Princess Sarah and the Origin

"And we thought if you did come by, you'd humour us with a little privacy!" Marguerite said.

"I gladly would have," Ellie said, "if you hadn't been so rude, Marguerite." She smoothed out her dress and sat down on her bed. "But I'm a reasonable gal, and I can accept an apology."

"An apology for what?" Marguerite groused. "It's Justin's room too, isn't it? And you weren't here!"

"Justin, you really should've asked, you know," Ellie said.

"I know," Justin said. "I'm sorry."

"You don't look too sorry down below!" Justin was still rock-hard, giving rise to a tent in the sheet. "Not that I mind the view, of course," she went on. "That is ever so fascinating, and I grow so tired of pretending not to notice it when we're changing clothes for the night."

"You get hard for her?" Marguerite glared at Justin.

"I get hard for all of you!" Justin protested. "You've seen me in the pool with the whole gang, haven't you?"

"It's the one time the rest of us can have our bit of fun, Margy," Ellie reminded her. "We know he's yours alone, but..." But Ellie now realized she was quite frustrated with the look-but-don't-touch nature of her arrangement with her new best friend. She opted not to say that, however.

"Yes, and I have so little time to be alone with him!" Marguerite replied.

"Oh, what's the harm?" Ellie said. "We spend so much time stark naked together, and I won't even comment on what you and the princess do out in the woods -- think of it as just another one of those retreats!"

"With you sitting there fully clothed?" Marguerite shot back.

Ellie laughed, then she scooted all the way back on her bed and leaned against the wall, and gathered her skirt up around her hips. Finally she spread her legs as far apart as she could, giving both of her friends the clearest view anyone in her life had ever had of her vagina. "Better?" she said.

"Are we to only look?" Marguerite asked with a glance at Justin, who was clearly wondering the same.

"Seems to me you're busy with each other, and as I said, Justin is yours alone," Ellie said. "I only want to watch, and I'll take care of myself." Without waiting for them to start again, she already helped herself to a few gentle strokes around her vulva.

"If we're that entertaining..." Justin began.

"Oh, very well, then, Ellie, I'm flattered!" Marguerite climbed back onto Justin and slowly, first pretending Ellie wasn't there and then welcoming her intense gaze, she took him back inside her.

Justin was careful to look only at Marguerite, but he thrilled all the same to the awareness of Ellie's wide open legs and her pink inner flesh and her fingers dancing about it only feet away. For all that, it wasn't difficult to stay focused on Marguerite, as she was more responsive than ever. Already incapable of not making a lot of noise in the heat of the moment, as he had discovered behind the powderhouse, now she seemed to be making a point of trying for the other extreme. "Oh. God. Ohmygod! Buryitintome! Yes!" All at the top of her lungs, and Justin did what he could to comply while joyously pinned to the mattress beneath her.

From her perch on the bed, Ellie was as bewildered as she was fascinated. She'd heard tales of what became of even the most demure of ladies when they took a good man to their beds, but she hadn't believed it until now. She still could only guess just what Marguerite was feeling and how intensely she was feeling it to make such wonderfully guttural sounds, but more than ever she longed to find out. In the meantime she contented herself with her right hand, the strokes growing ever harder and faster, tapering off just below the boiling point as she wanted to come with Marguerite.

"Oooohhhhhhhhhhhwwooooooooh!" Marguerite came so hard Ellie half expected the walls to rattle. Jealously she looked on, still rubbing herself into a tizzy, as Marguerite caught her breath and continued flailing away at Justin, willing him to come as well.

Ellie came before he did, but she was still gazing at him in longing admiration, savouring her own pleasure, when he finally came to a stop and pulled Marguerite down on top of him.

An awkward silence prevailed for a moment. Finally Ellie said, "Marguerite, you will be happy to know I'm even more jealous of you now. I hope someday I can feel that much pleasure at once."

"I hope for your sake you can, too," Marguerite said, snuggling up beside Justin. She was feeling mollified now that she had staked her claim in such stark terms. "But would you spare us some time alone next time?"

"Just please ask next time." Ellie stood up and smoothed out her dress as best she could, and strolled to the door. "See you tonight, Justin." With a wicked grin she added, "All of you."

"You can keep your hands to yourself, can't you?" Marguerite asked Justin as soon as they were alone.

