AN: Here we go! I promise you guys that this one is less angst-y than Where Loyalties Lie and less tragic than Here in My Heart, which you will probably be happy about... which is not to say that there won't be any angst or drama. Just saying.

Prologue

When she first met her soon-to-be husband, she thought he was incredibly self-conceited, vain, stupid, and obnoxious.

When he first met his soon-to-be wife, he thought she was, among other things, extremely weird, hermit-like, and a know-it-all.

His parents turned to her father, telling him with frowns on their faces that they had not counted on their future daughter-in-law looking the way she did. Her father reassured them both that her affliction, though unfortunate and, indeed, rather unbecoming, was not contagious; and that the girl, despite everything, was bright and would make a smart and dedicated queen.

The royals eventually agreed, recognising that the girl's intelligence was the most important thing, since they did not have all that much faith in their son being a good and just ruler. After years of watching him flunking out of, and being expelled from, different universities, not to mention the countless nights he had come home drunk or all the parties he constantly either went to or threw himself, they were desperate. They were not entirely sure their subjects would accept a queen with green skin – Oz, they were not entirely sure they could accept a queen, not to mention a daughter-in-law, with green skin… but they did not have much of a choice. Even though their son had, eventually, received a university degree, that had more to do with his family's money than with his intelligence; and he still was not very serious. He did not seem capable of acting like an adult, let alone a king.

"That's settled, then," Governor Frexspar Thropp of Munchkinland declared, shaking the king's hand. "She will stay with you, here."

"So will you, I hope," the queen replied, regarding the governor with slightly narrowed eyes. "At least until the wedding?"

"Of course," Frexspar assured her and her husband. "I know my precious Nessarose would not want to miss her sister's wedding for the world."

"Perfect." The king nodded firmly. "The date will be set on the first day of the new year, five weeks from now. That seems like the perfect moment for them to start their lives together, don't you think so? And five weeks is a reasonable length for a royal engagement. I will announce the betrothal to the Vinkun people this afternoon."

"Of course." Frex nodded politely and left not long thereafter to see how his youngest daughter was doing.

King Humberto and Queen Danna of the Vinkus had been ruling for about fifteen years now, ever since Humberto's father, King Kevon, had stepped down. The old king was still living in the castle of Adurin Iir with the rest of the royal family, but he no longer ruled the Vinkus.

Queen Danna was a princess from Ix, still as beautiful now as she had been when she and Humberto had married. She had pearly white skin, bright green eyes, and light blonde hair. Both their children were a perfect blend of their parents and they were very proud of both their son and their daughter… or they used to be, anyway.

Ever since their son's 'phase', as they called it, had started, they had been hoping for him to turn around and start acting responsibly again, like an adult. When that day had not come, however, they had slowly started growing anxious. The king had suggested that if their son kept up his current behaviour, they could perhaps pass the crown down to their second child, Princess Cyara; but the council had denied him that possibility, claiming that the princess could only take the throne if her brother was not able to – meaning the prince would have to be either disabled or dead before that could happen.

When they had been talking to the governor of Munchkinland a few months prior, they had learnt from him about his eldest daughter, who was twenty-one years old and had just graduated from Shiz University. After inquiring after her by several more acquaintances who knew the girl, among whom were Mr and Mrs Upland from Gillikin, they had decided that she would be a perfect match for their immature and brainless son. They did not very much like the idea of an arranged marriage, but it was customary among the Vinkun royal family and they knew that if they did not choose a queen for the crown prince, he would most likely never get married at all… not to mention the political advantages the marriage would have. And so they had written to the governor, inviting him and his daughters over to the Vinkus to discuss some things with them. Soon the case was settled; their son was going to marry Frexspar's daughter.

And while their respective parents were closing the deal in the king's study, aforementioned son and daughter were sitting on opposite ends of a couch in the library, both of them with crossed arms and scowls on their faces.

"You know," Kevon, the king's father and the prince's grandfather, said as he walked past the two with a book, "you will make things easier for yourselves if you would just try to go along with this. Get to know one another. You might just like what you find."

"I do not want to get to know that," Prince Fiyero declared, nodding his head at the girl on the other end of the couch, "any more than I would want to get to know one of the frogs in the pond in the garden. Oh, wait," he added sarcastically, "that would kind of be the same thing, wouldn't it?"

"Fiyero," his grandfather scolded him firmly. "You do not talk about your fiancée that way. Show some respect. I know you have been raised better than this."

"She's green, Grandpa!"

"And I'm old," Kevon retorted. "We all have our imperfections."

"Not me," Fiyero declared proudly, earning himself a snort from Elphaba Thropp. It was the first sound he had heard from her in hours – and that while she had done nothing but talk heatedly ever since she had arrived. From the moment their parents had disappeared to sign the contract, however, she had been oddly silent.

"It's alright, Your Majesty," the dark-haired girl said to Kevon, a wry smile on her face. "I don't want to get to know him any more than he does me."

"I would do something about that," Kevon advised them both as he left the room. "You will be married soon, after all."

He had a point. Both of them knew that, but both of them were too stubborn to listen.

Fiyero was the one to break the silence after a while. "I bet you're still a virgin."

She huffed. "What in Oz makes you think that is any of your business?"

He continued as if she hadn't said anything. "It's not that hard to deduce. Who would ever want to have sex with a cabbage?"

Her eyes narrowed and she bit back at him, "Well, whether you want to or not, you're going to have to. For the rest of your life."

"Of course not." He lazily stretched, popping his back. "Just once or twice, and then I'll get you pregnant. Once I have an heir, I won't need to touch you again ever in my life – and trust me, I won't. I'll find other girls. Prettier ones. With normal skin."

"You do that," she hissed, her eyes shooting fire. "Just know this, pretty boy: I don't care how much we hate one another and how badly you want to satisfy your sex drive with someone that does not look like a vegetable. I am still a woman, I will be a queen, and I am going to be your wife; and I will not stand for my own husband cheating on me. If I ever catch you fooling around with someone else, I'm going to cut off your dipstick in your sleep. Got it?"

He scoffed, but the look in her eyes scared him a little and so he did not say anything else.

Elphaba's sister Nessarose came to find the green girl not long after that and they left together, talking and whispering behind their hands as they glanced in Fiyero's direction every now and then. It annoyed him, but he refused to let them show that they were affecting him in any way. The moment the girls had disappeared from the room, he heaved a dramatic sigh and fell back onto the couch.

Elphaba did not talk to him again the rest of the day and he did not seek her out, either. Instead he spent some time with a maid, flirting with her until he got bored and then sneaking off to find some of his friends to party with. The king and queen sent a few of their staff members out to look for the prince, but they did not find him and he did not return until early the next morning, completely drunk and singing loudly as he made his way up to his room. His fiancée heard him and she pulled her pillow over her head, wondering frantically if she was really about to marry this man or if this was all one big joke.

He hated her. There was no doubt in her mind about that. Everyone had always hated her, or at the very least found her repulsing, and her fiancé was no exception. She hated him, too, and she was absolutely confident that this situation would never change. Theirs was going to be a marriage filled with hatred and it would most likely end someday with either of them murdering the other.

Little did she know that everything – he, she, and whatever there was between them – was going to change soon.

I'll give you a Fiyero to cuddle with if you give me a review. :3

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