A Chance To Mend

Chapter 21: Uncovered

The light from the sun shown brightly in the room through the oversized windows and woke Regina first. She found herself entangled in the Prince's arms. Her head rested on his shoulder and her eyes gazed upon the inked drawing on his chest. She brought her hand that already laid on his chest to touch the tattoo. Lazily she dragged her finger across it, following the curve of the lions tail.

"I got it when I became Prince." His words woke her from dazed thoughts.

"Hm?" She asked still drawing her fingers across the tattoo.

"Would you like to hear the story?" David asked.

"I'd like that." She agreed.

"Well as you might know, I wasn't always a Prince. I was a shepherd. I had a twin brother at birth but my parents had to give him up, he became the Prince of a great kingdom but once we had both grown he was struck down. The king came to me to be his replacement." David paused before going on.

"I agreed to save my mother and I's farm. I came to learn that my brother wasn't the best of people, no since of honor or respect for others. I feared that with my new found royalty I would become like him. So one day I went to the village where I knew people got their tattoos and looked for one that could remind me to not let royalty make me become like him. Plus I wanted a tattoo." He added as a little side note with a chuckle and Regina smiled.

"I came across this silhouette of a lion on a shield and it was strange, it sounds crazy but it was like something was calling me to pick that tattoo." He said and Regina raised her gaze to him and brought her chin to rest on his chest now.

"I can't explain that feeling but that day I got the tattoo as a reminder to be strong and brave, but also to keep balance in my life and have a since of justice wherever I went." He finished.

Regina let a chuckle slip and she bit her lip.

"What?" David smiled back.

Here it goes, Regina was going to finally come clean about what she knew.

"You know how you said it felt like something was drawing you to that tattoo?" She said and he nodded his head. "I might know why... A long time ago when I was still married to the king a fairy came to me, Tinker Bell, she saved me. She prophesied to me that there was someone out there for me, a soulmate that I was bound to be with." Regina let out a breath.

"She couldn't take me to him but she showed me a drawing of this tattoo with a lion and said that when I found the person who wore it that I had found my soulmate." Regina said and searched David's eyes, looking for a sign he was about to run, God knows she would if someone came to her and said they were soulmates.

But what she found in his eyes was something she didn't expect. Instead of fear she found love and he placed his lips to hers. This was what she had wanted her whole life. Someone that made her feel free, someone that didn't run the moment things got complicated, someone that loved her for her, flaws and all.

Nothing could ruin this. She brought her head back down to his chest and closed her eyes, just enjoying the moment. Amongst the comfortable silence David spoke while he stroked her bare back.

"Regina?" He asked.

"Ya?" She asked in respond.

"If you don't mind me asking, what caused the lines I feel on your back. I can't see them but I know they're there." He asked finally working the courage to ask about what he had found that night of the ball.

Regina sighed as the memories came rushing back to her.

"If you don't want to talk about it I'll understand." He assured her.

"No, it's okay." She said and she slowly sat up facing away from him so he could see the back of her. She raised her arms and pulled her hair to the front so her back was completely bare to him now.

She took a deep breath preparing herself for his reaction before she twirled her hand taking the spell she put to cover her scars down. Ashamed of how hideous she knew them to be she brought her knees to her chest and rapped her arms around herself.

"Regina," he breathed out as her scars came to sight. There was so many. White lines went across other lines almost forming X's. "Who did this." He traced his fingers over her back following the lines.

"The king was a good man, that's what I was told before I married him." She took a shaky breath before going on.

"And he was a good man until he had a few to many drinks. He still mourned the loss of his wife and he took his pain out on me. When he was sober he hated me, I was never good enough. He only took his anger out on me fiscally when he was drunk. But he was always drunk when I was with him." She said.

She didn't feel the urge to cry. She had cried to many nights over him when she was with him. All that was left was hatred, he took advantage of her and he was one of the reasons she was the way she was. Full of self loathing and empty inside, never feeling good enough.

She shivered though thinking back at the late nights when he whipped her so many times her clothes could barely hang to her body they were so torn. Not to mention the bruises that did heal from when he beat her.

She could still hear the awful words he would yell at her, telling her how ugly she was, how meaningless and worthless she was. The longer she took what he gave, the more she believed it herself.

"Did he..." David trailed off not able to finish the question.

Regina nodded her head and hid her face in her arms ashamed of the way the King touched her and never being able to stop it.

"Regina," he said and rapped his arms around her pulling her back to lay down with him. He cradled her head and kept her close.

"I never told anyone," she said. "I was all alone."

"You'll never be alone again." He said kissing the top of her head.

They fell back into silence. They simply laid there excepting the comfort they gave in each other.

As much as they both wished they could just stay in bed all day with each other they had to get up. There was a meeting being held today to announce the plan Snow had formed based off of what the good witch of the south had told them in the dark forest. David had snuck out of her room after getting dressed and stealing a last kiss.

Regina smiled to herself after he left, she couldn't believe he hasn't ran after everything she'd told him about her past. But something turned in her stomach. She wanted to be happy in that moment but she couldn't help but feel like something was about to go wrong. She tried to shake the feeling as she got dressed for the day.

Regina dropped the sheet that she had held around her while David was here and looked at the scar on her stomach. Her body shook thinking back at how Zelena used that rod iron to burn her. Then looking at the mirror she turned and looked at her back where she knew previous scars to be. She hated how she looked yet David still found her beautiful. He never seized to confuse her.

Taking her time Regina got ready for the long day ahead of her and went out her door to go to Snow's meeting, completely unaware of the news to come when she entered that room. News that could destroy everything she's come to know.

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I hoped you liked this chapter I felt some insight
Was needed as I'm sad to say we're nearing the
End of this story.

~parrillapanda