Snow White stood with stout withers between her shins. There were cranberry-colored saddlebags on her cherry appaloosa's saddle. Her long hair was up in a bun; she wore a black dress with divided skirts and bright red trim. Her groom was adjusting the stirrups, as this saddle was not one the queen typically used. It was the horse's saddle, and Snow White wasn't usually the one to ride this gelding. He was typically a horse reserved for new riders to practice on, as he was very smart and calm and never became frightened or fussed over the unexpected.
When the stirrups were fixed, she sank down into the saddle and glanced at the maid who would be coming with her. Her maid had a brown tobiano paint beneath her—another horse who rarely batted an eyelash when a train came whooshing by.
This particular maid was the biggest blabbermouth, hence why Snow had selected her for this mission. This was one of the rare times the queen said, "The bigger the mouth, the better." Though the maid was shunned from anything where Snow wished to keep any nugget from the town. And still, the wind had ears. She could not keep every servant from whispering things that upset them or to try to protect their loved ones when they felt she wished them harm.
Luckily, her army wasn't a bunch of backstabbing baboons. Even if others she hired were occasionally against her, her army had no one but her. Friendless orphans who had learned fast how to fend for themselves, she was the only person they had faith in. It was almost as if she'd removed their free will when adding them to her army. If she were one of the townsfolk, she'd certainly think it so, but it wasn't true.
Without her, they wouldn't have a job. Which may have been why they were so loyal to her. The perks of the job outweighed life on the run. Unless they decided to go traitor on her, as her axeman had. Then they were finished.
Great balls of fire vanishing their souls.
Balefire…
Snow wasn't technically "supposed" to leave the castle grounds without a bodyguard, but in this case, she'd promised to use a spell to make herself invisible from any foe. A spell it had taken her months of searching for, night after night, in her fleeting free time before she fell asleep. She'd been twenty-three when hunting the spell. She'd had to search nearly every magic book she owned, turning pages with a licked thumb and feebly-lit candle keeping her company. She'd only had one book left to search when she found it.
Nobody knew where the two women were going. The maid herself was kept in the dark.
Queen Snow did like to deliver her surprises. She had to be in control, and by excluding details and basically asking her maid to put on a blindfold and follow the sound of her haunted voice, Snow managed to nab total control of the situation. She would certainly not be surprised.
Her thumb stroked the engagement ring her darling James had given her, even as she clutched the braided reins in skilled fists. Bluebirds twittered happily over her head in a blue halo. Her posture was haughty—queenly and knowing animals tended to gravitate toward her and do things for her not because she used magic but because they innately liked her.
The fact was she didn't like most humans much, but she adored bluebirds, deer, rabbits, chipmunks…well, all the creatures in the forest that surrounded her.
James had been special. To her. In a way no one else could be—and not just for the adult chemistry. Most humans naturally repelled her. She simply didn't have it in her to care about them. Though she had—in her youth—catered to some people. In the way a student caters to a teacher. She could remember, at a time, wanting Reul Ghorm to like her. And feeling Reul Ghorm's indifference watering her like a watering can with sullied dirt.
Reul Ghorm had seen the then-princess as a tool to shape the country how Reul Ghorm wanted. The fairy had never viewed her as a human being worthy of emotions. Snow had been young, confused, and a lot less cynical when she was a kid.
But when she'd finally put her finger on Reul Ghorm's apathy…when she'd finally put thoughts to the feelings nudging her for a couple of years, the six-year-old had lost some of her faith in humanity.
It hadn't occurred to her for a while that she hadn't actually liked the fairy either. It had taken some more growing up to realize this. Regardless, she'd been Snow's advisor.
Besides, it wasn't like Snow would have been more affectionate to a different fairy advisor. And Reul had been smart.
But not smart enough to keep her nose out of Snow's business and keep her dirty wings off James. Snow sneered, recalling the moment the fairy had died on her orders.
Her sneer had the maid fidgeting. It slowly dawned on her the maid might be frightened Snow intended to murder her.
