A Royal Affair

Secret Connections

"YOU WERE POISONED?"

Regina pulled the phone from her ear as Lady Mary Margaret Blanchard's voice boomed from the receiver, full of panic and concern. She sighed, knowing her dear friend and sister had a flair for the dramatic. "It was food poisoning," she told her.

"That's not what Daddy said," Mary Margaret replied, still panicked. "He said that Whale told the council that you were poisoned with arsenic. Arsenic!"

"No, he reported there were elevated levels of arsenic in my bloodwork but not enough to definitively prove deliberate poisoning," Regina said. "It could've been naturally occurring in something I ate."

Her words, though, did not reassure her friend. "I don't think you're taking this seriously, Regina. Daddy says there are threats against your life all the time," Mary Margaret said.

"Exactly," Regina replied, reclining on the couch. "People threaten me all the time. If I reacted dramatically to every one of them, I'd be an even bigger ball of anxiety than I already am. And I am a giant ball of anxiety all the time."

"Oh, Regina," Mary Margaret sighed, sounding like she was going to cry. "I wish I could be there to hug you right now."

Lady Mary Margaret Blanchard was Regina's oldest and dearest friend, the closest thing she had to a sister. She had easily gotten the approval of Regina's advisors – the Blanchards were one of the original families that settled Mist Haven alongside Regina's and had enjoyed close ties with the Crown for centuries. It honestly was the reason Mary Margaret and Regina were friends in the first place – they were just together often because they were involved in the same social circles.

At first, their friendship seemed unlikely. Mary Margaret seemed to be the polar opposite of Regina. She was bubbly and outgoing, attracting people to her, while Regina was more withdrawn and introverted. Her mother expected Regina to behave perfectly, as if she had been born knowing all the rules of etiquette. It seemed after every social event, Queen Cora would have a list of things Regina did wrong and would punish her for them. While Regina eventually would come to learn everything she needed to know as a princess and would be praised for how polite and ladylike she was as a child, she dreaded all social events and would often avoid interacting with people so that she didn't make a mistake and get punished for it.

Even now, though she was an adult and her mother was no longer there to correct her, Regina still dreaded parties and other social events. She always left them worried she had said something wrong or done something wrong. That someone would then call her and scold her for what she had said or done like she was a little child.

It certainly didn't help improve her image in the media or expand her social circles. Many people found her then too standoffish and aloof. No one really took the time to get to know her, like Robin.

But unlike Mary Margaret. She had decided that she was going to be friends with Regina and when she set her mind to something, Mary Margaret did not stop until she attained it. Even though Regina made it clear that she found the other girl's bubbly and jovial personality annoying, Mary Margaret refused to give up. She kept trying to draw Regina out of her shell and win her over.

However, it wasn't one of her attempts that finally won Regina over. Queen Cora did not think that Regina had properly greeted a diplomat and didn't wait for the party to end to scold her daughter. She had smiled and excused them before letting Regina have it in the hallway, out of earshot of anyone in the party – especially King Henry, who usually intervened to stop his wife from berating their daughter. Regina had started crying, which had earned her a slap from her mother. That was when King Henry had intervened and told Regina to head to her room. She had fled but found Mary Margaret waiting for her. Mary Margaret had followed Regina and Queen Cora and witnessed the scolding, which had upset her so much she went to get the king so he could stop it. Then she took Regina's hand and promised to spend the rest of the time with her, even if it meant just sitting there and doing nothing if that was what Regina wanted.