Chapter 15
'A Problem Arises'
-.-.-.-.-.-.-Forbidden Fortress-.-.-.-.-.-
"Why must you make things difficult?"
Here they went again.
"Me, make things difficult? You must be joking…"
Steven sighed impatiently. They hadn't gotten anything done today. It seemed like Regina and Emma were merely aiming to annoy each other to death instead of focusing on the assignment before them.
"I thought you would have learned already, dear, that I do not joke."
Steven dropped his head into his open palm, his elbow resting on the table to hold it up as he shook it. He had lost patience with these two bickering children two hours ago…when their argument had begun. He was a trained diplomat. He knew that he should be attempting to remain calm and at least appear outwardly unaffected by the bickering, to seem like his last nerves were not being grated on methodically. He knew that. Truly he did. It was just…
"Oh right, how silly of me to even consider the thought that you have a single funny bone in your body."
In the case at hand, with Emma and the Dark Queen as the antagonists he felt he should not be judged on his poor use of body language. He should not be judged for his growing desire to throttle both women. It no longer mattered that Emma was his closest friend and confidant. The very sound of her voice was now an annoyance. Especially when it was followed or proceeded by the sound of the Dark Queen's taunting.
One of these days Steven was just going to drag Maleficent out of the room and let these two kill each other. It would save him from massive amounts of headaches and stress. He wouldn't be drinking gallons of chamomile tea, calming droughts and pain suppressors.
Was it too much to ask that they get along? Was he asking for the impossible? He didn't think so. They had hours a day where they could attempt to kill each other. Emma was still teaching the Dark Queen hand to hand combat. The lessons were going well. Hmm, they were going better than they had been before Emma had 'quit'.
Since then it seemed as if Regina was trying. Truly the monarch appeared to be stemming her insults and attempted to follow Emma's instructions. There were still constant bickering matches between the two women, even during practice. It was only acceptable for them to call each other names in that practice area, at least in his opinion. The insults they were throwing back and forth at each other today, presently, in the conference room was unacceptable.
Did they not understand that their attempts to outwit the other were merely wasting precious time? There were far more important things to be doing than arguing like school children. They, meaning all four of them not just himself and Maleficent, had to redraft the peace treaties.
Emma had been up for the last few nights looking up the laws of the Primrose kingdom. She was aware of most of the laws in her own Kingdom already. She'd needed to know procedure before her father would allow her to travel to Queen Uberta's kingdom last season.
Steven was worried that if they did not conclude these political matters within the next few days that Emma would reach her limit. Emma was a burning candle nearing the end of her wick.
The Dark Queen took every chance to taunt her over the bags under her eyes, the unusual sluggish pace in their training sessions, and how Emma had dozed off in two of their meetings in the last three days. To which Emma retaliated, naturally retaliated, as she was not accustomed to the constant rancor.
If Steven recalled correctly, and he did, Regina had started all of this. Emma had dozed off, her head lulling down and remaining down unlike the previous times where she'd snapped back to attention and continued on as if nothing happened. So maybe it was Emma's fault. However Regina was the first to push buttons. Regina had slammed her hand down on the table in front of Emma to rouse her from the sleep she'd fallen into and had immediately bombarded his disoriented friend with insults and snide remarks about her need for 'precious beauty sleep' only two hours prior. If Regina had let it go they could have been finished with their discussions at least an hour ago or would be able to adjourn until tomorrow before dusk.
Instead Emma, once aware, had been easily enthralled into another verbal spar, a match of wit and verbal abuse. One he knew Emma was bound to lose. Steven hated to place doubt on his friend but she was not on even ground with the Dark Queen. In the last few days Steven had taken careful note of Emma's inability to keep from becoming tongue tied when faced with the Dark Queen, head on. It only took a handful of minutes of being toe to toe (practically breast to breast), before any eloquent rebuttal Emma had was lost in her stammering stuttered statements.
He was surprised that Emma had made it this long. For all the fairies magic wishing dust! He was surprised that he…had made it this long without snapping at the two 'children'.
