pre

*** MILDLY GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER BECAUSE WEST AND LANGWIDERE GO DEXTER*** Also: ***POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNINGS: BRIEF ALLUSION TO PAST SEXUAL ASSAULT; MENTIONS OF PAST PHYSICAL ASSAULT***

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven

Langwidere insisted they lay in bed for awhile despite the fact that West insisted she was fine to get going.

"Of course you are, little witch, but that spanking was far more severe than either of us intended at the start of it, and you will let me fuss over you. Understood?"

Sighing, West relented, carefully extricating herself from Langwidere's hold and moving onto her stomach on what had become her side of the bed.

The queen gently removed the witch's underwear and then lay down beside her, propping herself up on one elbow and letting her other hand run through West's hair.

Several hours later, West stirred from a pleasant sleep and blushed to find the queen staring at her when she opened her eyes. "How long did I sleep?"

"A few hours," Langwidere said, still stroking her hair.

"And you?"

The queen shook her head.

"You stayed awake while I slept for hours?"

"Yes. I watched you sleep, and I played with your hair."

"For hours."

"Yes."

"How have you not gone mad with boredom?"

"Watching you is never boring."

Bewildered, West just shook her head and pushed up onto her hands and knees, groaning as she let her head fall forward. She still throbbed in pain, certain she was badly bruised, but the intensity had worn off enough for her to be able to move around with only moderate discomfort.

"Now," Langwidere said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "what to wear?" She turned toward West. "Am I likely to get blood on my clothing?"

West shrugged. "That depends on how you want to kill them."

"Can I wear something of yours? Most of your wardrobe is black. Perfect for hiding the taint of blood. And perfect for going on murderous travels, don't you think?"

West couldn't contain a startled laugh. "I suppose."

"Will you change into something black as well?"

The witch's current dress was a deep emerald. "Of course, my lady." It amused her that Langwidere spoke of what to wear to a murder as if they were discussing what to eat for dinner.

West flew them to the brothel, to save time, and let Langwidere sift through her clothes until she found something she thought was suitable. Then Langwidere chose something for her to wear as well, and she carefully changed dresses, hissing once or twice when the material touched the sensitive skin of her ass.

When Langwidere was dressed in a long-sleeved, jet-black, witchy-collared dress, they were ready to go.

"If I may say so, Lady Ev, you are stunning in black."

"You are stunning yourself, little witch," Langwidere said, her eyes tearing up as she closed the distance between them and took West's hands in hers. "Thank you, for caring enough about me to do this for me. With me."

Rather than let the moment become too heavy, West smirked. "I don't know what you're talking about, Princesa. I simply enjoy killing."

Langwidere laughed, pressing a kiss to West's forehead. "You are too much..."

When West wrapped her arms around the queen and prepared to take off, Langwidere stopped her.

"Wait!" She moved out of the embrace and slowly removed her mask, setting it on the witch's bed, then returned. "All right, now I'm ready."

"Now you're just breathtaking," West said, wrapping her up again. And they were off.

West touched them down behind a row of dusty buildings belonging to the mining town they were there for, out of sight of prying eyes. Being a witch was not illegal, but, obviously, using magic was. Not for the first time she wished she could sever that oaf of a wizard's head from his body.

"So," she said, shaking off her brief foul mood. "We'll visit the outfitters and purchase a weapon of your choosing, then proceed to the mines."

Langwidere swayed, resting a hand on West's arm for support. "Give me a moment. I feel as though you've turned me on my head."

It seemed to be the general consensus among the townsfolk that two well-dressed women visiting the mining outfitters' shop was very strange indeed, if their disapproving looks and harsh whispers were anything to go by.

The outfitter himself was more direct. "I think you two should move along. There's nothing for ladies like you in this shop."

West reached into the bodice of her dress and produced a pouch of coins, tossing it at him. "I think you'll find our gold to spend just like a man's," she said dismissively, and didn't give him another thought. "Pick whatever you like. I paid him more than any lone item is worth," she told the queen.

