Ch 2
Regina peered down from her tower, watching as Snow's captain of her guard stood watch as Snow and Leopold ate a luxurious breakfast. It turned Regina's stomach, knowing that as a majority of Snow's people starved, she sat here and ate in luxury. She shook her head before looking over at the woman captain standing in the corner. She was alert but outwardly calm, scanning the room as if some unknown enemy might emerge from out of no where. The helmet was no where to be seen, allowing Regina a clear view of the captain's hair and face. Regina smiled. She admired the loyalty, even as misplaced as it may be. She let her eyes wander down the curves, hidden by the practicality of leather and armor. Almost as if they had been pulled by Regina's thoughts, the eyes of the captain turned nearly 90 degrees and straight up to meet those of the admiring queen. Regina was startled that she had been spotted but not embarrassed. She stared back, ignoring the feigned hatred that bored back at her. She raised an eyebrow and smirked, causing Emma's neck to snap back forward.
Regina chuckled to herself and walked back into the room. She didn't see Emma glance back up to the window, frowning slightly at the emptiness.
Some time later, Regina made her way into the garden courtyard. There stood Emma Swan, overlooking diligently as Snow and Leopold sat eating the berries they had picked. Regina smiled and walked up, stopping next to the beautiful blonde. She felt the woman shift slightly, taking in a deep breath.
"You can relax a little, you know. Nothing is going to happen inside these walls," Regina said, looking straight ahead.
Emma gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes. "You never know. We are in the kingdom of the Evil Queen, after all."
Regina bit back her anger, remaining stoic and composed. "So I've heard. I've heard all the stories too. They've been applied to the wrong queen, I'm afraid."
"Is that so? Burning entire villages for not being able to pay their taxes? Hanging children in the square for stealing food? Allowing your people to live in squalor while you get spoon fed in your feather bed? You trying to tell me that's not you?"
Regina crossed her arms and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. You shouldn't believe everything you hear about me, Captain." Regina heard the blonde scoff and saw her shake her head. Regina turned to face the captain who still refused to make eye contact. "It's honorable, your loyalty to Snow. But I think we both know she's not the good queen she likes to have people believe."
Finally Emma risked making eye contact. Regina felt an electricity spark. "This may be your kingdom. And you may be queen. But you're not my queen. I want nothing to do with you."
Regina smirked and looked the woman up and down. "You sure did the other night."
Emma swallowed thickly but kept her glare on Regina. "That was before I knew you were a thieving, murderous whore."
Regina's eyes fluttered as she took the bitter insult like a slap to the face. She steeled her jaw and let her arms fall to her sides. "You realize I could have you hanged for that." She saw a flash of fear come across Emma's face as Regina took another step forward into Emma's personal space. They made eye contact, Regina smiling at the fear and attraction she saw there. "Not that I need to explain myself to you, but I am no whore. It's my lovely husband who beds a different stranger every night, not me."
Emma's eyes twinkled. "Really. Then what exactly were you doing at that pub, your highness? Enjoying the ambiance?"
Regina smirked. "Oh, that's right. Snow never goes out into her kingdom. She doesn't want to see how the people under her reign are really living. It's much easier to pretend everything is perfect when she's inside her four walls living in luxury." Regina saw Emma's glare falter a bit as Regina spoke. She smiled. "You know I'm right."
Emma snapped her head up and swallowed. "You don't know what your talking about. You're jealous of her. You always have been. Now kindly leave me alone." Emma turned back to face the garden and ignored the queen who lingered another moment.
Regina just looked at the captain another moment before taking a step away from her. She could see the woman was affected by Regina's nearness. "I understand that up until now you've believed everything she's told you about me. As you should have. She is your queen, after all. That's what makes you a good captain. Loyalty. Perhaps, though, if you let yourself, you will make your own decisions about exactly what kind of queen I am."
As Regina walked off, Emma swallowed and cleared her throat. She looked at her queen who was laughing boisterously with her father. There was no doubt that Queen Regina was incredibly sexy and Emma was inexplicably drawn to her. But there was no way her queen was lying about her. Queen Snow wasn't a liar. But still... Emma decided that during this week she would do exactly as Regina suggested and find out what kind of woman she really was.
