A/N: Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy, please let me know what you think.

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains a scene of of detailed torture. If you do not wish to read this, skip the part between the horizontal lines.

Chapter 6

Once the room was filled with nothing but furious anticipation, I coldly said, "Bring in the condemned."

The rear doors to the throne room were thrown open and two guards pulled a bound and gagged Lord Steven into the room. I raised an eyebrow in surprise when I saw the gag, but waited until he was standing at the base of the dais before I asked in a deceptively mild tone, "Why have you gagged him?"

The guard on Lord Steven's right side stepped forward and bowed slightly. "My apologies, Your Majesty. He refused to stop spouting off offensive comments and the gag was the only solution I could come up with that would allow me to bring a conscious prisoner to you," he said levelly, but the tension in his jaw and the vein throbbing in his forehead betrayed his anger.

"I see," I said with an approving nod for his decision. "Please remove the gag."

The man sighed, but obeyed the command. Lord Steven's voice immediately filled the tense silence. "Unhand me! I am a noble and will have your heads for this!" he cried.

"SILENCE!" I bellowed, causing half the room to jerk in surprise.

Lord Steven's attention snapped to me and his face took on an unhealthy red hue. "I am Lord Steven of the noble house of Graythorne and I demand to be released at once!"

My eyes narrowed, and my tone took on a dangerous purr as I said, "No. You will not be released until you have paid for your crimes."

He scoffed, "What crimes have I allegedly committed, Your Majesty?"

"You abducted my Consort, drugged her, held her against her will, attempted to force your vile touch on her and attacked your Queen," I snarled.

"I did no such thing. I merely rescued my True Love from your villainous ways and defended her. I took no actions against the wishes of my love," he said flippantly.

I chuckled darkly and asked, "Is this truly what you believe?"

"Of course. I am an honorable man."

Emma let out a disgusted snort and mockingly said, "You are such an honorable man that you would rape a woman who is unable to defend herself because you tied her to a bed."

Lord Steven looked confused as he turned wide eyes to my consort. "Emma, my love, I was merely trying to give you the child you crave."

"Do not say her name. Lady Swan is my Consort and True Love. You have no claim on her," I said, malice lacing each word.

"That is untrue!" He yelled. "She is afraid of you and wants to be with me, she has loved me since she was a child."

"You are mistaken, Lord Steven. You disgust me. I have never cared for you and I want nothing from you except your death. Queen Regina is my True Love and even now I carry the embodiment of our love in my womb," Emma said in the most condescending tone I had ever heard from her.

"No, my love. You have been tricked by the Evil Queen. She is unable to love and cannot impregnate you," he replied calmly.

Emma let out an angry growl and took a step forward, her hand on the hilt of her sword. I reached out to touch her and said, "Enough!" Emma stopped and Lord Steven finally fell silent. "Lord Steven, your guilt in this is beyond question. I had thought that I made my point clear the last time someone tried to take my Swan from me, but I see now that I was perhaps too merciful with that fool. I will not make that mistake again."

When I paused to look out over the court, Lord Steven indignantly said, "I have done nothing wrong. You have no right to—"

I cut him off. "Silence! If you speak again, I will rip out your tongue." I waited, but he seemed to finally regain some sense and kept his mouth shut. I turned and addressed the gathered crowd. "Let Lord Steven's fate serve as a reminder of the consequences of trying to steal from your Queen."


I waited until the echo of my words died out before holding my hand out to Emma. She immediately took the hand and guided me down the steps. Red followed behind us and took up a new position at the base of the stairs where she would be close, but not in the way. I could feel her questioning gaze on me, but I ignored it as I waved a hand and roped appeared from the ceiling and snaked up Lord Steven's arms, pulling them above his head. I then turned to the blonde and met her cold gaze. She nodded and I conjured two short whips. Emma took a practice wing with the whip causing it to crack loudly in the air.

Lord Steven flinched and began to plead, "You can't do this. I'm innocent—"

Emma turned to me and raised an eyebrow in question. "No, I want to hear his screams for what he did to you, my love," I answered coldly.

A malicious smirk curled her lips as she said, "As you wish, my Queen."

The dark and dangerous gleam in her eyes had a bolt of arousal slide down my spine. I shot a dangerous grin at my Consort and was pleased to see her eyes darken with desire. I turned my attention to the bound man still whining about his fate and Emma's gaze followed my own. At the same moment we circled around Lord Steven until I stood behind him and Emma stood in front. He fell silent when he saw her, but her eyes showed nothing but hatred for the helpless man. Her eyes flicked over his shoulder to meet mine and I gave a slight nod.

Both whips cut through the air and landed heavily against his body sending a resounding crack echoing throughout the throne room. The lord gasped in pained shock. Neither Emma nor I gave him the time to anticipate the next blow. We moved in perfect synchronization, with Emma striping the front of his body, while I lined his back. The whips bit deeply and blood began to well from the welts as Lord Steven's grunts of pain turned to whimpered cries of agony. Just before he passed out from the pain, I caught Emma's eye and we both stopped.

I moved until I stood next to my Consort. Lord Steven's eyes were glazed from the pain as he looked at me. I studied him for another moment, contemplating my next move. I could easily see that he wouldn't be able to take much more in his current state, but I was far from finished with him. "Heal him," I said with disgust for the pathetic man.

