The Evil Queen's Daughter - SEQUEL

Chapter 9

Nila opened the doors to the balcony, and sat on the edge, hanging her legs over the side. She wasn't afraid of falling now, a benefit which came with learning magic. Sighing, she placed her head in her hands and drew in a few deep breaths to stable herself. So much had happened over the past few months, and she'd rarely had much time with herself. Or her mother. And now it was even busier with Cora here too.

Though she loved her grandmother, Nila couldn't understand how her mother could ever forgive what happened to Daniel. This was the same woman that spent decades trying to kill Snow White for telling a secret, when the real villain here was her mother. And now she was expected to sit at the same table as her? Watch as she opened Robin into the family with open arms when that wasn't in the cards for her beloved father? No, it wasn't fair. Snow paid for her mistake, and lost her daughter for twenty-eight years as a consequence. Cora? Well, she was banished to Wonderland where she ruled over and lived her childhood dream of becoming queen.

Not to mention the fact that she took her own daughter's newborn baby away, and then abandoned her. She wondered what might have happened if her grandmother had let Regina keep her, if she would've cast her curse, or if she'd even married the king. No matter what had happened after that moment, it was clear things would've been different. Better off? Maybe, maybe not. But unfortunately, this was a question she'd never have answered, and so she had to satisfy herself with the idea that she wouldn't have both her mother and father together like she did now.

Regina stopped outside the girl's door, pausing before deciding it would be more respectful to knock. Nila wasn't really shocked at the sudden sound; she knew it wouldn't be too long before her mother came to intervene - or shout at her. The queen sighed and took the silence as a yes. With her hands on her hips, she walked towards her daughter and took a seat next to her on the balcony.

"Would you like to tell me what the hell just happened in there?" She asked, arching her eyebrows. Nila shrugged, slightly disappointed her mother hadn't given her a hug and told her everything was going to be okay just yet. "Answer me." The queen commanded, standing up. "You think I will tolerate this kind of behaviour? You do not stand up and leave the table without giving a reasonable explanation. If I'd done that as a child, my mother would've tied me up in my room for the next twelve hours." The girl looked at her, half frightened, half sympathetic. "But luckily, I'm not my mother." Regina continued, her voice a little softer now.

"So, I'm going to be civil. Will you?"

The girl choked back her tears, "I guess I just haven't forgiven her yet, if you want the truth." The queen suddenly realised what the last day must've been like for her daughter. The woman who tore her away from her birth mother, derailed her life, was being let back into the family, just like that.

"Oh." She replied. "Is that all? Because you seemed fine earlier."

Nila's head resumed spinning. Leaning further forward, she took in a few more deep breaths and observed the tears streaming down her face, watching as they hit the ground below. She suddenly felt her mother's arms around her, and let herself melt into them. This was all she'd wanted for most of her life, and now she had it, she seemed to be messing up thoroughly.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, gently wrapping her own hand around her mother's and placing a small kiss on the centre of her knuckles.

Regina swallowed before letting a few tears run down her cheeks. Before she could say anything, the girl continued.

"At first, I thought everything was fine. More than fine. That my life was complete now I'd found my birth mother and my true family. I thought I could forgive Cora. But, as she sat there at the table talking about how she only wants what's best for you, I just. Well, it reminded me of you and my father. Because of her, I never got to meet him, and it really, really hurts. I was so angry, feeling like she needed to pay for what she'd done. That it wasn't fair, none of it was. It wasn't fair I never got to meet you, or my father. It wasn't fair that you adopted Emma's son and he didn't love you, yet you put everything into making sure he did. You gave Henry everything, he got to grow up alongside you and I didn't. He was so ungrateful, and it just makes me... jealous. Because I know that in that situation, I would never take you or your love for granted, and I certainly wouldn't decide to leave you for some woman who shows up and says she's my birth mother. It's not fair. And when I think about these things, I know I have to stop myself because -"

"You don't want to end up like me." Regina sighed, her daughter was going through some hard stuff, and she was oblivious to it. What kind of mother did that make her?

After a few minutes of silence, the queen cleared her throat quietly. "I didn't know, you were feeling this way. I..."

Drawing in a quick breath, she gently wiped away her daughter's tears and rubbed soothing circles on her back. This was a trick that, incidentally, she'd learnt from her eleven years of mothering Henry. He used to have the worst nightmares, and only she'd been able to soothe them so far. She smiled as she remembered getting calls from worried parents at sleepovers, asking her what was wrong with him.

The queen wondered how her little prince was feeling at this moment. In an ideal world, he was safely asleep in bed with his mother sleeping or having a glass of wine in the other room. When in reality, Henry was probably sitting on the sofa, eating a type of junk food she'd never have let him buy, playing video games. But the most important thing was that he was safe, and happy.

The technique seemed to prove useful for both of her children, and she watched as, slowly, the girl's tears stopped falling. Nila wrapped both of her arms around her mother, and let herself relax. Like her brother, she found the only way she could truly let go of her fears and anxieties, was by understanding.

"Mama." She whispered against her mother's chest. "Tell me about my father."

*Author's note - Really hope you enjoyed this one, I loved writing it! Remember to leave a vote and comment below and I'll see you for Chapter 10 in like 2 minutes!!!

Sarah xxx