2 months ago
"Sir, I've a good mind to take you outside" the barkeep threatened, through his bushy grey beard
"Don't worry about it" Emma told him.
She turned back to the trader who had used a filthy pick up line on her. She was sure she had heard worse, but she couldn't remember when.
"You wanna know where I bury my treasure, pirate?" she asked. He perked up, despite the accusation. The barkeep's frown deepened. Pip took a drink and waited with a smile.
Emma leant into the trader's ear and whispered. He jumped back from her, spilling his own drink on himself in shock.
"You…that's…" he tripped backwards over a chair.
Emma smiled back at him and drank victoriously.
"Not your first time in a trade hub, then?" a young man from the other side of the bar asked as he put empty tankards back on a shelf.
"No it isn't, though creeps like this guy pop up everywhere" she set her drink down and looked at Pip.
"What did you say to him?" The young man asked eagerly.
Emma smiled.
"Kid, you are far too sweet and innocent to know that." She said, though she guessed he was only a few years younger than her.
"You turning in?" Pip asked.
Emma nodded.
"Hey" a deep voice said from behind them.
Emma turned to see one of the palace footmen
"Hey" she smiled at him. He looked strange in normal clothes instead of his uniform
"Can I get you two a drink?" He asked. Emma looked as Pip who smiled
"Sure" she said, wary of how this one was going to turn out.
She had been right to be cautious. The footman's name was James and he was in a very chatty mood. He was keen to tell them all about the dangers of palace life. He told them when to avoid the stables (when the jousters were in residence), which guards to mind (more or less all of them) but his favourite topic was the Queen. He hated her. He told them tales of evil deeds and dark magic, how she bent the poor king to her will. He seemed disappointed when they didn't join in the badmouthing of their new employer.
Emma didn't think they had actually learned anything worth knowing
"Why is it always the queens they hate?" Pip asked when they got back to their room a few hours later.
"Cause the king is always home grown, they want to be on his side. The women are the ones traded like livestock between them. They're the outsiders" she emphasised the last word and he laughed.
"Well, that I get" he said
"Always magic too, like they think it's the root of all their problems" Emma said, pulling her boots off.
"Well for those who misuse it, it often is" Pip replied
"Except that they use to try to solve their existing problems" Emma argued
"Which, when they get thoroughly fucked by magic, they realise were not that bad in the beginning" he said
This was the debate they always had. Was magic intrinsically good or bad? Did it depend on the person? On their choices? On how and why they used their magic?
"I'm turning in" he said
"You're staying here tonight?" Emma was surprised. She went behind the screen to change to her bed clothes.
"Sadly yes" he replied "the one I had my eye on got a little too merry. Maybe next time"
Emma laughed at her lotharios brother. Everywhere they went it was always the same.
"Well don't snore" she said, climbing into her bed on the opposite wall to his.
"I don't snore" he replied with a smirk
"You know what I mean" she threw a pillow across the room. "Don't fucking whistle"
"I can't help it if I'm sleeping!" He threw it back.
"If I wake up, you wake up. I want to rest well tonight, the work starts tomorrow" she blew out the candle by her bed
"What do you think about the princess?" He asked, blowing his out too.
Emma paused.
"I don't know. I think she's going to be hard work, but I think it's going to be worth it" she said
"She shouldn't be using her leg yet" Pip said
"I don't think she has a choice" Emma said, feeling there was more to that story that she would find out later.
Three weeks before the ball
"So" Pip began once they were in the practice room and safely away from prying ears. "What's up?"
"Nothing's up" Emma said, hanging her cloak on the back of the trunk.
"Liar" he said, folding his own.
She rolled her eyes at him.
"Does this have anything to do with the princess?" he asked with a smug look.
"You don't know what you're talking about" she said, starting to stretch
"You're a terrible liar" he laughed and surveyed the instruments laid out on the trestle table.
Emma didn't respond. She looked out of the window and she stretched her arms. She rolled her shoulders, tried to concentrate on what her body was telling her it needed.
"Emma" Pip said, in a softer voice.
Her stomach lurched, she knew what was coming. She knew she had been too informal with Regina, too caring about her progress, she put too much of herself into it this time. Pip had her pegged.
"I've got it under control" she told him, unsure if that was true or not.
"We'll only be here a few more weeks, keep fucking that stable girl you met yesterday and you'll be fine" he said. She felt a pang of guilt.
"Oh you can talk, I've hardly seen you outside of this room the whole time we've been here" she deflected
"Yeah" she heard him smile as he spoke "the difference is, when I sleep with people it's because I want to, not because I need a distraction"
Sometimes she hated how well her brother knew her.
"I don't need a distraction." She defended "Whatever, she had a good time"
"So I heard" he said
She turned on her heel to look at him, eyes wide. That news travelled quickly.
"I was actually going to sleep in our room at The Reel last night, 'til I heard her screaming through the door. Lucky I did, I think I'd rather die than witness whatever you were doing to her" he returned
Emma didn't laugh. She didn't smile. She wasn't pleased with herself. She felt worthless. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered how she had consumed that girl like her life depended on it. How in the end she had been watching from outside herself as her body reacted mechanically to Lucy's reciprocation. How hollow it had been. How empty she felt.
"Hey" he said, an edge of worry in his voice.
He didn't need to tell her how dangerous it was to get mixed up with royalty. The heads of commoners on spikes, or through nooses were nothing to the bloody lot of them.
"We'll be out of here soon" was the best consolation he could offer.
