Chapter Forty-Two: Setting the Chessboard

The waves crashed over her. Saltwater stung her eyes, filled her lungs. She struggled to stay afloat, gasping and sputtering, flailing her arms and legs in haphazard windmills. She wasn't a bad swimmer, but the ocean was raging, and she couldn't fight the power of the storm.

The ship loomed above her, casting a long shadow over the tumultuous waves. She couldn't see Mary Margaret anywhere, though she knew the other woman had fallen into the ocean with her. She tried to call out, but the water washed into her mouth, choking her. Blonde hair stuck to her face, her neck, her back.

She couldn't breathe.

And then the whirlpool formed.

Emma woke with a start, bolting upright in bed. Her heart hammered in her chest, thudding heavily against her ribcage. She blinked through the darkness, and it took her a moment to get her bearings, to remember where she was.

She closed her eyes.

Her skin was slick with sweat, and loose strands of hair had slipped out of her messy bun and clung to the nape of her neck. She was tangled in the sheets again – another nightmare, another night of restless, broken sleep.

At least she hadn't woken Henry this time.

She roughly yanked the sheets off of her and rolled out of bed. Her feet hit the cold floor, and then she stood up and steadied herself against the wall. Her heart rate was slowing, her breath came normally now. The dream faded, the images clinging to the edges of her consciousness before she banished them with a resolute shake of her head.

They had survived. She and Mary Margaret had been separated by the portal, but they had both survived and been reunited. There was no need to dwell on the what ifs.

She stepped out onto the landing. The apartment was quiet. David and Mary Margaret were asleep in the bed they had tucked into the back corner of the living room, the curtain pulled forward to give them some privacy. Henry was asleep, too, in the bedroom that had been Mary Margaret's before…

Before the curse had been broken. Before the trip to the Enchanted Forest. Before the town had started falling apart. Before Emma had discovered that she had magic.

She sat down on the top step and wondered about Belle. How had she fared on her first day back in town? Leroy and Archie had both promised to check in on her, and Emma knew that David had plans to stop by the library first thing in the morning. In fact, if David had his way, he'd probably set up a satellite sheriff's station in the library so that either he or Emma could keep a constant eye on Belle.

Emma exhaled slowly.

Belle was a target. There was little they could do to protect the librarian, not while she didn't have her memories… unless they told her the truth, told her about magic. Emma still hadn't completely ruled out that idea. Belle might not believe them, but they had to at least try, didn't they? Who knew what Cora would do in order to hurt them all?

Emma rubbed her hands against her pajamas. Whatever happened, she wasn't going to let Cora hurt the town. She wasn't going to let anyone hurt the town. This was her home now, and she would protect it with everything she had.

Rumple was watching Belle.

He lingered in the shadows of the building across the street, following her every move with a steady gaze. She was opening the library, fiddling with the lock and then propping the door open for a moment, as though to air out the building. She leaned against the doorframe and gazed out at the street, a thoughtful expression on her beautiful features.

She was wearing a dress Rumple had given her. Well – pretty much everything she owned had come from him, or been purchased with his money. Even the paycheck she now received for running the library in a sense came from him – he owned the library, just like he owned most of the town.

But the dress. He remembered giving her that dress. It was one of the first things she had requested when the curse had broken. New clothes, something different from what she had worn for those twenty-eight years in Regina's mental ward. And so he'd given her that dress.

He closed his eyes, and the familiar pain welled in his chest, rose into his throat, tasted like bile on his tongue.

She hated him. She had crossed the town line, had deliberately erased her memories, because she didn't want to know him. He disgusted her that much.

And he still loved her.

Her eyes swept over to him suddenly. She held his gaze from across the street, then gave a curious but friendly smile and took a step towards him.

He turned and hurried away.

Regina had been watching Gold.

It had been entirely on accident that she had stumbled across him. She'd seen Gold lurking in the shadows, and for a moment, she had thought he was planning something. Then she had followed his gaze to the library and realized the truth.

He was pining.

She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

She should have been gloating. Her relationship with Rumplestilskin had always been adversarial, even when they were student and teacher. Even when he had almost been a mentor. Even when she had thought that he was someone who understood her. Even then, they had been playing a game of one-upmanship, each trying to stack the deck in their favor.