The realization nearly caused Snow to roll her eyes. This maid was extremely good at cleaning, and without her, the castle would be a lot dustier. She not only did the job well—she also cleaned seven rooms in the timeframe it took Snow's other skilled maids to clean one. Far as Snow knew, this maid had done nothing worthy of the chopping block, but perhaps she'd overheard Snow whispering something and paraded around town, repeating it on her day off.
Either way, Snow couldn't believe the maid thought she'd kill her, yet she had to admit to herself, the axeman's death was still fresh in the minds of her servants, having only occurred the day before.
Moving the reins to one hand, the Queen reached with her left hand for the maid. "Take my hand," she commanded in a clear and concise voice. The last syllable was incredibly warm and followed by a happy smile, on account of one of the birds perching on her shoulder.
However, the maid thought the smile was directed at her. The smile visibly soothed her fears. Tension oozed off her face and out of her shoulders. She looked like she'd just set a pregnant ewe down after carrying it up a hill on her shoulders.
David probably had done that many times, Snow thought with a mental scowl, though her outward appearance radiated the bliss of being so close to the bluebirds.
The maid accepted the proffered hand. Snow clutched hers then turned serious eyes upon her guards.
"I need someone to cut down five giant mushrooms." She was referring to the ones lurking around town that were about nine-foot tall. She had seen a small one before—it was only 5'0". She'd been taller. Most were around nine foot, though. "When I return, I'd like some mushroom soup. We may return tonight or tomorrow, but it's also possible we won't be back for several weeks," she warned, "but I want that mushroom soup the night I return."
Her dutiful guards saluted her.
In the next instant, she vanished into black fog with her maid by her side.
They arrived at an island surrounded by clear blue waters. The maid glanced around. At that moment, something released a blast of fire from the window. Queen Snow's bitter red lips curved up maliciously. Her hard eyes were crinkled but had a steel glint hovering over them.
Dismounting their horses, they didn't bother to tie them off, but they removed the saddles. The horses took a couple of happy sniffs before racing each other around the island.
When the women stepped into the castle, the maid's wary expression melted to one of disgust. There were nests and dust. Lying large on the floor was a crumpled dragon skin or perhaps a snakeskin—Snow wasn't sure Lily had been here long enough to shed.
Another fire blast lurched out a different window in their line of sight. The silence of the maid had Snow inferring the maid was too nervous to issue her typical round of questions. Instead of chattering away, she kept her lips close together, very small, and her eyes wide open. She was craning her neck in attempt to take everything in. Snow would've pegged her to be one to ask, "What is that thing?"
Queenly, Snow led her servant into the next room. There was Maleficent's daughter, dressed as a dragon. Smoke sifting from her nostrils.
The maid behind Snow was shaking in fright. Thinly smiling, Snow murmured reassuringly, "All she requires is a little belly tickle." Green magic began to sift from Snow's fingers as her hands faced each other and she began to craft a spell.
"Oh," blurted the maid. "I thought it was a male."
"Boys are more even-tempered," Snow corrected. "It's the female dragons which can be calm one moment and bite your head off the next."
Questioningly, starting to sound like her unafraid self, the maid pondered, "Do you raise dragons at the castle or something? Or did your mother?"
"You mean Reul Ghorm," corrected Snow. "But no." She hurled the green magic at Lily's belly. "When I was seventeen, I was obsessed with dragons. Read up about them and visited several dragon trainers." The dragon transformed into a raven-haired woman clad in armor complete with a helmet. "I asked them dozens of questions. I actually was considering breeding them at the time," she confessed quietly, "but right when I turned eighteen, I visited a trainer and explained what I'd like to do. He told me it was doable, but I'd have to give up the crown. And I mean, I did take a husband, but no one doubts who the ruler of this country is." She grinned widely. "Not my husband.
"I was always planning to be queen. Never wanted anything more. Having a dragon is alright," she beckoned at the armored woman, "but she's already trained. I hardly bred her." Then she giggled, picturing selecting a mate for Maleficent.
