Spoiler! :
~Regina
Queen of Hearts, we finally meet.
I stood silently as Lordie talked to her about past. About something they shared and that I knew about, but what happened before my time.
I stood silently as he introduced us, and locked my eyes on hers. Stupid girl, I thought. She should've known how risky it was to look back into my eyes. She hated me - she didn't even know me, yet she hated me - but I saw not even a hint of recognition. Still, I focused on her memories, finding the one so many years ago.
*
"You will leave the dresses here. Now go."
Thin dark haired girl of maybe sixteen, in olive dress, stood back up from the bow, hugging herself. Her skin almost glowed in the poor light of the hall, closer to the colour of walls than that of the skin of other people - but when she looked up, she didn't seem as fragile as one would expect.
"Your highness," she said, "I was promised gold."
"Now I promise you life. Leave before I change my mind."
The princess chuckled - the queen smiled a little. Guards looked down, but showed no emotion. The girl didn't take her eyes off the King.
"I spent countless nights awake. We gave away what we had to get those fabrics. I was promised payment - a king should know to keep his promises."
The King got up. The guards caught the girl, but she didn't look away. The King slowly walked over to her - he was much taller, and now her breathing got shallower and faster.
"Did you," he whispered, "just lecture me?"
She was shaking - the princess could see that, and the King could probably feel it, he stood close enough - as the guards forced her on her knees, keeping her arms behind her back. This time, she did look away; but the King clutched her chin, forcing her to look back up. Tears made her eyes look bigger and darker - but she didn't let them fall.
"Listen closely, little slut. Put your eyes and your tongue where they belong and apologise, if you wish to keep them."
For a long moment, everything was silent - even the sounds from the outside seemed to have disappeared. Then the girl looked down.
"Forgive me," she said through clenched teeth. The King's hand let go of her face, and she didn't manage to stop the tears this time.
The King smirked.
"Tell me, if you know so good. What other lectures do you have?"
The girl looked at the guards, and the rest of the royal family. None of them did anything. None of them moved, and the King continued. "Tell me, and you will get your gold."
She looked up again, with every remaining bit of colour disappearing from her face. Everyone knew there was no real way out - she could stay silent and be charged with disrespecting the King, or she could answer and get charged with treason. Either way, dead by dawn. For a moment, she was silent too. Then she but her lip and spoke.
"The streets of the Poor District are covered in s***," she said, "and dead bodies of those daring to speak up. Merchants of the Middle lie and play little kings and queens, practicing what they have of power over those under them. But neither of those can compare to the sewer you call the Rich District, in which the fat a**es of the court enjoy their little palaces, plotting rebellions and killing the wh***s whom they managed to get pregnant under their wives' noses. You think you're the King and Queen because you were born ones - that's the saddest, stupidest mistake you can make!"
"Enough."
"Kings are made," she hissed, "from words and wit and war and experience, and I'll rather shove a knife through my heart than bow to anyone who can't understand it."
One guard let her go the same moment the other hit her - she fell, her head hitting the marble floor, and she didn't get up, her eyes closed and her breathing barely noticeable. The King's leg turned her enough to see her face again.
"Take to the dungeons. I don't want her alive next time I get there."
The guards picked her up like a doll with broken strings.
"My lord."
The man speaking up separated from the shadows behind the thrones, not raising his voice yet perfectly understandable to everyone in the hall. The princess frowned, but no one said anything. The King's eyebrow arched.
"You promised her life," he continued, soft smile playing on his lips and something shining in dark eyes under messy hair black as night.
"She offended the Crown."
"With all due respect, she did no such thing."
"Where were you for past few minutes?"
"Where I belong - in the shadows of your highness. The girl answered your question, my lord. She said she wouldn't bow to anyone who doesn't understand what she said - she did bow to you. It was a compliment. Poorly phrased, surely, but you can hardly sentence a peasant to death for bad education. Leave her outside - you will never see her again, and she shall speak of your mercy before disappearing and getting forgotten by everyone."
