! Warning !
This chapter includes a strong non-consensual sex scene. Please skip this chapter and read some other great gelphie story if this offends you. Happy Reading!
"The princess is the most beautiful woman in Oz —and she's kind-hearted as well!" Shell said, adjusting his brambly sack over his right shoulder while raising a torch with his other hand.
Elphaba wrinkled her nose.
"You can't be serious," she said. "She's heinous—a vicious, self-absorbed, bigoted tyrant."
Shell raised a bushy eyebrow at his sister.
"Jealousy doesn't suit you, Fabala. It won't make you more beautiful nor her any less," he said.
Elphaba choked on her spit. Jealous? Her brother didn't understand her at all. She elbowed past him, quickening her step. The two were far into the Great Gillikin Forest walking back to their sister.
"Come now," Shell said, catching up. "Your high morals were always your best feature, don't lose them to a bout of female envy."
"Your best feature was your masculine silence, please indulge in it now," she said.
"Will you remain a misanthrope even here? I bet you haven't one new friend in that castle."
Elphaba snorted. What was friendship other than another name for mutual exploitation? Elphaba was closest to Nanny, but it wasn't because of a shared affection, but rather because Nanny's deference to her defunct royal status made the woman civil to her. The other servants completely avoided her. When they did say her name, it was in a huddle of whispers, their conversation halting whenever Elphaba came near, and picking up again as soon as she left.
What use had she for "friends"? Elphaba crossed her arms as she continued to speed walk.
She never needed anyone outside her family. Munchkinland was provincial, its people insipid. She had learned that no matter the palace ball, she would be the most interesting person there. Gillikin was no different, with its vacuous Gillikinese royalty, and its empty-headed servants. Friendless as ever, her social life remained unchanged. But, unfortunately that was the only part of her life that had.
Her days of disappearing into a trove of books, spindling her gangly legs around her favorite gold and red embroidered sofa in the west library had vanished. No more archery by the stables, no more strolls by the foggy Munchkinland moors in the mornings, no more singing without being hid behind a veil. Before the war, outside of tending to Nessa, Elphaba had entertained herself as she pleased, but now she only had the wee hours of the morning to herself. Once her favorite time of day, they were now filled with dreams of her father calling to her from the gates of Colwen Grounds. She would wake in a feverish sweat only to toss and turn until she got up, worrying about her sister. How was Nessa surviving in the cottage? Did she have enough food? Could she manage in her chair by herself? Had that Munchkinlander, Boq, whom they met on their way, kept his promise and checked in on her?
She no longer ate what she wanted either. How she missed spiced vegetables, dried fruits, rice, and nutmeg milk. Except for the Butler and Head Housekeeper who received scraps from the royal table, the rest of the castle servants had a diet of thick sludgy porridge with leftover animal trimmings in it. Elphaba never knew how the servants could gobble it down, until she rounded her sixth day of Galinda's punishment; she progressed past ravenous to a general state of dizziness, with high punctuations of nausea.
But, even more important than what she was eating (or not eating), were the restrictions on what she could say or do. In her youth, palace guests criticized her appearance, even brazenly touched and stroked her skin. Hating their pompous comments and lecherous hands, she learned to defend herself. If someone insulted her, she met them with a cutting remark of her own. If she was with someone who overstepped their bounds, she exited the meeting or dance early and retired to her room. She controlled who she saw. How close they stood. What they talked about. How long they stayed. But in Gillikin, Elphaba had no control. She had to stand and bear everyone's brutishness in silence.
Like when the Princess measured her waist each night to make sure Elphaba hadn't eaten a nibble since her punishment. Galinda circled her body with a long red ribbon, synching it tight against her belly, at that intimate space between her navel and lower parts. The tips of Galinda's nails glided across the silky fabric, tracing her body, making her tickle in that space she wasn't supposed to feel.
"That's my good girl," Galinda would tell her afterward, reducing her to a small child while forcing her to feel every bit a woman.
"She likes me," Shell said, interrupting Elphaba's thoughts.
"Who?" Elphaba asked, rubbing her hands together for warmth, as a sudden gust rattled the surrounding pine trees, their frigid limbs whistling and warbling.
"Princess Galinda, of course," Shell said.
Elphaba snorted. Would his talk of her never cease? "How would you know how the Princess feels?"
"She's shown interest in me at the gardens. She asked my name and family line."
"Did you tell her we were related?" Elphaba asked, assuming he'd be too embarrassed.
"Of course. Why should I hide it? We're from noble blood," Shell said. Elphaba's gaze snapped back to him, waiting to hear Galinda's reply, but Shell was lost in thought, wearing a silly grin. "Well, what did she say?" Elphaba pressed.
