The Evil Queen's Daughter - SEQUEL

Chapter 26

Regina raised her eyebrows before pacing over to where her stepdaughter was standing in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?" Snow held up the bottle, showing her that it was half empty. "No." She said, almost shaking, "I'm asking the question here. You will answer me. Why do you have this?"

Regina wasn't oblivious to the fact that she owned one of these potions. It was the one she'd procured for her son, so that he would love her. Only, she'd later decided against it. That potion had never been opened, let alone used. "How the hell did that get there? It belongs in my vault. There's no way that potion was in the cabinet."

Snow backed away from the Queen, bumping into the cabinet's open door as she did so. Regina rolled her eyes. Whatever she said would be instantly dismissed by her stepdaughter. There was no point even trying. Why was she so taken aback by it anyway? Why would she have any use for a love potion? "Wait, you think I used that on Robin?" She scoffed, "You think I used that to make him fall in love with me? What? Is it that hard to believe someone could love me, that I could be happy?"

"Regina, all I know is what I saw. I'm sorry." The princess said, fleeing from the room a cloud of worry.

"Fine." Her stepmother snapped, slamming the door behind her. Now sitting on the bed, she placed her head in her hands and sighed. There was no doubt that the wretched girl would tell everyone of her discovery, and she half expected their mismatched army to come flooding back in. Strangely enough, they didn't. And Regina was left alone.

The worry was churning away in her stomach, making her feel too sick to even stand up. All she wanted was for this nightmare to be over. How stupid had she been to believe everything would work out for her after the terrible deeds she'd done? It seemed like years ago that she'd woken up in Robin's arms, without a worry in the world. She remembered when she had felt happy.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. Recognising it almost instantly, the Queen felt the tears forming in her eyes and her heartbeat speed up. She cleared her throat and went to grab her handkerchief to wipe her eyes, but she wasn't quick enough. She watched as the doorknob turned slowly and the thief walked through the large, wooden archway. His expression was that of both disgust and disappointment. Her face fell.

"Robin, let me explain." She reached out to grab his hand but he pulled his arm away, reaching into his pocket and showing her the vial. "How could you do this?" He asked, stepping backwards, "You betrayed my trust. You used me."

"No."

"What about my children? How do I tell them that what we had wasn't real? How do you expect them to understand all this?"

"Robin, no."

"No what? Are you telling me you haven't the slightest remorse for what you've done?" The thief paced around the room, staring at the bottle he had so delicately placed in his hands. "And, to be frank, I'd rather not know how. No, my main question is why. Why me? There are plenty of other men here, what was so special about me? Was it all a part of your twisted plan to get closer to my daughter? To brainwash me into thinking I loved you?"

It broke Regina's heart to hear these words, to hear that he honestly believed she would ever do something like that. Whatever was going on, the Queen was not behind it. Hell, she didn't even know what was happening. Although, it did seem rather strange that the vial was half empty...

No, that couldn't be it, could it?

Regina put her hand on his, waiting for him to pull away. Strangely enough, he didn't. It was almost as if he was in a trance, but she told herself it couldn't be because of any potion or magic, because she hadn't used it. Robin looked at her, not with love in his eyes, and not with hate either. It was like he was feeling nothing. The Queen found herself struggling to analyse what he was feeling at that moment, so she looked down at the floor and closed her eyes in defeat.

"I didn't think it would be this hard." She began, still refusing to make eye contact, "I didn't think you'd be so quick to blame me. Before you say anything, I want to tell you my side of the story. Because, trust me, I'm just as clueless as you are. That potion was something I was given a long time ago, something I planned to use on my son at one point, but then decided otherwise. Do you know why?"

The thief shook his head, listening to what Regina had to say. "I wanted to use it because I felt incapable of love, I thought no one could ever love me, and that the potion might make things easier."

"But, in the end you chose not to?"

The Queen chuckled slightly, "I realised that, maybe, I could be loved. I just needed to open myself up to it first. And it was when I finally started to embrace the fact that revenge wasn't everything that I found happiness. I found happiness within my love for my son. It changed me. So no, I never used that potion because I didn't need to."

Regina lifted her head up, gazing once more into his sapphire-blue eyes, watching intently as he processed everything she'd just said. "So, what we had... was real?"

"You think I wanted to fall for a forest-smelling thief?" She laughed, placing a gentle hand on his wrist, just above his tattoo. "I doubt the pixie dust was wrong. It probably wouldn't have led to an old drunk at the tavern if we weren't meant to be."

Robin raised an eyebrow but smiled all the same, "Good point."

The Queen nodded, she'd always hated silences. Not knowing exactly what to say, she cleared her throat and stepped away politely. After all, whatever they had was over now, there was no point in pretending otherwise.

"But you know what is strange?" Regina asked, turning around to collect what looked like a sort of key from her bedside drawer. He shook his head. "How the vial got into my cabinet in the first place."

"I don't follow," Robin said, taking a seat on her chaise longue.

"I kept that potion inside my vault. No one can get in there; it's sealed with blood magic. Not to mention it was locked in a protective box that can only be opened with this key. And how it was only half full." The Queen walked over to where he was sitting, the cogs whirring inside her brain. "Unless someone wanted to make it look like I had used it to enchant you."

"What? Like a frame job?"

Regina smiled evilly, "Quite a shoddy one too. If I can utilise a certain spell correctly, I'll be able to see exactly who's behind all of this."

"I suppose it's too much to ask exactly what you'll do to the person responsible." Robin asked, looking slightly concerned. He wasn't sure he wanted to be the reason for an innocent's demise, even if they had set the pair up.

"Oh, I promise they'll suffer."

*AUTHOR'S NOTE - I'm not going to say too much about this one, but I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment and vote down below to boost the algorithm! <333

Sarah xxx