"Since my exit is at your insistence, does that mean you'll see me again?"
"Yes," Langwidere said without hesitation.
"When shall I return?"
"Whenever you like."
"So technically I could walk out the door and walk right back in...?"
"Oh, aren't you feeling clever?" Langwidere asked with a wicked grin. "Have a nice time sitting for breakfast. Good night, Mistress West."
"Good night, Lady Ev," West said with a snicker, and resigned, she left the palace.
Rather than summon one of her girls, she took her pleasure by herself, with her own hand up her dress, the throbbing sting in her ass fueling her passion. It didn't take long, and when she was done, she reached for a jar of poppies.
The next time she called on the princess was more than a week later. Dorothy had escaped her grasp and she was furious.
She had already killed three people in raw, purest rage, and realized she would end up laying waste to her entire brothel if she didn't get out of there. Having nowhere else to go, she decided to seek out Langwidere.
To announce her presence she threw a fist-sized rock at the window she now knew to be the princess's, quite satisfied with the sound of splintering glass.
When an angry blonde head opened the window and peered out, she yelled. "Princesa! Let me the fuck in!"
"Have you lost your mind? You just broke my window!" the princess yelled back, scandalized.
"So punish me, but let me in!" West shouted, heading for the front doors.
Langwidere shut the window, though really what use was that now, and tutted her disapproval. "We will have to speak about how she comes calling in the future," she said to herself, haughtily moving to descend the stairs and open the doors for the crazy witch.
When they were upstairs, locked in Langwidere's suite, West immediately started pacing back and forth, fuming. "How dare she help that murderess escape! What price must I pay for loyalty in these wretched times?" she nearly screamed, wringing her hair with both hands.
Langwidere stood, watching silently, and when West finally looked at her, she simply pointed to the washroom.
"Ughhh, you're so maddeningly afraid of getting a little dirty," she snarled, but stalked to the washroom anyway and began scrubbing her hands in earnest. She fixed her eye makeup, as she already knew she would be directed back in if she didn't, and stalked back out. "Do I pass your inspection?"
"Your voice is too loud. Lower it," Langwidere instructed, as if that were the only problem either of the two of them had.
"I'm fucking angry!" West screamed, getting louder if anything.
Langwidere calmly approached her and without warning slapped her face, smiling as the witch's head was forced to the side and a glaring handprint formed on her cheek. "You are welcome to be angry," she said, her own voice sickly sweet, "but you are not welcome at all to be disrespectful."
Shocked, a hand went to her cheek and she turned to Langwidere with wide eyes, magic swelling up within her and aching to be expelled. She could incinerate the girl in a flash. Or squeeze the breath from her lungs with nothing but a gesture. She did nothing, however, but stand and feel the pulsing pain.
Langwidere waited to see if she would be subjected to some form of magical retribution, and grinned delightedly when West just stared at her. "Now," she began primly, reaching up and removing the witch's hand from her cheek to replace it with her own, gently rubbing out the sting, "what do you think you might want to say to me?"
"Other than go fuck yourself?" West whispered, inexplicably leaning into the touch.
Langwidere couldn't help the girlish giggle that escaped her at that, and she curled a fingernail into the reddened skin. "Yes, other than that."
"Well I think you're looking for an apology, but I didn't do anything wrong," West said petulantly.
"Then why did you get slapped?" Langwidere asked logically.
"Because I think you're a bit mad?" West guessed, though she was only teasing, impressed at how quickly the princess was able to get her to calm down.
"I see. So then, potentially, I could fly off the handle at any perceived offense?" Langwidere played along.
"Exactly. I'm glad you realize it..."
"Then I suppose you'd better behave very well, don't you think?"
"I suppose I'd better," West agreed, still reveling in the hand stroking her cheek.
Langwidere stilled her hand and kissed West's forehead. "I'm waiting..."
"I'm sorry for having perceived to offend you," West said, halfway between sincere and cheeky.
"I'm not sure I believe you, but that's neither here nor there." The princess led West across the room and pulled out the chair from her vanity, taking a seat. She pointed to the floor beside it and chuckled as West grudgingly sat. "Knees, if you would," she directed.
West debated disobeying, but the twist in her belly made her do as she was asked, and she slowly moved onto her knees beside the princess.
"Excellent. Now tell me, calmly, why you're so angry."
"Because Dorothy escaped me, and with the help of one of my girls, no less." She was calm but her words came out with a dark scowl.
"And what do you think gives you the right to have her in need of escaping?"
"She killed my sister!" West started to rise, but a hand on her shoulder kept her kneeling.
"Lower your voice. Last warning," Langwidere said with quiet authority.
"Or what? You'll spank me?"
"No. I'll ask you to leave."
West deflated with a sigh. "She killed my sister."