He inhaled, before he looked at his sister, smiled, and said,
"She said I was by far the more handsome one."
Elphaba's stomach knotted. Why should she care? Why should she care Galinda called her ugly and a fool, and her brother attractive? She already knew her brother was charming, that women swooned over his his high cheekbones, aquiline nose, thick curly black hair, and olive skin. And even if she wasn't green, Shell would still be more fetching to someone like Galinda—a woman. What irritated her was that while Shell's appearance acted as an indicator, a guarantee, that other parts of him were equally lovely, provoking people to get closer to him, her greenness had the opposite property. Not only did it repel others, but it made them assume that she had nothing interesting beneath her skin; no goodness could ever be associated with her. Even when they received evidence to the contrary, like witnessing her handsome family or hearing her clever witticisms. Without a second thought, they severed her from those parts of herself. If her brother was handsome, she was an anomaly; they never acknowledged their shared brown eyes and strong jawline. Or when she voiced something bright, others took up her ideas while leaving her out of the conversation, their eyes passed over her, their voice rose over hers.
"She won't love you," Elphaba said, helping her brother avoid inevitable disappointment, her words had nothing to do with that wet bitter feeling clumping in her belly.
"How would you know? Jealous again? Are you jealous that I'm well liked in Gillikin, that the Princess prefers my company to—"
"It has nothing to do with jealousy!" Elphaba snapped, but this time the accusation clung, "I'm telling you this, so you don't make a fool of yourself over a woman who will never return your feelings. We're her servants, not her equals!"
"We weren't always servants! I can write, play, dance, fence and hunt as good as the next Gillikinese nobleman."
"It doesn't matter! To her all you are is a lowly Munchkinlander. She wouldn't dare sully herself by having an affair with you, let alone any sort of proper relation. You're beneath her!"
"She kissed me!" he said and crossed his arms.
"She what?" Elphaba asked, her eyes searching her brother for a hint of a lie, but finding only a cocksure smile. She was sure she understood who Galinda was, but was it possible that the Princess didn't have a prejudice against all Munchkinlanders? Was it possible that she wasn't cruel to everyone? Did she save her meanness just for her? Was Elphaba really so ugly that she brought out the worst in people?
"I said: she kissed me—a warm goodbye kiss!" he repeated.
"Are you sure you weren't confusing it with the customary Gillikinese farewell?"
"There is no Gillikinese custom where noblewomen kiss their servants!" he said, with a cluck.
Elphaba's heart pittered. He was right. Galinda never kissed her or Nanny, only her instructors and the royal family. Why would she kiss her brother unless...unless...could she really desire him? Her stomach rolled. Did Galinda have no propriety at all?! Did she just kiss strangers and touch—touch her lady's maids? Elphaba's mind flipped to Galinda's slips of hand, which had become more frequent, a graze of Elphaba's arm there, a touch of her side here. Elphaba wanted it to stop. She wanted Galinda to stop making her have those feelings. Feelings that might not feel so disturbing if Galinda didn't force them on her, if the Princess didn't revel in abusing her. Her mind went back to the ballroom, to the first time she laid eyes on Galinda. How would it have felt if the Princess had greeted her the way she did Shell? If she had called her beautiful? If she had given her a tender parting kiss? But Galinda hadn't. She had called her a monster and stroked her in that despicable way! Elphaba shuddered.
"Don't stew!" Shell said watching his silent sister shrink into herself like she often did, "We'll only be able to spend a few hours with Nessa, so it's best we enjoy our time. We'll have to leave well before sunrise to make it back before anyone notices we've been gone."
Elphaba inhaled to clear her thoughts, and nodded, her stomach growling. Shell snickered and asked,
"Didn't you have supper before we left?"
"Mm," she grunted, thankful that the outside servants and inside attendants ate separately. Galinda's punishment was far too humiliating to admit to her handsome brother.
A little more than an hour later, the two reached the cabin. Its decaying wooden door shut, ivy devouring the outside, the windows dark and the edges caked with mud, a layer of sludge knee high up to the door, with moonlight illuminated the surrounding weeds.
"Do you think she's inside?" Shell asked, his breath a bundle of white clouds.
Elphaba didn't waste any time answering, she ran to the door, pulling the round handle. But the door stayed shut. She pounded hard.
"Nessa! Nessarose! Let us in!" Elphaba shouted.
"Nessa!" Shell called.
"Elphaba? Shell?" a faint voice bleated.
"It's us, Nessarose!" Elphaba said, relieved her sister still lived.
Slither! Slither! Click-Clack!
A rickety-rack moseyed to the door back. Phuh-Hee. Phuh-Hee. Nessa breathed through the door crack.
