Princess Sarah and the Origin

"Of course he peeked," said Laura, "But-"

"Well, I never caught him peeking when I peeked at him!" Ellie squealed, drawing a laugh from them all.

"Ellie!" exclaimed Cassie, usually the brashest of the bunch except for the princess herself. "I wouldn't have thought you had it in you!"

"Wouldn't you peek if it were you?" Ellie asked her. "Besides, I couldn't have blamed him if he were doing the same. Finally, that's what I told him. 'Justin, this is more awkward than just changing together, and we're bound to see something we weren't supposed to anyway. Let's just pretend there's nothing wrong here, because really, there isn't.' And since then, it's just like it was with Fiona before she had to leave."

"So, he got a long one?" asked Cassie, passing over in silence the taboo of mentioning Ellie's former roommate by name.

"He does when I have my dress off," Ellie replied just as saucily. "You know, last night it was so hot and humid, we both slept in the skin. Got to gaze at each other for hours before that while we were talking, and it was perfectly comfortable!"

"I'm happy for you and a little jealous, Ellie," Kathleen spoke up again, "but that wasn't what Laura and I were asking about."

"That's right," Laura went on. "She meant why haven't you talked Justin into joining us here?"

"Indeed," said Cassie. "Why should Marguerite and the princess have all the fun?"

"He doesn't think he's welcome," Ellie said, opting to pass over in silence that he most likely preferred having Marguerite almost to himself; they had talked a great deal about her the night before. "He doesn't want to make any of you uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?!" Cassie and Kathleen replied in unison while Laura just laughed. "He's one of us now, isn't he?" Kathleen went on. "I'm more uncomfortable with him thinking he's not welcome!"

"I guess someone has been telling the princess she still doesn't want him here," Ellie said. "He says she's been asking around before the three of them join us out here."

"What?" Cassie snapped. "Who on earth..."

"Darlene," Kathleen grumbled.

"And maybe Julia," Linda added. "She's been acting kind of funny this week."

"I noticed that too," Kathleen said. "Darlene I'd expect, especially after she joined Marguerite and the princess in the woods last week, that can be an awful shock. But Julia? I wonder why?"

"Where is she, anyway?" Ellie asked

She was, though none of the other ladies knew it, in Sarah's chamber at that moment, making amends. "I don't know for sure, m'lady, but I believe I may be the lone holdout against having Justin join us in the baths," she told the princess, who was perched on her bed flanked by Marguerite and Justin. "I've decided it's best that I get over my modesty."

"Are you sure you want to do that, Julia?" Sarah asked, choosing not to confirm that she was indeed the last of the objectors. "You don't sound sure."

"Begging your pardon, m'lady, I find it utterly unfair of your father to place Justin in this situation, and Justin, I understand you've been uncomfortable with it in your own way," Julia said. "But I've always loved the camaraderie we shared, and I don't wish to lose that or to cause any rifts in it." She gave Justin a shy grin. "I can take it if you can."

"Oh, don't be silly, Julia," Sarah said. "You're just as eager to see Justin naked as we all were, myself included!"

Julia nodded and lowered her eyes. "Correct as usual, m'lady."

"There's no shame in that," Sarah said. "Justin, I take it you've no objection?"

"None at all," Justin said.

"Very well, then." Sarah stood up, followed quickly by her two servants. "I have missed the outdoor baths so! Let us all go and get cleaned up, shall we?"

As the four were undressing in the modesty tent outside the pool, Julia expressed curiosity about more than just Justin's lithe and lovely body. "I say, m'lady," she said to Sarah as she welcomed Justin's appreciative gaze upon her own body as it came into view, "Do you suppose your father knew how well Justin would fit in with us?"

"Certainly not!" exclaimed Sarah. "Come now, Julia, surely you knew that, by assigning a gentleman to my service, Father believed he would put a stop to our intimate games?"

"The word from your sister's ladies does indeed suggest that, m'lady."

"I am sure Cornelia was expecting the same. She has never understood the appeal of embracing the pleasures of one's own body as you and I do, and she finds it repulsive as Father does. Have you heard word of their reaction to Justin being likeminded with us?"

"I happen to know they are aware of it," Marguerite said, "though they are baffled and frustrated as to our embrace of Justin."

"A bit jealous as well, I hear," Julia added. At this, Justin could only look at the ground and grin.

