The Heart's Desire

Chapter 8

When Emma was out doing her chores the next morning Killian snuck into her room, to get a better since of her.

On the wall by her bed hung a trade route map. Some of routes on there were part of the maps original design, but he could tell by closely looking at it, she had her own ideas for trade routes. Which gave him a new idea.

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Emma had just finished ironing the sheets when she came into the kitchen, to ask Regina what else needed to be done.

"You can go upstairs and clean up the Lord's study." Regina told Emma.

Emma was afraid to go upstairs, she didn't want to risk being alone in a room with him again. She didn't dare to tell anybody what had happened at the manor.

"I'm afraid I might disturb him." Emma said, hoping she would give her any other job in the château.

"You'll have to come up with a better excuse than that. Lord Killian left early this morning, at dawn." Regina told her.

"Without saying when he would be back." Said Regina's husband, Robin, "And I say we enjoy his absence, as long as it last." He said, as he was playing a game of cards by himself on the table.

"Something, Robin, is perfect at. As you can see." Regina said, as she was kneading some dough to bake fresh bread with.

"A butler must keep busy." Robin said to Regina, as he placed another card on the table.

Emma enjoyed watching the little tiffs, Robin and Regina had with each other. She could tell that they truly did care about each other no matter what crossed their path. She could see the same look love in their eyes, that her parents had for each other.

Emma had gone upstairs to Killian's private chambers. She hoped she would finish cleaning them before he came back from, wherever he was.

She began to clean and organize his desk. As she was cleaning out the drawers she came across something that made her heart skip a beat.

It was a silver mask, just like Killian had wears. She assumed it must be a spare since, Killian had refused to let anyone see his scarred face. The only exception of anyone seeing his true face was, his sister-in-law, Gothel. And rumor was it was because she was the one to pull him from the fire.

Emma couldn't help but think about him, and how he confused her. Especially since that night at the manor. One moment she thought there might be some kind of humanity in him, and the next he was the monstrous beast everyone said he was. She didn't know whether to feel hateful towards him, or sorry for him. She wondered if their was truly was any good in him.

She held the mask gently in her hands as if it were made of glass instead of silver. She stood in front of a mirror and started to put it together face hoping, that maybe she could have a better understanding of him.

"Emma." A voice took her by surprise causing her to drop the mask to the floor. Luckily it was only Alice. "I didn't scare you did I?" She asked

"No, of course not." Emma said to Alice.

"Agitation can change the scent of someone's skin. Did you know that?" Alice said.

Emma just stood there quietly, hoping Alice wouldn't see the mask on the floor.

But Alice did see the mask, "You wanted to try it on." She said. Emma was embarrassed by the situation, and all she could do was nod her head. "And, what did you think?" Alice asked her.

"I felt like a stranger to myself." Emma said.

"That's not enough to understand him." Alice said.

"I prefer not to understand him. He's a monster."

"He's my uncle." Alice said.

Emma was taken by surprised by what she said. It Killian was her uncle, that meant Gothel was her mother. She found it hard to believe that someone as sweet as Alice was the daughter of someone as intimidating as Gothel.

"Forgive me. I had no idea." Emma said as went to put the smooth silver mask back in the drawer.

"I have no intention of justifying him. I know he does terrible things. But I also know he wasn't always that way. Come with me, there's something I wanna you to see." Alice said.

Emma followed Alice down to the first floor of the château towards the burned east side. Emma looked up on the ceiling and could see some slight scorch marks on the ceiling. It appears the fire only destroyed the rooms above the first floor and barely made it to the ground level before being put out.

They came upon two large glass doors, and Alice took out a key to unlock them. "This is best place to understand who my uncle was, and who he became."

Emma stepped inside what appeared to be a greenhouse, or what used to be a greenhouse. It appeared no one had attended to it in years. There were dead leaves all along the ground, and most of the plants appeared to be dead.

"This place used to be the jewel of the château. And you know who took care of it? He did, my uncle Killian. With the help of his wife Milah. He loved her and she loved him." Alice said animatedly, "He would travel the world and buys gifts, jewels for Milah, special seeds for the greenhouse, exotic essences for my perfumes, and even gifts for the villagers and servants. And then... when Milah died, everything changed. My uncle Killian, life at the château, the greenhouse. Now I only come here to find the essences for my perfumes. You know sometimes I think I need more and better things for my creations."

"I'm sorry about your uncle, but no degree of mourning can justify what he does." Emma told her.

Then Alice grabbed a beaker from off a table and told Emma, "Sniff this."

Emma did as she was told, "It's horrible." The smell reminded of rotten pork.

"Precisely." Alice said to her. Then Alice poured something from another beaker into the rotten meat beaker. "Now try it."

Emma was a little hesitant but smelled anyway. "It's wonderful." She said, it reminded Emma of the smell of snowdrops in the spring.

"You see people are not that different from perfumes. Sometimes it just the matter of the right mixture. Something that is quite awful or horrible, can change into something quite extraordinary." Alice said.

It definitely got Emma to thinking, that maybe there was a chance of some good from Killian. But it didn't last long because something else had caught Emma's eye, or rather someone.

"I'm sorry I have to go." Emma said before running out of the side doors of the greenhouse.