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Emma didn't know what time it was. All she knew was it was the middle of the night and she was starving. She wandered around the quiet castle in search of the kitchen. She walked down long low lit corridors, admiring the immaculate artwork that lined the walls. The castle had an unusual warmth to it, in contrast to the castle in the White Kingdom that had always seemed a bit cold and empty to Emma.
Emma heard a clattering of pots and rounded a corner into a well lit and surprisingly bustling kitchen. She saw the remnants of the feast everyone had partaken in earlier that evening. The staff was cutting off half eaten chunks of bread and tossing the untouched portions into baskets. Other workers were doing the same thing to the meat and cheese, putting the good food into crates. Emma walked in slowly and took in the scene in front of her. She watched as an old woman who appeared to be the head cook ordered the workers around, instructing them to load the full crates into the wagon out back. The old woman noticed Emma and walked over. She looked Emma up and down.
"Can I help you, sweetie?"
"What's going on here?"
The woman regarded Emma over the top of her glasses. "Packing up this food. Every day we send uneaten food from the banquets to the church to distribute to the poor."
Emma looked at her in wonder and shook her head. "You're a brave woman."
The woman furrowed her eyebrows. "Brave? Why does that make me brave?"
Emma scoffed. "Who knows what the queen would do to you if she found out."
The woman smiled and put her hands on her hips. "She wouldn't do anything. She's the one who gave me the orders to do it in the first place."
Emma's eyebrows went up in surprise. "She-she knows about this?"
The woman looked at Emma and nodded her head on understanding. "Oh yeah, you're Snow White's girl. I'm sure she's filled your head with all bunch of lies about Regina."
Emma cocked her head. "Don't you mean the queen?"
The woman chuckled and started loading fresh food onto a plate. "I mean Regina. Open your eyes, Captain. See things for how they really are. Regina is not the Evil Queen Snow has tried to make her into."
Emma took on a deep breath and gave a quick smile. She took the plate when the woman offered it to her and took a step backward. "Thank you..?"
"Call me Granny. Good night, child."
Emma nodded and left the kitchen, baffled. She tossed a piece of chicken in her mouth and sauntered back to her room, wondering id anything like that went on in the White castle. Emma started seriously questioning everything she had been told.
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Emma was in the balcony over seeing the throne room. She had kind of snuck in, because it seemed Regina was holding sentencing for recently arrested criminals. Certainly this was a good opportunity for Emma to see how cruel Queen Regina was. Emma snuck in as the Queen was sentencing someone and hid behind a pillar.
"...horse died and so I had no way to haul the goods to market. I swear I intended to pay you, but-but I had to use the money to buy a new horse, otherwise I would have gotten deeper into debt!"
"Mister Smith!" The queen boomed. 'Here it comes,' Emma thought. "As you may recall, the only reason you are indebted to the crown in the first place is because I leant you money to buy a horse in the first place!"
The man shifted, and Emma could see his hands shaking in fear. "Y-yes, your majesty."
"That was only three months ago, was it not?!"
"Y-yes your highness."
Emma could see the irritation on Regina's face. Any time now, she would explode, Emma just knew it.
"So why don't you tell me, Mister Smith, how it is I leant you enough money to buy a proper work horse, and it didn't last you three months?"
The man was shaking violently now, near tears. "Please, your highness!"
Regina glared at him from the throne. "The truth, Mister Smith! I gave you fifty gold coins to buy a work horse. What did you do with said fifty gold coins?!"
The man stammered. "I-I bought a milking cow, your majesty."
"You bought a milking cow. Milking cows only cost twenty gold coins. What did you do with the rest of the money, Mister Smith?"
The man was sobbing now. Regina's captain grabbed the man and put him in a head lock. "Speak!" He yelled.
"I-I went to the tavern!"
