Royal Blood

Chapter Fourty-One: Man Hunt

The world whirred to a stop around Regina. "You... You've what?" She stuttered. She had wanted this day to come so badly since shed arrived back home it seemed like it would only come in her dreams.

"It's about a day's journey from here. My men can't get inside."

Regina frowned, crossing her arms. "Then how do you know it's him?" She questioned, feeling her heart pick up speed.

"The reason," Graham continued, "they can't enter is because there's a blood lock." His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "We think your mother put it there so no one could get in. She figured you'd be busy, I guess."

The symphony playing behind Regina stopped before picking up a different tune, much more lively than the last. "Let's go." Graham recognized the stern look in those brown eyes, daring him to tell her she couldn't. One dainty hand lifted in a manor he'd become too used to.

Just as dark purple smoke began to trickle from her fingertips, Graham clamped his own hand around her wrist. "Don't." The hairs on his arm rose as the magic dissipated until the only supernatural thing in the room was standing right in front of him, sporting a deathly glare. "You have your duties to fulfill. You can't just run out on your subjects like this. Let us handle this."

"No." Regina was quick to answer. She knew she needed Graham to find him. She couldn't just close her eyes and imagine the scenery he was surrounded by like she usually could. She'd spent sleepless nights doing all she could to appear beside robin, or for him to appear beside her. "No. I was the last to see him go and I will be the first to welcome him back. Plus, you need me to get to him. We work together, Graham, like we always have." Seeing that Graham wasn't convinced, Regina turned towards the large room full of people. "They won't even notice I'm gone. I would've left anyways by now."

Walking down the hall, Regina looked back at her partner. "Well? Are you coming?"

***

Regina sat alone on the other side of the camp site. After hours of walking in the dark towards their destination, Graham had finally put his foot down on getting a few hours of rest before the sunrise. The men around her moved in a systematic form, purposely avoiding their queen.

Regina couldn't blame them. She could see they were terrified of her. If she were to crack even the slightest, the men before her would have to bend with her power. They'd seen her kill, heard her scream. In their eyes, she was a monster.

But who was to say they were wrong?

The last time she had sat at a campfire, her lips had been on robins, her mind without a care in the world. Regina had been free and happy. Now she was tense as a constant trickle of darkness wove throughout her mind. It was a constant battle for her and she felt like each victory wasn't her own.

"Your majesty, your bed awaits." The words of a young soldier brought her from her thoughts. Dark brown eyes looked up reluctantly to blue eyes similar to a man's she once had known. "Follow me." He murmured, reaching out one gloved hand for hers.

Rising from her seat, Regina felt older, like a woman from another life. The past year had aged her and given her so many responsibilities, shown her so many losses. Yet here she stood, fighting for a glimmer of the light she once knew.

"Thank you." Regina whispered once they had arrived at the most elaborate tent in the middle of camp. Compared to the shabby sheets she had slept in on her journey to the castle, it felt wrong to be resting tonight in down thing Robin wouldn't have ever dreamed of having.

The young soldier looked up in surprise at her gratitude before stepping back. "Graham will wake you in the morning your majesty." Regina nodded out of courtesy, knowing all too well that she wouldn't sleep no matter how tired she was.