Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any characters you recognize.

A/N Constructive criticism welcome. Let me know what you think should happen or if this should just be a one shot. I have a few chapters planned, but will probably only update weekly unless I get on a roll somehow. I will try to contain any trigger warnings there may be in each chapter heading. If I think of anything else, I will let you know. M for probably some language, adult situations, and just to be on the safe side in general. Thank you for reading!

B

"Send Lucy to me. I shall be in my room waiting to change for dinner," Santana told the head guard as one of the pages helped her out of her carriage.

"Yes, Your Highness," always the simple reply.

Santana made her way up to her room and shut the door. She placed herself in the chair that sat before her great mirror. Soon after, Lucy came through the door and shut it behind herself. She kept her head bowed, eyes on the floor, and hands clasped in front of her as she came to kneel beside her princess.

Santana turned her gaze to the blonde, fair maiden, who was her lady in waiting. She had trained for the responsibility of caring for Santana since Santana herself had picked the pretty girl out when she had been brought to her land as a "tax" or "tribute" from the new ruler of the kingdom in which she had resided. When they had met, Lucy was seven. Santana's father was, and still is, the ruler of the known world, but he allowed the nations serving him to have their own rulers and laws, so long as he had the final word. As the ruler, he got a tax from each country every year, usually consisting of money. However, this king had just murdered his own brother and his wife and daughter to ascend to the throne a couple of years back. As such, he was running low on funds that year, so he chose to have his army go out and select people to be sent to the king in place of the usual tax money.

At seven and a half, it was decided that a girl about Santana's age, a slave, should be selected and trained as her future lady in waiting. She begged her father to let her see the new slaves, and had been ecstatic when he agreed to let her come with him.

Santana had looked on all the tired, sad slaves with awe, but three people especially stood out to her. They looked about her age, but they were different than she was. They had pale skin and golden hair. It captivated Santana. She had never seen anything or anyone so beautiful in her life. Especially the smallest girl captured Santana's attention. She seemed to be the opposite of Santana in every way. Hazel eyes to the other two young children's blue eyes and Santana's chocolate, blonde hair to Santana's rich brown, and pale skin to Santana's caramel color.

While her father was talking to one of the attending guards, Santana sneaked off to find those dazzling creatures again. She had soon found them, and though they were a little shy at first, they had begun playing together. The boy's name was Sam, and the girl with the blue eyes was Brittany, but her favorite girl was named Lucy. Apparently, Lucy and Brittany were cousins, and Sam was their friend.

Meanwhile, her father was urgently searching for Santana. He had been astonished to turn around and find his pride and joy missing. When he found her, he watched silently as they played together. Santana didn't have many friends to play with since the aristocracy all tried to impress the king with how well mannered and mature their children were. It was nice to see Santana really enjoy being a child for once.

Being the kind ruler that he was, her father had selected them as her companions, and gave them special treatment in the palace. Even when they were old enough to perform duties in the palace, they remained living there as honored guests and treated as equals for the most part. They did not have many fine clothes or their own servants (though they were given authority over the other servants), but, once their duties were carried out, they were nothing more or less than Santana's friends. They even had permanent places at the king's table even though Sam helped in the garden, Brittany was just a lady's maid, and Lucy, her lady in waiting. They still did have certain boundaries to maintain, but those were not always strictly upheld. The king treated them as his own children for the most part.

Santana was brought out of her memories when Lucy cleared her throat. "Right," Santana mused.

"Is milady alright?" Lucy asked, though her focus remained on the floor in front of her knees.

It still impressed Santana how perfectly Lucy was able to separate servant moments from friend moments. It was almost like there were two different people in one body. This was servant mode. No familiarity, no informality, all submissive servant girl, perfectly obedient, as a slave would be, calm, quiet, but still sweet. That never changed. Lucy or Quinn, she was always sweet. They had decided long ago for Lucy, her first name, as her "formal" name to all the servants and to signify that it was time to be submissive with no eye contact and addressing her as "milady" and such. Quinn, her middle name, was the "informal" name to allow her to be free. Only a few people used Quinn. Santana's father (who treated Lucy like a daughter), Brittany, Sam, and only a select number of other servants, slaves, and friends called her that. Quinn was challenging, playful, fiery when the times arose, familiar, and occasionally disrespectful. It made Santana smile to think of the two sides of the coin all contained in one person with the ability to separate them or use them both.

"Milady?" Lucy sounded more worried now.

Santana had no idea how long she had been thinking in silence. She smiled, reached out, and gently moved a lock of hair that had fallen into Quinn's eyes. "I'm not hungry, are you, Q?"

Quinn smiled at the unspoken understanding of permission to switch to her informal side, though she chose to remain on her knees on the floor because she loved the princess's gentle caress as she continued stroking the soft golden hair she adored. Quinn smiled and lifted her eyes to meet Santana's. "Not really, milady."

"Good," Santana was hard to handle at times, and she knew it, but in moments like this, with her Quinn, she let down her walls and defenses, and became all gentleness and sweetness. " Why don't you tell the king that I'm still full from the late lunch, and that you and I are going to have a quiet night in and are not to be disturbed. Just you and I tonight. I'd like a quiet night to just read and talk, wouldn't you?"

Quinn's eyes lit up a little more and she nodded eagerly with a quick, "Yes, milady."

Santana's smile beamed as she stopped stroking Quinn's hair, and brought her hand to the side of Quinn's face, "Then go tell the king, grab a book, and get your ass back in here." She poked Quinn's nose just for good measure.

Quinn got up, curtsied, and said, "Yes, milady. As you wish," before rushing from the room.