Lily strode to her master. "She's still trapped," she promised. "No way to escape."
"Yes, and me and my maid would love a little word with her. But how does she seem?"
Lily thought for a minute. "Determined," she decided slowly. "She hasn't lost her hope yet."
"Hmm." Snow pressed her lips together then rubbed. Parting them, she touched the bottom of her top one with the tip of her tongue. "Let me see if I can work some…magic." She poofed herself and the maid into Emma's room.
There the blonde stood. "Mom!" she exclaimed, running into Snow's arms.
Snow put an invisible barrier between herself and the blonde. The maid was still behind her. Both watched Emma crash into the wall then sink to her knees. Yet, Lily was correct. There was a stubbornness about her jaw and her eyebrow had a challenge in their arch.
"Must we do this again?" the queen lectured. "I have no children. Even if I had one…you're my age."
"No," Emma implored earnestly. "Time was frozen for twenty-eight years, or you'd be—"
Snow couldn't believe the audacity of this woman! "I most certainly am not!" she barked. Wanting nothing less than for this blonde weirdo to put an age above…fifty…to herself.
For Pete's sake! She was only thirty-two! How dare this imbecile—this lunatic—try to make her…was it seventy?
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the math begging to be completed in her head. She could do the addition easily but didn't want to. Please don't let her brain finish this sentence…
"I never want children," she raged, but she studied the woman's face. Her age peer. Snow realized the woman did indeed look like an amalgamation of her and James. She had blonde hair—though lighter than his. Her eyes and face shape were indisputably Snow's, but there was something about her features which distinctly reminded Snow of James.
Could it be? Was she knocked out for a year? Did she give birth to his child? Was time frozen for twenty-eight years, enabling their child to grow up without her?
No, her mind was playing tricks on her. Hoping against hope. Perhaps James had taken a lover who looked so much like Snow prior to their first meeting…or his father had. Maybe she was James' sister.
And her mother had filled her head with this crackpot idea from birth in order to manipulate her child into brainwashing the Queen into thinking she was her and James' child.
Well, actually, she realized dully, from her eighteenth or nineteenth birthday. Or perhaps when Snow and David were wed. After all, she seemed to deem David was her father.
But she seemed more the child of James than his twin. Seeing the fire in her eyes, the fight she held fiercely in them.
David's fight and faith in human goodness had been wiped out many years ago. He'd accepted that probably no humans were good. It nearly made Snow laugh to think how easy he was to brainwash.
The woman she was staring at wouldn't be easy to brainwash, but she was plainly insane.
Maybe she'd been an orphan who came up with this harebrained idea on her own. Put two and two together and got seventy-six.
Scowling darkly, Queen Snow thought, I am not her mother!
"So…what is this title you've been using?" she hissed in a snakelike manner before transforming herself into an emerald-eyed cobra. She did not break eye contact.
"I'm the Savior, and I'm destined to figure out how to solve this mess," Emma answered. She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder. "Where's Henry?"
The Queen transformed back into her normal self. "Henry?" she repeated in a baiting manner.
"Yes. Henry. What'd Isaac do to Henry?"
Rising up in rage, Snow retorted coolly, "I have never heard of either of those cretins." Daintily returning her heels to the floor, she murmured, "Kindly do not mention either man again.
"Now," she continued, removing the invisible barrier and pacing the length of the room, "I'd like you to tell me what this 'Savior' business is about."
"Well," Emma wet her lips, "you and David had two children…"
"Two children!" thundered Queen Snow in outraged disbelief. She touched her childfree belly with more fear than she wanted. "I never! No such thing!" It unnerved her how certain and unapologetic this swan princess seemed.
"Me and a son who is currently a baby. But I'm a product of True Love. You and David gave birth to me at the cusp of a curse, so you made me a Savior. Neal isn't a Savior though." (Recoiling, the Queen squeaked, "Neal? I'd never name a son that!") "He has no magic powers—"
This was worse than Queen Snow had dreamed. "You have magic powers?" At the speed of light, she used a spell on Emma that would make it impossible for her to use any spells. For the time being, at least, but she kinda wanted to sever Emma's ties to magic permanently.
