"My dear, Regina," King Leopold said to his wife, when he came into her chambers. Regina woefully turned away from her mirror to give her husband the attention he requested. She saw that he was followed by one of his guards, and a young lady. The girl couldn't have been more than 18, 5 years younger than her. She was shorter than Regina, with mahogany brown hair and matching eyes. The girl looked at her with the warmest smile Regina had seen in a while.

"Who is this?" Regina asked.

"This is Jane," replied Leopold. "A newly appointed lady in waiting."

"Milady," Jane replied, bowing to her new mistress. She continued to give Regina the most dedicated eye contact. She was very respectful. Regina wished like with all her other ladies that she'd been able to choose them herself. She still hadn't achieved her mother's advice of having her own guard. But there was something about this young girl that boggled her. She felt as if she knew her.

"We will leave you two to get to know each other," said Leopold, stepping toward Regina to kiss her check. She abhorred the affection, but hid the emotion from her husband. She did not love him. She was sure she never would. The King and his guard left, and the ladies were alone. Regina didn't know what to say, she often avoided contact with people and had forgotten how to be sweet. Her training with Rumplestiltskin was starting to corrupt her. She'd had her first kill the month before, a young gypsy girl. Her one and only chance to revive Daniel had failed. She was not the woman she was anymore.

Jane broke the silence.

"I have no official occupation in your court," said she. "You can use me however you see fit. Whatever you require I shall provide."

"Thank you," Regina replied. "That's very sweet of you." Jane bowed again in response.

"Don't do that," Regina ordered. Although following the Queen's orders was exactly what Jane had just agreed to, she stumbled on this request.

"I'm sorry?" Jane asked.

"Nevermind," Regina brushed it off and looked away.

"If my mistress would rather I didn't, I could…" Jane tried to recover the conversation.

"Do whatever is proper when in the presence of your Queen," Regina silenced her. She wasn't entirely used to being a Queen yet, but she knew she had to try. If she was ever to succeed in achieving her happiness, she had many steps to take. She had learned this from Rumplestiltskin. She knew he was planning something, and had been for a while. She had no idea what though.

"Yes, your majesty," Jane dutifully acknowledged. She looked out onto the balcony and noticed the sun was setting. "I'll turn in if you have no further need of me."

"Sounds fine," Regina replied. She didn't turn back to look at Jane. Because she didn't Jane did not bow again and left the room. Before the Queen was out of her sight, she gave her one final glance. The Queen was still staring in her mirror, but could not see Jane as she could see her. Jane swiftly turned away and hurried to her room; which was in the Queen's apartment of the castle. She only closed her door and took a few steps into her room before disappearing in pewter colored smoke.

When she reappeared she was in the woods on the edge of a farm with a small cabin. She walked around to the back of the cabin where the sound of wood being chopped was coming from. She opened a creaky gate door that alerted the wood cutter to company. He saw her, placed down his axe and ran into her arms and kissed her. When he pulled his lips from her he gazed into her eyes.

"Aleera…" he cooed, calling her by her real name, for it was not really Jane. "Did you do it?"

"Yes, Alastair" Aleera replied. "I met my sister, at last."

18 Years Before….

"When's my baby sister coming, Mama?" 5 year-old Regina asked her mother while Henry was getting the carriage ready for he and Regina to go buy her first pony. Henry had suggested it as a way to assure Regina that she was just as special in her parents' eyes as she was before the arrival of their second child.

"Very soon, dear," Cora replied, caressing her daughter's cheek.

"You never know, it could be a brother," Henry said as he prepared the back of the carriage to be able to pull the new horse along so they could get back with it.

"I have a feeling it's a girl," Cora argued, not that that was a necessary response. Henry was fun to toy with. She snapped out of it and looked back down and smiled at Regina. "I knew you were one too." She never told anyone that it was Rumplestiltskin's foresight that told her, and that Regina was originally destined to be payment for Cora's deal with him. Regina smiled up at her. There were times when she loved being with her mother. But often she preferred her father. When the carriage was ready Henry opened the door and ushered Regina inside.

"Is there any particular reason why one of our servants wasn't doing this?" Cora asked him passive aggressively. Ever since her Father-in-law had received a male heir to his throne by his first son's second wife who was from a wealthy kingdom, he hadn't needed Cora as much and had sent them to live on their own. Even with plenty of servants to do their bidding, Henry the oaf had grown accustomed to doing tasks for himself, much to his wife's chagrin.

"It's no trouble," Henry explained without turning from his task. But as if a change in the wind had occurred he trembled when he could feel his wife glaring at the back of him. He turned to her and stammered, "I-I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly," Cora responded curtly. Regina was tense in the carriage. Her mother had been so nice just before. Why did she get like this?

"We'll be back soon," Henry told his wife. She beckoned him to kiss her cheek goodbye even though she felt nothing from it. She had to keep him enthralled with her so he'd be in her control. He did so tentatively, and slowly backed away and crawled in the carriage with his daughter. Cora wasn't one to linger so she turned to head back to the manor barely before they'd taken off. She was already 2 centimeters dilated and should not have been on her feet. They had made a home in a grand house with stables in the outreaches of the kingdom. It teetered with the Northern Kingdom's territory, Princess Eva's. For what Cora had planned she thought that would be beneficial.

