"I need to talk to you about something" Regina said as Emma put away Pip II at the end of their lesson.
Emma paused before she put the machine back in the trunk, wiped her hands and turned to face her.
"Ok" she said in an easy voice, though she looked nervous. She tucked her hair behind her ear.
Regina was nervous too. She didn't make promises lightly and she was not accustomed to breaking them.
"My sister" she began, a wrinkle formed on Emma's brow "knows something about me that she is using to..."
"She's blackmailing you?" Emma interrupted
"Essentially, yes" Regina said
"To do what?" She asked
Regina looked away and fidgeted with a ring on her finger. She hated this, but she couldn't see another way.
"She wants me to go out with her to town again. To The Reel" she said and looked warily at Emma.
Her eyes widened. For a moment she just stared. Regina felt like a child about to get a severe telling off. She deserved it, she knew, this was all her fault.
"Regina, you can't! What does she have on you? It can't be that bad" Emma said
It's you, she has you and your life in her wicked, bony hands she thought, her heart aching.
"It is that bad" Regina said "I don't have a choice. I'm sorry that I have to break the promise I made you. I have made enquiries with the servants, there's a mummer's show on the other side of town the same night. It sounds like lots of people are going so there will be people to see you there if you need witnesses."
"I'm staying at The Reel, that's where I live" Emma said.
Regina's heart sank. She hadn't thought of that. It wouldn't matter if she was seen elsewhere, then.
"Are you kidding?" Emma asked in a hopeful last attempt.
Regina shook her head and swallowed. Emma rubbed her eyes and groaned.
"I'm sorry" Regina said again.
The risk of her being recognised was low, it was a much greater risk to let Zelena run to Cora and ruin Emma completely.
Emma dropped heavily into the chaise. Regina wasn't sure what to do. She felt awkward. Should she try to comfort her? How could she? It was her fault this was happening.
"Can you take a guard at least?" Emma asked, raising her face from her hands for a moment
"Wouldn't that be a little conspicuous?" Regina asked
"Well, you're face is going to be conspicuous" Emma said
"Oh, yes, that was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about" Regina closed her eyes and twisted the ring again.
"You...I don't know if you know...but you have magic" she said "and so do I"
Emma didn't speak and she opened her eyes.
"The tree?" Emma asked
Regina nodded. Yes the life-saving deflection of a falling tree was a perfect example of strong, intrinsic, instinctive magic.
"And you?" Emma asked
Regina shrugged.
"All learned" she said "I wore a glamour, a kind of disguise, when I went out last time. I don't know how you saw through it, but you were the only one who could"
"Can I see?" Emma asked
She hadn't expected this. She was prepared for defensiveness and fear, not complete acceptance and curiosity.
"Glamours take a lot of preparation and work, I can't just whip up a new face" she said
"Something else then?" Emma asked
She closed her eyes and thought of their situation, Zelena forcing her to hurt Emma. She channelled it to her hand and felt a cold burn in her palm.
She opened her hands to see the flicker of a flame. On seeing it she smiled and poured her rage into it until it was the size of a cooking apple.
She looked at Emma whose mouth was open. Was this when the fear and distrust came out? She quenched it quickly and folded her hands in front of her.
"Wow, how do you do that?" Emma got up and walked over to her.
"You have to get really angry" Regina said, looking at the floor, the trunk, the mirror, anywhere but at Emma.
"You're angry?" Emma asked
Regina bit back a snarling reply. She hated that about her magic, it made her feel strong, but always dark. It got harder to claw her way back every time.
"Yes" she answered shortly "I just used this situation to make that" she tried to get them back on topic.
"Is it satisfying to be able to do that with your anger?" Emma asked
"Not really" Regina said "it isn't used up like fuel, it's almost like you let it flow through you, it goes everywhere, it threatens to take over. Sometimes it does."
She didn't realise her hands were balled into fists until Emma touched them. She relaxed her grip. Her fingers ached as Emma unclenched them slowly.