"Yeah" Emma replied, not meeting his eyes. She turned to face the window again and continued to stretch. She wiped her eyes and forced herself to focus.
A few more weeks she thought and pictured Regina riding away in a carriage with a faceless prince from a faraway empire. She felt her chest constrict.
Pip began his own warm up on the fiddle.
"Good morning" Regina said as she entered the room.
"Good morning, Princess" Pip replied without stopping his warm up song. He bowed and she nodded at him with a smile.
Emma was stretched across the floor. Her hands grasped the foot in front of her and her nose touched the floor. She closed her eyes.
"Morning" she said in what she hoped was her usual tone.
"Good morning" Regina replied, properly.
Emma came up, slowly exhaling and opened her eyes.
Regina was looking out of the window. Emma's eyes slid down her slate gray dress. Probably a rag compared to the other things in her dressing room, but she looked incredible. Her hair was drawn back in a bun today, instead of the usual loose dark curls.
She looked sophisticated. Emma pulled herself up.
"Foxtrot today" Emma said
"Fine" Regina replied
"You chose a good dress for it" Emma said.
Regina turned to face her. Her dark eyes seemed to rake her skin all the way down her body and up again. Emma almost shivered.
"You ready?" she asked.
Regina shrugged. She was having a down day, Emma guessed. Some days she was up and excited to learn, others she was distracted by her ominous fate. Emma could hardly blame her. Her heart ached for her predicament. Sometimes she and Pip went hungry, but at least they decided where they were when they did.
"Right, formal foxtrot. Easy, boring and mysteriously popular" she said. "Pip?" He started up.
Emma ignored the shuddering feeling in her chest. She took Regina's hand and turned in to receive her.
"Head back" Emma said, as they stepped and turned easily together "you have to imagine your partner has the worst breath, or if you're unlucky you might not have to imagine"
Regina didn't smile. Emma's head was also supposed to be back too, but she couldn't take her eyes off her partner. Her eyes wandered down her neck as her mind wandered to the moment of candid intimacy they accidentally shared on the path the day before. Could she have mistaken the look in Regina's eyes?
"Emma" Pip interrupted, though he kept playing.
She and Regina both looked at him. Emma guessed he had noticed where she had been looking and quite rightly wanted her to stop. Regina looked at Emma. She felt the weight of her gaze press against her skin.
"Something a bit lighter, maybe?" Emma said to Pip.
"Ferny Hill?" He asked, stopping his fiddle.
"Is that not a bit fast for a foxtrot?" she asked. She felt Regina's arms slip down hers and away from her grasp while they spoke. She let her go without looking.
"It doesn't have to be, though you're liable to break into a jig in the middle of it" he jibed. She turned to him, hands on hips. He began playing and clipping his feet around imitating the dancers from The Reel. Emma laughed.
"You look ridiculous" she said
"You could foxtrot to this" he said, maniacally tapping his feet at odds. Even Regina broke into a laugh. Emma tried to speak but cracked up at his idiotic face, trying to play the song and dance at the same time.
When they had calmed down, Regina was smiling at least. Emma felt better.
"Ok, I've been putting this off for ages, but it's necessary to talk about. Pip, you wanna-?" she asked
"Yep" he cut her off and practically leapt from the room, knowing exactly what was coming.
"Ok" Emma's heart banged again. Regina was watching her with mixed curiosity and nerves.
"This is awkward" Emma began. "How old are you?"
"Nineteen" Regina replied
"You don't have any brothers?" Emma asked
"No" Regina said
"And you don't have any male friends at court?" Emma tried
"It wouldn't be proper" Regina replied
"No. Right." Emma said "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" she tried her very last option
"Have you lost your mind?" Regina asked
"Ok, it's just…" she trailed away. She took a deep breath and decided to plunge
"There are certain realities about male physiology that need to be addressed if you're going to be in such close contact with them" she burst out, surprised at her own eloquence. How the fuck was she supposed to tell a virgin princess that men get hard-ons when they dance sometimes?
Regina's look didn't change. She wasn't getting it. Emma rubbed her forehead.
"Um. Ok, so you're dancing pretty close to the guy, right? Like the foxtrot" she held up her arms and took Regina into position as if they were going to dance.
"You're pretty close together sometimes" She cringed internally. Regina looked down. Their hips touched. Emma's right leg was sort of between hers, and vice versa. Regina looked up.
"So?" she asked
Wow, sex ed is really not a thing with these people Emma thought. It drove her crazy that the aristocracy didn't think it was important to educate their daughters about this. These women would get the shock of their lives on their wedding nights.
"You're beautiful" she said. Regina looked at her like she had definitely lost her mind and like she might slap Emma if she continued in this vein "and he's…just human. Things, in that area might, change"
The penny dropped. Regina practically pushed her away.
"You need to know this!" Emma said in response to the look of pure contempt Regina shot her.
"Imagine if it was the middle of the ball and it happened and you didn't know what was happening. You could end up embarrassing a lot more people than just the two of you" Emma felt her cheeks burn.
"Well at least you have the good grace to blush" Regina replied "that's disgusting. Can't they control it?"
"Not really" Emma said. She almost asked Regina if she could control her own reaction, but thought better of it. That would definitely end in a slap and she would have deserved it.
Emma rolled her sleeves up. She was so warm now. At least the conversation was over.
"Are you sure it would be noticeable?" Regina asked
Ok, not quite over. Emma hummed.
"I mean, it depends, but I would think so" Emma ruffled her hair
"I just can't imagine it" Regina said.
Emma couldn't meet her eyes.