His head hurt and he didn't want to seem like a sexist pig but he missed men. He missed how men would yell and then throw a punch and get passed their issues. It seemed with women nothing was ever resolved. Even after an argument had concluded there were still veiled looks and comments afterwards.
Steven massaged his temple. He needed an evening out with Desmond and perhaps some of the guards when he returned home. At this point? These women's screeching was insufferable.
"Is there something about my body that fascinates you, Princess? You seem awfully interested in…parts…of my anatomy."
Steven lifted his head up, his brow arched as he stared unblinkingly between Emma and Regina. Gazing between the two raging women he could practically see the sparks flying around the room. Daring to blink he realized that yes, yes, there were physical sparks flying between the two women. Most of them were coming from Regina, but there were a few nondescript sparks that weren't as dark and vibrant as the Dark Queen's coming from, Emma? That was…different.
Regina was leaning over the small conference table, her left hand sat upon its surface as she leaned forward a half step, breeching Emma's personal space while also accentuating her décolletage. Her eyes leered at Emma, a suggestive smirk on her face.
Always suggestive, Steven noted as the Dark Queen was always bating Emma. Always looking to catch his friend off guard, to pull and twist and shove at her until she snapped. Today it had just taken much longer than the last few instances for Emma to make any specific comment regarding the Queen's body. Even when the Queen issued blanket statements about Emma's appearance and form constantly Emma had not taken Regina's bate.
"I..uh…why must you always resort to such crude outlandish ideas about your person?!"
Emma seemed flushed, more so than she was moments before. It wasn't the first time Emma had become flustered when Regina openly accused her of being sexually attracted to her. However it was the first time that Steven watched Emma's eyes dip lower and lower! They moved farther and farther away from staring at the Dark Queen's entrancing eyes. And closer and closer to her accentuated cleavage.
Blinking twice he watched Emma snap her attention back up to Regina's eyes quickly, her cheeks becoming a deeper shade of red.
Hmm…maybe he'd just leave them alone to deal with whatever tension, sparked between them. Both literally and figuratively speaking.
"Outlandish?" Regina turned away from Emma and looked to his lover.
Steven noted a nice soft pink hue to the Queen's cheeks as well. That tint could be from anything. Most likely exertion over this whole thing, right? Yes. Yes that was it! It couldn't possibly have been because Emma had finally succumbed to her viperous flirtations and snuck a peak!
"Fee, is it outlandish to consider myself an attractive female specimen?"
Oh no, we are not making this a threesome. Steven thought, cringing at his terminology even as he thought the phrase. Steven was putting his foot down at this. Regina would not drag Maleficent into this argument. If his lover so much as thought about ganging up on Emma he was going to physically drag her from the room. The outcome of that action be damned!
Steven grabbed a hold of Maleficent's wrist, keeping her still and in her seat. She had no doubt been milliseconds away from agree with Regina. Maleficent could be counted on to agree with Regina, no matter the nature of the Dark Queen's statements. It perturbed him more than Emma and Regina's bickering did.
The two witches had a system between them. They would never speak out against one another. They held the same opinions on everything. It seemed at times like they were practically the same entity living in separate bodies.
He and Emma at least attempted to side with whoever had the agreeable point, the correct knowledge and plan! All the while Regina and Maleficent tended to ride their wrong opinions to their graves and beyond.
Today Maleficent's opinion, meaning Regina's opinion, would tear his restraint in half.
He held Maleficent's eyes, her beautiful cobalt eyes and made her listen to him. 'One word in favor of Regina and I swear you will find yourself without my companionship for weeks.'
Maleficent held her tongue, seeing the promise and hearing the grave consequences within her lover's mind should she join Regina in berating the young Princess. She had not seen such firm resolve in Steven's eyes for some time. If she was honest with herself, which she could be on occasion, the fire in his eyes left her a bit warm under the collar.