Thrilled at getting to be the one to choose, her eyes settled on a very nasty-looking pickaxe. She lifted it from the shelf and handed it to West. "This?"

West hefted it a few times and nodded. "This should do the trick."

"What are you ladies mining?" a middle-aged balding man asked suddenly, approaching them as if they were a snack on a menu.

West spun and stared right into his eyes. "Rapists," she responded and walked out of the shop.

Langwidere hurried after her, taking her arm as they walked and whispering, "you really make my heart flutter sometimes."

West grinned. "I know, I am very sweet."

"He runs these mines so he must have an office," West said, looking around for any sign of such a thing at the entrance.

"There," Langwidere pointed.

"Right."

They walked in without knocking and West locked the door behind them - after determining that Ezeltio was alone in the office. She glanced to Langwidere for confirmation and the tight-lipped expression the queen wore was confirmation enough.

She walked to the startled man's desk and sat on it, putting one foot on each arm of his chair and shoving the chair, with him still in it, hard against the wall. "So," she began, jumping off the desk to stand in front of him. "I hear you like to cut up eight-year-old girls."

"What?" His eyes flicked back and forth several times between the two women before recognition slowly dawned and his face drained of all pigment.

"Hello, Ezelton." Langwidere looked at West. "Is that his name? Ezelton?" She very well knew his name, but pretending not to felt better.

West chewed her bottom lip to force down a smirk. "Sure."

"I can see by the look on your face that you remember me."

"I- I was a bastard back then," the man stammered. "I'm different now."

"Are you?" Langwidere asked, then tilted her head to the side and turned toward her companion. "Is he?"

West slowly circled around behind Langwidere, resting her chin on the queen's shoulder. "I think not."

"Yes I am! Y- you don't know me, you don't know-"

West lunged forward and slammed her hands on his desk, shouting as she swiped all of his paperwork to the ground. "You have had twelve complaints from wives of your workers in the last six months. Twelve! Ten men have quit over it, but tell me, Ezelton, what about the other two? Do they get extra coin in their pockets come payday?"

"How do you- look, whatever you're here to do, just fucking do it so I can get on with my day," he finally snarled.

"Oh," Langwidere said, looking sad for him. "I thought you knew... you won't be going on with your day. Did you think we were here to mine rubies? With one pickaxe between the two of us and these dresses on? You're about to breathe your last breath."

As soon as Ezeltio stood up from his chair, hand reaching for the dagger at his belt, West flicked her wrist and he was flat on the table, magically restrained.

"You're a wit-"

Another flick and he couldn't open his mouth to talk. Or scream.

Langwidere approached him, resting the pickaxe on her shoulder casually. "I would say this gives me no pleasure, but it does," she said darkly, and since he couldn't respond, she got on with it, lowering the pickaxe into his thigh and dragging it toward her, slicing his leg open effortlessly.

When Langwidere made no move to do anything else, West sidled up next to her, keeping the magical hold on the man. "What now, my lady?"

Langwidere tossed the pickaxe into the corner of the office and leaned sideways into Mistress West. "Now we watch him bleed out."

When he no longer had a pulse, West removed his head just to be sure.

"One down," West said after they had washed whatever blood they could off of their skin and out of their dresses. "Are you ready to fly?"

"I think I should like to rent a horse and ride through Oz, if you don't mind, and then we can fly across the desert."

West smiled at her and replied, "whatever my Princesa wants, she gets."

Langwidere swooned a little. "Being considered yours is remarkably fulfilling."

"Likewise," West said, taking the queen by the hand. "Come on. It should be easy to get a horse around here."

They rented a majestic white mare with black sparkling war armor and instructions to drop her off at the northern Gillikin border.

Langwidere made West ride in front to keep her hands occupied and prevent untoward wandering.

West had agreed but had sworn she would have been a perfect lady riding behind the queen.

As they started off at a leisurely pace, Langwidere wrapped her arms around the witch and kissed her between the shoulder blades. "I didn't say anything about you being a perfect lady," she murmured. "In fact I expect you to be anything but." Her hands slid up and she took West's nipples between her thumbs and forefingers, pinching gently. "I just want my hands to be the ones doing the wandering."