"Why did you show me if it's so horrible?" Emma asked. She straightened her fingers out and held them together with hers.
"Because you asked" Regina frowned.
Emma's eyes smiled, though her mouth remained more or less a line. She slid her arms around Regina's waist and pulled her into a hug.
"What are you doing?" Regina asked, fear flashed through her, mingled with and turned to anger.
"We're hugging it out" Emma said, with her chin on Regina's shoulder "you're supposed to hug me back"
Regina sighed and put her arms reluctantly around Emma, certain this would do her more harm than good.
"Let the anger go" Emma said
"Go where?" Regina asked impatiently. She could smell wild flowers. She felt warm and safe and terrified.
"Out of you, into me, into nothing" Emma said "it doesn't matter, just let it go"
Regina sighed to let Emma know she didn't approve and closed her eyes. After a while her body seemed to react automatically and started to release the tension it held. It relaxed almost against her will.
Her heart ached and that too seemed to dissipate. She tucked her face into Emma's neck and accepted the embrace. She let herself hug Emma back and felt the arms around her tighten in return, as if determined to squeeze every bad thing out of her.
Emma met Regina, Zelena and the squire at the door of the tavern. The other two melted into the crowd almost immediately. Emma's heart beat like crazy seeing them out in the open with no protection. If people had any idea who they were she didn't know what would happen.
The music had already begun. The dramatic build up that Pip loved to play was skipped in his absence by the other musicians in favor of more dancing.
"This makes me nervous" Emma said looking down at the face she knew, covered by a thin veil of magic that looked to her like a shimmering golden veil.
"Then let's not stay" Regina offered. Emma frowned.
"Well no one's going to miss us" they looked over at the crowd focused on the group of dancers giving the floor synchronized hell. The drum beat quickened, they clasped hands and spun in one great circle hammering the floor as they went.
Emma's room was safer than the open, she supposed. She gave herself a moment to collect her thoughts, took one last look at Regina and took her hand. They ran up the stairs. Regina laughed behind her, her heart seemed to be pounding in time to the bhodran downstairs.
The moment they were alone Emma was going to kiss her, she knew it. If they made it to her room there would be no going back. She couldn't let them. She stopped half way up the stairs.
"This is crazy" Emma said, the music from below built euphorically and the thundering feet seemed only to quicken the beat of her heart.
Regina's answer was to kiss her there and then for anyone to see. Emma fell back into the wall and Regina followed. They kissed furiously, like they needed it to breathe. Their hands pulled at each other's clothes and their bodies pushed together. Their breaths came quick and heavy though they were utterly drowned out by the sound from below.
Neither of them remembered how they made it to the door of Emma's room but they fell through it and it slammed shut behind them.
Emma pushed Regina against the dresser and could have torn off the dress she wore there and then. Regina gasped at the intensity of it, then at the feel of kisses at her neck.
Emma almost lost herself completely, until Regina called her back.
"Hey" she said softly
Emma looked at her, they stood nose to nose trying to catch their breath.
"Slow down" Regina panted
Emma looked into her eyes. She couldn't believe she was doing this. The woman in front of her kissed her back with a ferocity she couldn't have imagined. It set her on fire. She wondered where she had learned- shit Emma remembered she would never have done this before, or at least not as much as they could easily do tonight.
Emma kissed her cheek softly and she smiled. She kissed her temple, her ear, her neck. She wanted to take her time over her. If Regina just wanted to kiss, they would kiss all night and it would be glorious.
A soft "oh" issued from Regina's lips as Emma tasted her skin. She could feel her heart beating. She broke away to find Regina's lips again.
They found her. She felt Regina's tongue asking for her own and she gave it. This time the noise came from her as they opened up slowly to each other. She felt Regina smile in response.
How can this be real? She asked herself, before Regina wiped it from her mind by sliding her hand around her waist. Have I lost my mind? Regina pulled them closer together. How can this be real? She slid her other hand slowly up Emma's ribs. Regina's thumb brushed the side of her breast.