"Did you come alone?"
"Of course!" Shell said, "Now, open up! We're chilled to the bone out here!"
"We've brought food and gifts, Nessa!" Elphaba said.
Crickety-Clack-CLUNK! Slither-Back! Slither-Slither-Back.
"I've unlocked it," Nessa called out.
Elphaba grabbed the iron handle and tilted backward on the tips of her heels, until her body weight coaxed the decrepit door open. Pulling herself perpendicular again, she shook the mud off her shoes and ankles and entered the kitchen with Shell and his torchlight behind her. She cringed! Piles of dishes formed towers and low hanging tenements on the kitchen table, bits of food clinging calcified and molded. Rows of red mud, resembling a freshly plowed field, lay throughout the kitchen. Six-legged guests retreated to the upper corners of the room. A wooden wheel, with broken spokes, stood erect, in a mud clot beside the table. Behind it was the rest of Nessa's chair on its side .
"Nessa! Nessarose, where are you?!" Elphaba called out.
"Nessarose!" Shell shouted.
Slither-Slither-Clitter-Clatter!
Elphaba shrieked as a black mass, agile and sleek as a sea snake, coasted over the floor, its fish tail whipping wildly as it tumbled into a corner.
"Please don't look at me!" her sister said.
The sea snake was Nessa! In the corner of the room, Elphaba could see her sister's dress was torn and soiled, her nails snapped and jagged, her lips cracked and stained. Her sister's "tail" was actually her withered legs, waving behind her as she clawed and glided across the mud.
"My sweet Nessarose!" Elphaba cried, running and bending down by her sister.
"I didn't think you were coming back," Nessa whispered, her face tucked into her shoulder.
"Of course we would," Shell said, kneeling beside Elphaba.
"What happened, Nessa? Didn't Boq come to check in on you?" Elphaba asked.
"When the rains came after you left, I didn't want him to see me this way. The side of the mountain fell in the downpour and threw me into the cottage and broke my chair."
"How have you moved about without it?" Shell asked.
Nessa's coffee-colored eyes hardened as she said,
"Why, I learned to swim."
Elphaba looked at her sister's upper limbs. The appendages which had always seemed so dainty and frail had an eerie vigor, as if they swirled and twitched on their own accord.
"Have you any food left?" Elphaba asked.
"I've been eating mint leaves through the broken window upstairs," Nessa said and Elphaba felt her heart stop.
"Shell, fetch a pail of water from the well and then clean the kitchen," Elphaba instructed.
Thank Oz, her brother had come with her. Elphaba couldn't be around large quantities of water, which the kitchen desperately needed, it had a strange debilitating affect on her.
"I'll take care of Nessa and make us a light snack," she said.
Her brother nodded. After lighting several candles from his sack, he set up his torch outside while Elphaba took their sister upstairs. Shell shoveled the dirt out of the kitchen, washed the dishes, cleared the cobwebs while Elphaba tended to Nessa's wounds, boarded the upstairs window, and set up a small picnic by candlelight for the three of them in the upstairs master suite.
The two-bedroom cottage while abandoned, was left with dishes, water jugs, a few tools, one bed, carpets, moth-bitten sheets, and a large basin for bathing. Nearby grew plenty of raspberry bushes and pomegranate, lime, and lemon trees. The two older siblings had left Nessa with a sack of potatoes and promised to come back in a week and a half, when the month ended and they received their salaries. But their salaries didn't go far, they could only buy salt, oranges, cheese, three loaves of bread, candles, and blankets.
Elphaba peeled an orange and offered it to her siblings. Watching them eat, she couldn't help herself. She wolfed down a morsel and licked the juice from her fingers. Nessa looked up at her horrified.
"Just because we've been reduced to peasants, doesn't mean you have to eat like one!" Nessarose said.
"Nessy!" Shell said.
Embarrassed, Elphaba stilled, and put down the orange.
"Is my younger brother to tell me when I can and can't speak? Have you too forgotten all your manners from Munchkinland?" Nessa asked.
"Elphaba's worked hard to come and bring you these things," Shell argued, "You don't know what it's like to work for—"
"She's right! My apologies, Nessa, I won't lose myself again," Elphaba said, not wanting Nessa to know anything about her life in the castle, and mindful that Galinda would measure her and ask if she'd eaten when she returned, she didn't want her conscience working against her.
Shell and Nessa finished their meals and Elphaba put Nessa to bed while Shell cleaned up the dishes. Afterward, Elphaba and Shell sat down on a blanket next to the foot of the bed on the floor.
"She needs someone to care for her here," Shell said.