West gasped, pulling up sharply on the reins out of instinct and the horse stopped walking.

"Why did we stop? Do you object to my attentions?"

Now West laughed and loosened her grip, nudging the beast forward again. "No. I didn't mean to stop us."

"Oh." Langwidere smirked, flattening her hands and rubbing all the way out to the edges of the witch's ribs, then back over her nipples.

"I never object to your attentions. And right now they are especially welcome given the excruciating state of my ass, riding this horse."

Now Langwidere gasped. "Fuck! I had forgotten."

"Language, Princesa!" West practically squealed, laughing again.

"We can turn back," the queen pouted. And then after a beat, "I'm sorry."

West leaned into her, resting her head on the queen's shoulder. "Lady Ev, I would lie in flames for you. I think enduring a trip on horseback with a bruised ass will be quite all right."

"Does it hurt very badly? You said 'excruciating'," Langwidere nearly whined.

"Is the queen of Ev whining in my ear?" West asked, quite amused.

"Yes," Langwidere admitted, turning slightly to kiss her cheek.

"It's all right, Princesa, I swear it. There is pain, but excruciating was an exaggeration. I am very much looking forward to a long ride with you, just the two of us. Time away from civilization comes too infrequently not to take advantage of this opportunity."

"You're using such big words to convince me," Langwidere teased. "Tell me what else it makes you feel. Besides pain."

"Using big words?"

Langwidere snorted softly and gave West's nipples a firmer pinch.

"May I use naughty words?" West whispered, groaning at the pinch.

"If it makes you feel naughty things, of course you may."

"As we've established, it still hurts, but every time I feel it hurt, I think about being over your knee with my dress up and my panties down, completely at your mercy." She turned her head sideways, still resting it back on Langwidere's shoulder, to kiss the queen's cheek. "I've never been over anyone else's knee before, Lady Ev..."

"See to it that you won't be, either," Langwidere growled softly. She brought her hands to slide down West's zipper, then eased them back around the witch's front, inside her dress, once again covering her breasts with gentle palms.

West sighed, unable to remember a time she was so content. "Of course not, Lady Ev," she promised. "I belong to you."

"And with me. You belong with me," Langwidere added, stroking her fingertips along each of the witch's ribs individually.

"Yes, Lady Ev, I do believe I belong with you," West agreed.

"What else? I don't think you were done telling me everything."

"I think about being over your knee, and I think about your beautiful, delicate hands and how much power they wield. I think about how wonderful you are with every smack. I think about how it would feel if you rubbed away the sting afterward or if you-" She stopped talking with a sharp inhale, then exhaled slowly, her face bright red. "Well that's it," she tried to conclude the 'confessions of a witch' session.

"Yes, most people end a sentence by saying 'or if you-', don't they? It's what they teach in school?"

"You're horrendous."

"But at least I'm not lying."

"I don't think you know how to lie," West grumbled, glad for the focus to be shifted off of her fantasies. Or at least the embarrassing ones.

"I will make you a deal."

"Oh?"

"You don't have to decide right now. Take time to think about it. But... if you tell me what you were really going to say, I will let you take me over your knee and give me a spanking. A mild one, just so I know what it feels like." She thought she might have known what West was refusing to say but she wanted to hear her say it.

"That is appallingly, tremendously unfair."

"I said you can have time to think about it." Langwidere grinned and kissed the top of West's head, which she very much enjoyed having rest on her shoulder.

"That detracts from neither the appalling nor the tremendous element of the unfairness."

Langwidere's grin possibly got brighter. "I love you."

"That at least has the potential to detract from any unfairness," West decided, appreciating the warm hands that slid from her ribs down to her belly. "And I love you," she added, to make sure that was also understood.

Langwidere hugged her, stilling her wandering hands when she reached West's smooth stomach, letting them stay there as she held the witch close. It was a long, long ride and they would have plenty of time for doing naughty, adventurous things. Right now she was happy to relax and enjoy the comfortable silence that settled over the two of them.