"As well they might be," Sarah agreed. "Father should have recognized that I can play more naughty games than one."

All three women gazed shamelessly at Justin's throbbing unabashed presence in their feminine sanctuary, and were once again delighted at the King's misguided effort at stopping their naughty games. Finally he could stand no more and broke the heady silence. "I think we could all use a dip in the water to cool off, don't you think?" he suggested.

"Indeed," agreed Sarah, and she led the way out to the pool, where a cheer went up from the other ladies as they emerged.

"You convinced her!"

"Julia, thank heavens!"

"Whose turn is it to wash Justin?" Cassie almost couldn't get the words out without laughing.

"I know not, but it's his turn to wash me!" Kathleen declared.

"Yes, but it's my turn to wash him!" countered Linda.

"Ladies, please, I don't see anyone's name on him!" Marguerite interjected. "Yet," she added with a saucy grin at Justin, who was flashing his usual sheepish grin at them all.

"I'm going to pull rank and have you soap me up, Justin," Sarah declared. Of course none dared argue the point as she handed him a cake of soap and thrust her breasts out as far as they could go.

"My pleasure," Justin obeyed, cupping them gently in his soapy hands and promptly working the princess into trills of delight.

"Mine as well!" she said, closing her eyes and giving in to his tender touch all over her body. Oh, that Father could see this!

The others set about washing themselves as well, keeping a hungry eye on Justin and the boss.

When at last she declared herself clean and bade him wash himself off, naturally she knew he wouldn't be able to do any such thing. The ladies were on him at once, soaping up every inch of his body and most of them giving his hardness a yank or two along the way, and welcoming his response in kind. "Oooh!" squealed Kathleen when Justin gave her clitoris a fleeting stroke. "Do that again, please!"

"But do it to me first!" Cassie demanded. "Whatever it is!"

Everyone saw Justin give Marguerite a furtive look, and they felt a long second pass before she nodded her consent. For now she would just have to share. But she enjoyed the camaraderie as much as they all did as they took turns with his fingers.

"I hope you aren't too terribly jealous," Sarah whispered to her.

"Jealous of what?" Marguerite asked, though she knew the charade was over.

"The same thing I'm jealous of when it's only the three of us," Sarah said. "But I know better than to fight for the heart of a man when it already belongs to another. Especially you."

"I don't know if it does yet," Marguerite protested.

"Oh, I do, my dear," Sarah said. "Please know you've both got my blessing."

"Even if they all have his fingers," Marguerite sighed.

There was an ironclad rule at court to feign ignorance of all that went on behind the dense hedges surrounding the pool. This was easy to do when Cornelia's ladies had their playful but chaste baths (Cornelia herself always bathed alone in her private chamber); but when Sarah and her entourage were at play, the shrieks of joy and laughter were far too palpable for anyone to be unaware regardless of how diligently they ignored the noise. Never was that truer than on that morning, where they were all reunited for the first time since Justin had appeared on the scene.

And so it was that Princess Cornelia arrived in the library to find her father gazing out onto the lawn. When he turned around, she saw that he was looking as vexed as ever she had seen him. "Busy with affairs of state, Father?" she asked with the girlish giggle with which she had long ago mastered the art of wrapping him around her finger.

"How I wish that were all, my dear," he said.

"Sarah, then," Cornelia sighed. "I am ever so sorry her behaviour hasn't improved. When is she going to learn how she embarrasses us all so?"

"My dear, it is not your place to judge your sister," King Leonard said. "But alas, you are correct as usual. And I trust your ladies have kept you up to date on all the scuttlebutt about our little experiment gone wrong?"

"They all say her ladies love having Justin in their little gang."

"Gang?!" The king spat the word out like a piece of gristle. "I'll not have such words used to describe my daughters' companies!"

"But that is just what they are, Father! Like it or not, your other child is a wild little wench with no respect for family tradition. But aren't you relieved you have one daughter who does respect it?" She batted her eyes at him, and as usual it had the desired effect as his face softened.

"A father should never say so, but I am," he allowed. "If only I had the option of turning over the crown to you when my time has come..."

"Father, we have discussed this before," Cornelia reminded him. "You could do that if you wished!"

"Not without extreme measures that I'm unwilling to take."

"But it wasn't too extreme to put a man in her company?" Cornelia blinked back tears of frustration and jealousy.