Santana moved from her chair to fall on her bed. This was going to be fun. It had been a while since they had done this. Usually, Sam and Brittany would play card games or go riding or the like with Quinn and Santana. Sometimes, however, like tonight, Santana longed for peace and quiet which Brittany or Sam, though love-able, would inevitably ruin. Quinn was like being by herself without feeling lonely. Sometimes, they'd each read silently to themselves from their separate books until one or the other would fall asleep. Occasionally, Quinn would leave at night when she got tired or felt Santana needed to be alone. Sometimes, they'd play cards, discuss books, or find some activity to do together. Recently, what happened the most often is what had become Santana's favorite kind of night. Quinn would read to her until she put Santana or herself to sleep, but most of the time they had to limit how much they would read to keep from staying up all night.

Santana was broken from her reverie shortly thereafter by Quinn entering her room. They never knocked. It was kind of an understanding since Quinn was the lady in waiting. She had brought several books and a nightgown for herself to change into. She felt too self-conscious, though Santana never understood why, to walk the short distance between their adjoined rooms, which came in handy when one or the other girl had nightmares, in just her nightgown. But she also refused to use the adjoining door most of the time because she felt that would be too informal.

"Sorry that it took me so long, I always get so absorbed in the library trying to find a good range of books," Quinn chuckled at herself as she closed the door behind her. All the formality that existed in her voice from just moments earlier had disappeared. "Would you like to change now, or later?"

"Now, I think," Santana spoke without hesitation. She fully planned on falling asleep on Q's shoulder tonight. It was then that she slept the best. She always managed to feel most comfortable and warm with Quinn.

Quinn nodded, and pulled out a nightgown for Santana. Santana rolled off the bed and turned around allowing Quinn to unlace her dress and corset. Q was always extremely gentle with Santana. She almost made Santana feel like a delicate china doll as she gently caressed the angry red imprints that had formed from wearing the tight garments all day. Once she undressed Santana, she would take time to massage a few places which she knew were always sore and tight.

Santana didn't know, but Quinn took this time to admire the beautiful caramel skin against her white, and the wonderful curves of the girl she admired so much. It was not a slave's right to leer at a princess, so she did this for herself as much as Santana's benefit, but in the end, she would do anything for Santana, and this was just another way of trying to say "I love you" though nothing could ever happen between them.

Quinn reluctantly dressed the beautiful princess, sorry to watch the beautiful skin be once again hidden from sight to go unappreciated and neglected at least for the evening.

Santana made her way over to the bed as Quinn pulled down the sheets for her. Once she had climbed onto the tall bed, Quinn tucked her in, then turned around and stripped down in the far corner of the princess's room by the fireplace. She always changed as quickly as she could because, no matter how good her body looked according to other people, she felt far inferior to the beauty lying in the bed just feet away from her.

Santana watched intently knowing Quinn wouldn't turn around. She didn't understand why her friend was so ashamed. Santana was jealous of the beautiful curves of the girl. She got to appreciate them for such a short time, and only when the girl chose to stay the night in her room with her. She longed to get out of bed and just feel her skin. She wondered what it felt like. She wanted to feel her skin against Quinn's, but she had no idea why. It was probably just curiosity, or so she told herself. She looked at the ceiling just before Quinn turned around, and pretended to be pondering something.

As she brought the books she had brought for them to the bed, she tried to believe Santana was staring at the ceiling the whole time rather than at her, though she had felt the gaze of her friend and mistress burning into her back more than the hot flames of the fire which she had changed by mere seconds previous.

Once she reached the bed, she set the books on the night stand by the only candle in the room still lit so that she could slide into the bed next to her best friend and yet owner and superior. Occasionally, that got confusing, even after all these years, but they worked through it. The king and Santana were lenient and forgiving masters, even when one overstepped the boundaries.

Santana turned to lie on her side so she could give Quinn her full attention. She loved to watch Quinn read. Even when they were reading separately, she often ended up watching as Quinn got sucked into the book she was reading and lost herself in a different world. She loved even more when Quinn read aloud to her. Quinn would do all of the different voices of each character, and that, along with her facial expressions, made her even more beautiful and captivating than she was every day.

"Would you like to read separately, or would you like me to read to you?" Quinn smiled down. She asked even though Santana lying on her side, rather than her back, was a pretty good indicator of the answer. She just loved to hear the answer.

"Read to me?" Santana didn't demand when she was with Quinn. She didn't even COMMAND. She asked. Just plain and simple, asked.

"As you wish, milady," Quinn chuckled. She loved this side of her princess. She really only got to see it, and it made her feel like the most important person in the world.

Once they had chosen a book, Quinn read through about half of the book when she noticed Santana drifting in and out of sleep. She smiled and marked the page, knowing that her best friend would hate to miss anything, blew out the candle, and laid back to get some sleep.

These were her favorite nights with Santana. Just the two of them. It seemed silly, really. They never did anything crazy or over the top fun on these nights, though the nights they did do something crazy, like sneak out of the castle, were fun. Quinn still treasured these quiet nights the most.

Santana snuggled up to Quinn as she got comfortable on her back. The princess placed her head on Quinn's shoulder. Whether or not she did it in her sleep or deliberately, Quinn never knew. What she did know, was that she was happiest and most comfortable with her princess's arm wrapped possessively around her waist and her head buried in the crook of her neck.

"G'night, milady," Quinn couldn't resist a quick peck on the beauty's forehead.

Santana squirmed impossibly closer, throwing a leg over to wrap around one of Quinn's, and sighed a sigh of deep contentment. Normally, that was all Quinn received in response, but as she shut her eyes tonight, she heard a very quiet, "Mmm… night, sweetness."