"I can, but I can't very well promise anything about her," Justin said. "I certainly didn't see that coming!"

Ellie did keep her hands to herself that night. But it was a hot summer's night, and as the roommates settled down to try to sleep in the humid atmosphere, she had no qualms about leaving her nightgown in its drawer. "I cannot thank you enough for helping me grow so comfortable in my bare skin," she said with a grin as she reclined joyfully nude on her bed. "Care to join me?"

"Gee, Ellie..."

"Oh, I won't touch you and I know you won't touch me! Justin, we're friends, nothing to hide!"

"Well, it is awfully hot and sticky, isn't it?" Justin allowed. "I do wish it would rain one of these days." Grinning in spite of himself, he followed Ellie's lead and stowed his night shirt away.

As he removed it, he revealed what Ellie had already expected -- that her show had appealed to him in the most carnal way. "Oh, that never gets any less flattering!" she said. "But I do wonder how you can even walk sometimes, what with all the time you spend naked with us!"

"Honestly?" Just in asked, helping himself to a feel with his well-practiced right hand. "So do I! I do wonder sometimes, just what did I do to deserve such a happy fate!"

By now they were both laughing hard, and enjoying the forbidden sight of one another's body as much as ever. "Are you going to...you know?" Ellie asked, gesturing at his cock in his hand.

"I certainly want to..."

"Then do it!" Ellie spread her legs. "In fact, let's both! It'll be like the princess' outings, only in bed!"

Justin agreed, and presently they were both stroking up a storm in their beds. Their attention was quite naturally focused on one another. And so neither of them noticed when Marguerite, also unable to sleep in the miserable heat, chanced a peek into their window.

She had come to suggest a midnight tryst with Justin, and had even considered letting Ellie join in this time. But the sight that greeted her cast all such magnanimous gestures out of her mind. "So Ellie's playing it this way, is she?" Marguerite hissed under her breath as she turned back for her own chamber. She longed to beat down the door and confront them both, but then they had kept their promise -- they were both touching only themselves -- so she couldn't even rationalize that. There would, though, be words with them both in the morning.

The rain finally came that night, long and hard and purging, and they all awoke to a much more agreeable morning. Marguerite had calmed down somewhat, but she still planned a stern word with both Justin and Ellie. Neither opportunity presented itself immediately, as the princess enlisted Marguerite to join her for breakfast -- a hard-won privilege she and Cornelia had at procured for one lady per meal a few times a week.

Marguerite assumed she was being called on the carpet. "What am I in trouble about?" she asked as they made their way to the dining room. "If it's about Ellie --"

"It isn't, and Justin only has eyes and heart for you, you lucky wench," Sarah said. "I simply cannot bear Father and Cornelia on my own this morning. I am sorry to keep you from Justin, but as you know it could only be one of you anyway."

"I should wish you had called on him," Marguerite confessed. "Then at least that harlot Ellie wouldn't have him in her reach."

"Harlot!" Sarah laughed. "Ellie? She's the most demure of the court!"

"In public," Marguerite said. "There is a side to her none of us have seen before. Except perhaps Justin."

"Have you considered that perhaps it is Justin who has created that side?" Sarah pointed out. "Let's face it, he has added a dollop of spice to our little circle, which if I do say so myself was already rather spicy. But he loves you alone, Marguerite. Honest."

Breakfast was predictably uncomfortable, but Father and Cornelia did at least hold their tongues in the presence of their unwelcome guest. The scene at the outdoor bath was also not as congenial as it normally was, as rumours had already spread among the ladies, although Julia made an effort to lighten the mood by taking a stroll outside the modesty fence after undressing. "Might as well work up a bit of sweat to wash off," she quipped upon her return from the daring walk.

"Don't give the princess any ideas!" Laura warned her.

"Right, she'll have us all doing it if she likes it!" Darlene added.

"Speaking of the boss," Cassie added. "You all think she got Marguerite out of the way for breakfast just to break the tension?"

When Justin and Ellie arrived together a moment later, there were no hellos to deter from the matter at hand. "Ellie, how could you barge in on them like that?" demanded Julia the moment they came into view.

"And Justin, couldn't you have asked her to leave?" added Kathleen. "I would have if you'd been in our room."

"You don't understand," Justin protested while Ellie turned beet red in silence, and not due to her nakedness, with which she was increasingly comfortable. "It was actually kind of a kick for us both. Even Marguerite enjoyed it in the end."

