When she heard about Langwidere's father, West put Tip in charge of the brothel and paid a visit to the princess. She noted that the window she'd broken had not yet been fixed, and wondered about that for just a moment before her attention was pulled by the sound of crying.
Glancing around quickly to see no one about, she flew to the balcony instead of using the front doors.
Langwidere looked up sharply when she heard someone land on her balcony, knowing it had to be West or Glinda, so she knew it was West.
"Princesa?" West called quietly, moving aside the window covering and stepping into the suite. "I came when I heard the news."
"That's Lady Ev," Langwidere said, trying to seem like she hadn't been crying, though there was a telltale hitch in her voice.
"Right," West said with an affectionate smile. "My mistake, Lady Ev."
"Why have you come?" Langwidere asked, unable to keep the sadness out of her demeanor.
"Well... you rescued me when I needed it, so I thought-" West paused, not sure how to finish that sentence, not quite confident enough to say she was trying to rescue the princess. She changed track and bit her lip, swishing her skirts as she closed the distance between herself and Langwidere. "I just thought you might want to give me a spanking."
"Oh?" Langwidere asked, obviously grateful for the opportunity to forget what she was going through, if only briefly. "Do you deserve a spanking, little witch?"
West slowly dropped to her knees in front of Langwidere, resting her cheek against the princess's dress-laden thigh. "I think I deserve a spanking if you say I do, Lady Ev," she breathed.
"I think you're a naughty, wretched little witch and you always deserve a spanking," Langwidere teased her, stroking a hand through messy hair.
West grinned. "I quite agree, my lady."
"Right then. Go climb onto the bed on your hands and knees."
"As you wish," West replied, ducking her head and crawling over to the bed, rising up onto it then lowering herself to all fours again.
"This is a very lovely and very thoughtful treat," Langwidere said, moving behind West and lifting the hem of her dress to drape it over her back. She was in, of course, black underwear, this time sheer instead of lace. Langwidere curled her fingers into the waist of them and inched them down torturously slowly until they rested just above the witch's knees. "Very, very lovely," she reiterated, bringing her palm down with a resounding CRACK.
West groaned, dropping her head forward. "Thank you for saying so, Lady Ev," she purred. The feeling of the princess's palm on her bare ass was indescribable.
Langwidere grinned, delighted at that response, and spanked her again. "On your elbows, dear," she suddenly said. "I think I would quite like the view."
Flushing, West immediately complied, lowering herself onto her elbows, squeezing her eyes shut even though Langwidere was behind her and couldn't see her face.
"I was right," the princess tutted. "I do so love to be right. Spread your legs."
Flushing darker, West shifted her knees apart the best she could with her panties around them.
"I also do so love to be instantly and questionlessly obeyed by a pretty witch." She leaned over and whispered into West's ear, "that would be you."
"You're the only person in this life to make me feel pretty," West admitted quietly.
"I doubt I could make you feel it if it weren't true," Langwidere said thoughtfully, head tilted to one side. "I'm powerful but not an illusionist. Don't forget that."
West couldn't help the giddy smile that graced her lips. "I won't. Thank you, Lady Ev."
"And thank you for coming here and offering yourself just because you thought I might need someone." She paused. "I did need someone."
West chanced a cheeky glance over her shoulder. "I do so love to be right."
Langwidere gave a little shriek of laughter and climbed onto her knees on the bed, careful not to wrinkle her dress (she actually really adored this one), launching a full-blown spanking, enjoying the squirms and occasional cries from her charge and the way pale skin darkened to pink, then red.
"Ow," West complained, though in truth she loved every minute of it.
"You're not fooling anyone," Langwidere challenged her, drawing circles over one of her reddened cheeks with a fingertip.
"I didn't say I don't like it," West said petulantly. "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
"True, I suppose," the princess said lazily. "Tell me - what is likable about it?" She smoothed her dress under her as she sat instead of kneeling, and wrapped an arm around West's waist, dragging the witch to sit in her lap.
"Well," West began, letting her head drop back onto Langwidere's shoulder. "I don't know. It doesn't only hurt."
"What else does it?"
"I don't know; it's exciting? I can't think of any words to explain it. You're the first person that's ever done it to me so it's not like I've had months or years to reflect."
"First?" Langwidere asked, eyebrows lifting.
"And only," West added quickly, laughing.
"Not your mother when you were a child?"
"No, never."
"Nor mine. When I was younger, if I misbehaved, there was a girl at the palace who would receive punishments in my stead."
"What were you expected to learn from that?"
"I don't know. Compassion, perhaps? But she and I held no regard for each other, so I didn't much care what happened to her." The princess grinned. "She used to pull my hair when the tutors weren't looking, so I felt justified when she got the lash."
"That's as awful as it is amusing," West said, unable to help a rich, genuine laugh.
"It is, isn't it?" Langwidere realized, suddenly laughing with her. "It's really very terrible of me."
"It sounds like you definitely could have used a thrashing or two," West said with a snicker, turning her head to place a kiss to the princess's jaw.
"Indeed, in a perfect world," Langwidere agreed. "I do quite enjoy thrashing you, however."
"I quite enjoy that as well," West confessed. There was no point in trying to deny it.
"Yes. Your reactions are illuminatingly transparent. Which is part of the reason I enjoy it so."
"And the other part?"
"I've become very fond of you."
Whatever West had expected the princess to come up with, that wasn't it. "Oh," she breathed, turning her head to bury her face in Langwidere's neck, attempting to stifle the sudden rushing onslaught of emotion that plagued her.
"Is that undesirable?"
"No, no," West hurried to assure her. "Just unexpected. Not undesirable at all." She paused, then continued. "Pretty fucking shocking, actually."
"But not undesirable?"
"Not at all, Princesa." She coughed lightly. "Lady Ev."
"Insolent," Langwidere murmured, eyelashes fluttering as she looked down at the witch in her lap and realized that though they had been undeniably intimate with each other, they had never kissed. "Why do you think it is that I've spanked you and thrashed you and even fucked you, but we've never kissed?"
West blinked at the sudden, random question. "I think..." she started, brows furrowing as she thought. "I think that kissing is more intimate than fucking. Sometimes."
"So you think we've not kissed purposely, then."
"I don't know. Do you want us to kiss?"
The princess considered it, then shook her head. "Not necessarily. The thought just occurred to me, and you know how I am once a notion takes hold."
"That I do," West said with a smirk. "Inordinately stubborn to a near-infinite degree."
"Those are very big words just to call me names," Langwidere teased, bringing a hand up to comb through West's hair.
"I hope I'm not in trouble, because my bottom is very sore," West pouted up at her.
"Ha! Quite the manipulatresse you are, Mistress West."
"Come now, that isn't even a real word you're using to call me names," West protested.
"I'm the princess. I can add whatever I wish to the Land of Ev's vocabulary." Suddenly her face dropped and she leaned her head back against the ornately carved headboard behind them. "Actually, I'm the queen."