Royal Blood

Chapter Thirty: Fitting Right

There stood a taller man in a guard uniform, flanked by Cora and Graham. Regina turned, shocked, gripping her cloak. "Mother? Graham? Is... Is there a problem?" Regina sputtered, trying to play the situation off. "I'm sorry I haven't made an appearance today. I'm not feeling terribly well."

Cora regarded her daughter with a frown on her face. "Then why are you dressed like that?" She asked, moving deeper into the room.

"I thought some fresh air might be good for me." Regina lied, holding tight to her bag as her eyes flicked from her mother to Graham, who seemed subdued. "I was heading off to the stables for some quiet. Not really for riding."

"I don't see why." Cora mumbled, waving her hand as a signal for the two men to leave. "You've got a fitting today." Regina frowned I confusion but didn't dare move as her mother crossed her bedroom.

"Fitting?" Fear started to bubble up in Regina's chest. She knew exactly where this conversation was headed but didn't want to be a part of it.

"Yes, Regina. You're engaged. Your wedding day is just around the corner. Don't you think you should be in a proper dress for that?" Cora quipped, walking in a loop around her daughter.

"Just around the corner?" Regina struggled to grasp the situation. "Mother, when is my wedding?"

"In a fortnight." Cora answered simply, watching as her daughter sunk down into the closest chair. "Oh don't be a fool. You're marrying a nice man who can teach you a lesson or two about being a proper wife."

Cora continued to speak but Regina's thoughts had consumed all of her consciousness. A fortnight. Fourteen days. Her mother, her beast of a mother, had planned everything behind her back and had allowed for Regina to live in oblivion for as long as possible. There was virtually no time to save Robin. To save herself.

"Oh don't be like that." Cora scolded. "It's only a few hours of your time. After you an do whatever you'd like. Although it would be polite of you to spend some time with Leo."

"A few hours of my time?" Regina whispered, looking down at her hands. "Today a few hours of my time. But tomorrow and the day after that? Mother you're planning my life! You're selling it!" That feeling of empowerment, the vibration of power surged in Regina as she stood.

"Regina!" Cora scolded, shaking her head. "What has gotten into you?"

"Sense." Regina fumed, clenching her fists in anger. "Mother, I'm sick of you dictating my life! I'm not a little girl. I'm not an invalid! I'm a grown woman with opinions of my own!"

Silence stood around us for only a moment before Cora reached for a glass of purple liquid that say on my bedside table. "You haven't taken your medicine today. You're unsteady. Calm down before you do something you regret."

"I'm not sick." Regina growled, raising her hand as Cora stepped forwards. The little girl inside her reasoned to cower, to follow her mother and stay silent. But there was a new side. A new woman that resided in the dark corners of Regina. And she had lived there since her travels with the Merry Men. This new woman didn't take orders from anyone other than herself. Didn't stand down. "You just see me as a threat." Regina snarled, stopping as a glimpse of her father flickered behind her mother.

Henry stood in the doorway, his face dropping into a disappointed frown. The anger slipped from Regina's grasp, the strength she had felt subduing until she felt weak. "Daddy." She whispered as Cora turned to see her dreaded husband. "I... I..."

"Don't." He whispered. "Just come with me. You both need to calm yourselves." Both Regina and Cora opened their mouths to protest. "Cora, you go and prepare for the fitting. Tell the women what you'd like and then continue on with whatever other business you have to attend to. I'll care for Regina. See to it that she does as you ask. But after that, she's got a free day. You can both worry about the wedding on a different date. Today's fight won't fix anything."

***

"Do you agree?" Regina whispered, walking alongside her father as they walked up to Cora's fitting room. Her father sighed, a pity filled breath of air, the only noise being the echoing of Regina's wedding shoes and her father's cloak rustling against the stone floor.

"This isn't a yes or no question, my dear. I believe that it is best for our kingdom, yes. I believe that uniting him with us will make us even more powerful. But for you?" Henry turned to take his daughters hand. "No. Of course not. I want you to fall in love. Start a life you chose. I want you to have the world and the life that I never had." He smiled weakly before looking around, walking towards a small sitting room, one usually used to receive new staff.

Regina frowned, following her father into the musty room. Dust swirled as the king and princess made an entrance. Maroon furniture stood, old and frail. Regina's nostrils flared with the scent of must and dirt. "Daddy what are we-"

"Did you find him?" Her father asked in a low, urgent voice. His eyes flicked around the room as if they might be watched. "Robin." Impatience laced the old man's voice. "Did you find him?"

Regina nodded, the memory of finding him chained and bloodied haunting her for only a moment. "Yes." She whispered. "Daddy it was awful. He... He..."

"I know." Henry nodded.

"You do?" Regina's brow furrowed. "Then... Then why haven't you done something? You're the king!" Her father's hand clapped over her mouth, his nose almost touching hers.

"Shh." He warned. "I will explain to you in good time. Right now you will go to this fitting and cooperate as if nothing has changed. Then, you will spend a normal day finishing whatever business you need to do. But you must keep an eye on him. Watch him. I have a plan and you are not to interfere. Do not tell a soul. Do you understand me?" Regina nodded, staring at her father's brown eyes, the only similarity they shared. "Good." Henry stepped back and adjusted his cloaks. "Now let's go before your mother looses her temper."

***

"She told me stories and tucked me in." The boy said proudly, twisting a strand of hay in his tiny fingers. Zelena watched, patiently listening. "She had brown hair like daddy and I."

"Where'd you meet her?" Zelena asked, handing him another strand once he had looped his strand around the last. They had been making a crown for him to wear for what had seemed the past hour. It occupied the boy enough to keep his mind away from the depth of their situation. Zelena was surprised by his maturity, his selflessness.

"At Granny's. She was sick and I made her feel better." Roland mumbled, falling into silence as he struggled with the loop. "She got lost from home." He said, taking the next piece of hay. "My daddy would never loose me." The boy whispered.