"Depends on when the end was," Cassie chimed in. "Isn't that right, Kathleen?"

"Not my story to tell," Kathleen demurred.

"That didn't stop you from telling us all!" Laura pointed out. "Ellie, Justin, the two of you, last night in your beds..."

"Laura, it's none of our business!" Kathleen snapped.

"She saw us?!" Ellie and Justin said it in unison and looked at one another in utter humiliation.

Julia alone was shameless enough to laugh. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, my friends. Darlene does it when she thinks I'm asleep, you know."

"I do not!" Darlene protested, but even she could hear the lie in her voice.

"But Justin," Julia went on, ignoring her roommate, "It really is different with you. Surely you can see that."

"What business is that of yours?!" Justin looked at them all in turn. "If Marguerite is upset with me, I'll talk to her later. Now if you don't mind, can we --"

Cassie interrupted him with a blood-curdling shriek. Usually the most fearless of them all except perhaps for the princess herself, her fear struck fear into the hearts of all the others before anyone else saw what Cassie had seen: two men crawling over the top of the wall. By the time the others followed Cassie's terrified glare, the first two had dropped to the ground and there were three more scaling the wall.

"Go away!" Justin heard someone shout -- he wasn't sure who.

"No men here but Justin!" shrieked another. But the intruders only laughed at that.

Justin glanced around and saw his friends swimming for the edge, a couple of them already out of the water and running for cover, forgetting in their panic that there was no place to hide but the tent, and the men were blocking the way there. Futile as he knew it was, Justin's chivalry took over and he stepped up to the edge of the pool, hands on his hips. "Please, whoever you are!" he said. "Surely you know you're asking to be thrown in gaol when the king hears of this. Leave the ladies alone!"

But the invaders paid no mind to his terrified friends, beyond a salacious glare at the bodies they tried in vain to hide. The biggest and most loutish of the bunch said, "Tain't them we're after but you, me boy. Take 'im and let's get lost!"

"What..." Justin found his arms bound behind his back and himself borne up in two pairs of rough hands before he had any idea what was occurring. "Let me go!" he shrieked, and writhed about as best he could. But even an ox of a man is helpless in his skin and outnumbered, and gentle Justin was anything but an ox.

"You put him down!" Cassie hissed like an irate cat, her own nakedness notwithstanding -- after all, that damage was done.

"We shall when our man's demands are met," taunted the man who had ordered the others to carry Justin off. Then as quickly as they had appeared, they were off back over the wall, Justin still writhing about in their grasp, but they had no trouble hauling him over the wall and out of sight.

Cassie was still standing rooted to the edge of the pool, her fists clenched in rage, when Marguerite and the princess arrived a moment later. The other ladies were huddled in a circle behind her, still looking terrified.

"What on earth is this?" Princess Sarah asked.

"And where's Justin?" Marguerite asked.

King Leopold had not yet heard the news when his daughter burst into his study unannounced. At least, he would muse later on, he could honestly say he knew nothing of the kidnappers or their motive.

But that was of little consolation as Sarah cried and ranted and hurled accusations at him. "You are involved with this, Father, aren't you?!" she wailed. "Putting Justin in my entourage didn't put a stop to my living my life as I see fit, so now you want him out of the picture entirely, don't you?"

"I am not!" the king snapped, though already he was wondering if it was really such a bad turn of events. "I ordered no one to violate your privacy or kidnap your friends!" He longed to say he "would never" do such a thing, but in spite of everything he could not lie to his daughter. "I know not who is responsible!" That much was true; hadn't Nathan said he could never do it?

"Well, you're going to find out, aren't you?" Sarah was pacing back and forth before her father's desk, gripping at her skirts in frustration and tossing them about every which way. "You must have contacts who would know, or know where to find out?"

"I have no doubt we'll be receiving a ransom demand," the king said. "I do not see what I can do before then. If my contacts ask too many questions, the guilty parties will know we're desperate."

"But are we, Father?" Cornelia asked from the doorway, where she had appeared out of nowhere. "Let us not pretend this is not a fine resolution to the problems Justin has caused."

"You bitch!" Sarah lunged for her sister's throat. Cornelia stepped out of the way, but Sarah caught the bodice of her gown and, amidst a report of tearing cloth, they were both presently rolling around on the floor, clawing at one another.