"I know, but neither of us can stay," Elphaba said, "Our two salaries together don't even provide her with what she needs now. Her medicine will run out soon and she'll need a new chair. Although I don't know who will make them here in Gillikin."
"She'll need at least a cow and chickens as well," Shell said.
"And, I promised her to take her to the Wizard's carnival this year," Elphaba said.
"The carnival?! One ticket alone costs a month's salary!" Shell scolded.
"She believes he can make her walk."
"He a swindler! You don't believe in his miracles, do you?"
"It doesn't matter what I believe. You know Nessa was closest to Father. Coming to Gillikin after his death was the hardest on her. The Gillikinese drown their lame at birth and isolate their maimed and diseased to keep away their bad luck. Nessa has to hide away from them in this horrible cottage and even here she's still not safe!" Elphaba said, her voice straining, "If someday someone were to find her—if they tried to take her away—if—"
"It's going to be okay!" Shell said and reached out and touched Elphaba's arm. "No Gillikinese is going to find her here, they think the forest is haunted. And, with all the Munchkinlanders migrating to Gillikin there's sure to be someone who will know how to make a chair for her."
Elphaba nodded.
"Everything will be all right. You'll see," Shell said and lay on his back next to her.
They stayed quiet for a while in the dark, until Shell asked,
"Won't you tell me about her?"
"Her?"
"The Princess," Shell said.
Not Galinda again. Elphaba rolled her eyes.
"What's it like being close to someone that beautiful everyday?" Shell asked.
Dreadful. That's what it was like. How could she describe her relationship with Galinda? Should she tell her brother how her chest burned when she first saw the Princess? Or should she tell him how the Princess humiliated, mocked, unbuttoned, and slapped her? Or should she say that in spite of Galinda's cruelty, the things Galinda did to her still made her tingle. Should she tell him that her body was no longer her own. Not her mouth, her hands, her waist, not even her feelings. She abhorred the way Galinda treated her. She didn't want Galinda touching her at all and yet her body reacted otherwise. Galinda's caresses made Elphaba sick to her stomach, but they also made her—her... She couldn't understand it, it was too humiliating to put into words. She couldn't tell her brother any of it.
"Mindless," she said. "In Munchkinland there was music and earnest debate, under the Princess are only frivolous tasks and empty placating."
"We can't go back. It'll be easier on you if you try to make the best of it here. I'd certainly give anything for the chance to undress the Princess every night," Shell said with a snicker and Elphaba rolled her eyes again, "Your nostalgia for Munchkinland, Fabala, while endearing has made you forget what it was really like— It was a land without music. Our musicians had no refinement. For high ballads and notated music, we sang Quadling lullabies to Gillikinese melodies. Munchkinland was an uncreative and stunted country that lost to Gillikin because we lacked the proper hardiness."
"You can't mean that! Don't you miss it at all?" Elphaba asked.
"What is there to miss?" Shell said.
"How about our Father?"
"He left us, Elphaba. If we didn't mean anything to him, why should he mean something to us?"
"So you're bitter that he got to die in Munchkinland while we're reduced to servants here?" Elphaba asked.
"If he hadn't started that war with Gillikin, he would still have his honor and we would still have our home."
"He only started a war because the Gillikinese cut off supply routes so that half of Munchkinland was starving," Elphaba said.
"Because he refused to trade with them! He was stubborn and a poor strategist."
"Should he have just offered Munchkinland to Gillikin to take whatever they wanted?"
"Of course not, his plan was much better! He sure kept the Gillikinese in their place with his war!" Shell said sarcastically and Elphaba sighed in the dark. After a moment Shell exhaled and said, "I know the terms of trade were unfair, Elphaba, but at least, we would have gotten something in return."
"Gillikin offered to trade us grains that Munchkinland already grew. We had no need for them and they weren't at all comparable to the emeralds and silks that Gillikin demanded in return."
"We would have been cheated, but we would've still had a country. Father never knew how to manage Munchkinland, he couldn't even properly train an army. If only you weren't the way you were then—"
"The way I am? You mean, green? If I wasn't green then Father would've happily turned the country over to me to rule as the oldest and the next Eminent Thropp? Is that what you want to say? That if somehow I wasn't discolored, I could have prevented all this?"
"Well, you were certainly smarter than him. I never believed your greenness was a curse because of your sinful heart like he did. I don't blame you for it, but if you weren't disfigured, at twenty, you would have been ruler of Munchkinland. And, if you had ruled, we wouldn't be here now."
His words burned. Mostly because Elphaba agreed with him. If only she hadn't been green, they would have given her a chance to rule. She might have prevented Munchkinland from entering an unwinnable war. Instead she became a lady's maid to a cruel mistress. She closed her eyes for what only seemed like a few candle marks before Shell was shaking her awake in the dark.
