The princess’s loss of control had the effect of further inflaming the prince. His cry that followed hers was a loud roar that sent echoes reverberating through the mudlands.
The princess’s mind whirled. How could she face her husband after she had behaved in such a debased manner? She was almost glad that the mud still covered her face as she tried to move away from him.
“I have something I want to say to you,” he told her firmly. She remained silent so he continued. “The next time you use that damned pen I want to know where you are so I don’t have to search everywhere for you!”
“The pen!” she exclaimed.
“Yes,” he admitted at last, kissing her muddied lips and cheek and neck. “Every single thing you write with it appears in my head.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed. So that was it! “I shall never touch it again,” she swore.
“The hell you won’t,” he said, surprising her. “I cannot live without your stories now that I have gotten a taste for them.”
“Oh, but I was…I mean, today…that was not really…”
“Don’t you dare apologize for anything you have written,” he told her. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but, well…”
“I don’t care what comes into your mind as you write or why,” he assured her. “The last thing I want to do is censure you. I just want to share it with you.”
Tears came suddenly to her eyes. “Really?” she asked, not quite able to believe what he was telling her.
“Really,” he said solemnly.
But it was impossible to remain serious while they were covered in mud. They found themselves chuckling joyfully as they tramped through the woods, stopping to wash in the lake on their way home. The princess was contented, for the time being anyway, and the new intimacy that began that day allowed her to always share her new longings with her husband.
And although the princess’s shoes were caked in mud the following morning, they were not completely worn through.
PRINCESS RESENTTA
P RINCESS R ESENTTA PACED BACK AND FORTH OVER THE LIVING ROOM floor as she waited anxiously for the wizardess to arrive. She had planned out over and again what she would say, even though she doubted that the wizardess would really be able to help her. It was one thing to recognize a person’s unhappiness, but quite another to make it go away. And anyway, the princess reflected, her distress was not something that came from within herself. She had been a perfectly happy person until her marriage.
It was him who caused her discontent. She had tried and tried to make things pleasant between them, but it was impossible to keep trying when you were dealing with a tyrant. Everything always had to be done his way. Princess Resentta had ideas of her own about how they should live. But somehow, these ideas never got incorporated into real life.
This latest dispute between them was, she felt, the final straw. After months of pleading with her husband to make improvements to the castle, he at last agreed to take time away from his dragon fighting to do so. But instead of the greenhouse she had been pining for since the first day they came to this dreary castle, he had decided that they should build a tower. A tower! So now the horrible man could fight at home, as well as when he was away. And even worse, he always had everyone, including her own father, convinced that whatever he wanted to do was right.
She must speak to the wizardess first, she decided, and alone, before her husband could argue his points on castle safety and protection. If she could get the wizardess to advocate a greenhouse, then perhaps the prince would be obliged to do it under order of the king. And wouldn’t it, in fact, be just the cure to fix what ailed them, if Princess Resentta could, at last, have her way on this one point, and get the greenhouse that would bring her so much happiness? She was certain it would. She glanced up the staircase anxiously, hoping upon hope that the wizardess would arrive before her husband should come down from upstairs, where she assumed he was studying the blueprints for his project. But alas, when Princess Resentta heard the door, she turned to see no other than her very own husband, the prince, escorting the wizardess into their castle.
The sight of them together enraged her, but the princess forced her lips into a stiff smile of greeting.
“I see you’ve met my husband already,” Princess Resentta said sweetly enough, but the wizardess detected the bitterness behind the words and looked sharply at her.
“Indeed I have had that pleasure,” Harmonia replied, watching the princess carefully as she spoke.
“Well, then,” was all Princess Resentta said, but she glanced at her husband as she said it as if to add, “Score another point for you!”
This little exchange was all that the wizardess needed to see the matter clearly. Theirs was a common enough problem. It was, in fact, one that every new couple was obliged to face. And it seemed that Princess Resentta and her husband were having no small amount of difficulty with it.