Tearing her eyes away from Steven Maleficent warred with herself. Regina was looking at her expectantly, sure that she would once again help tease the White Princess into submission. It would be breaking a promise to Regina that she had made two weeks ago. It had been a silent promise, one that Regina had returned to her as well. They would not take opposing views. If they disagreed on an issue they would discuss it between the two of them, away from the prying eyes of Emma and Steven. –Not that she thought Steven was prying eyes but he had been included due at Regina's insistence.
It was either to break a promise, silent promise, to Regina or risk being ignored by her lover. She could not stand the idea of Steven ignoring her, or refusing to spend time with her privately for weeks. She had already suffered his absence once. She would not do so again. Regina would need to understand. If she didn't, Maleficent would make her understand that she could not go without Steven for as long as he was threatening. Regina had been in love, she would understand. (Or so Maleficent tried to assure herself)
"Gina, sweetheart…" And there went Regina's pupils and nostrils, dilating and flaring immediately as she realized where Maleficent was about to place her support. "You do tease the bumbling Princess constantly." There was a spark of magic from Regina's tightly squeezed fists. When she noticed the vein above Regina's right eye begin to throb knowingly, Maleficent swallowed nervously. This would not end well.
She squeezed Steven's hand, hoping that he would know she was only trying to assure him that he could trust her. She would side with him and the Princess. She needed to put herself between her friend and her seated lover. Just in case Regina's lack of magical control became worse. Besides it would be easier to insult the good Princess if she did not witness Steven's displeasure. He wanted her assistance, her commitment, he did not ask for her to cease her insults. Surely he knew she could side with the Princess and still insult her?
"The pathetic little thing doesn't know which way is up when you flirt with her so causally."
Emma balked at the insults while Regina huffed, her arms crossing over her chest as she faced Maleficent, her attention no longer solely upon Emma. That was a good start.
"She was raised under that uptight little sprout, Snow. She probably hasn't the faintest idea what it is to be approached sexually by a woman." Emma's cheeks enflamed. Maleficent chuckled darkly at the White Princess' innocence. Whether it was with indignation over the insult to her mother and herself or embarrassment over the accusation of her sexual innocence that caused her cheeks to flush, Maleficent did not know. She did not care. "The brat has no idea what it is like to be fluid in her sexuality. The poor thing can't even keep her cheeks from flaming at the idea of being touched by a woman."
"I beg your pardon!" Emma looked to Steven immediately and saw how white his face was compared to her pink cheeks.
Maleficent turned to Emma, "Oh, you shall be waiting ages for it then, darling. I have no interest in being pardoned." Maleficent cooed mockingly, a 'pleasant' smile upon her lips.
Regina did not attempt to hide her smirk as she cast a quick glance to confirm that Emma's cheeks were in fact a bright red. With Regina's amusement came a decline in her magic. At least a decline in how much of it sparked uncontrollably from her fingers and around her inside her aura.
With Regina's dissipating magic there was a similar reaction with the smaller flicks of light magic that had been 'protecting' the White Princess. Maleficent did not know if the magic was placed on the Princess by someone else to protect her or if the magic was from the girl herself.
While focused on her friend Regina felt the dramatic reduction in the magic that had been sparking off of Emma.
Curious…both Regina and Maleficent thought.
It was an interesting happenstance, one that Maleficent and Regina had been looking into separately. The Princess' physicality of her magic suggested a great power within her or placed upon her. If the magic was inlaid within her then it was untrained and untapped, the sparks were just the start to something probably much greater. Maleficent had never seen such a visceral reaction from a white witch's magical stores before. It would appear that the young Princess possessed a great store of magical energy that only seemed to react when she was being threatened by Regina's darker magic.
That was why it seemed more plausible that the magic had been placed on Emma to protect her. It would make more sense that it only activated when the Princess was 'threatened' by Regina's magic. It did not however explain why that 'protection' had not activated before, unless she had just been charmed with it by someone.
While Maleficent and Regina each thought on Emma's magic Steven fumed from his seat.
This…this revelation of sexual fluidity was not what Steven had expected when Maleficent had stood from her seat. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering. Wandering to whom it was his lover had tried to bed. To which woman she had actually lain with to know so personally what it was like to be approached by a woman.