"Come on! We've got to get back to the castle!"
After a hurried goodbye to Nessa, promises to return again in two weeks, the two scurried back. They entered the royal stone gate, dashing through alleyways toward the castle as the sun rose over the hills. Once they reached it, Shell gave a parting wave to Elphaba and headed toward the garden sheds. Elphaba ran toward the servants' entrance, racing through the kitchen, up one flight of stairs, toward the attendants' quarters, to find Nanny pounding on her bedroom door.
"Where have you been?!" Nanny asked as Elphaba approached her.
"I took a walk," Elphaba said, hoping Nanny wouldn't ask where.
"Did you happen to roll in cow dung while you were out? Pardon for saying so, Your Eminence, but you smell atrocious. Not to mention, your dress is filthy!" Nanny said and Elphaba looked down at herself and saw smudges and patches of mud, twigs, and pine needles dotting her garment.
"I'll wash and clean my dress—"
"There's not enough time for all that!" Nanny cut in.
"But, the Princess, doesn't need me until the evening and I cleaned her room yesterday."
"Guests will be arriving this afternoon and for some reason she's decided you will dress her this morning!" Nanny said.
"But, I haven't practiced enough—" Elphaba said, her stomach swirling. Seeing Galinda once a day was hard enough. Now she would be flung into her presence without even the chance to catch her breath.
"She says you have, Your Eminence, and her opinion of you is the only one that matters," Nanny said, "Now, hurry. She's already been waiting for fifteen minutes!"
"I'll wash quickly!"
"There's no time for washing, Your Eminence! Follow me, we've barely enough time to get you a new dress," Nanny said, coasting down hallways toward the servants' closet. The old woman handed Elphaba another yellow dress, a pair of gloves, and popped outside to wait. Elphaba inhaled deeply. It would be fine. Everything would be fine. Nanny hadn't figured out she left the castle, and, surely, putting on Galinda's clothes would be easier than taking them off. Elphaba slipped on the new dress and gloves and dashed out of the closet, past Nanny, toward Galinda's room.
"Not that way, Your Eminence!" Nanny called.
Elphaba stopped and said,
"But you said—"
"Guests are coming this afternoon and the Princess always wants a bath when she receives a visit."
Elphaba blinked several times. Surely she had heard Nanny wrong.
"I've already poured the hot water," Nanny said, pulling a stunned Elphaba by her arm towards the baths, "She'll expect you to wash and fragrance her hair, offer her any cloths or soaps she requests, wrap her in a towel after she's finished and see to any other tasks she has for you, before you dress her. Do you understand?"
"But, I'm not good with water," Elphaba confessed.
"Yes, well I can't swim either, Your Eminence, but I doubt she'll ask you to join her in the tub," Nanny said.
"What? No, Nanny, what I meant was—" Elphaba stammered. How could she tell the old woman that water made her unstable, that it excited her, and in large doses could make her faint. There's no way Nanny would believe her unless she saw for herself and Elphaba wasn't about to give a demonstration. Before she could think how to explain her condition, Nanny opened a door and pushed her into a tiled room. The steam made Elphaba's face prickle.
To her left were lofty built-in stone shelves with towels of different sizes, below the shelves sat a long wooden table on which were jars of soaps, dried and fresh flowers, oils, and various powders made from ground roots. Farther down on the left were large buckets, a wooden chair, a cloth screen for modesty, along with several wooden stools.
In Munchkinland, people bathed by collecting and warming water in pails. Elphaba had assumed it was the same everywhere, until her eyes took in the large built-in tub before her. In the middle of the bathroom was a concavity, twelve feet wide, nine feet long and five feet deep, filled to four and half feet with hot steaming water. Built-in tile stairs with golden rails descended into the water all the way to the floor of the bath tub. Elphaba shivered at the sight. Who would want to be consumed by all that water? How thick it must feel!
Galinda floated in the tub with her back to the them, her hair pinned up, the water coming right below her bare shoulders.
"She's here, Your Royal Highness," Nanny said.
"Yes, I can smell it," Galinda said without turning around. "You may go now, Nanny."
"Yes, Your Royal Highness," Nanny said and left Elphaba by herself.
The Munchkinlander didn't budge. If she got wet, there was no telling how her body would react, she couldn't afford not to have her wits about her with Galinda.
The Princess turned. Water droplets sliding down her flushed face, her sea-blue eyes dilated, her full lips red and moist, the top of her cleavage rosy from the hot water. Elphaba lost her breath. Was the steamy mist already having an affect on her? Or was it the wet, naked Princess in front of her?
