Earlier that morning
It was a bright, clear morning. Lucy cut across the sparkling, dew soaked grass to the kitchen door.
"Get out of here, you're filthy!" Mrs Tipping flapped at her with a tea towel.
She hopped out of the way.
"I've nae started work yet, I'm clean!" She protested, stealing an apple from a hessian sack on the floor.
"You're still filthy" Ruby quipped as she passed with a tea tray. Lucy winked in reply.
"Gods this is sour" she said and dropped the apple in her bag for one of the horses "can I have some porridge, Tip? I didn't have time tae eat at home"
Footmen and kitchen staff bustled around in their elaborate morning routine, all seeming synchronised with each other.
"Why not, Lucinda? Where were you last night?" Mrs Tipping asked, pointing to a pot on the stove.
"Ooh the tales I could tell yer'd curl Watt's hair, Tip" She winked at a young kitchen apprentice.
"Watt, lampreys for the luncheon, fetch them now" Mrs Tipping said
They protested and Lucy smiled. When they were just out of the door Lucy smiled wickedly.
"I was with the dancer come to teach Miss Regina" Lucy said barely able to contain herself.
"You never!" James gawped at her, lowering the shoe he had been polishing to his side. She bit her lip and nodded.
"Bloody hell" he said "Fair play to you, Luce"
"Mind your mouth!" Mrs Tipping scolded
Watt returned out of breath with a bucket of lampreys.
"I never took her for a whoopsie" they said with a cheeky smile.
"Don't say stuff like that, Watt. S'not nice." Lucy said "anyway, that's where I was. All fucking night" she grinned again and twisted her spoon in her hands as she skipped sideways to the stove.
"More like all night fucking, hey?" James laughed
"Oi!" Mrs Tipping threatened them both with a wooden spoon
"Oh yeah" Lucy said "dancers got stamina" she smiled naughtily, he whistled in reply.
"Why don't you look bad if you got no sleep?" Watt asked
"You don't want to know, kid" she said and Watt huffed.
"I swear to gods" she leant in and whispered to James "she did things to me as made me forget my own name"
She tingled at the thought of it.
"And you thought she were after the princess when she came wanderin' around yesterday." James shook his head and continued polishing his shoe.
"I know! I only flirted with her cause I'd nothing tae lose and look at me now, I've had so many orgasms I've not even got the decency to be tired" she beamed
"Oi! I don't want Watt learning this smut off you two" Mrs Tipping shouted at them but couldn't help a smile at Lucy, which was returned.
"I'm twelve!" Watt protested
Lucy put her arm around them "and when it comes your turn you'll have the pick of all of them, you handsome little devil" she kissed their face and they laughed.
She picked up her porridge and shovelled it gratefully into her mouth.
"Well I have it on good authority from Bim, that's Miss Zelena's new dress maid, Miss Regina's got an interest in t'other one, what's he called?" James asked
"Pip?" Lucy asked. He didn't seem like her type, she thought, far too smug and too much of a reputation in town.
"I suppose it's about time after poor Daniel" Mrs Tipping said.
"Aye" Lucy said, placing her spoon back in her bowl sadly, remembering her friend's swift disappearance and Regina's gloom.
"The ball is coming up though!" Watt said, excitedly "She'll find her prince there and they'll live happily ever after!" they mixed a bowl of flour and smiled with ease.
Lucy, James and Mrs Tipping exchanged grave, knowing glances. Lucy kissed the top of Watt's head.
"Aye she will, gods willing" she said.
Mrs Tipping took the empty bowl from her.
"I'd best be off" Lucy said "Rocinante needs just about all the attention I can give him"
"I bet the last thing you need now is a good ride" Ruby passed by on her way out again
"Ruby!" Mrs Tipping called in protest. Lucy laughed.
"Ta for the porridge, Tip" she said, disappearing the same way Ruby went.
"I can't believe this is happening" Emma said, holding a small eureka lemon from the fruit bowl in the corner of the room.
"You started this" Regina said. Emma heard the suppressed laugh in her voice and sighed heavily.
She unbuttoned her breeches with her back to Regina and slid the lemon into her pants. She did the buttons up again and turned round with her arms out.
