The next morning Regina woke up weary and completely numb to everything around her, Daniel was dead. Lost to her forever, she never even got a chance to tell him again how she loved him. She never would feel his lips on her, his arms around her and the look of love he had for her in his eyes. She would never see his eyes light up like the sun did when it rose in the mornings. She moved from the bed, still in clothes from the night before. She had dismissed her maid last night and had just laid on the bed and cried until she could not cry anymore.
She took a seat on the lounge near the fire, watching the ambers flicker with light. She was so absorbed with her own thoughts she did not hear the door being knocked on, nor hear it as it opened and the footsteps that followed her path to the lounge.
"Regina. Sweetheart you need to eat." Henry Mills said as he sat down beside her on the lounge and placed his hand on her arm.
"I'm not hungry Daddy." Regina said quietly.
"You have to be. You never ate last night and I'm worried about you." Henry said, hoping to snap her out of it.
"We are leaving for the Duke of Yorkshire's estate in a few hours. You're going to need your strength." Henry said.
"I don't care Daddy." Regina said as she then looked at her father and saw something there. "Oh, I get it. It's because he's going to be there isn't it?"
"Regina, darling, from what I know the Duke of Sherwood is a fair man. Kind. He will take good care of you." Henry said.
"I lost everything last night Daddy. The love of my life, my future. My chance of happiness died with Daniel." Her voice broke when she said Daniel's name.
"But the Duke might be able to offer you a second chance of happiness." Henry said. "And by marrying him, you will be a Duchess. It's every girl's dream come true."
"No, it's Mother's. All I ever wanted was love, true love. And now it's all gone." Regina said.
"You might find that you can learn the love the Duke." Henry tried another approach.
"I'll never love again, and no one will ever love me." Regina said dramatically.
"Regina, don't close yourself off to love." Henry said as Regina stood up and walked to the window of her room.
"I didn't give up on it, love gave up on me Daddy." Regina said as Henry stood up and walked to the door, but not before looking back at his only child once more.
"It may seem like it has given up on you now Regina, but every once in awhile Love finds a way." Henry said as he saw his daughter not react to his words and just continue to look out the window before he lowered his head and left her room.
An hour later, Regina snuck out of her house and was heading to her family's stables where her favorite horse was Roccainte. She walked up to it and brushed his hair, she smiled as she remembered Daniel working with her and this horse. She didn't even think she just saddled the mare and climbed on top and took off at a fast pace not even knowing where she was going.
Before she knew it she was at a meadow that Daniel and her would meet in secret, there was a huge maple tree that Daniel used to wait for her under. She dismounted and tied her horse to the low branch and put her hand on the tree as she looked at the meadow.
"Daniel." She whispered to herself.
"Milady." a voice said from behind causing Regina to turn around, she saw a young man standing there but still older than her.
"Who are you?" Regina asked not recognizing the stranger.
"I was a friend of Daniel's. My name is Jefferson. Please, I have to tell you what really happened to him." Jefferson said as he took a step towards her, making Regina take one back from him.
"I don't remember Daniel ever mentioning you before." Regina said, weary of Jefferson.
"We knew each other from our early teens, Daniel often spoke of the young lady he was giving riding lessons to. That he had fallen in love with her as well." Jefferson explained and as he saw the pained look on her face pass. "I'm sorry for your loss milady."
"Thank you. But you spoke of something that you had to tell me." Regina said.
"Milady, Daniel was murdered." Jefferson said.
"What? How do you know this?" Regina asked.
"I overheard your mother's servant Sidney, talking with another man about poisoning Daniel before he went on that ride." Jefferson said.
"That's absurd sir! My mother would never do something like that." Regina could not believe what she was hearing.
"I'm sure this is a shock but I know what I heard. Think about it milady, there was no one better around horses than Daniel." Jefferson said.
"He was. But that still doesn't explain why my mother would have Daniel killed. What could she gain?" Regina asked. As soon as the words left her mouth she knew, she knew what her mother would gain. A Duke as a Son-In-Law. "No, it can't be true. She's always wanted me to marry in the upper class, but murder?"
"I would never wish to cause you any pain. I just felt like you should know the truth about your Mother's doing." Jefferson said.
"Please leave me alone. I, I need to be alone right now." Regina said as she turned and walked away from Jefferson.
"Yes, milady." Jefferson said as he left her alone to her thoughts. Regina kept thinking of all the times her Mother had manipulated people, her included over the years to get what she wanted. Would she really go that far to murder someone to get her married off to a Duke? When she asked herself this she knew, she knew her Mother would do it.
"Oh Daniel, it's all my fault you're dead." Regina said as her knees buckled out from under her and she collapsed to the ground as her tears ran down her cheeks and landed on the wet grass.