Langwidere's hand moved from West's shoulder to carefully comb through her knotted hair. With a little urging, she got West to lay her head in her lap. "Are you certain it was deliberate? The way I've heard tell is that she fell from the sky in some sort of vehicle, and the vehicle struck your sister. That can hardly be within Dorothy's control, can it?"
"But after that," West said, tears springing to her eyes. "With the gun."
"Then she should be brought to trial. Evidence presented. It is not for you to unlawfully imprison her and exact your own personal brand of vengeance."
"Well I think it is, and as soon as I find her I'll kill her," West growled.
"Your sister was beloved by many. You would take away the healing they deserve to see justice done? Fairly and publicly? You would selfishly strip them of that right?"
"That's a horrible way to look at it."
"It's the only way to look at it and you will honor your sister's memory by doing the right thing; is that clear?"
"Oh, because I'm sure you always do the right thing, is that it?"
"We, little witch, are not here to talk about me. Un-der-stand?" She drew out the word as she curled her hand in messy hair and forced West to look up at her.
"I think you overestimate me," West said after staring silently, working her jaw in an attempt to diffuse her anger.
"That sounds like your problem, not mine. Your hair is atrocious. Go fetch my hairbrush from the washroom and bring it to me."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I'll use it on your bare ass instead."
The memory of her spanking still fresh in her mind despite the week's time that had passed, West wasn't quite ready to repeat the experience. Especially not with a hairbrush that was likely ornately heavy and metal backed. With a shudder she got up and retrieved the item, which was almost exactly as she'd pictured it, and returned to her knees in front of Langwidere, offering the item with a sultry pout.
"If you won't take care of yourself, I'll have to do it for you," Langwidere said as she snatched the brush from her charge. "Turn around."
West turned around, choosing to say nothing rather than end up getting spanked with that ghastly implement. She could handle having her hair brushed.
Langwidere hummed softly as she used great care brushing the witch's hair. It was a ratty, tangled mess and she did her best not to make the experience painful.
West sulked through it with her arms folded over her chest, thinking there were much better ways to spend one's time. "That was entirely unnecessary," she said when the princess was done.
"My room is full of pretty things, and look how pretty you are," Langwidere said, tugging West to her feet and placing her in front of the vanity so she could see herself in the mirror. The princess stood behind her, hands resting on the witch's upper arms.
West shrugged, unused to compliments.
Langwidere frowned, though, as their positions put her face right near the silky tresses, and she shook her head. "Oh, no. You look so beautiful, but your hair is simply dripping with the smell of poppy smoke."
West smirked. "That might be because I smoke."
"I'm aware of your filthy habit, thank you," Langwidere said disapprovingly. "The flowers smell quite nice until you burn them. That ruins them."
West spun to face her. "Are you saying I'm ruined, Princesa?"
"Lady Ev," Langwidere corrected austerely, "and no. I'm saying you need a bath."
Twenty minutes later a hot bath was ready, and her servants exused themselves politely as they left the room.
Langwidere locked her suite doors behind them and twirled her finger in the air toward Mistress West. "Well? Are you going to bathe with your clothes on?"
"I'd think not," West said with a laugh. "I'd be very cold walking home later in a wet dress." She turned to head for the washroom.
"Stop," Langwidere commanded her, and when the witch stopped, she smiled to herself, keeping the delight at being so perfectly obeyed out of her voice. "Turn around."
West turned, one eyebrow raised.
Langwidere regarded her for a few moments and then spoke again. "Undress, please." She sat on the edge of the bed to watch.
West's eyebrow lifted higher but she complied, shrugging out of her dress and hooking her thumbs into the sides of her underwear. "These too, Lady Ev?" she asked, purposely coy.
"Take them off and give them to me," Lady Ev said, holding out her hand, palm up.
West tried to suppress a shiver at that directive and bit her lower lip, pushing her underwear over her hips and down her legs, then walking forward to hand them to the princess.
Langwidere's lips twitched into a coy smirk of her own and she tucked the garment into the front of her dress, between her breasts. "Remove your stockings and get in the bath," she said cheerfully.
West settled into the water with a contented sigh. It had been awhile since she'd had water this hot. It felt amazing enveloping her skin and soaking through to her muscles. "Thank you for this," she said sincerely when the princess entered the washroom. "Will you be joining me?"
"I do not undress in front of anyone," Langwidere said by way of answer. "But I will be attending to you, so after a fashion I suppose it could be considered joining you."
"Your sleeves will get wet..."
"That is quite an observation."
"I would imagine that dress cost more than most people see in a lifetime. Why would you ruin it?"
"I have a thousand more dresses. What do I care about this one?"
"That is a very spoiled rotten thing to say," West observed.
"Then I shall donate this dress to orphans; does that apppease your ridiculous sense of unfairness?"
"That depends on whether you're going to donate it before or after you ruin it."