He'd won.

There was no getting around that fact. No matter how miserable he was now, no matter how much he had lost through his manipulations and his lies, no matter the agony he felt because of what Belle had done… he'd still beaten her. He'd still used her to cast his curse, pushed her down a path she might not have had to follow. She'd made her own choices – stupid, reckless, foolish choices – but he'd been there, guiding her, every step of the way.

And she hadn't even known.

The emptiness inside of her, the loneliness that Henry had filled, the void that was growing now that he had moved in with Emma… at the time that she'd cast the curse, she had been more than willing to pay whatever future price would be demanded of her. She'd willingly paid the price demanded at the time, too – her father's life – because she hadn't seen any other way to be happy.

But now she wondered, had any of it been worth it? What had she gotten from her revenge except…

"Henry," she said, blinking in surprise as her son came running up to her, Emma and David walking more slowly behind him. Gold had long since left, avoiding a meeting with Belle, and Regina had been lost in her own thoughts, staring blankly at the empty spot where he had once stood. She hadn't even noticed her son's approach.

Henry hugged her enthusiastically, and then frowned and asked curiously, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just…" Regina stopped, decided not to say anything about Gold, and changed the subject, "What are you doing?" She raised her eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be at Miss Blanchard's apartment, working on whatever schoolwork she has assigned?"

"Mom," Henry pouted.

"We're just getting breakfast," Emma explained, staring warily at Regina. There were dark circles under her eyes that she hadn't bothered hiding with makeup, and her expression was drawn. Although that could have been suspicion and not exhaustion.

"You should join us!" Henry insisted.

Regina hesitated. She'd already had two awkward meals with him and Emma, and she didn't feel a need to have another one. Still… she and Emma had been getting along a bit better lately, and this was going to be her life for the foreseeable future. She had to get used to it.

"Hey, Henry," David said suddenly, interjecting into the conversation before Regina could respond, "Why don't you and Emma go ahead to Granny's diner, and Regina and I will meet you there in a moment?"

Henry glanced between David and Regina, then said pointedly, "I know you're just trying to get rid of me. What do you want to talk to Mom about, and why can't I be here for it?"

Regina was wondering the same thing, too, but Emma and David exchanged a look, and Emma took Henry by the shoulders and steered him away. "Come on, kid," she said. "You were going to tell me about some of the other stories in the book, remember? So I know the history of people in the town."

Henry's expression lit up as it always did when he was asked for his expertise, and Regina remembered with a pang of regret and worry that they'd never managed to retrieve that book from her mother. She desperately wanted to get it away from Cora, and not just because she knew her mother could do far too much damage with the information contained in its pages. She also wanted to be the one to return it to Henry. She wanted to keep being a hero in his eyes.

"Okay," Henry agreed. He looked over his shoulder as he walked away, calling back to Regina, "But you're coming to breakfast, right?"

Regina nodded wordlessly, and David promised, "I'll make sure she comes."

Henry beamed, and Regina swallowed back the lump in her throat. Was it really only a few months ago that Henry couldn't stand to be around her?

Once Henry and Emma were gone, David asked, "Why are you spying on Belle?"

"What?" Regina asked, completely unprepared for the question. She shook her head in bewilderment, but then David gestured meaningfully to the library, and Regina realized that she had, in fact, been standing in the shadows staring at the library. David must not have seen Gold, and given Regina's previous history with Belle, he had jumped to conclusions.

She pursed her lips. "I wasn't spying on Belle," she said airily, dismissing the notion with a wave of her hand. "Gold was watching her, and I was spying on him."

"Oh." David nodded slowly, accepting that as a perfectly reasonable explanation. He'd appointed himself amnesiac Belle's protector, but not Gold's, and he seemingly didn't care if Regina was plotting against the Dark One. Then his expression darkened and he looked back at the library with a scowl. "Did he…?"

"No," Regina replied. "He didn't talk to Belle. He just stared at her for a while and then left."

David ran a hand through his hair. He was easy to read – his concern for Belle and his frustration at his own inability to help her were written plainly on his face. Regina wasn't really sure why he had become so involved in Belle's life – it was true that Belle was at more risk than most others, both because of her relationship with Gold and her amnesia, but it wasn't like she and David had been friends before she'd walked over the town line. Why did he feel responsible for her?

