The Seelie Queen was very different to Rumpelstiltskin. Wilder. Darker. Angrier. But against all logic or reason, Aurora found her heart beat slow down the moment she met her eyes. Fear left her limbs. This was a formidable creature, no doubt - it just didn’t strike her as a foe.

“You’re a dragon,” she stated the obvious.

“I wish,” said the queen, laughing. “But not quite, no.”

She could have fooled her. “So, you love Rupert,” she stated, making Aurora’s eyes widened. “Don’t look so surprised. I spent the last century meditating on that damn curse. I don’t think anything could have saved his life, other than True Love’s Kiss. My magic is too powerful to be thwarted by less.”

She blushed. True love? She’d certainly been quite infatuated with the sleeping, beautiful king. But that was quite a leap. Although now that she knew him, Aurora had to admit that she was indeed very, very close to falling.

Alright, so she might have already gone ahead and jumped off that cliff a little while ago. But still. Didn’t mean that she’d loved him to begin with, did it?

“You have Fay blood, little Cinder,” said Maleficent. “That’s what we call it now, and here, anyway. Magic blood coming right down from an ancestor that wasn’t human at all. That race came in pairs. Soul mates, you’d call it. Don’t try to rationalize things that are beyond your understanding. You love him. And a good thing, too,” her smile was downright wicked. “I know better than to give a chance to women who don’t deserve him, now.”

Aurora’s head was going to explode. She concentrated on the least understandable part of her little speech, “Cinder?” said she.

She knew of the Cinders - everyone did, now more than ever. The last Cinder, humans coming from the strongest line of fire-using Fays, was Ella De Luz.

“You think I’m a Cinder?”

That made no sense. She had no magics, save for those two wishes she’d now used up. Cinderella could wave her hand and summon fire.

“Cinderella’s mother was one of three sisters - triplets. All born with Fay blood aplenty. One was Seelie, one, quite mortal, and the last, as Unseelie as they come. Wild and reckless. Reckless enough to leave her baby at its father’s steps before disappearing.”

Aurora blinked, again, and again, and again. “You’re not serious.”

“Both Courts have looked after you,” she told her, somewhat defensively. “I sent Fae. That poser, Rumple, sent Petunia. We take care of our children.”

As Aurora’s entire world was flipped upside down, the Seelie Queen started walking away. Seeing that she wasn’t following, she turned, and lifted a brow. “Well, are you coming? Seems like we have a Kingdom to save.”

* * *

“You’re kidding,” Stephenson groaned, when his men reported what they’d just found out.

“Every access code has changed. We can’t even enter the Council chambers, let alone the King’s office. When Rench tried to take the crown, he was stopped by…”

Rupert smiled.

“Well?”

“Statues, sir. The statues next to the throne. They… move.”

Poor souls.

Before the traitor could regain his wits, a panicked guard rushed in, fear emanating from his every pore.

“What now!” Stephenson practically screamed.

The guard only said one word, half whisper, half cry.

“Dragon.”

One second passed before they all started to run.

Rupert got to his feet, shaking his head. He walked out as they’d left the cell open, hands still tied behind his back.

When he’d reached the first statues at the bottom of the tower, he asked, “Has the whole thing been filmed?”

The automaton wasn’t equipped with vocal function - an older model, no doubt - but it inclined its head.

Rupert turned and moved his wrists. “Can you help with this?”

The machine fiddled with the bonds until his wrists were free.

He could have stopped the whole thing quite easily. One word and the men who’d come to target him would have been stopped. But this wasn’t about taking care of one lot of enemies - it was a necessary reminder to everyone who’d presume to fight him.

He was probably not the best leader in a world he didn’t quite understand yet. He’d try his best, but it would take time. None of that mattered. This was his domain. His Kingdom. And attempting to take it off his hands was pointless.

“Film their arrest, then broadcast the whole thing worldwide,” he ordered.

“Access denied,” replied a metallic voice, coming from inside the walls somewhere.

He laughed at himself again. “Right. Sorry, I forgot. Just film it.”

He was still master of this castle, to the eyes of its guardians, but an order such as broadcasting anything could only come from the Queen.

Catching a shadow, he turned to the window, his mouth hanging out.

“Are you filming this?”

“Affirmative.”

Good.

The black dragon landed in front of the castle and a single rider dismounted, looking fierce and fearless. A rider with long blonde hair and the most sensual mouth he’d ever seen.

The instant Aurora touched the ground the dragon vanished in a puff of green and black smoke, and in its place stood the woman he’d waited for since his awakening.

“I’ll be damned.”

Aurora had somehow found Maleficent. Fuck, had she actually gone through the bloody thorns, all by herself?

If he hadn’t been completely in love with her already, he would have fallen right there and then.

Rupert ran to the entrance and opened his arms, caging in both women. Mal sighed. “Must you do this?”

“I must.”