However, that required a potion and roughly four months of waiting for the ingredients to finish merging properly.
This was a real dilemma for a queen!
Up till Emma continued with a bitter note in her voice, "I don't know how to work them. Geez. Do you really think I'd still be in this bloody tower if I could magick myself out?"
"Oh, you're like Regina!" the queen brightened.
"Hmm?" Emma blinked with obvious interest.
"The kid has purple magic. It only activates when she is about to die. She's too much of a goody-goody to hone her skills," Queen Snow sneered, "or perhaps she can't trust anyone to teach her and doesn't know how to teach herself. Either way, she only does magic when she's about to die."
"Wow, that information is very…unexpected…" Emma became lost in thought, probably recalling tips of things her real mother had told her. Perhaps she'd heard of Regina before…
She was very obviously a foreigner. Her accent gave it away. And still she could not shake the wonder if James' shepherd father had traveled far away and met Emma's mother. Had a spot of fun, perhaps resulting in her death during childbirth…and she was probably the spitting image of Snow.
Snow wondered if Emma Swan had glimpsed her signs. That Regina was wanted for treason.
"You think you're mayonnaise?" the Queen asked. Emma blinked out of her thoughts. "Born to smooth things over? Perhaps," she uttered silkily, "you think you're the martyr doomed to enable me and my husband to have a better marriage?"
"Don't you love him?"
The queen snorted. "David? No." A faraway look captured her eyes. So much had happened since that letter promising Regina was hers—from Will, who Robin had no idea loved the Queen—that Snow honestly couldn't recall if she'd already told Emma the truth.
But if she had, Emma had suffered enough brain damage that she didn't remember either. That womp on the head with the tree or whatever-it-was the paramedic had said.
"I loved his twin, James. Because of Regina, James is dead." Comprehension began to dawn in Emma's green eyes. "So," Snow informed coyly, making her posture haughty and pretty, crossing one leg over the other and posing. Even with the bun concealing most of the beauty of her hair, there was no denying what a gorgeous woman she was. "I took David's heart and made him mine. Since I couldn't marry James, I married David. But no children for us. I sealed up my womb with a potion."
Emma's jaw dropped. "You did what, Mah-oh. Wait. This is fiction from I—" Hurriedly, Emma changed the subject. "I mean, none of this is real, so." She sat on the edge of the well and whistled merrily. Very obviously trying to keep from talking anymore.
"What is it you're determined to accomplish?" pondered Snow. With a sarcastic curtsy, she added, "Oh Mighty Savior."
Emma didn't answer at first. She merely eyed Queen Snow speculatively before stretching languidly then gnawing the left side of her mouth. Slowly, she muttered, more to herself than Snow, "Well, I've got to figure out how to outsmart Isaac for sure…and find Lily's father…after we get out of this stupid novel."
The Queen decided to let the fact that Emma said "his" name go. The unknown man Emma blamed for doing "something" to this "Henry". But she could not let her calling Snow's reality a "stupid novel" go.
Which was why she punished her by temporarily sending her to the dream room with flames.
A dream room which would make Emma Swan relive her worst regrets and make her long for death when she awoke several hours later.
The Queen accomplished this by forcing an apple bite with the sleeping curse attached to the back of Emma's throat. If it'd been the whole apple and if Emma ate it of her own free will, Emma would stay in the sleep still as death until True Love kissed her on the lips. Because she only had one bite and the bite was forced, it'd work exactly how Queen Snow wanted it to this very moment.
The swan collapsed to the ground.
Queen Snow snapped her fingers; she and her maid returned to Lily. Lily became a dragon again on Snow's persuasion. Then the two women strode outside sans guard.
"Come," she ordered the maid as they mounted their horses. "We have some errands to run before returning to the palace," and they left the island together.
