Regina soon found herself wandering through the strangely familiar garden… one that she could have sworn she had somehow visited previously.

That was impossible since she had been nowhere but in her family’s manor, townhouse, and now the royal palace…

“Of course,” Regina muttered as she reached out a hand toward a nearby rose before hastily retracting it. “I must have seen this place while having a vision of Artem, which means this is…”

“The palace gardens!” a joyous voice cried before the man in question came rushing to her side, seemingly materializing out of the bushes. “Regina, my beloved, I knew I heard your dulcet tones!”

He then gallantly took  her arm and escorted a surprised Regina to the ugliest fountain she had ever seen. The ugliness of the fountain was less of a surprise than his appearance since the Alpins’ taste in decorations seemed to exist in a negative correlation to their wealth.

However, Regina had little time to think on the relationship between taste and wealth before Artem said, “You are so wise to realize where the tea party was without me even telling you! In fact, I am surprised you even knew about this party. I meant it to be a surprise that I would escort you to.” 

“Oh,” Regina said, blinking hard. “So you did not send that strange red-headed servant –” 

Regina winced as her head ached briefly and she almost immediately forgot what she had just said.

Looking at Artem’s pretty yet perplexed face, Regina hastily said, “Never mind. My, uhm, love for you must have guided me to wherever you happened to be.”

Given how thrilled Artem looked at her words, Regina softened and felt the tight ball of anxiety in her chest momentarily relax.

Perhaps she could rest now that she was with one of the few people she could trust. 

Indeed, maybe she and Artem could even take a moment to share what she had hoped for when he had tried to sneak into her bedroom.

After all, Artem would surely forgive her even if she fumbled a bit during their first kiss. If he cared for her so deeply, perhaps they could grow more experienced together. 

So, with hope finally budding in her heart, Regina turned to Artem, gave him her sweetest smile and –

Jumped back half a foot when she heard a woman say, “Darling, did you find your lovely bride at long last? I cannot wait to meet her properly!”

That was when Artem, apparently blind to Regina’s amorous attentions, cheerfully threaded his arm through Regina’s as he frolicked them past the last set of flowery hedges..

…and straight into a large group of nobles centered around a woman who looked terrifyingly familiar.

“Oh my darling,” the woman said, even as her enormous golden crown glittered against her blood-red curls. “Your bride-to-be looks like such fun!” 

Staring at Queen Natasha Alpin, Regina suddenly realized that Artem’s delicate, flower-like beauty obviously came from his maternal rather than paternal line…

…and that Regina was going to meet her mother-in-law for the first time in front of a giant audience and her frolicking fiancé while fearing for her life.

“Thank you,” Regina managed to say, before she found herself rushed into a seat to the right of the Queen, surveyed by twenty pairs of intensely focused eyes.

Then, to Regina’s intense horror, she found a cup of tea shoved into her nerveless hands while a wide range of pretty and potentially poisoned pastries were placed in front of her.

“So tell me,” Queen Natasha cheerfully said as Regina tried to stop herself from flinging herself into the nearest flowerbeds. “What are your thoughts about concealed weapons?”

Regina then endured the strangest conversation she had ever had in her life thus far, which was truly saying something given the past month. 

Though she had no idea why her future mother-in-law wanted to know her opinions on  climbing out of bedroom windows, hiding in curtains, and the best way to conceal a knife (all of which she could answer based on her recent escapades, paranoia about assassins, and experience with her mother) –

Regina quickly realized that she had to do something – anything! – to get out of this tea party. 

The longer she stayed, the more information Regina would give about just how prepared she was to fend off death…

…and who knew which of the nobles around her knew or might even be her assassin?

So Regina stood up from the table with a jolt, realizing that every second was a second closer to a slow-acting poison that would leave her smothered under an incredibly ugly feet fish mask.

Yet somehow, after all of her stress, after all of her troubles, after all the bizarre experience she had endured on this day alone…

Regina realized that her overwhelmed mind had gone blissfully and utterly blank. 

So from a deep place within herself, Regina found the voice of the only person who could possibly talk their way out of this situation…

"Alas, my queen!” Regina cried, even as she discreetly set down her potentially poisoned tea without taking a single sip. “I cannot taste of earthly delights when my spirit is so light. For you see, my soul must feast even before I taste any sweets or tea! My soul must…"

Regina closed her eyes, channeling the only man who had ever loved her in this life.

“Frolic.”

Regina rose from her chair, not looking at the Queen or the flabbergasted courtiers. 

Instead, she walked woodenly over to the middle of the clearing and began to do her best imitation of Artem.

Unfortunately, a few seconds in, Regina became aware that Artem had made his favorite past-time look easy… and that all of his grace had obviously been lost on his bride-to-be.

Before Regina could make even more of a miserable fool of herself in front of her future mother-in-law and her court…

…She felt a gentle hand settle on her arm and guide her flailing limbs into a smoother, more joyful rhythm.

Regina looked up, barely able to believe what was happening… and saw Artem gazing into her eyes with an expression so gentle and supportive that it took every ounce of strength Regina had not to burst into tears.

"No one," said Artem, in a voice that allowed for no contradiction, "frolics like my darling sea urchin."

Regina was not entirely sure what a sea urchin was. She was not even sure that being called a disheveled orphan of the sea was a compliment. Even so, she had never been more grateful to another person than she was to Artem at that moment.

