That night, they were fortunate enough to find another abandoned home and after a meal of goat jerky and pear preserves, Emma crawled into bed and sank directly into sleep. She didn't even feel Regina enter the bed beside her. However, as with the night before, Emma's sleep was interrupted when she felt someone bumping into her shoulder. She jerked awake; on high alert and rolled around. Regina was facing her, eyes screwed tight; silent tears escaping down her cheeks. "No, stop!" she murmured. "Not tonight." She said and the sound of her pleading turned Emma's stomach.
She rose up over her. "Regina, wake up." She said gently taking her shoulders and shaking her.
"God, no Leopold!" The brunette shouted and trembled in fear.
Emma's heart sank; that name was familiar. She knew what Regina was dreaming. The blonde shook her more roughly and Regina struck out a fist at her. Emma captured it and pinned it to the bed before rolling herself between the brunette's thighs to try and still her.
"I can't!" Regina sobbed as she clenched her thighs around Emma and lashed out again.
"Regina!" Emma shouted into her face and shook her roughly enough that her head was whipping back and forth. "Wake up!"
Dark eyes flew open in a panic and she rolled them over pinning Emma beneath her; strong in her desperation. Her gaze cleared as tears continued to flow down her cheeks. "Emma?" she whispered.
"Yeah, it's me. You were having a nightmare." Regina released her hands and gripped the woman's nightshirt with shaking hands. As if holding onto the blonde was the only thing that kept her alive.
"A nightmare." She said softly but didn't relinquish her hold on the blonde beneath her. Instead she sat and allowed the chill of the night to fight away her feverish dreams as the warm body beneath her grounded her in reality. Fear sank from her face and was replaced with repulsion as she shivered at the memories of her days as the king's wife.
She looked down to find Emma staring at her wordlessly; worry and concern and something else etched across her face. She loosened her hold on the woman's shirt and swung her leg back over her hips to lie back down on her side. Emma rolled with her; to face the still trembling woman.
"That was a doozy, huh?" She asked softly, noticing that one of Regina's hands still held to her shirt tightly as though afraid she would disappear and leave her alone to the haunted night.
"It was very real." She shuddered. "I could even feel…" she stopped and looked at Emma, releasing her shirt. "When you laid on top of me, I thought…" her breath caught in her chest and she wiped away the tears angrily: attempting to shake of the helplessness and sense of futility that she fought so hard to conceal most of the time.
"You thought I was the king." She finished for her and Regina glared but found it took too much effort.
"So you heard?"
"I'm sure half the woods heard."
"I apologize for interrupting your sleep." She said and rolled back over. She stiffened when Emma followed her and wrapped her body around her; taking the woman's shivering into her own heat. "Miss Swan." She said warningly.
"I'm cold. You kicked all the covers off when we were fighting. You owe me body heat."
Regina didn't pull away but she didn't relax either. "If you must." She sighed disdainfully but a smile curved at her lips when Emma pulled her closer and drifted to sleep.
Regina awoke the bigger spoon of the pair that morning. She could smell the earthy scent of the soap Emma had used the previous night in the woman's blonde curls. Her hand was curled around Emma's hipbone and as she flexed the fingers absentmindedly, the blonde stirred and rolled over to drape a leg across Regina's own hip.
The brunette stiffened and cleared her throat. Emma looked up sleepily, dark eyelashes fluttering as a green gaze zeroed in on Regina's red lips. The blonde, still not fully awake, darted forth her tongue to wet her own lips and the brunette was mesmerized; heat spread through her body rapidly but adrenaline and fear kicked in. "Miss Swan, kindly release me."
"What?" she asked breathlessly. Regina nodded down to where Emma was claiming her hip with her own thigh. "Oh!" she relinquished the woman from her long, lean leg and scooted back to topple off the bed in a sprawl.
Regina raised herself up lazily and looked down at her. "Careful, dear. Don't want any more injuries, do we?"
"If you hadn't been so damn close to me…" Emma mumbled and stood.
Regina smirked at the sight of her looking so deliciously tousled and disgruntled. Her eyes were still sleepy and her movements less than coordinated. The blonde hair about her shoulders waved and tossed about her as she moved around to open a jar of tomatoes they had found plundering the house the previous night. The brunette swung her own legs over the bed and padded forward to light the fire in the grate and begin the tea.
Emma looked up to see Regina working with the embers in the grate. "So how much further to the castle?"
"A little over a week, I would say."