"You're full of surprises aren't you?" Galinda asked, her eyes boring into her. Elphaba raised an eyebrow, "I didn't think it possible, but you've found a way to smell even worse than usual. Before you come near me, I insist you freshen yourself with the leftover water in those buckets," Galinda said pinching her nose shut with one hand and pointing with the other. Elphaba didn't move.
"Did you hear me, vegetable?" Galinda said in a nasally voice.
"I can't," Elphaba said.
"Can't what?" Galinda asked swimming toward her. "You can't wash? Is that why you're green? Is that thick green grime of yours actually years of unremoved filth?"
"No! That's not what I meant! I—"
"Well, then douse yourself with that bucket already. Your odor is making me ill."
"But, I can't—"
"Creature, if you make me get out of this tub, you will regret it! Do you hear me?!" Galinda asked, her hand squeezing the stair rail.
"I'm allergic to water!" Elphaba blurted and Galinda's eyes narrowed.
"Do you take me for a fool?" the Princess asked.
"Of course not! I—"
"No one can be allergic to water. How would you clean yourself without it?"
"Oil, Your Royal Highness! I use oils to clean myself," Elphaba said.
"I don't believe you!"
"What reason have I to lie to you?" Elphaba asked.
"Who knows the reasonings and motivations behind a monster like you?"
Elphaba stiffened.
"Fine," Galinda said, sneering, "Make me believe you!"
"What do you mean?" Elphaba asked.
"There are oils next to the soaps. Help yourself."
Elphaba's heart tik-tocked in her chest. Surely, Galinda didn't mean for her to—
"Show me how you clean yourself," Galinda said with a smug smile.
"You mean wash my hands with it?"
"Are your hands the only place you wash when you bathe, creature?"
Elphaba heart was firing in her ears. Galinda wouldn't do it. She wouldn't ask her to. Galinda was cruel, but not sadistic.
"Is it?" Galinda asked.
"Of course not, Your Royal Highness," Elphaba whispered.
"I didn't think so, vegetable. If you're really allergic to water, then demonstrate how to remove that stench without it. Show me how you bathe yourself!"
Elphaba's mouth went dry. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. It just couldn't.
"Now!" Galinda shouted.
But it was happening. Elphaba floated out of her body for an instant. She watched herself walk toward the towels. She grabbed one, looked down at the oils, her hands shook as they fumbled with the jars, thoughts stuttering in her head: find an oil that won't burn, fine one that cleans, soak the towel, turn around. Coming back to herself, Elphaba gazed down at the Princess.
"Remove your clothes," Galinda said, at the edge of the tub next to Elphaba, inches away from her feet.
At least there was the screen. Elphaba could clean herself and then return to Galinda. She walked toward it when Galinda called out,
"Remove your clothes here! In front of me!"
Elphaba stopped, her back to Galinda. Her heart hammered. Her breath coming in wheezing spurts. No one but her mother, who died when Elphaba was five, had ever seen her naked. When they tried to strip her in Quadling Country, her father had rushed her away from the crowds. But, there was no one coming to save her now. The Munchkinlander squeezed the towel.
What if she left? She could walk out of the room. She didn't have to do this. She could run and hope the castle guards wouldn't catch her on her way out. But Nessarose. Her dirtied face flashed in front of Elphaba. Even if Elphaba did make it out of the castle alive, how would she take care of her sister if she quit? Who would employ a green woman in Gillikin? Especially without a recommendation. She could get through this. She could pretend to be somewhere else. It wasn't happening—it wasn't happening at all. All she had to do was imagine she was somewhere else.
"Turn around, creature!" Galinda ordered.
Hot tears pushed at the corners of Elphaba's eyes. She balled her hands into fists. She dug her nails into her palm. Hard. Harder. She wouldn't cry. The Princess might see her disrobed, but she wouldn't see her broken. She wouldn't give her the pleasure.
"I won't repeat myself!" Galinda shouted, her voice echoing off the walls.
Elphaba slowly turned, her eyes finding a verdigris tile on the other side of the room to focus on. She hung the oiled towel over one arm and removed her gloves, letting them fall to the floor. One hand came up to her neck, her fingers brushed the top button. I'm not here. I'm alone. Back home in Munchkinland. There is no Gillikin. There is no Princess. I'm just undressing myself in my room.
"Look at me," Galinda commanded, pulling Elphaba from her fiction. Elphaba lowered her gaze until see was looking into Galinda's icy blue eyes.
Don't stare at me, Galinda. Don't look at me like that! But Elphaba's silent pleadings went unheeded. Galinda's eyes roamed her body as she licked her lips.