Electricity shot through her. She pulled away. She took in Regina's face again. Her deep, dark eyes, her lips…
She drew her thumb down her scar, then down her lips, opening her mouth. A flicker of a smile crossed Regina's face. She sucked her thumb. Emma felt her tongue on her skin. It was so hot she could have come right there and then.
"Come here" Emma took her hand and walking backwards drew them over to the bed. Regina followed smiling.
"I want to feel you, all of you" she sat on the edge and pulled Regina on top of her.
"I don't think I've ever wanted anything as much as I want you" she said.
Regina took her face in her hands, and sitting in her lap kissed her more deeply than anyone ever had. It was achingly slow and beautiful.
Is this what dying feels like? she thought can you die from wanting, from loving someone too much?
She felt a tug on her shirt. She slid her arms out of it, only breaking their kiss to get it over her head. Her fingers found the lace at the front of Regina's dress. She felt Regina's touch helping. She opened her eyes to see it slip away.
She felt for certain, this was the moment she was going to die. It was too much.
"My gods" she whispered. She kissed her chest, her hands found their way around her waist, up her back, stroking, scratching. She kissed her breasts and took a nipple in her mouth.
Regina gasped. Emma rolled her tongue around it and sucked. Regina's fingernails dug into Emma's skin. She moved to the other and did the same. Regina's head went back as she groaned.
Emma almost shook with anticipation. She could feel the throb between her own legs.
"I'm going to touch you" Emma just about managed
"Oh thank gods" Regina replied. The skirt of her dress fell away. Emma looked up into her eyes as she slid her fingertips up the inside of Regina's thigh. She felt the depth of her soul in the instant before she touched her. While she waited, anticipating, wanting her.
Emma gently drew a finger into and along her until she felt the bump of her clit and ran over it. Regina's eyes shut and she convulsed.
Emma smiled watching her face. The wrinkle in her brow, the shape of her mouth, the straining muscles in her neck.
"Emma please" she said and drew in a breath slowly. Emma slid her fingers back down to find her opening. Regina seemed to stop breathing. Emma slid a finger slowly into her. She gasped again. Emma added another and she moaned.
Emma felt herself on the edge of climax without even being touched. She felt Regina move against her and replied pushing her fingers in her deeper. Emma could hardly tell if the noise she made in reply was one of pleasure of pain.
She withdrew, lifted Regina and lay her on the bed. She pushed her knees apart.
"You…" she started, but lost herself taking in the woman lying on her bed. Regina's touch on her arm brought her back. She was pulling her up her body. Emma followed.
"You're beautiful" Emma said, leaving a trail of kisses as she went. On her thigh, her hip, her stomach, her neck. As soon as she was close enough, Regina pulled her into another kiss. Emma slid her hand down in between them and pushed into Regina again. She moaned into her mouth and Emma found a steady rhythm that kept her moaning. Regina wrapped her legs around her.
"Faster?" Emma asked
"Nnn nn" was the only noise Regina managed.
Emma restrained herself and kept her pace, her hand aching from the pressure of their bodies pushing against each other. She kissed her neck as she thrust. It wasn't long before Regina's body became tense. She reached out across the sheets. Emma reached out too and pressed her hand into Regina's. Their fingers locked and Emma lifted herself to see Regina's climax in full.
She felt her body shake beneath hers. Regina bared her teeth and pushed against her. Her eyes were closed and she turned her head away as her back arched. She shuddered and cried out. Emma never wanted it to end but she felt Regina tighten around her fingers, she felt her body reach it's threshold and watched her gasp for air.
She withdrew slowly, rolled off her and wiped her hand on the sheets. Regina was breathing normally again. Her eyes were still closed.
"You ok?" Emma asked
Regina smiled and nodded. Her eyes remained closed but Emma saw a tear at the corner of one.
"Mmm more than ok" Regina drawled.
Emma kissed her shoulder and wrapped herself protectively around her.