Regina curled her lip. It was probably his idiotic hero complex. Belle was a damsel in distress, and David was Prince Charming.

"Your… uh… guards. Your army. The people who followed you in the Enchanted Forest," David said, his words pulling Regina from her disparaging thoughts. "Are they in Storybrooke?"

"Yes," Regina said, studying David intently. "Why?" The fact that he was asking about the Black Knights so soon after her conversation with Berkeley was disconcerting, and had to be more than just a coincidence. She didn't want to tell him the truth, didn't want to be forced to justify her actions. She had every right to give orders to her own knights, no matter what anyone else thought, but no doubt the Charming clan wouldn't see it that way.

David shrugged. "Just wondering," he said evasively. He started walking towards the diner, and Regina fell into step beside him. David added, "It came up at a meeting once. Primrose and Leah both questioned if you had followers here." He was silent for a moment, waiting for Regina to say something, but she remained quiet.

He was trying to indirectly get information out of her, and he wasn't doing a particularly good job of it. But she wasn't going to make it easier for him.

Finally, he seemed to realize that and asked directly, "Have you spoken to any of them?"

Regina debated lying. It would be easier than telling the truth, and lying to protect herself was her default position. But secrets had a way of getting out, particularly with her mother in town, and if she didn't tell the truth now, it might come back to haunt her later.

She looked away from David, out at the street. "Yes. A few are keeping tabs on Leah and Stefan for me," she admitted.

"I see," David said noncommittally. "And did you order any of them to attack Emma?"

Regina stopped walking and stared at David. "What?" Once again, he'd managed to catch her entirely by surprise with his accusation, only this time she couldn't even begin to figure out where he had gotten the idea.

David studied her for a long, tense moment, then said flatly, "Two of your guards attacked Emma. While she was with Henry."

Regina inhaled sharply, anger surging at the thought of any of her knights endangering Henry. Oh, she would make them pay for that.

David added, "They thought they were acting on your orders."

"I would never endanger Henry like that!" Regina protested hotly. The idea that she would put Henry in harm's way was absurd. She'd done that once before, giving that stupid apple turnover to Emma, and not only had Emma broken her curse as a direct result of that action, but Henry had nearly died. His heart had actually stopped beating. She was not about to make that mistake again, no matter how tempting getting Emma out of the picture was.

She sucked in a breath, bristling with indignation.

They had reached Granny's diner, and David paused in front of the door, baring Regina's entrance. Oblivious to her internal rage, he continued, "They said you gave them orders to kidnap Henry, to get him away from Emma, although they weren't supposed to admit to that. Emma stopped them, but it was a close thing." He hesitated, then said worriedly, "They had guns."

Regina opened her mouth to argue, but then stopped. She frowned, realization dawning. David wasn't accusing her. He wasn't here with the Mother Superior and an army to try to stop her. He was repeating what had happened, informing her of the details, but…

"You didn't believe them," Regina surmised slowly. "You don't think I gave the order."

David shrugged. "I imagine if you were going to try to steal Henry away from us, you wouldn't be that sloppy about it."

Was that a compliment or an insult? Regina wasn't sure, but she was saved having to respond by the sound of raised voices from inside the diner. She and David exchanged a brief, worried glance, and then both rushed into the establishment. Regina's gaze automatically swept over everyone until she located Henry pushed safely back into a corner booth. Emma stood in front of him, protecting him from the altercation.

Granny was standing in the middle of the diner, her fingers digging into the collar of King Charles' shirt. Her eyes were blazing with fury, and she looked ready to kill. Charles had his fingers wrapped around her wrists, trying to wrest himself out of her grip. He was flanked by two men, both members of Stefan and Leah's Blue Guard, the people who had investigated Maurice's death. Behind Granny, a table and three chairs lay on their sides, having been knocked over in the confrontation.

"You can't do this," Granny spat, shaking Charles. "You can't. I won't let you."

