A Smashing Royal Christmas.

by Angelica and Woodsy

Princess Georgina was not having the best of days.

In fact, the way things were going, she was going to have a thoroughly miserable Christmas.

She wasn’t doing much to hide it either, stomping her way through the great hall of the palace and throwing herself sulkily onto a couch.

Given all the trouble she’d managed to land herself in that week, most of the palace staff would simply have assumed her miserable mood was the result of a recent spanking.

Certainly, the ache in her backside was the main reason she was lying on her tummy with her chin in her hands –

and certainly, pouted the Princess, it did seem a very undignified way to treat a Royal bottom.

Admittedly, the Princes and Princesses of the outer countries had earned themselves a reputation for being somewhat spoiled and wilful at times, but in most of those countries, a Royal backside would have been seen as untouchable.

Not in Georgina’s country, unfortunately.  Ever since a recent misadventure with an injured dragon (not to mention some serious attitude problems when it came to her throne-room study time), the King and Queen had decided to take a very firm line with their daughter’s tiresome pranks, which meant regular trips across the Royal Paddler’s knee.

But as humiliating as it felt to be, as far as she knew, the only Princess in history with her own Paddler, this was not the reason for her sulky-looking countenance.

Princess Georgina was nursing an ache far deeper and chillier than the one in her derriere.

Princess Georgina was in love.

Oh boy was she in love.

Emba. Heck, even her name sounded cool.  She had a certain attitude about her. It wasn’t disrespectful, or outright disloyal. It was just…

so darn cool.

But not in that slightly smug, snotty way.  There was something vulnerable about her too.

Georgina gave her throbbing rear a good rub at the thought of vulnerability.

She couldn’t imagine Emba ending up across anyone’s knee.

This little reverie was shattered by –

well, actually, it was shattered by the sound of something shattering, along with a very angry-sounding shriek.

Intrigued, the heartsick Princess leapt off the couch and made on of her well-practised tiptoe runs across the floor to the little side room where the noise had come from.

She peeked round the door and was shocked to see – of all people – Emba, trying desperately to sweep the crystal shards of the ornament under a cabinet.

The poor girl was clearly mortified by what she had just done. Looking round, she caught sight of the Princess watching her, and all the colour drained from her face.

“Oh please! I’m so sorry!” she pleaded. “I didn’t mean it, honest I didn’t! I just… I’m struggling so much to make ends meet this year, and, well… putting out all these Christmas ornaments, seeing how pretty and expensive…

“Oh, I don’t know! I just lost it for a moment! I really am so sorry! I… I… I can’t afford to lose this job!”

Georgina checked the hall to see if anyone else was about. The coast was clear.  She quickly slipped into the room ran across to kneel next to her beloved.

Her heart was beating ten to the dozen, as the King used to say (not that Georgina had ever figured out what that expression meant).

Who could have seen this one coming?

“You’ll do more than lose your job!” Georgina said. “That thing’s worth a fortune!”

Then, just as it seemed the situation could not get any more crazily surreal, Emba burst into tears, her head flopping forward into the Princess’s arms.  Instinctively, Georgina scooped the distraught girl into her chest.

“Hey… Hey… It’ll be okay!”

As she ran her fingers down Emba’s damp cheeks, it felt as though her heart would explode.

“What on earth is going on here?”

Princess Georgina knew the tone in her mother’s voice all too well.

“Is that my favourite ornament?” growled the Queen.

Emba, keeping her eyes bowed in shame, began to shake uncontrollably – until the feel of Georgina’s fingers around her wrist gave her a strange and unexpected burst of courage.

“Oh alright, you win!” snapped the Princess, much to Emba’s confusion.

“I thought my last spanking was really unfair!” she continued, looking up at her mother.  “And, well… I was so angry. I didn’t mean to smash the crystal thingy, but… Well, you know what my tantrums are like!”

Emba couldn’t believe her ears.

“I was just trying to hide the evidence when Emba here caught me, told me I should own up.”

“I think you just earned yourself another visit to Helena,” said the Queen.

*****

Georgina took her time taking long, slow strides as she made her way towards the throne room.

She knew Helena, her Royal paddler, would be waiting for her and she wasn’t quite ready to face her.

As she stood in front of the door, her hands trembled as she reached for the knob.

But before she could grab ahold of it, Helena swung the door open and stood there with her hands on her hips, glaring at Georgina.

“According to when your mother notified me, you should have been here 10 minutes ago. What took you so long?” Her tone was as cold as ice.

“I… I got a little lost?” Georgina tested.

“Young lady, do you really think now is a good time to test me? Considering I’m about to paddle the daylights out of you?”

“No ma’am,” Georgina caved.

“That’s what I thought,” Helena replied, sternly.

With that, Helena ushered Georgina inside and guided her to the straight-back chair that was placed in the middle of the room. She picked up the heavy mahogany paddle that was resting beside the chair and started tapping her palm with it.

“Tell me, Georgina, what it is you’ve done this time?”

As the butterflies formed in Georgina’s stomach, the way they always did before a punishment, she couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved that she was saving Emba from this ouch-inducing doom.

Feeling her cheeks blush at the thought of Emba, she knew she was doing the right thing.

“Well…” she paused. “I just had a tiny tantrum and… actually, Emba is the one that found me as I was trying to… er…”

“Er what, young lady?” goaded Helena, with just the hint of a smile.

It looks like she’s really going to enjoy this, thought Georgina, as the blushing intensified.

“Er… dispose of the evidence.  Shattered bits of specially crafted crystal, to be precise. Emba helped me realise the right thing to do. Hence me being here.”

