AN. RavenPuff girl, I don't remember if Ugabu is specifically mentioned in the Wicked books, but it is in the map of Oz at the front of it.
Mindy- I did consider that, but ultimately decided against it.
Fun fact! In the book of One Night with the King, Fiyero (Xerxes) was gone for FOUR YEARS! But I couldn't do that do you.
Chapter Ninteen
The third night after Fiyero's return, he finally summoned Elphaba to him. She didn't bother with dressing up, she wanted nothing more than to see her husband again. But she didn't expect to find him sitting before the fire in his room, his brow furrowed.
"Yero?" she broke the silence tentatively when he didn't seem to notice her presence.
He turned to look at her slowly, and Elphaba was stunned by the cold and distant look in his blue eyes. It wasn't exactly the happy, romantic reunion she'd imagined.
"Fae."
Encouraged, she took a small step towards him. "I missed you," she confessed and Fiyero rose an eyebrow.
"Did you?"
Elphaba frowned, confused by the question. "Of course I did. Do you doubt me?"
Fiyero didn't answer, turning to look back at the fire. "It took me longer than I thought to be caught up on everything I've missed in the past four months."
Elphaba smiled faintly. "The court missed your advice. They were almost afraid to breathe while you were gone, in case you would disapprove."
"And what of you? How did you fare in my absence?"
Again, Elphaba thought the line of questioning was rather odd, but answered him nonetheless.
"I kept myself busy. I learned a great deal about warfare. Rather more than I'd prefer to know, actually. Why do you ask?"
Fiyero rose from his seat and walked over to pour himself a glass of wine.
"Amongst the matters of business I've been told about in the past three days, I've been made aware of certain…. Whispers. Rumours."
Elphaba froze. Had he discovered her secret? Was she about to be revealed as a fraud?
"What- what whispers?" she asked faintly.
"Is it true," he asked her slowly. "That you go for a walk down to the gate each morning to talk with the guards?"
"Yes," Elphaba replied, still not understanding.
Fiyero stilled, and his head bowed. "I didn't want to believe it," he muttered and Elphaba frowned in irritation, her patience wearing thin.
"Believe what?" she demanded.
He turned to her, and Elphaba was stunned by the anger she saw there.
"I've been informed that you…. You have been sleeping with one of the guards since I left."
Elphaba gasped. "What?" she exclaimed in disbelief and Fiyero raised an eyebrow.
"You deny it?"
"Yes, I deny it!" she cried. "How can you…. You doubt me? You believe the rumours?"
"You admitted you visit the gate daily," Fiyero reminded her icily.
"I go for a walk, which takes me pass the gate and I exchange pleasantries with the guards," Elphaba replied through gritted teeth. "Just as I do with the servants I pass in the halls, citizens I meet in the city, and court officials I see around the castle. Am I also accused of sleeping with them?"
Her husband stared at her suspiciously. "So, you proclaim your innocence?"
"Fiyero, I'm green," Elphaba replied flatly. "You are the only person to ever show any sign of interest in my body. Why should that suddenly change? Who else would have me in their bed?"
"Flesh is flesh to a man, no matter the colour," Fiyero snapped back at her. "If the lights are out, you wouldn't tell any difference."
Elphaba felt like she'd been slapped. "Is that how you feel?" she asked, feeling sick. "That if the lights are out when I'm summoned to your bed, you can pretend my skin is a normal colour?"
"Don't make me the villain here," Fiyero warned her. "I am not the one accused of adultery, defiling our marriage bed with another man."
"Defiled?" Elphaba practically spat. "That's rich, coming from the man with a wing full of concubines on the castle grounds!"
Fiyero's face darkened. "You know perfectly well I haven't been with any of the concubines since we met!"
"That doesn't mean they cease to exist!" she retorted. "How do you think that makes me feel, knowing a dozen beautiful women spend their days lying around hoping you will summon them into your bed?"
"Having the concubines is a part of royal tradition," Fiyero began in irritation, but Elphaba cut him off.
"Which no one says you must continue!"
Silence fell between them, tension thick in the air, before Elphaba sighed shakily.
"How can you believe such stories? Do you trust me so little as to think I would cheat on you, while you're away at war? Do you think that little of me?"
Fiyero said nothing, so she continued.
"I know you're upset about what happened at the front, and I know what it means for you to have lost, but please…. Don't doubt my love for you, or my faith in our marriage vows."
Fiyero threw his wine glass at the wall, and it shattered into a million pieces.
"You understand nothing of what this failure means to me," he snarled at her. "And how can you stand there and speak of love and the faith you hold in our marriage, when since the night we met, you've admitted you know nothing of either love or marriage?"
Elphaba was too numb and hurt to speak, and finally Fiyero only spoke one word.
"Leave."
Unprotesting, she did so, not even realising tears were streaming down her cheeks.
She felt completely sick to her stomach. Not only for what he had said, but for the very idea he actually believed the rumours apparently circulating about her. And she regretted her own part in their argument- she had let her temper get the better of her.
The worst part was, there was nothing Elphaba could do. She was forbidden to approach the king unsummoned, so she was resigned to waiting until Fiyero sent for her.
She didn't think it would be long. She knew already that Fiyero had a temper that could easily match hers, but he calmed down much more quickly than she did.
Elphaba lay in her bed miserably. Her mind wouldn't stop replaying his words over and over again, and it made it impossible to get to sleep. Finally, just before dawn, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep and dozed until the door opened and one of her handmaidens entered.
She looked surprised to see Elphaba there.
"Begging your pardon, Your Highness," she said, curtseying hastily. "We thought you were with the King. I was coming to clean the room."
Elphaba didn't both addressing her first sentence. "Never mind," she said faintly. "Could you just leave, please? I don't wish to get up just yet."
"Would you like breakfast, Your Highness?"
Food was the last thing Elphaba wanted. "No, thank you. I just don't wish to be disturbed, understood? I'm not feeling well."
"Of course, Your Highness."
It didn't take long before Dillamond arrived to check on Elphaba.
"Fae? I heard you weren't feeling well. Are you alright? Should I call a doctor?"
Elphaba managed a small smile. She had insisted the Goat not refer to her by her title when they were not before the court. It felt so strange to her when he had first known her as simply 'Fae.'
"There's no need for a doctor, thank you. I just…. I didn't sleep well last night."
Dillamond hesitated. "Would this have anything to do with the King summoning you to him last night?"
Elphaba looked at him. "You know?" she asked quietly and as he nodded, her eyes filled with tears.
"It will be alright," he assured her. "I do believe deep down he knows you are telling the truth. Give him time."
"I hope you're right," she whispered and Dillamond left her alone.