"Girls, enough!" The king jumped up from his desk, but a pair of his guards appeared from the hallway and pulled Sarah and Cornelia apart before he could reach them. When he did, he glared at them both. "Enough!" he repeated. "Sarah, you brought this on yourself with your wild-abandon behaviour! Cornelia, I won't have you saying such things about a friend of your sister's no matter what we think of her lifestyle! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Painfully so," Sarah groused. "But you cannot just let a breach of your grounds go unpunished!"

"As I said, I do not intend to," the king said. "As soon as I hear anything, I shall let you both know."

"Both?!" Sarah glared at Cornelia, who was gazing straight ahead and smirking. "Why should she know anything?"

"She is your sister, and we have no secrets in this family. Now, both of you, back to your chambers and get yourselves presentable. I advise neither of you use the outdoor bath, though, until I've had a stern word with the guards."

"Gee, Father, I'd never have thought of that," Sarah said through clenched teeth as Father's guard released her and she stumbled out into the hallway.

Cornelia followed. "Relax, Sarah," she taunted. "Why don't you just tell Nathan you'll marry him after all? A crumb like him probably knows who did this, at least."

It took every ounce of resolve Sarah had to ignore her sister. But she did it.

Father did not. "Cornelia!" he roared. "Get back here!"

Cornelia put on her best smarmy grin as she stepped back into the study. "Yes, Father?"

"Please stop antagonizing your sister," he said, "But of course I agree with you. This is the best thing I could have asked to happen, although I had nothing to do with it. But it wouldn't do for Sarah to know that. Do you understand?"

"I...do, Father. I do." Cornelia's smirk was gone. "And if the kidnappers ask us for ransom?"

"Sarah won't need to know that either," Father said.

"Going to leave Justin to swing in the wind, are you?"

"I wish the poor boy no ill, but I would just as soon have him out of my court," Father said. "I shall just have to find some other way to control Sarah and her wild instincts. Not a word to her about this, though, do you understand?"

"Of course, Father." Now Cornelia's smile was forced for another reason entirely.

Sarah, though she heard none of her father's conversation with her sister, knew him too well to have any optimism to offer when she gathered the ladies around her later that afternoon in her chamber. "I have no doubt he is involved in this somehow," she said. "I do not see how else they could have known how and where to overpower the guards. Both of them will be on bread and water for a month and then permanently reassigned, incidentally. At least there's that."

"I know how else they could have known that," Marguerite grumbled. "Any one of us could've told them. We all know how the guards focus on the trees instead of the ground when we're in the bath."

"Marguerite, don't be ridiculous!" Laura said. "None of us would do that to Justin!"

She and all the other ladies expected Sarah to agree heartily. But she did not. "Actually, Laura, I intend to question you all privately about that, one by one. Would you care to volunteer to go first?"

"Sure, my lady." Laura held her head up high and ignored the nervous titters at her expense. "I've nothing to hide."

"Very well, then," Sarah said. "All of the rest of you back to your chambers until I call for you, please."

All the ladies seemed to have a prime suspect behind their façade of solidarity. Naturally Marguerite was sure Ellie was the mole, while Julia pontificated that perhaps Marguerite had arranged it herself so she could then be Justin's saviour as well as his true love, Kathleen had her suspicions that Cassie wanted Marguerite for herself, and no one could be sure Darlene wasn't just a bit too close to Nathan. Hadn't he lately bought her mother a new house in the village? Darlene herself nearly confessed to her past with Nathan, but she didn't believe Sarah would trust that she had cut off ties.

But Sarah failed to shake loose a confession or a smoking gun from anyone. Though sorely tempted to take her breakfast in her chamber on Monday, she forced herself to face her sister and father with her head held high and her jaw set.

"So who's the latest suspect?" Cornelia taunted when Sarah took her seat.

"Cornelia, that's enough!" snapped Lady Clara.

"Who are you to tell me what's enough?" Cornelia retorted. "My mum's dead, last I checked."

Sarah grimly enjoyed the heated argument that ensued as she ate her bread and fruit, which her father tried in vain to quell. All were distracted when the head waiter burst in with a messenger in tow. "News, your majesty!" he said breathlessly. "Maybe a ransom demand?"

"From whom?" Sarah perked up, while her sister and stepmother fell silent.