"I understand your… reluctance, Widow Lucas," Charles said sympathetically, still trying in vain to get her to release him, "but I am afraid you don't have a choice. The laws of the land are quite clear on this matter and…"

"You're not my king," Granny interrupted, dropping her arms from his collar and shoving him backwards, "and I don't follow your laws!"

"What's going on?" Emma asked sharply. David crossed to her side to lend her physical and moral support while Regina remained hovering in the doorway. Regina didn't want to get involved in whatever was happening, but Henry was there, and she didn't want to leave him.

Emma, too, looked worried about Henry, and she cast a quick glance over her shoulder to give him a reassuring smile. Then she looked at Regina, and an unspoken message passed between them.

If things took a turn for the worse, Regina would get Henry out of there.

"Charles is demanding I go to the trial," Granny snarled. She turned to Emma. "He wants me to testify against Ruby."

"Anyone can be compelled to testify at a trial," Charles said calmly, directing his own explanation to David. Regina could see the pity in his gaze, although she thought that that particular emotion was probably lost on Emma and David. Charles' tone was heavy and he continued, "I have to uphold justice, and that means getting at the truth."

Emma bristled. "What gives you the right to impose your laws on Storybrooke?" she demanded harshly.

"They aren't just my laws," Charles replied, frowning at Emma. His gaze slid sideways to David. "Your parents subscribed to these beliefs as well."

Emma shook her head. "I'm still sheriff here," she said.

"Indeed," one of the Blue Guard said coldly, venomously, his hand falling to rest on the holster for his gun, "but I don't think that makes you the judge and jury, too."

Regina took one look at the guard and his gun and crossed the diner to Henry's booth. Her gaze fixed on the Blue Guard in a threatening manner, she reached her hand out to her son and said, "Henry, let's go."

Henry climbed out of the booth and took her hand, but his gaze was fixed on Emma. He was worried, and he stubbornly dragged his feet as Regina pulled him towards the door.

"Go on, Henry," Emma said. "Go with Regina. David and I will be fine here."

Henry chewed his lower lip, a obstinate expression on his face. His shoes scuffed on the ground, and Regina might have been angry at his defiance if she hadn't seen the fear that had flashed momentarily through his eyes when the guard had reached for his gun. Henry was smart enough to know that things could get out of hand very quickly, and Emma was in real danger.

Once they were outside, Regina turned to Henry and said simply, "Miss Swan can protect herself better if she doesn't have to worry about protecting you."

Henry swallowed convulsively and nodded.

"She will be fine," Regina added in what she hoped was a believably reassuring manner. "She can handle this."

Henry didn't look convinced, but he allowed Regina lead him away.

Inside the diner, Emma breathed a sigh of relief once Henry was gone, and then turned back to Charles. Patrick Herman. The man who had kept Sean and Ashley apart, who had forced the young woman pregnant with his grandchild to bear the burden all alone. She knew that Charles had never disliked Ella, and Henry had explained that Regina's curse and Rumplestilskin's deal had been responsible for keeping the two True Loves apart, but she still found it hard to forgive Charles for what Patrick had done.

She remembered what it was like to be pregnant and alone and scared and overwhelmed. And Ashley had been that for twenty-eight years.

She ignored guard with his hand on his gun, and said to Charles, "I might not be the judge and jury, but I still expect everyone to follow due process." She kept her voice and manner calm, wanting to avoid a physical confrontation. They were in a public place, and so far the guard was only trying to intimidate her. But if he drew his gun…

"This is due process where we come from," Charles answered in evident exasperation. He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a folded piece of paper. Handing it to Emma, he said, "But I did things your way, too. I think you'll find the subpoena is in order."

Emma unfolded the paper and stared at it. As a bail bondsperson, she had a lot more experience with arrest warrants than witness subpoenas, but based on what little knowledge she had from her limited background, everything did seem to be in order.

The town still ran. Even with the curse broken and everyone's memories returned, there were still judges and clerks and bailiffs, and if Charles had his way, Ruby would end up in prison for a crime she didn't commit.

"You can't do this," Emma said angrily, glaring heatedly at Charles. She felt helpless, unable to protect her friend, unable to protect the town. Everything seemed to be crumbling all around her.