*
I found myself shaking on the inside, holding the edge of the table Yamani lied on so tight that my fingers turned white. It lasted for barely a few seconds - no one noticed anything, and Lordie was talking again. Yamani had the memory, but she wasn't aware of it. If she ever recalls, she'll recall a woman who fulfilled her own words - I saw no good reason to delete her memories of that day.
But then again, that wasn't what made me lose myself the most.
Lordie was there. I could never tell it from my own memories - I was unconscious and unaware of just how close I came to dying that day - but Yamani saw it from the protective of princess shielded by guards and crown, and her memories told a story as clearly as if I read it from a book. I could feel Lordie's eyes on me, and I nodded to whatever he wanted.
"I leave it to you then," he said. Turning to pass me, he looked down and smiled a little - he was thinking of the baby, I could tell - as I struggled to keep a straight face. I was good at it, I was sure no one could notice just how I felt, but I couldn't stop wondering. Did he know? To think it was a coincidence, well..that would've been stupid, wouldn't it? He was smarter than that. Was I followed, all the time until he got the throne?
I jumped a little as Yamani suddenly broke free - I automatically grabbed the nearest knife, yet Lordie reacted faster, moving from one place to another in matter of milliseconds and making Yamani fade again. I watched, and wondered if he could tell something was wrong from the way I looked. Why didn't I ever check his memories of that day? Could I've really been so stupid? From words and wit and war and experience. I fell into my own trap, and it took me years to realise that.
"Not the cell," I said, and the guards stopped. Regaining my posture, I turned to the Wheel - round construction of steel, movable by pulling the right levers, with chains to restrain a person in the form of a cross - and Lordie's expression turned darker.
"I never saw you using that," he said silently. I didn't reply - I couldn't manage talking to him along with everything else.
"I want her unable to move," I said to the guards. "So be sure to tighten them properly. Get me.. Get me everything. And then leave us." I looked around, catching the eyes of the young apprentice I've noticed before. The dungeon master stood next to him. "Except for you two. Take your shoes off and stay silent. I don't want to hear breathing or a voice other than my own and hers," I gestured at Yamani, still unconscious in the hands of one of the guards. Then I turned to Lordie, who shrugged and said nothing. "Good. And take off all the unnecessary clothes."
The guard looked at me hesitatingly.
"My..Queen?"
"Clothes," I snapped. "The pieces of fabric she wears, resembling mine only less pretty. Get her accessible, but not distracting enough to stop those two from doing their jobs. Now. I'm not planning on watching the show for hours."
I turned to the table of instruments as they did what I asked, and gently moved my fingers over each of them. Unlike the room itself - which had to give the prisoners the taste of what awaits for them even before their turn came - they were taken care of to the tiniest of details. The blades shined, reflecting my eyes as I thought of what to use first, the pins and needles almost called my name. I smiled at the bottles of potions and poisons, on boiling acid and steel bars just waiting to be heated by the flames, and glanced at larger mechanisms, those requiring skill as much as strength. Later, I thought to myself. As she starts thinking there is nothing worse.
I heard a silent noise, and turned around just in time to see the Red Queen opening her eyes. Tied up like that, unable to move and, I was sure, already feeling unwelcome pressure in her limbs, with hair falling over her face, she looked so young. I wasn't much older than her - but still, I found myself thinking of her as of a child. What the hell do you even want with the throne? You never even sat on it, and it already managed to corrupt you.
"Good morning, princess."
"F*** off, b****."
I smirked.
"You will call me by proper title by the time I'm done with you."
"Dream on."
"You hate me so much," I said almost gently, "yet you don't even know anything about me. Is it just because I married a man you happened to dislike? Because you know," I turned to the instruments, glancing at Lordie standing by the door, "that would just be stupid of you."
Yamani was quiet for a few seconds, as I made sure I was picking the right knife for the table in perfect silence.