"Surely you do not believe me to be interested in bedding you, do you Princess?" Regina asked, and even to Steven's ears the tone was sharp and meant to insult, to wound.
"I had not…I would not think, I, you it…" Emma blinked as she collected herself. "Do you?"
"You?" Regina laughed, and Emma flinched. "Oh my dear, no. No. Never." Regina turned to Maleficent, seemingly perplexed. "I certainly do not need to stoop to such levels, do I Fee? Certainly there are other women; far more feminine I could approach."
Steven watched as Emma's shoulders straightened the moment Regina's mouth opened but it was the flinch that followed the Dark Queen's words that tore at his heart. Emma had gone from prepared for the verbal assault to bare; bared of her defenses and left vulnerable to attack. Her mouth dropped open and although Steven couldn't hear it he imagined she released a painful breath.
Regina callously laughed. The Dark Queen leaned against Maleficent for support, as if she were laughing so hard the shake of her body was too much to remain standing. As if the notion of being sexually attracted to Emma was preposterous. As if Emma's strength and independence were faults and she required her female lovers to be meek and dependent.
Regina composed herself and removed herself from leaning so fully against Maleficent. Rather she kept a soft hold of her friend's forearm as she looked between her friend and the wilting Princess.
"You certainly do not need to stoop to such levels, darling." Maleficent's face brightened as something seemingly appeared to her from thin air, and it made her chuckle, "Could you imagine how dreadful that would be? The girl is obviously still pure…she would be incapable of pleasuring you properly." Then, "Not as if she would know how to pleasure a man either. Hmm, perhaps there is a maid she can ask for assistance in the more carnal teachings. I had thought all future Queens would look to their female servants for other forms of assistance at one time or another. I mean, you certainly did, didn't you darling!?"
Regina kept from giggling, knowing full well she had never indulged in calling a woman to her bedchambers while in the palace. Not even after Daniel had died had she called any working women of the castle into her bedchambers. In fact she had only ever been with one woman sexually and she had her hand on her shoulder at this very moment. "Yes, but, Fee I wasn't born into such a prudish prison. I'm sure with the scars upon her body no man of status will truly enjoy…"
Steven balked. That was it! "Enough! Enough, the both of you!" Steven hollered, gaining the attention of all three women. He was not known for yelling, and certainly not yelling at women. However his sanity had been picked and prodded at for the last week. He could not stand it any longer. They had finally torn down his patience.
His patience was known to be that of a strong brick wall. Well, today these three women had managed it. The two witches attack upon his friend and their constant squabbles, and talks of sexual deviance crumbled his wall of patience. It was down to nothing but dusty ruble.
Grabbing onto the hilt of his sword he stood from his seat and stalked around the table, keeping away from Maleficent and Regina. The table was small, thankfully, and he was beside Emma's side with only a few strides. Taking a hold of his friend's hand he pulled on it, gently but swiftly putting himself between Emma and the two heartless witches.
"It is not absurd to believe that you would seek Emma sexually." Steven shuddered at the idea of it, but he would not allow Maleficent and Regina to continue on with their 'fun' at Emma's expense. "It is absurd for you to believe her capable of sinking to the dirt, to be with filth like you!" Steven hissed, his body rigid. The grip on his sword tightened as the two witches stopped laughing and stared at him, unblinkingly.
Maleficent looked heartbroken at his insult even knowing it was not directed at her. It might as well have been, she too was a dark witch who had committed as many crimes as Regina had in her life time.
"She has been patient enough with you. The both of you. And your-your constant prattling on, your barbed insults and your deviant insinuations!"
"Steven!" Maleficent gasped, appalled at his outburst and perhaps a bit fearful of his words and the meaning that could lay beneath them.
Steven ignored her interruption, only sparing her an enraged glance before his looked to Regina. "The darkness under her eyes," which practically started this whole mess, at least todays mess, "…is there because she has spent countless hours reviewing Primrose law so that she might ensure a good outcome for the peace treaties between your kingdoms and that of your enemies. So while you sleep or indulge in your fluid encounters with whomever you choose she is hunched over piles of scrolls and books doing the research that will make these treaties possible."