Emma let out a long suffering sigh to which Regina narrowed her yes. "Don't get me wrong, I love roughing it with the Evil Queen and all…but all this walking is really wearing me down."
"We need a horse."
"Um, there are two of us." Emma clarified.
"Have you ever ridden?"
"Well, no."
"Then a horse it is." Regina smiled. "We can stop in the next town and obtain one."
"Regina," Emma spoke slowly. "We don't have enough money for a horse."
"Who said we need money, Miss Swan?"
They made it to the town just as the sun was high in the sky and Regina led them down the stalls of the city to a dark shop with a horse shoe on the sign. The brunette reached down and kicked her feet in the street, picking up five small, flat pebbles. "This should do." She mumbled and turned to Emma. "Let me talk. Do not look the salesman in the eye, do not touch him or talk to him. Do not talk to or touch me." Her instructions were clear but strange and Emma nodded before lowering her head and entering behind Regina.
"Well, hello." The shopkeeper eyed the two women appreciatively. "What can I do for you two ladies this evening?"
"I need to buy a horse." Regina moved closer to the man and the blonde could feel a power radiating from her that was nearly electric. Her voice was deep and husky and sensual as she continued. "Could you show me what you have?" she asked.
Emma chanced a glance up and then ducked her head. It didn't matter; the salesman only had eyes for Regina. He moved out from behind the counter. "Of course, my lady." He said. "If you would follow me." He moved away and Emma watched the hem of Regina's skirt. She was trying to keep her instructions and had her head so far down that she nearly ran over the woman. She stopped abruptly and backed away.
"I have any sort of horse you would need." He continued and through Emma's peripherals she could tell he was staring avidly at Regina and sweating profusely.
"I'm sure you do. I do a great deal of riding; sometimes I like to take friends along. Often they ride on the horse with me. Which would best suit this purpose?" She placed a hand on his shoulder and Emma saw his knees nearly buckle. That was certainly suspicious; Regina was certainly more than attractive, but so far, Emma hadn't seen anyone react to the brunette in this fashion.
"I have a mare, she's sturdy and fast and very strong. Her temperament is rather high strung but I'm sure a woman such as yourself would relish breaking her." his words trembled.
"Show me." Regina's voice commanded gently.
The man nearly tripped over backward to obey. He fumbled as he led them down to the end stall and as Regina stepped forward, a horse appeared. Emma looked up at the animal and found a golden palomino with a curly mane. The horse's nostrils flared when it caught scent of Regina and tossed her glorious head in excitement. The brunette reached up a hand and held it before the mare so that the horse could smell her before leaning in and staring her in the eye.
The mare whinnied softly and bumped her nose on the woman's hand. Emma watched Regina's lips curl into a genuine smile. "Yes, I'll take her." she held out her hand of stones and dropped them into the man's outstretched palm. "I believe this will cover her expense as well as a few days' worth of feed?"
The man's jaw dropped and Emma felt certain that he was about to look up in anger and confusion at the fistful of pebbles she offered. But the blonde's own mouth fell open when he spoke. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you ma'am for your generosity! I will supply your saddle and a week's worth of oats for the mare."
"Very well." She said and turned on her heel as the man scrambled to let the horse out and lead her around to saddle her.
Back on the street, Emma turned to Regina and lowered her voice. "What the fuck was that?"
"Magic." Regina smirked.
"The rocks, yeah….but he nearly wet himself when you got close to him."
"He was smitten."
"Obviously." Emma rolled her eyes.
"No, dear. Smitten. It's a term used to denote when magic has been used to overpower the senses of another person. It allows me to bend someone to my will and leaves them foggy and dazed afterward. He won't remember this in the morning. He'll remember selling the horse but that will be all."
"Have you done that a lot?"
"A great number of people have been smitten with me." She waved a hand dismissively and Emma narrowed her eyes.
"Have you ever tried that on me?"
Surprise flew to Regina's eyes, "No. We didn't have magic in Storybrook until recently and then…well I wouldn't have had the chance anyway."
"But you could have tried it here."
"I haven't, it's a distinct experience." The woman smirked.
"Why haven't you?"
This question stopped the brunette and she considered her carefully. "Because I didn't deem it necessary."
"Why not?" Emma drew closer to her.
Suddenly the shop keeper came around the corner, leading the horse who tossed her head and drug him behind when she saw Regina. The brunette smiled at the animal and then her gaze flickered to the man. He loaded up the oats and then kissed her hand sloppily before they turned and left.