Emma hesitated for a moment before she stepped forward to do as I asked. Lord Steven gasped as the white magic coursed through him. When she stepped back, he said, "Please, my love, don't do this."

Fury flared through Emma and vibrated along our bond. Before I could stop her, Emma slammed her fist into his face. "I am not your love!" she shrieked as blood spouted from his nose. He began to protest and she struck him again, this time in the gut. Lord Steven's pleas turned into a wheeze.

I rocked back on my heels and watched as Emma vented her rage on her abductor. Half a dozen blows later, I felt white hot pain flare up in my hand and I sucked in a sharp breath, unwilling to betray any other sign of weakness in front of my Court. Emma raised her fist again and I knew instinctively that she was so lost in her bloodlust that she hadn't even noticed that she'd broken bones in her hand. I clenched my jaw against the pain and reached for her with my uninjured hand. "That is enough, dear," I ground out.

Emma didn't seem to hear the words, but as soon as my hand landed on her shoulder, she stopped her assault and turned to me. She was breathing heavily and her eyes still flashed wildly. "That's enough, my love," I said more tenderly, reaching up to cup her cheek in the palm of my undamaged hand. She calmed and her eyes cleared. I gave her a loving smile and said, "Let me finish this my love."

She nodded and stepped back to give me a clear path to the lord. I took a moment to study him and was pleased to see that he was still conscious and aware enough to understand what I was about to do. I waited until he met my gaze before I pulled on Emma's magic as waved a hand over my victim.

"W-What—?" he asked in a pained voice.

I smirked and ominously said, "That was a little spell to ensure that you remain conscious for this." For the first time, fear filled his eyes as he gaped at me.

His fear was intoxicating and I pursed my lips, studying him as I let the fear build for a long moment. When he opened his mouth to speak again, I lashed out with my magic and any words he might have said turned into a scream as blood stained the front of his pants. I waited until his scream died into heaving sobs and wryly said, "I don't think you'll be needing that anymore." I heard two amused snorts from behind be and flashed a wicked grin at my Consort and my wolf.

"You bitch!" Lord Steven screeched.

My amusement gave way to cold fury and I snapped back to face him. I reached out and jerked my hand back, forcing my magic to rip the man's tongue out. "I've had enough of your vile words," I snarled as his breath gurgled in his throat as blood poured from between his lips. Ready to be finished with him, I slashed my hand sideways and his guts spilled from his belly. With a final pulse of magic, Lord Steven's intestines snaked around his throat, cutting off his air supply. I watched impassively as he slowly choked to death.


Once I was certain that he was dead, I waved a hand transporting the body to hang as warning outside the castle gates. My gaze swept across the horrified witnesses with a final threatening glare before I spun on my heel and stalked towards the exit. I hadn't taken more than two steps before Emma was at my side. I took her offered arm and let her lead me from the room. Red trailed us by a half dozen paces.

As soon as the door shut behind us, Emma pulled me into her arms and whispered, "I'm here, Regina. I'm not going anywhere."

I relaxed against her, feeling tension I hadn't even realized I was holding drain from me. "Thank you, Emma," I said burying my face in her neck to breath in the scent of her. The voice in the back of my mind that told me she would run from me again finally quieted and I calmed.

After a minute, Emma kissed my temple and pulled back to ask, "Are you alright?"

I gave her a small smile and nodded, "Yes, darling, I'm fine. How are you?"

She returned the smile and said, "I'm good."

Red shifted and grumbled, "I'm great, if anyone cares."

Emma and I both chuckled and looked at the wolf. "I care, Red," Emma replied.

"Indeed," I said with a smile.

"Wonderful," Red grinned. "So, are we waiting here for something?"

I chuckled and admitted, "No, I just needed to be certain that my Consort wasn't going to run from me again."

Emma shot me a mock-glare and said, "I wasn't running from you and you know it."

I placed a chaste kiss on her lips and said, "I know, my love."

Later, as the three of us sat down to lunch in my sitting room, I turned to Red, unable to hold in my curiosity any longer. "Did you mean your vows this morning?" When she gave me a puzzled look, I added, "Do I really have your loyalty?"

Understanding lit her eyes and a faint blush colored her cheeks. "Yeah," she said softly.

When I realized she wasn't going to explain further, I asked, "What changed your mind?"

She let out a heavy sigh and looked down at her plate. "Snow did. When I spoke to her, it was like I was seeing her for the first time in years. She isn't the same woman I befriended all those years ago. When she threatened to hold me against my will, I realized that I had to let go of the friend who no longer existed and trust my instincts." She looked back up to meet my gaze and said, "They were screaming at me to leave and make a new home here, where I wouldn't be asked to compromise my honor for the self-righteous beliefs of my Queen. While you had me in your dungeons, you could have tortured me to learn what I knew about Snow's plans. You could have kept me locked in the dark with no more than bread and water, but you didn't. Instead, you treated me with respect. You showed me the truth about what was happening in both kingdoms. You fed me better than I have eaten in years. You let me spend time outside every day. And most importantly, you let me see the woman behind the Evil Queen. I honestly don't think that Snow would do any of those things if the situation were reversed. It took seeing her again for me to realize that I would have to be an idiot not to offer you my loyalty."

I swallowed hard against the lump that had formed in my throat at the raw honesty I could see in her eyes. "Thank you," I said huskily.