With her hand against his own as he gallantly supported her, Regina began to frolic with a lightness she had never even imagined possible for herself.

Her eyes locked on his, Regina could feel her limbs move and drift as they swayed and bounced and rocked to a rhythm that Artem effortlessly set.

It was all so simple and warm and gentle and easy, as effortless as a leaf dancing in the wind, as soothing as an unpoisoned cup of tea.

Somewhere behind her, she could vaguely hear nobles chattering in ways she would have once cared about deeply – 

Yet all she could see now was Artem’s beautiful, bright blue eyes and smile as they frolicked with complete and utter delight. 

Finally, somewhere behind her, she vaguely heard the Queen say, "What a marvelous creature! You must frolic harder to keep her, my darling!" 

Regina froze, a cold wash of confusion and fear spreading through her.

Even as Regina turned, thinking she had misunderstood the Queen's words…

She saw the way that the courtiers once surrounding the queen all moved forward and respectfully bowed to Regina. 

Dazed and amazed, Regina realized that she had somehow survived yet another occasion for death.

Yet before she could thank Artem for rescuing her from dire humiliation, she heard a very dry voice that had previously lived only in her nightmares. 

"I am not sure," that voice said, "that the palace can survive this much frolicking on a consistent basis."

Crown Prince Aaron had arrived.

Regina had no positive feelings for the man she only knew through her dreams of him destroying her life…  but she had to admit that he was very effective at making people not want to be around him.

Whether that was a useful skill for a future king was another question entirely.

Either way, upon Prince Aaron's entrance, the nobles vanished as if they had never been there at all. 

When the crown prince turned towards his step-mother she languidly rose from her seat as well.

In fact, Queen Nathasha sauntered up to Prince Aaron and gently pinched his cheek while saying, "You could do with some frolicking yourself. You keep souring your face like this and it will stay that way."

"I have been told," said Prince Aaron in a voice that was drier than Regina's well of sympathy for him, "that people like my face."

"Well," returned the queen cheerfully, "just think about how much more powerful you would be if you genuinely smiled every year or so. We could make it a national holiday!"

Regina stared in horror at whatever motion it was that Prince Aaron made next with his face.

The Queen cocked her eyebrow. "We will work on it, my darling. Now I will let you children play while I go do boring things."

Based on the cheerfulness of her smile as she exited, Regina had the distinct impression that the Queen would have been well-pleased if they had all attempted to murder one another to provide her with further amusement.

Steeling herself as the Queen left, Regina curtsied, conscious of the frozen stiffness of Artem's arm beneath hers. 

"I greet the productive heir of the glorious makers of Carcosa," she murmured.

Prince Aaron waved his arm. "You are to be my sister. You need not be so formal." 

Regina tensed, not entirely sure what he wanted since he had not actually told her how he wanted her to address him.

It turned out that was the least of her worries.

"After all," said Prince Aaron," I have already seen you frolicking less gracefully than my brother."

Artem immediately stiffened further.

"Are you," Artem said in a voice so sweet Regina wondered if he had misunderstood his brother, "implying my darling sea urchin is capable of anything less than the peak of frolicking?" 

Prince Aaron looked at Regina so searchingly that Regina wondered if he could murder her with his gaze alone.

"...I would not dare," the crown prince said finally. "Although Artem, I do wonder what other skills your... remarkable fiancée possesses?"

The difference between the ice in Prince Aaron's eyes and the bland neutrality of his voice made the hairs on Regina's neck stand on end.

Was the crown prince fishing for her weakness?

Did Prince Aaron wish to blackmail her or frame her as he did in her visions? 

Before Regina could gather her fearful thoughts, Artem started speaking… and Regina immediately wished he had chosen to remain silent.

"Regina is the best at everything," Artem hotly said. "She can climb and yell and make people do whatever she wants them to and I want her to do all of those things to me for the rest of our lives!"

He pulled her so close, that Regina could hear his heart, taste the sweet scent that somehow always followed him.

"She is perfect," Artem said and to her shock, Regina realized he meant it.

Something strange passed over Prince Aaron's face as he looked at the two of them and Regina had no way of understanding what it was.

"How could I dare contradict my little brother?" Prince Aaron dryly stated. 

That was when Regina decided that she had endured enough.

After all, it was bad enough that she had to sit there being interrogated and dryly insulted, but she would not stand to see her gentle and supportive Artem being abused!

She might as well prove she was as mad and terrible as Artem had implied.

"Oh dear," Regina said in her sweetest tones, "my darling dove and I need to go celebrate our love with my family, so you must please excuse us."

Yet before she could depart with Artem in a huff, the crown prince interrupted her. 

"What a coincidence," said Prince Aaron. "It seems like I am your family now too."

With a gesture that would have been gallant if it was performed by anyone but him, Prince Aaron offered Regina his arm, an arm she begrudgingly took even as she tightened her grip on Artem, still on her other side.

Prince Aaron’s smile was no more pleasant than it had been on the first occasion she had seen it… in her first vision, right before she had been taken away in chains.  

“Come, sister,” her nightmare said. “Let my brother and I escort you back to your quarters.” 

Author's Note: Thank you for tuning into another chapter of our story! As you can see, Regina is willing to do *anything* she needs to to stay safe... but while she might have momentarily averted tragedy, there's many more attempts at murder headed her way. After all, in our stories, a villainess can never rest easy for too long...