow couldn't bear the thought of that.
"I love you," she said without a second thought.
In the next moment Regina's hand was around her throat. "You have no idea what love is. If you loved me, you wouldn't have told my mother about Daniel. You were selfish. That is not love. Next time you decide to say you love me, first make sure it is the truth," she hissed.
She released Snow and walked past her as if she wasn't there anymore. The princess left with tears in her eyes. She had completely forgotten why she had gone there in the first place.
A few days passed. The queen's words were still torturing the girl but otherwise everything looked normal.
One afternoon the royal family was in the garden. Snow was enjoying the smell of the flowers and stealing glances of her stepmother. When she looked at her for a hundredth time, her blood froze. Regina leaned in and whispered something in her father's ear. Then the queen headed to the castle.
"Snow," the king called as he walked towards her with a big frown on his face. She panicked.
"Father, I can explain. It was only a kiss. It didn't mean anything. Regina is loyal to you. It was all my fault," the girl blurted out.
Her father just stood there and looked at her in confusion. When he realized what she meant, he didn't say anything. He just turned around and exited the garden. Snow had screwed up. Regina hadn't told him but she just did.
Regina had been imprisoned and sentenced to death for treason. Snow's father usually was a kind and merciful man but when it came to betraying his trust, he could be cruel. Actually, the bigger problem was that the queen had kissed his daughter. The king had also found out that his wife was practicing dark magic. The girl didn't know how it had happened. All she knew was that it wasn't in the queen's favor.
Snow was blaming herself for everything that happened. She hadn't kept Regina's secret again. She had ruined her life again. She had to fix it and that was exactly what she intended to do.
The princess knocked on the door of her father's chambers. It opened and she was met by a very tired man. He looked ten years older than he really was.
"Hello, Snow," he greeted her.
"Hello, father. I brought you some apple pie," she handed him the plate she was carrying and entered the room.
"Thank you."
"How are you?" she asked when they sat on the bed.
"I am more worried about you," her father said and ate a forkful of the pie. "Why didn't you tell me what happened?"
"I… I like Regina, dad. I didn't want her to get in trouble." It wasn't a lie.
"You should've told me. She kissed you against your will. Who knows what else could have happened."
"It wasn't against my will," Snow whispered.
"What?" the king's heart started pounding in his chest. At first he thought it was because of his daughter's words but he soon realized that something was wrong. His heart was beating too fast and he could barely breathe. "Snow, what is going on?" he asked almost inaudibly as he fell on the bed on his back.
"I love her," the princess let those words, which Regina didn't want to hear, escape her lips, which Regina hated so much, because it was the truth. At least that was what she believed. "I can't watch her die." Tears started falling from her eyes and she caught his hand.
"Snow…" her father whispered but that was the only word that escaped his lips.
"I am sorry, father," the princess cried out, still holding his hand. She leaned in and placed a kiss on her dead father's forehead.