Elphaba unbuttoned herself slowly, her hands coming to her breasts, then her stomach, a thin line of green becoming visible down her center. No more buttons. All that was left was to slip the dress off, but she was completely bare underneath it.
Galinda was grinning, her lips slightly parting in eager anticipation. Elphaba never hated her more. She grabbed the towel, brought her hands up to her shoulders and then she did it. She tipped her dress off. Her eyes shut as the fabric whooshed to the floor. Galinda inhaled. Elphaba's nipples hardened at the thick wet air that swept across them. She covered her breasts with her arm, her thighs squinching together to hide the black triangle between her legs.
"Sit down on the chair," Galinda ordered.
Elphaba opened her eyes and made her way to the chair and took a seat. With her legs firmly together, she quickly raced the towel over her shoulders. She wouldn't look up, not even as she heard Galinda rise from the water and walk toward the towels. Elphaba's hands continued their course. She was almost done. She was scrubbing her ankles when the Princess walked in front of her, wrapped in a towel that came down to her upper thighs.
"I'm finished," Elphaba said, straightening in her seat.
"I'm afraid I missed it. Do it again slowly, my dirty little monster," Galinda said and Elphaba cringed at the degrading pet name. Fine. One more time. She could do it. This humiliation was almost over. With an arm still across her breasts, she rubbed her neck, her shoulders, swiped across her collarbone, moved to her arm, down her stomach.
"Stop!" Galinda said and Elphaba's hand stilled. "Put down your arm," Galinda commanded and Elphaba's heart jick-jacked in her chest. She lowered her arms and exposed her small breasts, her seaweed colored nipples painfully stiff. "They're tiny," Galinda said making Elphaba's body flush with heat. "You can't skip those, every woman needs to clean them."
Elphaba's ears went fiery hot. She was beyond humiliated as her hand slowly circled her breasts, making them shiny and wet with the oil.
"Don't forget the tips," Galinda said and Elphaba had no choice but to brush the towel over her hardened nipples, sending little shivers down her spouts. Her blush darkening.
"Pull on them," Galinda said in a throaty whisper.
"What?" Elphaba asked. "What shall I pull on?"
"Pull on your nipples," Galinda said. "I heard it helps tiny breasts grow."
Elphaba felt her throat narrow. Galinda wanted her to touch herself in that way? The Princess was disgusting, but now, so was she. Her fingers were forced to clasp her nipples. Under Galinda's watchful gaze, she tugged them and grunted, surprised at the tingle that shot through her teats. An image of her father's horrified face flashed before Elphaba's eyes and she felt a wave of nausea, as more juice oozed from her center.
"Keep pumping and open your legs," Galinda demanded.
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Elphaba whispered still stroking herself. "Please let me help you bathe. Please—"
"Not until you're fully clean," Galinda said, crossing her arms.
"But, I've already cleaned my—" Elphaba said.
"Open—your—legs!" Galinda demanded and Elphaba's chin dropped. Would Galinda never stop? What did she want from her? Slowly Elphaba's legs widened. Her thatch of crisp straight black hair fully visible. The wet air tickling it, making it leak.
She looked up just in time to see Galinda's wet hand descending. "NO!" Elphaba shouted, but before she could stop her, Galinda's wet hand covered over her womanhood. Elphaba shuddered at the never experienced contact, her hands shooting out by her sides.
"I didn't tell you to stop tugging on your breasts," Galinda said and sat down Elphaba's naked lap. Elphaba grunted at the warm, wet, weight of Galinda's naked thighs. The Princess' warm center was directly above her lap, her wrapped wet breasts inches from her, Galinda's lips edging closer to hers. Elphaba felt light-headed.
"Put your hands back where they were, and keep tugging, or leave this castle now and never come back!" Galinda whispered, while her searing hand cupped Elphaba's womanhood.
Elphaba gnashed her teeth.
"If you leave now, we'll just tell Nanny the work was too much for you. You can depart the castle this evening. This can all be over right now for you, if want it to," Galinda said.
Elphaba eyes flashed with fury. Her hands returned to her breasts. She held them in her palms, her forefinger and thumb latching onto her swollen nipples.
Galinda looked surprised, but quickly hid her feelings behind a smile, and said, "If you want to stay, then by all means pull harder."
Elphaba tweaked harder on her fleshy buds and pinpricks of heat flew through them, a long stream of moisture slipping out of her depths. It was only a matter of time before Galinda smelt and felt her wetness. Her maidenhead continued to twitch and fill with heat under Galinda's feverish wet palm.
"Faster," Galinda ordered.