"What is the meaning of this, Your Grace? Have you no common courtesy, barging into my home, demanding to see my daughter like this?" Cora Mills asked. "I demand an explanation."
With long, purposeful strides, Robin closed the distance between himself and Cora in seconds. "I demand to see Regina now." Cora did not miss the narrowing of the blue eyes or the taut set of Robin's jaw, nor his tone, which, though quiet, held an ominous quality to it.
"Are you mad, Your Grace? Can't this wait until we are at your cousin's estate?" Cora asked.
A cold smile appeared on Robin's face as he replied, "Mad? You have not yet seen how mad I can get. Now, you either summon her or I'll get her myself. Do I make myself clear?"
Cora sputtered in outrage but finally summoned Regina's maid, Caroline asking her to bring Regina down. While waiting for the Caroline, Cora ordered brandy, Sidney poured, handing glasses to both of them. Cora, nervously sipping hers, wondered if the Duke had been informed of Regina's abortive attempts to meet the stable boy. Robin downed the drink in one gulp, slamming the glass on a nearby table. He strode impatiently to the mantel, leaning his arm against it, gazing into the fire. The pervading silence was broken by a cry of dismay, Looking up, Robin watched Caroline enter the room, wringing her hands, instantly knowing something was amiss.
"My lady... she's gone." Tears brimmed in her eyes as she looked helplessly towards Robin.
In turn, he leveled his gaze at Cora, who looked astonished by the news. In a velvet tone, edged with sarcasm, he said. "Did I hear you say you thought my arrival could wait? Why, Cora, it appears I'm just in time."
Belying the rage and anger he felt, Robin calmly withdrew and lit a cheroot. With the slim cigar clamped between his teeth, he inhaled deeply, slowly exhaling. Cora felt Robin's stare and met cold, steely eyes with a dangerous glimmer in their depth. "Well, Cora, it appears you own me an explanation...now."
Cora's explanation was quickly ignored when a lightly accented interjected, "Your Grace. " Heads turned towards the petite maid Patricia. "I saw Mademoiselle heading for the stables earlier, I believe that she was headed towards the meadow on the north side."
Robin headed towards the doors of the house but turned before leaving. His blue eyes narrowed and hardened when he spoke; his voice held a threat. "Be warned, Cora, there is still much you have to answer for." The slamming of the door ominously sounded like the last stone sealing a tomb.
Robin was appropriately dressed for the weather, unlike Regina. Robin finally approached the meadow that the maid had mentioned, his blue eyes scanned the area and finally saw the slim figure on her knees under a tree. He quickly dismounted and made his way over to where she was, he reached down and closed his hand over her shoulder, lifting her up, swinging her into the protective circle of his strong arms and pulled her against the warm corded muscles of his chest. He shielded her from the cooler weather that had set in now, and Regina instinctively buried her face against his throat. The warmth of his arms and chest was comforting, and she briefly believed she was in Daniel's arms and all that had passed was only a nightmare.
Tears streaming down her face, she lifted her head. When her eyes gazed upon his face, a shock coursed through her, her mind refusing to accept where her eyes beheld. Robin looked down into her fever-bright eyes with gentle understanding. He took her face, holding it gently. Regina shook her head in confusion, causing the pain to nearly blind her. She cried out, "Why are you here?"
"I have come to claim what is mine, Milady." Robin said boldly.
Closing her eyes, opening them again, she looked at him and whispered, "No...I don't understand." Her head begin to spin, her vision became blurry.
He spoke, his voice uncompromising, yet oddly gentle, and the last words to pierce her consciousness were "You're mine milady. I am the Duke of Sherwood, your betrothed." Robin brought Regina back to her home where she was taken upstairs by her maid. Robin made his way to the study where Cora waited for him.
"What caused her to sneak out of your home this day?" Robin demanded as he entered the room.
"She's a free spirit, one you will have your hands full." Cora replied back. Henry sat in a chair and listened to the exchange between his wife and his future son-in-law.
"That may be true, but there is more to it. Now tell me why she really left?" Robin asked.
"She believes she is in love with a simple boy. He was injured in a fall and passed away, she was not thinking Your Grace." Cora said knowing she had to tell him something.
Later that evening, Regina was in the tub at her home with her freshly washed hair hung over the rim. Regina lay submerged to her neck within the tub filled with bubbles. Her spirit battered, her body aching, and her heart broken, she withdrew deeper within herself to a place no one could touch. The bath soothed her body and enveloped her in a warm, safe cocoon that none could breach. Clearing her mind and thinking of naught save the physical sensations the bath offered, she closed her eyes, drifting off to a place where she felt nothing.