Cora entered the house and slowly made her way to the stairs. Right when she'd picked up her right foot to climb the first step she felt the baby coming. She lost her footing and crumpled onto the stairs. A passing manservant heard her stumble and gasp and came to her aid. He called to the kitchen and two handmaids peered out and saw what was going on. One went to fetch the midwife who had been living in the servant quarters waiting to be needed and the other went to assist the manservant.

The baby didn't need much time, she was born two hours later. Cora knew her husband and eldest daughter would be back soon. She hadn't bothered to send word to them. If Henry was sad he'd missed the birth he would have no one to blame but himself. Cora held her newborn daughter, Aleera was the name she'd picked for her after the flower that she used to wear in her hair when she was a young maiden. She never intended to have more than one child. She'd named her first daughter Regina to make a statement about how her daughter would be Queen one day despite her disadvantages caused by her father being 5th in line. This pregnancy had been from one night when Cora had a whim to let Henry romance her when she worried that he sensed she did not love him.

"You could be a Queen one day too, Aleera," she said to the newborn. "There are plenty of other kingdoms."

"I knew I'd get a girl this time," a voice said from the foot of the bed. What the voice said is something Henry would say, but it wasn't Henry's voice. Cora looked up and saw her former lover and teacher, Rumplestiltskin.

"Excuse me," Cora asked, pulling the baby closer to her chest. "What does that mean?"

"A deal is a deal, dearie," he cackled. "For power and revenge you owed me my child, and there she is. Aleera….about as awkward sounding as Cora but it will do."

"This is my husband's child," Cora stated. "I haven't been with you in five years."

"In the most literal way yes," Rumple said, flourishing his hands. "But, I have my ways."

"Pray tell," Cora said, faking skepticism but secretly realizing that Rumple probably did find an alternate way, a technicality.

"A little trick I learned from mighty Zeus," explained Rumple. "I figured the heat like a ray of sunshine in a dark room in winter would have felt a bit bizarre. But I guess you mistook it for Prince Henry's out of shape hot breathing."

"You forced me to conceive!" Cora growled, "That's despicable."

"Says the woman with a vault full of hearts," Rumple countered.

"You can't take her," Cora said with confidence. "You cheated. I have to willingly give her to you for our deal of me gifting you a child to apply."

"Oh but you will!" Rumple assured her. And with his left hand he pulled out of the pocket of his cloak, a heart. No way could that be her heart, she never told him where she kept it. Rumple walked to the side of the bed she was lying on and spoke to her heart. "Give me my daughter." Cora felt like she was on puppet strings when she stretched out her arms and lifted the child up to him. As his right hand and his knuckles on his left hand made contact with Aleera he dropped the heart. And in that moment scooped his daughter up into his arms properly. When the heart plopped on the mattress Cora spasmed.

"You can put that back where I found it." He told her and began to walk away.

"You already had plans for Regina," Cora said to the back of him. "What could you possibly have planned for this one?"

"I'm taking what I was promised," He said not taking his eyes off his daughter. "No one breaks deals with me." And then he smoked out.

"No!" Cora shouted and she weakly sent a fireball at the place where he stood. It merely singed the border of a tapestry on the wall. Cora heard one of the maids calling out to her to ask what was wrong. Cora heard her coming to the door and had to make a quick decision about what to do with her heart. She was too weak to be accurate in magically sending it back to it's hiding spot in her vault. And she didn't want to risk losing track of it if she hid it somewhere in the room. So she shoved it back in her chest.

"Milady," the maid called when she opened the door. "What is the matter?" The full force of emotions Cora had been missing without her heart flooded in now that it was put back. Cora burst into tears and was in anguish.

Henry and Regina arrived in the foyer 30 minutes later. Regina was bobbing up and down, gabbing to no one in particular about her new horse Rocinante, which she could hardly pronounce but it was the name he came with. Henry was floating on air until he detected that something was not right. Their maids where huddled near the staircase and the manservant was looking very grave.

"What is it?" Henry asked the man. Regina was still giddy but she was quiet because the adults were talking.

"Your wife gave birth while you were gone," the man said seriously.

"My sister is here!" Regina perked, even more excited. She went to run up the stairs but her father pulled her back. He tensed himself and asked if everything was okay.

"The babe didn't live long past birth."

Henry became grave as well and beckoned one of the maids forward to take charge of Regina, and he went to go see his wife. The maid took it upon herself to explain everything to the girl.

"Your little sister wasn't meant for this world," she said. Regina had faltered greatly from her previous glee, but she wasn't quite able to comprehend what was happening. Henry entered the bedroom he shared with Cora and saw her looking melancholy and defeated.

"Where is the infant's body?" he asked her, not quite able to keep his eyes from the floor. He had never had to comfort his wife. She was always resilient.

"Already gone." She told him. And she said nothing more, so he let her be. Later that night she found a new hiding spot for her heart, and put a spell on it to make sure if anyone found the hiding spot she'd sense their presence.

To keep track of the each chunk of time the focal point of Part 1 of my story will be the day Regina and Aleera met, which is a month after Regina's first kill. Part 1 is the Enchanted Forest, Part 2 will be Storybrooke. I hope you like my story and continue reading. I can't specify how quickly chapters will be posted, it will vary.