"You could be his daughter," she said then. I froze for a moment, wondering what Lordie thought of those words. Then a smile slowly crept onto my face, and I turned to her with a thin, marvelously sharpened blade in my hand.
"I could," I said lazily. "But as you see, I happened to be in somewhat better position, wouldn't you agree?" She said nothing. "It indeed is relative."
"What the f***," she muttered, "you like listening to your own voice as much as he likes his f****** reflection."
I stepped closer to her, touching her lips with the knife - blood appeared immediately; they really did a good job sharpening it.
"Learn to shut up," I said, pulling it down and then poking her chest with it. She gave me a look which would've turned me to ashes if only looks could burn. The shirt she had, thin and right by her skin, was starting to annoy me more than I thought it would. I drew a line down to her navel, and she whined silently. Taking a step back, I glanced at the dungeon master.
"Get me salt," I said, not missing the looks all three men gave me. I didn't need to see Yamani's face to know how she felt. But Lordie looking at me with something that was probably only to me visible as concern.. I didn't like seeing that. I wondered if he'd leave if I asked him to go away.
I tried hard to keep my face expressionless as the salt arrived, using the time to make a few more cuts on Red Queen's skin. She didn't make a sound, but I could see her struggling to keep silent - and I almost enjoyed the way it looked like.
Artwork, I recalled hearing, back in the days when I was still an apprentice myself. The place I worked in wasn't in the castle, and the prisoners I had were as close to wearing a crown as street mice, but nevertheless, the principle was always the same. You are drawing a picture, and blade is your pen, my tutor at the time told me, see it as canvas, let the blood act as ink and have nothing but cries to inspire you. Noises distract, not only you but the prisoner as well - and you want them focused like they've never been focused before.
I held the knife in the bucket of salt as they brought it to me, for countless times before adding the dark red lines to her skin - it grew paler with every new cut, getting even lighter than my own. That's an accomplishment. I knew exactly how she felt - how each of the shiny red lines burned, how strong was the need to move, to try to get the salt out, to clean and cover up.. And how agonizing it was to be unable to move a muscle.
"Now tell me," I said silently, not even paying attention anymore if anyone was in the room with us. "Where is your little army hiding?"
She looked up at me, barely lifting her head.
"F*** off," she muttered.
"Are you able to say anything else?"
"F****** b****. I'll kill you. And your b*****d kid."
I almost cursed myself. Ignoring the need to jump away from the fire, I brought the knife to the little flame burning next to the iron bars, and then pressed it to one of her wounds. She inhaled sharply, but stopped herself before making a sound. Scream, you little royal brat.
"How do you know?"
She stayed silent - for a moment, I thought she's just that rebellious, but then I realized she doesn't want to risk crying and prefers shutting up. I had to give her credit for that - not many people, even men much stronger than her, managed to stay so silent for so long. Catching her chin, I stared into her eyes. So proud, never looking away, I couldn't stop myself from thinking.
A figure by the statue, whispered words, alliances made, an army of spiders. I pulled myself out of her memories. Erillian. After everything?
*
Hours passed before any of us said a word again.
She kept her eyes tightly closed - without a doubt, to hold tears - and her teeth clenched, but one touch to her skin was enough to tell; she was shaking, her muscles tightening and loosening without her control, and she could still do nothing about it.
Her arms and legs, chest and most of her stomach were covered in cuts - detailed, carefully drawn deep cuts, sealed with fire and sewed with long, thick curved needles and dark red thread.
By the time I got to the sewing part, she was breathing deeply and fast, trying to calm herself so her skin wouldn't stretch. Hurting yourself, dearie. Just hurting yourself even more.
Then I took the needle.
"Bow, little sewing whore, and kiss the floor I'm walking on," the voice of Yamani Marble's father crept in my mind as I picked the suiting thread. My mother always bowed - always. I'd done my share. I was never planning to bow to anyone again. Never.
