The Swan Princess

-11-

The thunderous sound of the throne room door slamming could be heard throughout the whole castle, and all who heard it knew to avoid the room for fear of their lives.

"Why in the hell would you call me back?" Zephyra hissed. Having spent the last two days in the Enchanted Forest, she did not look like the fierce empress she once had been. Her hair was a tangled mess of auburn knots and her eyes were a dead giveaway that she hadn't rested at all. "Have you found my daughter?!"

"No, Your Majesty..." the young knight began, but her hand at his throat stopped him immediately.

"Then why am I here?" the Queen snarled as her grip tightened. "You've wasted enough of my time. My child could be dead. I could have found her by now, and instead you people drag me right back here to tell me absolutely useless information!"

The knight's face was nearly drained of all color by the time she released her grip on him. "Please... Your Majesty..." he choked, struggling to stay standing up.

"Don't 'please, Your Majesty' me, you pathetic piece of filth." A swift slap to his face and the knight was on the ground beneath her. She clenched her fist, and immediately his throat began to close up again. "I should kill you right now for wasting my time."

"We found..." he managed to choke out, despite the lack of oxygen he was receiving. At this, Zephyra's interest was sparked.

"Found what?" she demanded. "What is it?" His inability to answer her only angered her more, and she squeezed her fist as tightly as she could.

The knight looked up at her, her eyes pleading for death to come quickly.

"D-dungeon!" With this final word, he collapsed face down on the ground and his body no longer moved. Dungeon.

"Get rid of this." she barked at a horrified serving lady, whose eyes were wide as she nodded. Zephyra turned her back to the old maid and strode out of the room. Through corridor after corridor, the Queen walked along, ignoring the stares of her servants. The easiest thing for her to ignore, she decided, was the wailing of a mother whose son had just been found strangled to death in the throne room. Her conscience was clear. This was not her first kill, although he could have easily been her youngest. The boy could not have been older than twenty years old, and yet she felt no remorse. She had gotten exactly what she needed from him, and he was useless from that point on.

The crowd of knights at the entrance to the dungeon parted immediately at the sight of their Queen.

"What is going on here?" she asked, but none of them said a word. One knight, the man closest to the entrance, simply pointed down the stairs.

"She's down there."

Every torch was lit going down the damp staircase. Nothing could easily be heard, save for a few rats skittering up and down the staircase. When Zephyra strained her ears, however, she could hear grunting. Not loud enough to cause any alarm, but enough to know that someone was trying to escape the bars.

The Queen's first thought when she reached the bottom of the stairs was pure joy. Of course, it wasn't her daughter who had been found. This was almost as good as finding the child. Instead of what she wanted, she had the next best person.

Zephyra cleared her throat and the woman's hand fell from the bars, reaching back to tuck her long blonde hair behind her ears instead. The Queen let out an almost childish laugh and shook her head.

"Emma Swan. Fancy seeing you here."

(A/N: Whaaaaaat? An update so soon? That's unheard of... But seriously, I got some inspiration and decided to write a little bit more.

To make this story a little more convenient to any new readers, I'm going to go back and change the chapters to numbers and combine them so the fanfic doesn't seem so long. It'll even be a little bit easier on me (even though I do love naming some chapters in Latin.

Don't forget to leave a vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! I love hearing feedback from you guys!

-Emily )