Charles stared at her for a long moment, then let his gaze wander over all the other occupants of the diner. "Sir Maurice is dead. And he deserves justice. I'm sorry if you don't like where the evidence leads, but Maurice was in my land, and I am responsible for him. I can't just ignore his death because it upsets you."

"We're not asking you to ignore it," David replied, holding his hands up placatingly. He cast a sidelong glance at Emma, silently telling her to stay calm even as his own expression betrayed his mounting annoyance, and asked, "But… do you really need Granny's testimony?" He nodded towards the older woman who, Emma noted, looked close to tears. "You have to see that what you are doing is cruel."

"Her granddaughter murdered someone," the gun-happy guard snapped. He dropped his hand to his side, releasing the gun, and Emma exhaled. But his words were still laced with ire as he demanded, "Why don't you have sympathy for him?"

"We do," David snapped back, flushed with indignation. "But this is…"

"What do you want me to do?" Charles interrupted in frustration. "James…" He stopped, corrected himself, "David, I am trying to serve justice. Stop fighting me."

"Trying to serve justice?" Emma scoffed. Derision dripped from her words as she accused, "What you are trying to do is blame Ruby for a crime she didn't commit, and you think you can get away with it because she's a werewolf."

Charles faced her, his lips pressed together into a thin, displeased line. "Is that what you think?" he asked softly. He sounded tired, Emma thought, but there was still some fire burning in his quiet words. "And tell me, what is your evidence for that? When have you ever heard me say anything against werewolves? When have you heard me speak disparagingly of Miss Lucas because she is one?"

Emma didn't have an answer for that, and although she would have loved to bring up Ashley, she didn't think now was the time. Her gaze kept straying to the two guards. One had made no move at all, had simply watched the conversation unfold with a wary look in his eyes. But she was worried about the other, worried about the way his fingers kept twitching towards his gun.

Why did he even have a gun? Why was that allowed?

"Miss Lucas will be provided with counsel, and that person will present whatever evidence there is that might exonerate her," Charles continued. "And I assure you, the jury will be fair. If you can counter the prosecution, Miss Lucas will go free. I have no desire to punish her if she is not guilty. But we have waited long enough. Maurice has waited long enough."

He beckoned to the two guards, and they followed him as he exited the diner. Emma watched them go, internally seething but not sure what to do about it now. At the last meeting of the royals, Charles had insisted that he would continue the investigation into Maurice's death and oversee whatever trial resulted, and against Emma's better judgment, she and David hadn't protested. They'd allowed him to claim that right, mostly because they doubted he'd be able to actually find Ruby.

Consoling herself with that, she said to Granny, "At least Ruby is safe, right? Charles can prepare for the trial if he wants, but without a defendant, what can he really do?"

Granny pursed her lips. "Plenty of damage, I would imagine," she retorted.

Emma furrowed her brow. "Yeah, okay. I know it's not ideal, but… look, we will find and stop Cora. And when we do, everyone will see that Ruby didn't have anything to do with Mr. French's death and… and it will be fine."

Granny scowled. "We'll see," she said sourly.

The Mother Superior was waiting in the hallway outside of Mary Margaret's apartment when Emma and David returned home. She and Mary Margaret were sitting on the steps, drinking cups of tea and wearing identical expressions of concern.

Emma raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"She can't come in," Mary Margaret explained, a tired smile pulling up the corners of her lips. She gestured to the door behind her. "The spell, remember?"

Emma nodded. "Right. Sorry about that."

The Mother Superior waved away the apology. "I understand your concern and can't fault you for wanting to protect your family," she said politely. She set her cup down beside her. "We have other concerns at the moment."

"Cora?" Emma demanded, dropping to sit below her mother while David leaned against the stair banister behind her. Her body hummed with a vibrant anger at the mere mention of the woman who was causing so much trouble for those she loved.

But Mary Margaret shook her head. "No, it's Charles and this trial."

Emma bit back a snarl. She had her own thoughts on Charles' mockery of a trial, on this entire town's ideas of justice. If she wasn't so worried about Cora trying to kill everyone, she would be more focused on the bickering royalty, but she couldn't do everything at once, and in the mean time, decent people like Ruby got hurt. It made Emma furious to be so ineffectual at her actual job, but she hadn't yet been able to force everyone to accept the authority of her position as sheriff.