"Be quiet and wet your hair."
West laughed and submerged herself under water for a few moments to saturate her hair, then came up and brushed it out of her face. "Hair is wet, your majesty," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
"That's a new one," Langwidere said, smiling at the witch as she lathered her hands with soap and began washing her charge's hair.
"That feels and smells divine," West purred appreciatively, closing her eyes.
"Better than poppy smoke?"
"Marginally."
"So very stubborn."
"About some things; absolutely."
"All right, rinse your hair," the princess said, rinsing her hands off in the bath water.
West submerged herself again and ran her hands through her hair to get out all the remnants of soap. She breathed in deeply once she came out of the water, feeling incredibly refreshed.
Langwidere took the bar of soap in her hands and began rubbing it over the witch's skin, starting with the parts above the water. She languidly cleaned tense shoulders and an even tenser throat, then urged West forward to slide hands down her back, getting every inch above water before sliding her arms in to finish the task.
West sighed happily, not used to such treatment, and turned her head to kiss the side of Langwidere's neck in a heartfelt gesture of appreciation. "Thank you, Lady Ev," she said, meaning it sincerely this time.
"You're welcome, little witch," Langwidere replied in a low purr, fingers crawling around to West's front to wash her chest and stomach.
West's breath hitched at the feel of smooth, delicate fingertips gliding across her breasts, and her head lolled back onto the rim of the bath tub. When Langwidere's hands slid lower to wash her belly, she couldn't help a quiet moan.
Langwidere grinned to herself and let her lips brush the witch's ear as her hands slid even lower. "Be a good little witch and open up for me," she whispered, tugging at Mistress West's thighs to part them.
West thought she might pass out, it was suddenly so hot and there was so little air to claim. She obediently spread her thighs to allow dextrous fingers between them. "Yes, Lady Ev," she murmured without thinking.
Langwidere clenched her thighs at the submissive behavior and slid one fingertip carefully inside the witch. West's answering whimper drove her mad. She had to hear it again. She pushed her finger in further, stroking hard once, twice, then pulled out and gripped West's thigh like a vise. "Beg," she demanded in a voice that could cut glass, her breathing labored.
The word was already on the tip of West's lips, about to spill forth. "Please," she begged. "Please, your majesty." Her hands gripped the edge of the bath tub so hard her fingers ached. "Fuck. Please. Please. Please."
"I'm supposed to be getting you clean and now we're going to make a mess," Langwidere whispered, and after a split second's hesitation, she climbed into the bath fully clothed, on her hands and knees above Mistress West, and returned her attention between the witch's legs, stroking one finger back and forth with an appreciative groan.
West's eyes flew open at the splash, and she almost laughed, but the sweet attention pulled her focus quickly and the humor vanished. "Oh," she said, biting her lip, pushing her hips into the princess's hand.
Langwidere's fingers coaxed curses and cries from the witch beneath her, and she relished every moment of control she had over this magical creature. "So well behaved when she's getting what she wants," she teased, twisting her fingers as she slid them out, then slowly back in.
"I was behaving before you touched me," West protested, for some reason finding importance in the distinction.
"That is true," Langwidere granted, kissing the witch's cheek as her fingers worked tirelessly, intent on undoing Mistress West completely.
And seeing her undone was every bit as delicious and extraordinary as Langwidere imagined it would be, a piercing cry torn from the witch's throat as her muscles tightened with release, her back arched, breath shuddering from her parted lips, her eyes rolling briefly back, sweat dripping down the sides of her face. But the most precious part was the look of unguarded humanity. It was the moment Langwidere coveted above all else. She felt truly powerful to have been the one to invoke it. It was worth every stitch of her ruined dress.
"My lovely, lovely, lovely little witch," Langwidere said affectionately when West finally opened her eyes. "I have matters of State to attend to and I must get out of this dress. As you can see, someone got it wet."
West just lay there blissfully, and nodded in the affirmative that she understood.
"Finish washing yourself, get dressed and-" She paused, thoughtful, and changed her mind. "Well, it's up to you. You can wait for me here or leave, whichever your heart desires."
She hated the crashing of reality back upon her after such an experience, but sighed. "I must get back as well. Whores can get up to all sorts of mischief if left unsupervised for too long, and I no longer have a second in command for the moment."
"Hm. Perhaps you should choose someone before you next have need of my company, in case you are so inclined to remain with me for the night."
"Sounds like a plan," West said, begrudgingly picking up the soap to finish washing.
"Then I shall see you when I see you, little witch," Langwidere said, kissing the top of West's head and moving into another area of the suite to change her clothes.
"I'm older than you are!" West called after her, though she had to admit she didn't mind the appellation. "Much older!"
"Good night, Mistress West!" Langwidere called back as she shut and locked the door to her changing room.
"Good night indeed."