"I was able to grab the box with my heart and escape while Regina was distracted, and-" he broke off to fiddle with the glass on the countertop a second in the remembrance of the long hunt to find the wolf who had quite literally stolen his heart out of his arms, and of the woman's shock and horror at seeing what it was she had stolen before she had given it back to him. "Once Red and I realized that we were not on opposite sides, that we both wanted to keep the Queen from finding Snow, we agreed to band together to find her ourselves instead."

He remembered the surprise in it as much as the enjoyment of the werewoman's company as they had followed Red's knowledge of the princess to discover her outside a tavern in the dead of night.

"We found her just as she had decided to turn herself in to the Queen in the hopes of stopping her reign of terror." He shook his head and took a drink, "Even if you and I both know that killing Snow would not have kept Regina from destroying everything in her desire for power."