Patricia entered the chambers after an hour and helped Regina from the tub, drying her body with a warm, fluffy towel. Regina felt the ministrations of the maid and allowed herself to be turned and powdered and clothed in a fresh muslin shirt. She was led to the fire, where she sat upon a stool, staring into the bright flames. Patricia drifted further and further into her shell. She was placidly led to bed, where Patricia tucked her in, pulling the covers about her. Regina gave in to the blessed escape sleep offered, where she could hide from the pain. She began to drift as if on clouds, feeling the pain separate itself from her. Lost to oblivion, she never heard the click of the door opening or the sounds of footsteps across the carpet. With eyes half-closed, she gazed up just before sleep overtook her and saw him just as his finger touched her bruised cheek. She sighed. Her last thought as her eyes fluttered and closed, slipping into the healing potion of sleep, was that the look of concern on his face belied the anger she saw ablaze in his blue eyes.
Robin gazed down at her sleeping form, thankful sleep offered her the escape and mending her spirit needed. He had become concerned when Patricia told him she had not uttered a word of protest since she had awakened. His knuckle caressed her injured cheek, now a purplish color. Dark brows scowled. He could imagine, even sympathize with Cora, for he knew how her temper rage, but he held only disgust as the thought of her being cruelly struck down. "Cora has a lot to answer for!"
He tenderly brushed away a curling tendril from her cheek, feeling its silky treasure. He gently traced the delicately carved line of her jaw, marveling at the petal softness of her creamy skin. He watched the soft rise and fall her breast against the muslin cloth of her shirt. How he envied that simple garment which enveloped her in a way that he longed to so. He raised his eyes to her lips, parted in repose, and suppressed the urge, so strong, to cover them with his. He shook himself from where his mind led him. She was so small and vulnerable lying in the massive bed, and although the urge to sweep her into his arms and kiss her rode high, he did not, for he was not a man to prey on a woman wounded. Reluctantly he turned from the bed and walked over to the table, pouring a glass of brandy. Opening the french doors, he walked into the night, sitting down in a wrought-iron chair on the balcony.
Night had fallen, with the promise of warmer nights to come filling the air. He withdrew and lit a cheroot, inhaling deeply. Letting out a stream of smoke, he resettled himself, stretching his long legs before him. Lifting his glass, he drank deeply of the brandy. His thoughts traveled. He wanted this woman even more now than he had in the beginning. He admitted that he was motivated by his lust. He would not deny he possessed a strong urge to take her to bed. God, she stirred his blood! Boiled it, to be exact. He could hardly wait to physically claim her, to satisfy his strong sexual need to have her.
He pulled on his cigar, blowing out a curl of smoke while vivid images of their coupling flashing in his mind. He knew as only an experienced man would know that she teemed with passion. He promised to stir and unsettle her until her desire for him overwhelmed her. He stood leaning against the railing, smiling to himself, thinking, while all this is true, something else has happened. Feelings, alien to him, that he had never felt before, nor possessed for any other woman, had begun. It happened that day in the meadow.
He lifted his glass, sipping his brandy, thinking of that afternoon. Yes, it was then when he saw a part of her, a side of her that touched his heart. That evening, when he had watched her dance and work her charm and flirt with his peers, he felt another alien feeling-jealously! He shook his head, and a smile crossed his face. A man of his age could turn the odds to his advantage, change the hands of fate, and make long shots pay off was passionately in love! He laughed aloud thinking life had certainly been simpler when he wanted her. Instead, he found himself snared in her web, caught under her spell! And what had begun in the meadow, tonight he surrendered to.
He stood, tossing his cigar over the railing, watching its red tip disappear into the night, and shook his dark head, a fool would deny these feelings, but he was not a fool. He was in love with her and felt no less for it. Inhaling the night air deeply, he began thinking her escape and unchaperoned presence with him would necessitate a speedy marriage. The time he wanted to court her properly to win her heart and love, was no more. He had not wanted events to turn out as they had. He had hoped to win her, then offer for her and marry. Now he would have to marry first and then court and woo her to win her love.
While this did not meet with his plans, it did not prevent him from seeking this end, it merely changed his strategy. While he did not possess her heart, for she believed her girlish infatuation for her stable boy was love, he thankfully had her hand in marriage. He wanted her body, her soul, and her love; not the girlish infatuation she had felt for the stable boy, but a love that would blossom and open, enriching their life together as man and woman, a love that would take deep root and grow so they could fee from it in their golden years.
Aye, he thought, I will love, cherish, and court her all the days of her life, and I will settle for no less than all of her, for I would give no less than all of me.