I thought of my mother, piercing the skin of my imprisoned princess. Again and again. Until she did cry, and until her eloquent cursing left her lips, until every of her wounds was sewed just tightly enough to make it hard to breath deeply without breaking the threads.
"Yamani," I called. She opened her eyes, taking a short, shaking breath. She was probably the strongest person I've met so far - which, of course, only meant I'd have to use more drastic measures to break her.
"I changed my mind." Her voice was silent, so silent I could barely hear it even though the room was more quiet than a graveyard.
"Have you?"
She slowly nodded.
"I won't kill you yet," she said then, her desperate attempt to control her voice obvious in every word. "I'll wait till you give birth to the little freak and then f****** burn him in front of you."
I slapped her this time. Just plain regular, I-lost-control slap. Then I turned my face cold again, and gestured the dungeon master.
He took two thick pieces of steel, connected with a large screw, and slowly adjusted it around the princess's leg. Her breathing got even faster, and though she couldn't really even move an inch, I could tell she's now desperately trying to free herself.
"Cuts, no matter how painful," I said, "are one thing, done relatively quickly no matter how long I made it seem - but to have something crushing your bones slowly..." I made a break, glaring back at her. She was scared. Genuinely, drastically scared. She was hurt more than she even thought she can handle herself, but fear cut deeper than any blades. And compared to that one now, in the expectation of something which threatened to be more painful than anything one's felt in a lifetime, no fear was truly fear. I gave her a little smile, taking my time to run through all her memories. It was somewhat funny, really, that Lordie has allowed me to do this. After all, I only needed a good enough look to tell him answers to all his questions - everything was hidden in memories, if one knew how to look, sometimes even the future.
"No one threatens my family," I said. "If I was around to prove that to your parents, I would've." I nodded to the dungeon master. "You can start."
This time, she did scream. She tried to hold it - she tried to hold the tears too - but no one was that strong. She did scream, and she did cry, and she whispered pleads to stop it whenever I'd say my assistant to catch his breath. I stood next to my instruments, looking at her, not saying a word.
Long after we were done with her left leg, right arm and at least a few ribs, she was still crying - and I turned my back to them, only once again letting my voice break the silence.
"Don't let her sleep," I said. "I'll be back in the morning."
*
I woke up to find Lordie looking at me.
I still want to talk to him, I thought, reconsidering it after a moment. I had some questions he needed to answer - but I also had some plans to hold on to, and Yamani wasn't going to be there forever.
"What have you done to her, Reggy?"
"Good morning to you too," I smirked. "Let's say I tried a few different things. She should be proud of herself, you know. It's not easy to be that strong."
There was something like surprise in his eyes.
"Will you kill her?"
I got up, dressed up again and did my hair, all the time feeling his glare on me.
"There are better things to do than to kill," I said then in a soft voice, smiling at him before I left the room.
*
As I unchained her, she fell to the floor like a puppet. She was alive - I could tell by the breathing, and by the fact her blood still flew - but I knew she couldn't have moved even if she wanted to. The cuts I did, after a while, would heal - the broken bones..it would take longer, but I was sure there was someone able to fix her out there. There was only one more matter to deal with.
I sat down next to her, putting her head in my lap, and gently stroked her hair. Then I took a glass of water a guard offered me, and sent everyone out of the room again.
"Yamani," I said silently as we were left alone. I dripped some water in her mouth - she licked her lips and opened her eyes a little, moaning as she saw me but not saying a word. Finally smart enough to keep your mouth shut. "Wake up, princess. I'm almost done with you."
"Done," she muttered. "What kind of person are you?"
I smiled a little. Don't you remember me, little royal brat? I'm just the seamstress's daughter, who talks back to the King and leaves the castle unharmed.
"I'm a person who's been through a lot," I said instead. "I'm a person good in what she does. I'm a person married to another person, who must fight for the throne though it's rightfully his. In fact, I am much like your lover, am I not?"