Emma pulled away from Steven's hand. She grabbed the sack of padding she had brought with her to the Fortress and threw it over her shoulder. Tying it tightly around herself she walked around Steven and away from Regina and Maleficent. She could not go very far. There was nowhere to run off to. She was stuck in the Fortress until Regina or Maleficent felt it time to escort them back to the Primrose palace. That did not mean she had to remain in the room with either woman. She had no desire to stand in the room while Steven defended her honor against the two witches. It was foolish to think that someone as stunning and intelligent as Regina could find her worthy. To think anyone could want her with all of her faults was foolhardy. No one of this realm, or status would want her. Not with her peculiarities.
"Prince Steven, surely you know a game of witt when you witness one." Regina began only to be silenced by Emma's retreat from the room. Regina watched the blonde stalk confidently out of the conference hall into the antechamber. The groan of the wooden doors as they crashed against the brick walls rang through the otherwise silent room. Not even Maleficent dared breathe a word. When the echo had died away Regina remained staring after the Princess. Surely Emma had thicker skin?
The familiar burn of guilt spread across her chest, making it tighten in on itself as she stared listlessly into space. She valiantly attempted to stem the feeling of guilt. She would not apologize to the Princess. Not again. Not so soon after she had already done so. If Princess Emma could not handle being teased about her queerness by Regina how ever could the Princess stand tall against such insults from someone truly meaning to hurt her?
"I do, I have seen many in the last few days. This…game…however has crossed far too many lines. Far too many…" Steven's voice softened as he stared off beyond Regina and Maleficent's shoulder to the door Emma disappeared through. "You wished to wound, not tease as you have in the past. You picked at faults you know will injure the most. Will last the longest. And for what!? To amuse yourself? Well, I hope you are amused." Steven shook his head in disgust. "Maleficent, Emma and I will be returning to the palace now. Do not expect either of us present tomorrow." Steven was not offering up suggestions. He and Emma would not be returning to the Fortress tomorrow. Emma needed a day of rest and a day away from Regina and all the dark witch brought with her.
"I…" Regina ground her teeth together, her nails scratching across the surface of her palm as she turned her head around to look at Steven. Whatever else she was going to say was lost as she disappeared into a puff of her oddly sweet smelling smoke.
Steven strode through the remaining smoke towards the door. Whether Maleficent followed him or not was up to his lover. Sooner or later maleficent would come after him. He would rather she did so while Emma was not present. There were several things he wished to tell his lover, to accuse her of, but knew to hold his tongue. Tonight was not the night to discuss how Maleficent has treated Emma. He was angry, tired, and frustrated. When he finally calmed down he would speak with Maleficent on the matter of his best friend. For now he'd settle for finding said best friend before she got into any trouble.
"Steven…?" Maleficent called out softly, turning on her heel slowly to watch the Prince leave the room. He stopped his steady tread and looked at her over his shoulder.
"Please, my love, not tonight. Not tonight…" He shook his head as he stared back down at the ground beneath him, his back still to Maleficent.
Maleficent steeled herself, nodded her head once, and followed slowly behind Steven.
They would talk. Just not presently. It worried her far more than she would like to admit that Steven felt it best that they wait to speak. His opinion of her at the moment was clearly low. She respected him and loved him all the more for trying to spare her his wrath. Sometimes though she wished he would yell at her. She wondered if it was normal to want her sweet, caring and kind lover to be angry and mean with her sometimes.
"Emma…!" Maleficent raised her head as Steven called out to the Princess.
Maleficent frowned as she watched Steven hug Emma to him. The girl did look awful. She was slow in all of her movements and each movement seemed to take more and more out of her depleted stores of energy. If the look of the girl hadn't made Maleficent feel slightly bad—she would never admit it aloud even under torture—the Princess' thoughts of loathing did. Hearing Emma and Steven's mental recounts of how often Emma had been rejected by a suitor for her 'manly' hobbies, was disgusting in Maleficent's opinion. The poor girl had far more issues with her self-image than she or Regina thought.