"He wants Granny to testify against Ruby," David growled, his voice low. "We just came from her diner. He's calling her as a witness for the prosecution."

Mary Margaret frowned. "Is that why Regina is watching Henry?" When Emma once more raised her eyebrows in questioning silence, Mary Margaret elaborated, "She called just a few minutes before you two got back to tell me that she was taking Henry to her house. She said there was an altercation at the diner, but that everything was under control."

"Under control," Emma muttered, rolling her eyes. "Well, I wouldn't go quite that far. Granny is understandably upset, and I thought one of Charles' minions was going to start shooting."

"Not Charles'," David corrected. He gave Mary Margaret a look full of meaning, meaning Emma didn't understand, and said, "I recognized one of the men. I think they were both members of the Blue Guard."

Emma had no idea what the Blue Guard was, but she didn't like the way her parents were looking at each other. She opened her mouth to request an explanation, but Mary Margaret was already speaking.

"The Blue Guard? But they work for Stefan and Leah. Why are they with Charles?"

"They started the investigation into Maurice's death," the Mother Superior put in quietly. "Perhaps Charles simply decided that it would be easier to have the same people finish the investigation." She paused for a fraction of a second, then said delicately, "Granny is not the only one Charles would like to testify at the trial."

Emma's jaw dropped. "He's asking you?" She wanted to know more about the Blue Guard, about what it meant that they were involved in the investigation, but the Mother Superior's confession momentarily sidetracked her. The other explanations would have to wait.

"So it would seem," the Mother Superior said. She rose to her feet, running her fingers lightly over her immaculately pinned back hair. "I inquired as to what he expected me to say, given how little I had interacted with Miss Lucas or Sir Maurice. He…" She paused again, a faint smile touching her lips. "He said he only wants me to speak the truth about the things I had done."

Emma furrowed her brow, bewildered. "What did you do?"

It was Mary Margaret who answered in a quiet, hollow tone, "She put the spell on the jail cell doors. Charles wants her to state that the magically-reinforced cell was impenetrable."

"I don't… but… why?" Emma demanded. The answer was obvious, though, even if she didn't want to admit it. She could already feel the anger burning in her chest, bristling all the way to the tips of her fingers. She might not particularly like Charles – even if some of her dislike of him was based on other people's actions – but she hadn't thought he would go after her like this.

"Charles wants you to testify that Emma broke Ruby out of prison," David addressed the Mother Superior, speaking through clenched teeth. "He… he wants…" He stopped, shook his head in a sharp, jerky movement, as though he couldn't believe Charles would do this. He turned to Mary Margaret. "He was our ally, our friend."

"I am sure he thinks it is a necessary and justifiable step," the Mother Superior said simply. David turned an annoyed look towards her – it was as close as he would come to glaring at the Mother Superior, Emma supposed – and the one-time fairy added, "I'm not justifying his actions, David, but everyone knows how the three of you feel about the accusations against Ruby. And people listen to you, and to Sheriff Swan. He must feel he needs to show that you are biased."

"You mean convince people that we don't care about justice," Emma snapped, rising to her feet as well. She rest one hand on the wall, feeling the heat of angry magic tingling along her spine. For once, it didn't unnerve or scare her, didn't even bother her. It was something that she had that Charles didn't. Even Cora didn't have the level of magic she did. And Emma could use that to protect her family, to fight back.

She smiled. Magic made her strong.

Mary Margaret's, still sitting on the stairs, hunched forward with her shoulders sagged. "When did Charles lose faith in us?"

The Blue Guard leaned against the wooden railing off the dock and stared out over the choppy waves of the harbor. The wind whipped his messy hair around, and the salty spray from the ocean hit him full in the face. It was cold, and he was damp, but his annoyance came more from his sour thoughts than the unpleasant weather.

He heard the footsteps behind him and turned around.

"Samuel," George greeted.

Samuel hadn't known King George before the curse. His own king and queen had never particularly cared for the other monarch, and he'd been a loyal enough subject to trust their judgment on that. Stefan and Leah didn't like George now, either… but Samuel ignored that. George didn't seem so bad, and at least he was willing to say aloud what Samuel was silently thinking.