Elphaba grunted as her hands jerked her nipples faster. Faster. She waited for Galinda to remove her hand from her mound and get off her, but, instead, Galinda's fingers threaded through her pubic hair. Elphaba's eyes bulged as she felt a wave of tiny tingles throughout her mound. Her coarse black strands moved this way and that. Elphaba's hands stopped at the troubling sensation.
"Keep pulling, my dirty little monster." Galinda said.
"They're sore," Elphaba confessed without thinking.
"What are you suggesting? That I kiss them better?" Galinda asked, irritated.
"I am suggesting no such thing!" Elphaba said, her nostrils flaring.
"Do you want to stop?" Galinda asked.
"Yes!" Elphaba hissed.
"Then ask for permission."
"Please can I stop, Your Royal Highness?" Elphaba asked.
"Can you stop what?" Galinda asked sweetly.
Elphaba glared up at her, her lips tight, her fingers pinching up and down.
"If you want to finish your little bath, ask me properly. Ask for permission to finish milking yourself?"
Elphaba's cheeks went pipping hot. That wasn't what she was doing. She wasn't. She wasn't— milking—herself!
"Ask me properly or squeeze harder."
The Munchkinlander hissed through labored breaths,
"Please—can I—I stop...miking...myself, Your Royal Highness?"
"Hold your breasts up for me to check," Galinda said. Elphaba's face flushed while her fingers stopped and she hoisted her breasts in her hands, offering them to the Princess while looking away.
"Squeeze them tight, while I check the rest of you," Galinda said.
The rest of her? Elphaba wondered what else Galinda wanted to check when the Princess' fingers poked her wet nether leaves. NO! Not there! Galinda couldn't! No one had permission to touch her like that! Only she could touch herself there! Elphaba clenched her eyes shut.
"My dirty little monster is very very wet," Galinda said. "Tell me for whom are you this wet?"
Elphaba felt mortified. Her cheeks stinging, her eyes unable to open.
"Who's it for?" Galinda leaned in and whispered hotly in her ear.
Galinda could go to hell. She wouldn't say it! She'd never say it. Her body hadn't reacted this way because she liked it. And her body definitely hadn't reacted this way for Galinda!
"Tell me," the Princess whispered. "Tell me or shall we let the guests see you like this?"
Galinda would never! She'd be too embarrassed!
"If you don't want to tell me, shall we call for Nanny? Would she be able to help you obey orders?" Galinda asked.
Elphaba's lip trembled, her hands squeezing. Galinda wouldn't let the old woman see them like this, would she?
"Shall I call for her now?" Galinda asked again, and slid herself up from Elphaba ever so slightly. "For you!" the Munchkinlander blurted, her eyes snapping open, her cheeks a dark green.
"What's for me?"
Elphaba swallowed hard and looked down. Galinda's fingers moved. They slid up and down and drew tight circles over her soaked womanhood. Sharp tingles shot through it and Elphaba's body winced, her legs trembling at the sensation. Galinda took her other hand and raised Elpahba's chin, forcing her to look at her, as she said, "Tell me, you disgusting creature. Who are you this wet for?"
"I'm this wet for you, Your Royal Highness," Elphaba whispered, her chest caving.
"That's right," Galinda said.
She said it. She had to say it. It was the only way to get Galinda to stop. Now, the terror was over. Elphaba had surrendered. What else could Galinda want?
But Galinda's fingers delved deeper, deeper into her sleek wet folds, shocking the Munchkinlander. The green woman bucked straight in her chair, the feeling between her legs making her shudder. Her thoughts went to mush, her insides trembling, a moan left her mouth that she couldn't control.
"My my... my dirty little monster," Galinda said, "Do you honestly want me to stop?"
"Yes," Elpahba hissed, her body quivering. But, Galinda only sped up, stroking her faster, with more force. Elphaba heard herself screaming at the lightening between her legs.
"Pity. I don't feel like stopping," Galinda said, her honey coated fingers rubbing back and forth against Elphaba's swollen clit.
She didn't want this. She hated Galinda! She didn't want the Princess' hand there. She didn't want Galinda to watch her while she was writhing out of control. She wanted it all to stop. Stop! Stop this! Please, Galinda, don't! DON'T! Elphaba shouted in her head, but as Galinda's hand was fondling her, Elphaba's own hips betrayed her. They lurched forward and pushed her womanhood against Galinda's hand. Her heart clenched in horror. How could she?! How could she want this?! She didn't, she didn't, she didn't. She couldn't. But in that moment, as she was humping furiously, shrieking and gasping, she needed Galinda's hand more than anything. She was exactly how Galinda wanted her—a dirty little monster.
A/N: So the story has gotten darker...and it looks like it's going to get even darker before it gets bright. I look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and favorites so far! I have loved hearing from you!
Happy Holidays!
xoxo,
Lola
