Her Dark Heart

Chapter 9

A/N: This takes place during 1x18. We have two more chapters after this and season one will be complete.

I'm going on a trip from August 5th to the 8th so I'm going to try my hardest to update as much as I can this week. I'll also be cracking down on updates when I get home because I'm going off to college for the first time which means my writing time could be limited in a few weeks.

TW: There is a brief mention of marital rape.

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Regina's phone buzzed for the third time that morning. She pursed her lips and frowned as it vibrated against her desk. She glanced up and checked the name that appeared — 'Robin Locksley'. Her heart ached a little when his contact picture, a lovely image of him smiling that charming smile of his, appeared on her screen. Regina told herself that she would have to delete it.

While Robin thought she was mad about encouraging Henry's supposed fantasy, Regina had pushed him away for other reasons. The primary one being that he was her soulmate if the lion tattoo was any indicator. It meant that the feelings she was beginning to develop for him were ones that she needed to push away as soon as possible. Love was weakness, and falling in love with Robin was a bad idea.

Not only was she falling in love with the cursed version of the man who she was destined to be with, but if he ever happened to wake up, he'd only break her heart when he realized that she was a monster. Robin Hood didn't care about Regina, even if Locksley did. In fact, Robin Hood was a thief and a scoundrel. Regina's guards had captured him numerous times, tortured him, killed his Merry Men... how could he love someone like her when she had caused him a great deal of pain? And now, she had separated him from his family.

That brought about another question. His family. Robin could very well have a wife somewhere in Storybrooke. He may think she was dead, but there was a high chance she wasn't. His son might also be alive, perhaps living with his mother or another family. Once he remembered, Robin would return to them anyway. The only thing he would remember Regina for was when he had cheated on his wife numerous times with the woman who cursed his family.

So, she had saved them both the heartache. Well, perhaps more so herself. If the curse broke, and it was growing weaker each day, then Regina would've fooled herself into thinking someone could love her and she could love someone else. But she didn't, and she never would.

She watched as her phone screen faded to black again. She exhaled a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. She had nothing to look forward to anymore. Henry was as closed off as ever, Emma was closer to solving the murder case, and Mary Margaret rotting in jail only strengthened Emma's resolve and weakened the curse.

Perhaps she should go pay Mary Margaret a visit. She wanted to revel in her misfortunes, especially after learning that Mary Margaret had, in fact, taken the bait with the skeleton key. She had let herself out of jail a few days ago with a key Regina had planted in her cell. Now everyone was convinced she was at fault for Kathryn's murder, except for Emma. Gold had been right, Emma would figure things out and Regina wanted to see Mary Margaret suffer before things worked out perfectly for her as they always did.

Besides, she wanted to see her before her interrogation today. Gold had promised that he would convince Emma to let Mary Margaret speak to Albert Spencer, who was King George in the Enchanted Forest. He had always hated Snow White for ruining his little sham with Prince "James". Now, he was the district attorney. She would surely crack under the pressure and admit something that would cause her to slip up.

Deciding that would be the best way to spend her day, she got up from her seat and grabbed her purse, heading for the door of her office. Just as she was about to grab the handle and pull it, the door flew open. Regina jumped back with a gasp of surprise.