"Your Majesty," Samuel returned the greeting with a nod of his head.

George had approached him that morning, expressing curiosity about Charles' progress. Samuel had at first been wary of George – he'd heard all the old rumors that had been so prevalent before the Evil Queen's curse, when George and James had gone to war with each other. Rumors that George had gone mad, had been driven into a bloodthirsty insanity that had caused him to attack his own heir. But George didn't seem mad… and Samuel was just as unimpressed with Snow and James as George was.

"Anything to report?" George asked.

They were forced to meet out on the docks, away from prying eyes, because Samuel really shouldn't have been sharing information about the investigation with anyone, and George shouldn't have been meddling. But Samuel had been so disgusted by the events of the day that he didn't care about the inconvenience of trudging down to the docks late at night, and he was more than happy to report everything to George.

"Not a lot," Samuel said unhappily. "We tried alerting people that they would be asked to testify at Ruby Lucas' trial – King Charles wanted to give people some notice." He grimaced. "Not everyone took it well."

"Oh?"

"Widow Lucas," Samuel said. He sighed. "And I understand her feelings on the matter. I actually…" He hesitated, unsure if it was his place to give his opinion. But George had asked to know everything, so Samuel said, "I don't know if it was the right thing to do. Charles feels like he has to, because Widow Lucas is the only one who can speak about the way she keeps her kitchen and her knives, and so much of the case against Miss Lucas is based on the knife she used."

"It had her fingerprints and Sir Maurice's blood on it," George said. "It's obviously the murder weapon, and…"

"And Widow Lucas can testify that the only two people who had access to the knife were her and her granddaughter," Samuel said heavily. "She has to say that; the prosecution needs her to say it. But still – forcing her to deliver the final blow against her granddaughter… I understand why she was so upset." He grimaced. "But the Savior and Prince James were just…" He trailed off.

What was he going to say? Idiotic? Stubborn? Blinded by their own prejudices? Any of those descriptions would have fit, but none of them fully encompassed everything he wanted to say.

"They were there?" George asked curiously.

Samuel nodded. "Miss Swan brought her the young Mills, although he left partway through the confrontation. She was worried about his safety," he rolled his eyes, "as though any of us would hurt a child." He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it out of his eyes. Saltwater clung to his fingers. "She tried to stop Charles, insisted he was trying to frame Miss Lucas. Things could have gotten nasty, but Charles left before anything could get out of control."

Samuel had seen what he was fairly certain had escaped Emma Swan's attention – that not everyone in the diner was on her side. There had been several people bristling when she repeatedly insisted that they ignore the evidence against Ruby. She thought she had the support of the town, and she did – in part. But how long would that last?

"So there was no violence?" George asked curiously. "But it seemed close?"

Samuel hesitated. He didn't like the gleam in George's eyes, didn't like the way the other man leaned forward eagerly.

"No," he said slowly, "there wasn't. Although Richard, the other Blue Guard, looked angry enough to start shooting." He shook his head disparagingly. He didn't like Richard, never had. The man was an unusually skilled investigator, and that was the reason Stefan and Leah had repeatedly overlooked how hotheaded and impulsive he was. But with tensions running as high as they were now, Richard's behavior could get someone hurt.

"Who else will testify at the trial?" George asked.

"Um… the dwarf. Leroy, I think? He refused when Charles asked him, but it's not like he has a choice. Andrew Wade, the man who owns the store next to Maurice's flower shop. Elizabeth Dawson, the Blue Guard who found the knife. And… the Mother Superior."

George raised his eyebrows. "She agreed?" he asked skeptically.

Samuel gave a sardonic smile. "She did, though not without some hesitation." He didn't know what the Mother Superior would say during the trial. Fairies might be technically neutral beings, not loyal to any of the kingdoms, but everyone knew that the Blue Fairy had given her friendship and allegiance to Snow and James, and Samuel couldn't didn't think Storybrooke would have changed that. Would the Mother Superior lie to protect Ruby Lucas?

Charles insisted that her testimony was important, but he had refused to share his reasoning. Samuel was worried the Mother Superior – and Granny, for that matter – would use the trial as a way to put forward their own theories. He could only hope Charles knew what he was doing.