"I had no intention of keeping him there permanently," the king said. "Or even for very long. I assumed Sarah would be humiliated and vow to put a stop to her silly harlot games, or that her ladies would resign in protest. Or, failing that, I thought Justin would have the good taste to resign. I never imagined they would all welcome him with open arms or that he would reciprocate as he has done!"

"You put a man in a sanctum of femininity where they do everything together including bathing, and you thought he would dislike it?" Once again Cornelia had to remind herself to keep her true opinion of her father's intellect to herself if she wanted any chance at all at the crown.

"It is not so naïve as it sounds," the king said. "Justin came of honest parents. His mother owns the dance school in the village and he grew up learning to treat a lady like a lady..."

"He grew up surrounded by romantic-minded women, doing intimate dances with them from the day he was in pants, then," Cornelia retorted. "And you thought he wouldn't know how to get along as the only male in that nest of wenches?"

"Your mother, God rest her soul, never did miss an opportunity to remind me how poorly I understood the fairer sex," King Leonard admitted. "I suppose I don't understand my own particularly well either. By now word is surely all over the land about what he and those girls are up to."

"My offer stands, Father. I am more than willing to tour the villages and reassure everyone not to believe all they hear in their alehouses."

"Thank you, my dear, but that will not be necessary." Having received her offer several times, the king still could think of no polite way to advise his favourite daughter of her kingdom-wide reputation as a spoiled, aloof snob while Sarah was beloved far and wide. At last, he had an alternative at hand. "I received word this morning of a potential suitor for Sarah. She will surely put an end to her wild-abandon ways with a husband to keep her in line."

"A suitor?" Cornelia tamped down her jealousy with a reminder to herself that no gentleman would submit to Sarah's wiles. "Who?"

"A young man from Lord Traxler's horse farm, just over the wall. The lord's youngest son, I believe."

"Nathan?!" Cornelia exclaimed. "Neer-do-well Nathan? Father, he's a child in a man's body! A bloody fool! A male Sarah, Father!"

"All the more reason to hear him out, then, as he might well be willing to marry Sarah," her father replied. "As you note, what man of quality would? At least this Nathan fellow has a birthright that would benefit the kingdom."

"And four brothers ahead of him in line for it," Cornelia grumbled. "Father, I share your low opinion of Sarah, but she is my sister, and --"

"I haven't a low opinion of her!" the king snapped. "Only of her lifestyle, and seeing it mirrored in this young man's pathetic profile may well be just what she needs. And I repeat, it is not your place to judge her so! Do I make myself clear?"

"Of...of course, Father," Cornelia stammered with her most sheepish grin, which for once failed to open a door for her.

"I'm sure you've got some business to attend to," he said, turning back to the window.

"Yes, Father. Of course, Father." Cornelia spun on her heel and was gone.

King Leonard knew, despite his machinations to control his daughter, that Cornelia was right about Nathan. The young man's reputation was known just as far and wide as Sarah's, and it was not a good one. He nevertheless held out some hope that impressions might be wrong. That hope was utterly dashed in their interview that afternoon, which Nathan spent mostly boasting about himself, often things the king knew to be false on authority of the young man's father. "Just last week I won an impromptu race on my father's latest mare," he said. "Handsome dowry, too."

"Congratulations," the king said with a polite nod, opting to keep to himself that he knew Nathan's father had ordered him to give the money to a charity-house in their town and barred him from riding the mare again.

"I do understand controlling Sarah might not be so easy as controlling my horse," Nathan allowed. "But I assure you I can rise to a challenge like her."

"I have my doubts that any man can do that," King Leonard said. "But I'll be frank with you, young man: someone's got to rein her in and convince her to live like the princess she is. I would like to see her subject to your father's brand of discipline." Even if that discipline had so utterly failed to take hold with the young man himself, he added silently.

"I should be honoured to have that opportunity," Nathan said. "I believe I am up to the challenge. One just needs to know how to handle a high-spirited lady."

"We shall see how this particular high-spirited lady feels about that," King Leonard said. "How might you feel about joining us for luncheon on the morrow?"

Nathan could not hide his grin of anticipation -- just wait until Brant heard!

Brant was not the only one to be disappointed with the news. "I am utterly aghast that Father would try to couple me with him!" Sarah raged to Justin and the ladies that evening in her chamber. "How could he?!"

