Outlaw Queen Shorts

Freeze

It's been too long since I updated, I'm sorry! I hope this little bit of outlaw bandit can make up for it maybe?
As always, thank you for still reading, I appreciate every single person who's still here - or if you've just joined - and the votes/comments you still give. Thank you! Enjoy xx

Winter had struck hard. Snow knee deep on the forest paths least used made hunting almost impossible, deer and rabbits hiding from the harsh weather until the earth unfroze. Regina's stomach gave a loud growl as she stomped through the bare trees, feet soaking and frozen, hands slowly numbing within her leather gloves.

She was muttering to herself as she walked, cursing the sky and the cold, the queen and her warm castle, the animals for cowering when she had to traipse through the snow to survive. Her humble abode - a small cave draped with wolf skin for a door - wasn't far now, but the thought of having nothing bigger than a squirrel bundled in her satchel once again was enough to have her kicking the snow and shouting into the air how unfairly her hand had been dealt.

"Either you knew I was following you all along and are attempting to have a conversation," Regina halted, chest heaving, breath puffing out in front of her in cloud of vapour. "Or you're talking to yourself."

Son of a bitch.

She whipped her head round and caught the smug grin on the man leaning nonchalantly against the trunk of a tree, recognizable by accent alone. Regina gave him the courtesy of blinking in his direction before she turned on her heel and stalked off the way she was headed.

"I'll take that as the latter," Robin mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear, before jogging after her. In the thick sheets of snow, he caught up surprisingly quickly. "Please, Regina," he placed a hand on her arm, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Well I have nothing to say." She shook off his grip and carried on towards the stream. If he thought she was working with him and his so called 'merry men' ever again, he had another thing coming. The idiots almost got her killed in their piss-poor attempt to intercept and ransack the queen's carriages as she moved from the summer to winter palace. She vowed from then on she would work alone, and fled before the royal guard could catch her.

"Listen." He stepped in front of her and placed both of his hands on the tops of her arms so she was facing him. She hated the flare in her cheeks from his grey-blue eyes gazing down at her with such intensity and sincerity. He took a deep breath and wet his lips. "I'm sorry."

That took her aback.

"Truly, I'm so sorry." His hands were still firmly on her biceps and she was too shocked to shake him off. "Will is...unreliable sometimes. His information on the queen even more so. The last thing we wanted was to put your life in danger."

"I–" Regina looked down at his arms and he removed his grip, as if finally remembering where he'd put his hands. "Okay." She said, not really knowing what to say.

And then she stepped away, turning for the edge of what would have been the grass verge, had it not been blanketed in snow, leading onto the frozen stream. Crossing it was quicker than going round, and with the combination of a bad day's hunt and Robin Hood of all people offering her a rather kind, she supposed - not that she'd admit it - apology, she just wanted to get home.

Assuming Robin had thought the same, and gone back to wherever he came from, she toed the edge of the ice, the murky water green beneath the frosted surface. The soles of her boots crunched as she stepped, but the ice remained in tact, solid under her light weight. She took another step towards the opposite bank, and another, and a third, realizing with a start just how wide the stream - river, really - actually was.