Regina looked at her, head tilted to one side.
"It doesn't look that different" she said.
Well it fucking feels different! Emma wanted to shout. She walked over and took her hand. Regina drew tentatively into her. She raised an eyebrow at Emma.
"Feel the difference now?" she asked
Regina didn't answer, she just pursed her lips.
They moved again, though there was no music. Emma lead Regina around the room, twirled her as usual, though the new pressure on her forced her to move her more carefully than before.
Regina hesitated for a second before a step and her thigh pressed into her. The noise that issued from Emma was involuntary. Regina's mouth fell open in surprise.
Emma's heart leapt into her throat. For a moment they just stared at each other.
"See why you have to be careful?" she asked, looking down into Regina's inscrutable eyes.
They stood still, pressed together.
Emma felt frozen hard to the ground. Her feet wouldn't move. She felt dread climb up from her stomach, reaching up through her. She felt it's icy grip on her heart. Regina slid her thigh into her again and she gasped. Regina's eyes searched Emma's when she let them open again. Her heart banged in her chest. She felt sure Regina must be able to hear it.
"Re-" she started, but Regina rolled her hip into her this time.
She dropped the hand that held Emma's arm and placed it on her waist to steady her. Emma gasped again and slammed her eyes shut again. Her fingers dug into Regina's skin.
It was just a fucking lemon, but she was so fired up already and the constant, moving pressure made a big difference. Something in her mind short circuited and she couldn't even address that Regina had just done this to her by accident and then on purpose. She tried desperately to control her breathing so she could speak, tell her to stop. This couldn't happen.
"Do-" she started and groaned into it as Regina moved against her again, though this time she pressed back.
Emma shuddered and opened her eyes. Their noses almost touched. Regina's eyes were so deep she almost lost herself in them. They were filled with wonder, fear and something unidentifiable, maybe lust.
Emma could smell her skin. She smelled like decadence and luxury. She always tried so hard not to look at her lips, they were full and looked so soft. They were crying out to be kissed. Emma's fingertips lightly brushed her cheek. She ran her thumb down the scar she had desperately wanted to kiss for weeks. She was gentle at first then drew her thumb down over her lower lip, opening her mouth slightly.
It was too much. Neither of them knew who moved first but suddenly their lips were together. Regina moaned softly in relief. The movement crushed the lemon into Emma and she broke away and cried out.
The door opened noisily and banged against the wall. They leapt apart and Emma turned away to hide her shame. She tried to catch her breath.
"Princess" Pip's voice shook "that might be enough for one lesson"
For a moment no one moved.
Emma heard the swish of Regina's dress and her footsteps out of the room and down the hall. Pip closed the door slowly. She felt every creak of wood, every cry of the hinges like it was nails scratching down her skin. He didn't speak. There was nothing to say. A moment later she was heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Pip asked
"The stables" she replied without a second glance.
"Morning" Lucy said seeing Emma at the stable door.
Her uniform was brown riding trousers, a dark bodice and white shirt. Her hair was tied up today, coincidentally not too differently from Regina's.
Emma swept her up and kissed her right away. The noise Lucy let out was one of surprise, followed by one of enjoyment. They fell through the door to the bridle room. Emma slid Lucy's hand down the front of her trousers. Thankfully she'd had the presence of mind to lose the lemon somewhere along the way.
"God you are riled up" Lucy said, feeling Emma already soaking.
"Fuck me" she managed "now"
Lucy did as she was told. She went to kiss Emma but she turned her head. She opened Emma's shirt with one hand, kissed her breasts and sucked and pinched her nipples.
All Emma could think about was the smell of Regina's skin, the taste of her kiss that she was desperate to keep in her mouth, the look in her eye when she knowingly crushed against her.
Emma held onto one of the pegs that lined the wall above her head.
She strangled her own noises as reached climax, she wouldn't let herself have even that. Her body was taught and bucked in the final throws of it.
Lucy withdrew slowly. She kissed Emma's neck then stood back and looked at her handiwork.
Emma still held the hook for support. Breathing rapidly she pressed her face against her arm. She thought she must have looked a mess, though she caught Lucy looking at her like she wanted to eat her for dinner.
"Lucy?" Regina's voice shocked them both.