"Another dirty trick to make you straighten up, no doubt," Cassie said.

"After all, hiring me failed to do the trick," Justin said. "Speaking of which, m'lady, if --"

"Don't you dare offer to resign again, Justin!" Sarah snapped. "We love having you here, and it wouldn't put a stop to this anyway."

"She's right," Ellie reassured Justin. "It might even embolden him."

"No, there's only one course of action," Sarah declared, jumping up from her bed to pace back and forth before her entourage. "I've got to hope Father will see what a pig he is."

"That shouldn't be difficult at all," said Darlene. "I hear he went straight off to the alehouse this afternoon to tell everyone of his conquest. Something about a bet he won with his guard."

"How utterly unsurprising!" Sarah shook her head. "Where did you hear that, Darlene?"

"It's all over the court," Julia cut in with a curt look at Darlene. "But no one faults you, of course."

"Heaven knows what they'll say of you if you spurn him, though," Justin said.

"I'm already known as the horny princess, aren't I?" Sarah pointed out, to gentle laughter from the ladies. "What care I what they say about me at the alehouse? But I'll need to make sure Father sees it's not worth the indignity of my marrying him."

"How will you do that?" Marguerite wondered.

"With respect, m'lady, your father really doesn't seem to care at all for what you might think," Kathleen added.

"Good point," Sarah admitted. "Perhaps instead, I ought to try to convince Nathan he'll never get under my skirt. Then even if Father consents, he won't want to marry me. Who wants to be known as the one even the horny princess wouldn't touch, even while married to him?"

"I like that idea," Marguerite said, though she privately doubted it would stop Nathan.

"Wonderful, then," Sarah said. "Marguerite, I'd like you to stay a bit and help me think of just how I can do that. The rest of you, off to bed with you."

While the other ladies said their polite good nights, Marguerite hugged Justin and kissed him on the lips. "See you in the morning?" she said.

"Can't wait!" he agreed, and he gave her hand a discreet squeeze.

Sarah swallowed hard and kept a straight face as she watched this, but she couldn't help but smile a bit at the possessive look Marguerite gave Ellie as she took her leave.

Ellie noticed it, too, and ignored it. She had grown accustomed to such looks from Marguerite.

Justin did not notice it, as usual. "I hope she doesn't keep Margy up too late," he said to Ellie as they retreated to their room.

"Oh, heavens, Justin, don't ever let the princess hear you call her Margy!" Ellie said.

"Why not? She calls her that."

"Exactly, Justin. The princess is utterly jealous of you and Marguerite and your budding romance. Why do you think she detained Marguerite now?"

"She said, to talk about how to repel Nathan," Justin said, opening their chamber door and standing aside for Ellie to enter.

"That too," Ellie admitted, lighting the candle on the table between their beds as Justin locked the door behind them. "But mostly, she wanted to make sure you and Marguerite didn't go off alone together."

"Heavens, I hadn't thought of that!" Justin said. "But why should she be jealous? It's not as though she would ever marry a commoner like me anyway."

"It's not marriage she's after, silly!" Ellie set about unbuttoning her dress. "More like the show I get every night. Marguerite isn't very happy about that either, you know."

"Oh, dear." Justin flopped down on his bed and kicked his shoes off. "I adore Marguerite. You and I, no offense, but -- I mean, we do all see each other in the altogether in the baths anyway, you know, but..."

"No offense taken!" Ellie brushed his cheek with the affection of a close friend, her dress still hanging loosely from her shoulders. "We agreed, no sense in hiding anything in here. But I confess, I do enjoy this a bit!" She giggled a bit as she pulled her dress down around her and stepped out of it. "Don't you?" she asked, hands on hips and giving him an unimpeded view of her bare body.

"And how!" Justin longed to caress her as they sometimes did in the bath. But look-but-don't-touch was the rule in their chamber, and he hurried off his clothes as well.

Ellie was flattered as always at the sight of his rigid penis, which he more than willingly let her regard for a few moments before he climbed into bed. Following his lead, she kept her hands to herself and got into her own bed. Privately, though, she once again hoped something might come between him and Marguerite before they consummated their relationship. Or even after that, for that matter.

But this she kept to herself as well. "Good night, Justin," she said, blowing out the candle.

"Night, Ellie. Sweet dreams."