Steven wondered why she hadn't known that it was a commonly held notion in the elite circels that Emma wasn't feminine enough. There were many men who wished to stem out Emma's independence. Many of the men Emma had been forced to dance with on her birthday wanted to be her husband because of the power she would grant them because of her birthright to the White Kingdom. They were attracted to her physical beauty and her birthright to the White Kingdom but not her inner beauty and personality.
There hadn't been many suitors at the ball willing to 'put up' with Emma's quirks.
Steven had heard many of the conversations of the men at the ball. He had heard how they wished to extinguish her spirit. Many of them boasted that they would be the man to help Emma see that all she needed was for them to take care of her. It had disgusted Steven at the ball and continued to disgust him now knowing that Regina purposefully picked upon Emma's 'short comings' as a woman. They all thought it a 'shame' that a woman so beautiful was so misconstrued about a woman's place and duties. They had callously insulted her while all seeking to gain her attentions, all for the wrong reasons. They would change her to suit their desires.
Steven was ashamed that he had once been of the same opinion. He was disgusted to learn that Desmond still felt the same way about Emma's 'quirks'. Had even told Steven how he was surprised Steven was willing to put up with a woman who thought she was a better swordsman than Steven himself. Desmond had also commented on how he would never take Emma as his bride willingly because she thought too highly of herself. Steven knew that meant Desmond was afraid that Emma would be the more powerful in the relationship and he was frightened by that.
Steven once thought it foolhardy of King James to allow Emma tutelage with a sword. He had been a child then and had been unable to make his own decisions on the matter. He had simply copied and upheld the opinion of his father and of the Primrose society that thought it odd for a woman to fight while there were able bodied men to do so instead. As a young man Steven had seen Emma's capabilities and felt threatened by them, like Desmond still was. Men disregarded her talent and placed him on a higher pedestal, remarked that he was the best swordfighter of his generation. He knew first hand that he was not. It still bruised his ego to know that a woman could best him at anything but he wasn't willing to disregard Emma's talent because of her gender. He was in love with a woman as opinionated and powerful as Emma—though Maleficent's power and talents lay in different areas than Emma's—and would be a hypocrite to denounce Emma but embrace Maleficent.
If Emma was to find any woman to embrace her as she was Steven thought it would be Maleficent and Regina. Alexandra loved Emma but she was always trying to stop her from training with the men or belittling how much time Emma spent learning war strategies instead of how to run a castle, as she would be expected to do when she became Queen. Not many women of status understood Emma's motivations to be different. Commoners, common women aspired to be like Emma—or Green as many of them knew her. They respected a woman who could fight and take care of herself and maybe even best a few men in varying ways. Perhaps he'd been hoping for too much.
He looked over his shoulder at Maleficent and smiled softly at her. His thoughts had been purposeful. He knew that Maleficent was listening, peering inside his mind to see why he was so angry with him. There was a contrite expression upon his lover's countenance. He knew the message had been received.
Kissing Emma's forehead Steven held the shivering woman closer. They stood in the vestibule between the North and South wing of the fortress, and the wind was unforgivingly cool this afternoon.
With Maleficent's hand on his shoulder he felt himself being pulled roughly backwards. Not by Maleficent's force but by her magic. When he opened his eyes he was standing in the clearing where he and Emma kept their horses tied off. Emma leaned heavily against him. The transportation to their little hide away took what little energy Emma had left from her. He squeezed her closer to him, taking on more of her weight.
"She teases mercilessly. As do I. It is, how we are. It does not portray what we truly feel or think." Maleficent intoned, seemingly pained at speaking this small apology. Or what could be considered an apology.
"Forgive me for finding that hard to believe. I care little for what you two may think of me. I am sick of being toyed with by her, by the both of you. I thought I was strong enough to do this. To look the enemy of my family in the eyes every day and find something…anything good in her. I was wrong."
Maleficent held her breath as Emma finally looked up from Steven's shoulders to stare at her. Surely she did not mean what she was saying? They had a deal!
"We have a deal…" Maleficent reminded bitterly.