“We’ve talked about your tantrums before, Georgina, have we not?” Helena didn’t wait for answer and continued. “Are you suggesting had Emba not found you during said tantrum that you would have lied to cover it up?”

Georgina hesitated and tried her best to seem as guilty as possible. “Well… I… well, yes. Perhaps I would have tried to lie about it.”

Helena narrowed her eyes. “I see.”

She nodded towards the chair, keeping her gaze on Georgina. “Well then, you know the drill. Bend over and grab the chair, young lady.”

Georgina whimpered lightly as she bent over and braced herself. Helena tapped the paddle against her backside a couple times before pulling back and giving her a full-powered swat. She gritted her teeth and braced herself for the next one.

“Stand up, Georgina,” Helena demanded.

Uncertain with what was happening, Georgina stood cautiously with a confused look on her face.

“What… what’s going on?”

Helena took a seat in the chair and pulled Georgina to sit on her lap.

“Come on Georgina, I’ve known you since the day you were born. I know when you’re telling the truth and when you’re not. And you, young lady, are not telling the truth. In fact, I think you’re taking the blame for someone else’s wrongdoing.”

“Helena, that’s… that’s absurd. It was me. I broke the ornament.”

Helena let out a sigh. “You don’t have to cover for her anymore. I know it was Emba who broke it.”

“But… how do you know that?” Georgina asked, her cheeks beginning to blush again at the thought of Emba.

Helena lightly squeezed her cheeks. “My sweet girl, do you think I haven’t noticed the way you look at Emba? Or the way your eyes light up and your checks blush at the mention of her name? She clearly means a lot to you if you are taking the blame for something she did.”

“Please, Helena, mother mustn’t know the truth!” Georgina begged. “I won’t allow Emba to be punished or lose her job. I care for her a lot. In fact, I… I think I’m in love with her.”

Helena squeezed Georgina in a big hug. “What is said in this room will stay between us. I promise. Now, go on. Go find her and talk to her. I know from the few times I’ve spoken to her that she is very fond of you as well.”

She kissed the top of Georgina’s head before helping her up off her lap.

“Thank you, Helena. You’re the best!” Georgina exclaimed.

Helena stood, and they embraced each other quickly.

“Alright, you. Don’t keep her waiting forever. Oh, and make sure you make it seem like I walloped you good.” Helena winked at Georgina.

“I will, Helena!” Georgina giggled as she headed towards the door to go find Emba.

*****

She found Emba in her quarters, and was greeted with a massive hug.

“I can’t believe you did that for me!” Emba sobbed. “D’you know what the Queen did? She gave me a reward!  Enough to pay off my debts!”

Georgina could barely contain herself, seeing her beloved so happy.

“Well, then I guess the spanking was worth it!” she winked, giving her backside a good rub.

“Oh, I don’t think the spanking is finished yet, do you, Emba?” said a voice from behind them.

The two young women swung round in shock.

There, sitting on the edge of Emba’s bed, was a radiant lady in tights and a red tunic dress.  In fact, she was more than radiant – she was glowing.

“It can’t be,” said Georgina. “You can’t be…”

“I come in many forms,” said the glowing Santa –

for both girls knew very well who she was.

“But I’ll be honest, I’m not really interested in all that presents malarkey.  That’s just hype.  What really draws me is what people give with their hearts…

“like you’ve just done, Georgina.”

The redness returned to the Princess’s cheeks.

“But you, Emba… you’re feeling pretty guilty right about now, aren’t you?”

Emba nodded, somewhat sheepishly.

“Well, let’s see what we can do about that,” said Santa, beckoning Emba to come closer.

Now it was Emba’s turn to blush.  She had little doubt what was coming, but the thought of receiving it in front of Georgina…

“Hey…” Sensing the problem, Georgina stroked Emba’s hair and leaned close, whispering in her ear:

“Trust me, it won’t be nearly as bad as you think.”

For the second time that day, Emba got a burst of courage.

When she reached the bed, Santa wasted no time in turning Emba across her knee.

“I think we both know you’ve been behaving pretty appallingly lately,” said Santa, “running up debts and breaking things.”

“I know,” sighed Emba.

“So let’s get you off that naughty list, shall we?”

With that, Santa delivered a swift series of smacks. Her hand was a lot harder than it looked, and Emba’s poor bottom quickly began to sting.

What surprised her, however, was how light she felt.  The spanking seemed to be knocking all the heaviness and shame out of her.  For sure, Santa’s hand was burning some serious “ouchie!” through the seat of her skirt, but there was a freaky tenderness at the core of it, which left her feeling somehow safer than she had done for a long time.  It was almost worth the embarrassment of receiving a smarting backside in front of the Princess…

almost.

Suddenly, Santa stopped, pulling Emba to her feet.

“I think that will do for the moment,” she said, watching a somewhat overwhelmed Emba trying to rub the sting from her derriere.

Looking between Santa and the Princess, Emba suddenly realised that, even when she was over Santa’s knee,  the feeling of safety she felt came entirely from the presence of the Princess, just as the Royal fingers had given her courage.

Santa turned to Georgina.

“It looks like you’re finally learning to take some responsibility for somebody other than yourself,” she said.  “A very important skill for a Princess.”

Reaching into the little satchel by her side, she pulled out an eerily sparkling paddle and handed it to Georgina.

“Merry Christmas,” she said. “I think you might be needing this.”

Santa vanished as mysteriously as she had appeared, leaving Emba blushing so furiously that Georgina erupted into a fit of giggles, which only made her blush more.

“Oh, come here,” said the Princess, finding  a nice soft pillow for them to sit on, “I think we have a lot to talk about.”