"You're not close to a hundredth piece of what Haigha is," she replied. Not one bad word so far. Impressing.
"Ah, right. I forget that you love him," I said, suppressing a victorious grin. "It's a funny thing, love. It messes with your judgement. Don't you think?"
"F*** off."
And here we go again. She was burning up, probably in pain all over, unable to move most parts of her body, and yet she still talked back to me. The worst part wasn't the talking back - I could deal with that - the worst part was the fact that she reminded me of myself ten years ago, and I hated it more than anything.
"A Queen should know better," I said. "A Queen should understand never to give away her heart. You're the heir to the throne, Yamani Marble."
"Then you're a traitor."
I snickered again - I did that a lot lately. Could it be any easier? It's like fishing a whale in a glass of water.
"Lordie could do more than you and your sister together," I said, " if there wasn't for one tiny issue." I waited for her to ask, but she only tiredly blinked a few times. "Me," I said simply. "He wanted a pawn, but he got me. He loves me, princess. He loves me, and he trusts me, and I could stab his heart and take his place in matter of minutes. Imagine me ruling Wonderland, princess. Imagine me sitting on the throne you so much wish to sit on." I put my finger over her lips as she tried to talk this time. "Hush, dearie. Let me get to my point. I don't love Lordshire. I need him. To think Haigha loves you, just because he said so.. My princess, a Queen can't allow herself to fall for such cheap tricks. He says - he writes - that he loves you, but he is not here now, is he? Do you think my soldiers killed him?" I shook my head as a hint of tears appeared in her eyes. What, THAT makes her cry so easily? "My soldiers returned. He fled. He left, back to the HQ and to your little army, because he knows they will follow him if they think it's for you."
"He would never betray me."
"Oh, wouldn't he? Yamani.. You will never understand. You were born as a princess, you never had to seduce one. Power was offered to you on a silver plate, and if there wasn't for your sister, you would've gotten it. But Haigha, and me? No, not us. We were born far from power, but we never intended to die that way. It changes you, once you taste it. You become addictive. If you suggest to stop your fighting and just run and live free, he will decline. He will say Wonderland needs you, he will say Lordie and your sister would destroy it, but he won't mean it. He's as close to the throne as he can be, princess. Almost as close as I am. And you don't even know how much you're being played - you don't even see the bigger picture. Just imagine, my Queen of Hearts. Imagine killing Lordie and me, imagine getting rid of your sister. And then imagine one move of the guard, and prison cell till the rest of your short life. And you know who'd be sitting on the throne? A King who could do everything by saying a word."
*
I observed from my window as they took her away. I had given her a sleeping potion not much after I held her my speech, and ordered the guards to take her away and leave her at the edge of the forest.
King's orders, I told them, and they obeyed without a word. Put aside that the King knew nothing about it yet.
I didn't like keeping secrets from Lordie - especially not secrets like that one, but I knew he'd never really understand my move. Not until the Red Queen gets left alone, and her lover desperate enough to do something stupid. I smiled a little sad smile. So many lies.. She truly, deeply loved him, I could tell even without reading her memories. And if he was half like me, he loved her as well, and even if he tried he couldn't change it anymore. Yet, wanting power? That was as ridiculous as to say I'd stab Lordie's heart.
But the princess was hurt. She was vulnerable and sad, alone and far from everything and everyone - and I was convincing. I remembered the look in her eyes as she started taking my words to her heart. I almost - almost felt sorry for her. Then I focused, and I did one of the most careful interventions ever.
She will remember everything I said, and it will stay sticked in her mind so strong that she won't be able to let go of it. But she will never recall that it was me who said it. She will follow the voice of her mind, never knowing it was my voice she once heard. She will remember, and she will trust herself - and she will break his silent heart. And when she realises what has been done, when she realises it's already too late...then she will blame it on herself, and break her own as well.
***
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