Emma breathed a decrepit laugh, "Keep your deal. I'll hold up my end of the bargain." Maleficent cocked an eyebrow. What had brought on this change? Peering intently at her she tried to read beyond the Princess jumbled emotions to find what had caused her such distress. Surely it hadn't been their conversation in the conference room?
Emma snapped her head up, "Stay out of my mind…" Emma hissed angrily. Maleficent was surprised that she could not pierce through the anger that Emma placed up as a front.
"Leave." Emma instructed as she continued to glare at Maleficent.
Maleficent spared Steven a look before she disappeared into the sparking void behind her.
Maleficent did not appear in her Fortress but in the sitting room Regina frequented most. Her friend stood before the closed doors of the balcony overlooking the Dark Forest. Without waiting to be acknowledged she poured herself a glass of Regina's finest liquor. "We have a problem." She stated empathetically as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Regina.
Regina sighed, sipping from her own tumbler of brandy, "Yes, I know." Seeing Maleficent's risen eyebrow she pointed behind her where above the fireplace the Mirror continued to stream the image of Emma and Steven making their way back to the Primrose Palace.
"It seems that we…" Regina took a moment, "…that I have caused the Princess a great deal of self-reflection. She doesn't appear to like what she sees in the relationship between who she sees and wishes to be."
Maleficent looked to two as they traveled, wincing at some of the words Steven was using to describe Regina and her. Heartless, evil witches, indeed. She and Regina had each proved they were both of those things in one way or another. Be it to Steven, Emma or an unknown third party. Through the years they had earned their reputation. Maleficent liked to think they were earning new ones, but apparently, she was mistaken.
"You have been nothing but kind to that brat. If she wishes to cease contact, let her. The less time you spend with the better." The safer.
"Kind. Is that what I've been Fee? Kind?" Regina asked as she looked to the crying Princess. "So kind that I have helped drive a woman I thought incapable of tears, to a sobbing mess?" Regina threw her glass of liquor at the flames, enjoying the rise it caused in them before the flames died down once more. "Enough, Sealy, Enough." Regina waved her hand in the air hoping by doing so the image of Emma leaning against Steven for comfort would disappear.
"We have nearly completed the treaties. Let us finish them now. We do not need the Princess anylonger." Maleficent implored, as she waved her hands the treaties appeared in her grasp. "Please, Gina. Let us finish this."
Regina turned back to Maleficent and stared at the treaties. Perhaps Maleficent was right. Maybe she did not need the Princess any longer. With Emma out of her life her health would certainly remain intact. That was a plus, was it not?
So then why did she feel as if she couldn't be without the damned Princess? That she did in fact need Emma to find peace. Not the peace that these treaties offered but a peace of mind, body, and—dare she think it—soul?
Taking a hold of her copies of the treaties Regina led Maleficent towards a table she transfigured. "Let us finish this."
Maleficent smiled as she followed Regina to the table. The sooner they finished these treaties the sooner she and Regina both would have to be without the Princess. They would only need Steven's assistance and the blonde Princess could finally go back to her castle, away from her Steven and her best friend. Things were already looking up and the Princess had only been gone for half an hour.
End Chapter Fifteen
Author's Note: So it's been a god-awful long time since I posted an update for this story. I want to thank those that have continued to read, review, and follow this story even with the long break in-between updates. Summer wasn't the best time to write I found and the Fall and Winter don't prove to be the best times either. However I am here with an update and another chapter waiting to be posted. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to my 'once a week' posting of an update. No promises on that I'm afraid. This chapter was originally 30 pages, thus why I broke it into two separate chapters so I'll have something to post later.
Call for beta: If there is anyone reading this story that could spare the time to help me edit the following chapters, please PM me or mention your interest in a review. I could use help with my errors but also someone to help me iron out the rest of the story and upcoming chapters. Anything to keep me talking about it and thus motivated to write.
Can I also just point out that I feel a 'little' bad for making Phillip such an ass because the canon Phillip didn't make it an hour into the show. Oh well, his death has made room for a new femslash pairing. ;-)