Maurice might be the first death they were investigating, but he wouldn't be the last. Abigail was dead, and Midas would no doubt demand justice for his daughter. If this trial turned out to be a farce, could they ever hope to restore order to the town?

"Do you think Miss Lucas is guilty?" George asked abruptly.

Samuel blinked, taken aback. George was the first person to ask him that question, but his cooperation in the preparation for a trial should have made the answer clear. "I wouldn't be helping the prosecution if I didn't," he replied. "I've seen the evidence. It's compelling."

"And if she is found guilty, what do you think Snow and James will do?"

Samuel didn't have an answer for that question, and it worried him.

Cora flipped through the pages of the storybook, watching idly as Hook devoured the dinner he had purchased in town. She'd been a little bit annoyed, at first, to discover that he had waltzed into some town establishment and ordered a hamburger and fries. She'd explicitly told him to avoid being noticed, but he seemed to take that as more of a suggestion than an order.

Now, though… "And you are sure that no one recognized you?" she asked.

Hook glanced up at her and rolled his eyes. "Aye," he said, annoyed at being asked that question again. "As I said every other time you asked in the past ten minutes. Can I eat in peace?"

Cora pursed her lips. Hook was surly and frustrated, and that made him even more prone to idiotically reckless behavior. She had to reign him in before he ruined everything. The pieces were almost all in place, and now was not the time for impulsive action.

"Of course, my dear Captain," she said, rising from the table. "My apologies."

She turned away from him and walked over to the window. Night had fallen, and she could see little through the glass. In fact, with the lights on in the house, it was far more likely that some passerby would see her. But that would require the inhabitants of this town to be observant, and they had proven quite spectacularly that they weren't.

How did nobody notice a one-handed pirate? A pirate with a menacing hook? Ordering take-out food in a small town?

George would finish his clandestine meeting soon, but Cora had instructed him not to contact her quite yet. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but she wasn't willing to risk anyone figuring out that she and George were working together. Unless the Blue Guard said something hugely important that Cora needed to know right away, the deposed king would lay low for a while, and then she would find him.

She stared at her reflection in the window. Had Charles found Ruby Lucas yet? She'd left the unconscious werewolf in the woods near the edge of town, conveniently next to a small home owned by one of Stefan's childhood friends. Miss Lucas would be found and locked away, and she would have no idea what had happened to her; Cora had made sure not to be seen, though the wolf had clearly sensed her presence.

She turned away from the window. Hook had finished eating, and was now staring at the storybook.

"You're not in it," Cora said, crossing the room quickly and snapping the book shut. "I've already looked."

"No need to be so curt, love," Hook responded with a smirk. "I was just looking."

Cora forced a smile. She had no real reason to want to keep him out of the book beyond the obvious – she didn't like sharing. Knowledge was power, and the book gave her an edge that she wasn't about to give up to anyone else.

She resumed her seat at the table and changed the subject. "Tell me about Miss Swan," she instructed.

Hook leaned back in his chair. "She seems her same old self."

Cora scowled; she didn't want Emma calm, and she didn't want Emma acting like her normal self. She needed the anger, the fear, the hatred. She needed Emma to believe that everyone who didn't agree with her must be an enemy, and that those enemies would hurt her.

Hook noticed but didn't comment on her expression. "She's trying to keep order and convince the idiots in this town that you are a threat," he said, a hint of begrudging respect in his voice.

Cora raised an eyebrow at that. Did the pirate know how he had sounded? Did he know that he spoke of Emma with something akin to warmth in his voice? Or was he completely unaware of his own feelings – or actively refusing to acknowledge them?

She would have to tread carefully here.

"A worthy goal," she said lightly, "although not an obtainable one."

Hook nodded slowly, studying her. "I suppose not," he agreed, "although I wouldn't underestimate her." He gave Cora a pointed look, "She's survived worse than this town."

"A storm and a few ogres hardly count," Cora answered dismissively.

Hook didn't answer right away, then he said slowly, "She did get into it a couple times. Once when a two men tried to take her kid, and then later in that diner where everyone congregates." He shrugged. "I was outside, so I didn't catch the whole thing. But she was still angry when she stormed away."

Cora smiled.