"You drank it," Regina said matter of factly. "You had a milking cow...pulling your cart to town, every day for three months so that you could drink yourself into a stupor. Is that what you're telling me?!"
The man just sobbed until Robin tightened his grip. "Yes! Yes, please forgive me!"
"Do you know what happens to milking cows when you don't milk them?" Regina said calmly.
The man shook his head as best he could. "No!" He gasped.
Regina leaned forward and shouted, "THEY DIE, YOU IDIOT!" She sighed as the sobbing continued and leaned back in her chair. "Do you have a family, Mister Smith?"
The man gasped again, nodding as best he could. "Yes! Yes! I-I have a wife! A-And a son! He's only three, please!"
"Well," Regina sighed. "Lucky for you, Mister Smith. I can't simply kill you. Then I'll have two more peasants begging me for money, now, won't I?"
She saw the man visibly sigh in relief. "But there is still the matter of the fifty gold coins you owe me, and I'm also going to throw in another twenty for the life of that poor milking cow." Robin let the man go, and he fell to his knees in front of the queen." That makes seventy gold coins, Mister Smith, in case you're unable to do the math. So here's what's going to happen. Every week you are going to pay me ten gold coins until you have paid me off."
Emma shook her head. She knew the man couldn't afford that, otherwise he would have paid her already. His family would starve. Evil.
"But your highness! My family! We won't be able to eat!"
Regina sighed. "I'm not giving you any more money since you seem to have a problem with using it wisely. Take your family to the church every day before sunrise. Go to the back entrance. They will make sure you have enough food to get you through. If I hear about you so much as even walking by the tavern, I will throw you on the dungeon until you are forgotten. Do you understand?"
Emma was flabbergasted. This wasn't evil at all. It was...incredibly compassionate. She watched as the man spewed his thanks and was escorted out of the throne room. Emma's attention was grabbed as a young boy was brought into the throne room next, hands bound in front of him.
"This boy was caught in the royal gardens stealing crops," Robin announced as he tossed the boy forward, causing him to stumble and fall.
Emma gritted her teeth and shook her head. She did not like this Robin. How dare he hurt that poor boy.
"Is this true, boy? Were you stealing food from me?"
He stood perfectly still, eyes on the floor in front of him. "Yes, highness."
"Do you know what the penalty is for stealing from my garden?"
He nodded. "Yes, highness. Death."
Emma's heart caught in her throat.
"And what made you so willing to risk death to steal from my garden?"
The boy stood perfectly still. "I was hungry."
Emma's heart broke.
"What about your parents? Don't they feed you?"
The boy hesitated a moment. "They're dead."
It was Regina's turn to pause. "Then where do you live?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "No where."
Emma watched to see Regina's reaction, to which there was none. She thought she saw the queen breathe out, nostril's flaring. "Well. That's neither here nor there. The fact is, you stole from me and must be punished."
Emma's heart rate picked up. Surely it would be right up the Evil Queen's alley to murder an innocent boy. She saw the boy cower.
"Since you clearly have no money, I will have to put you to work. You will work with my staff in the stables for an undetermined amount of time. You will muck the stalls, feed and water the horses, groom them and anything else the staff asks of you. Is that clear?"
The boy, head still down, nodded.
"You may sleep in one of the spare stalls and eat from my kitchen. Do you understand?"
The boy nodded. Emma was in disbelief. The queen had just essentially taken in a homeless boy. Just before the boy left the throne room, she heard Regina call out to him.
"Boy!"
He turned and looked on expectantly.
Emma could swear she saw kindness and compassion in the queen's eyes, something she never expected to see. "What is your name?"
"Henry."
Regina nodded and smiled as the boy left the throne room. Emma looked on as Regina's shoulders dropped. In a whisper, Regina replied, "Henry."
Emma watched the queen, realizing that perhaps some of the things her queen had said about Queen Regina had been exaggerated. Regina wasn't evil. Bossy, maybe. Demanding, sure. Sexy, well duh. But evil? Emma didn't think so. But there was more research to be done. Too bad the week in the Black kingdom was almost up.