Harmonia opened her bag and pulled from it a mask. The mask flopped feebly in her hand, being feather light, extremely supple and flexible, and so translucent as to be nearly invisible.
“This magic mask will help you both,” she said, looking from the princess to the prince. They both stared at the flimsy mask as it flopped about in the wizardess’s hand for a split second before simultaneously reaching out for it. The wizardess suddenly pulled it away from them.
“Listen carefully,” Harmonia told them. “The mask is hardly felt or seen when worn, but it carries enormous responsibility. The wearer of this mask will have complete and absolute power and control over the other.” She paused a moment to allow Princess Resentta and her husband to absorb this. Then she continued, “The mask holds its power by day and by night. Whoever wears it by day loses their power at nightfall and whoever wears it by night loses their power by day.”
Now the wizardess held the mask out once again. It dangled ominously from her fingers.
The prince and princess looked at each other. The prince could see by his wife’s expression that she was itching to get her fingers on the mask. He shuddered to think of how thoughtless and impractical her decisions might be if she were allowed to have the full power by day. There were so many important things still yet for him to do to protect them and their castle and she had nothing in her head except flower gardens. She would probably plant a row of pansies all around their borders in lieu of soldiers.
But in the very same instant the prince imagined himself having the mask by night, with all the power it promised. He was getting mighty sick and tired of the princess controlling that part of their lives—or lack of it these days. If everything did not go exactly her way she froze herself against him. No doubt her idea of evening pleasure would be to have him bow down and kiss her feet. It would be nice to have the power to show her how a wife should treat her husband in an evening after he has worked all day.
However, the prince decided quickly and regretfully, it was not to be. He could not risk his and the princess’s safety simply for a few nights of pleasure. He reached out, before his wife could do so, and took the mask from the wizardess. Immediately upon doing so, he felt a strange surge of power shoot up his arm.
The princess stared at her husband in horror. “Dear,” she said, trying to sound civil, and only for the wizardess’s benefit, “shouldn’t we let the wizardess decide who gets to wear it first?”
“I cannot decide that for you, princess,” Harmonia interjected. “I am leaving now, so the two of you can settle the matter between yourselves.” And at that the wizardess walked out the door, glad to be away from the unpleasant couple, and with a number of important things to do still in front of her.
Meanwhile, the princess—even before the door had completely closed behind the wizardess, in fact—had whirled around to face her husband. “Give it to me!” she demanded.
“I don’t think it would be wise for you to wear the mask first,” her husband replied calmly. “You’re currently too excited to be trusted with this
kind of responsibility.”
The princess tried to grab the mask out of his hand but he quite easily jerked it out of her reach with a little laugh. “You should see how ridiculous you look. You are acting just a like a child.”
“And you are acting like a bully,” she retorted, her voice rising.
“Look,” he said in an aggravatingly reasonable tone, “you can have the mask tonight, after you’ve calmed down.” His condescending tone and cool assumption that he was perfectly entitled to make the final decision enraged her even further.
“Why do you even need the mask?” she screamed. “You always make all the decisions anyway.”
“As usual, you’re getting too emotional to discuss what needs to be done in a rational way,” he said in a tone that indicated he had not only made up his mind, but that his decision was flawless.
“And as usual,” she replied, seething, and deliberately emphasizing every word, “you’re too unemotional to realize that I hate you!”
He ignored this and looked at the mask in his hand. It was as thin and colorless as to be nearly transparent. He tentatively placed the mask over his face. At the first touch it immediately adhered to his skin perfectly and completely, without any further effort necessary. He felt an instant surge of power flow throughout his body, but after that he felt exactly as he had before. He looked at his wife.
Princess Resentta had watched resentfully as her husband placed the mask over his face and it became one with his skin. Now, as she looked at him, she was filled with strange new emotions. All the anger and resentment of only seconds before were washed from her mind. She suddenly felt a strong admiration for him, combined with a compulsion to please him. She was all at once reminded of earlier days, when she still felt these things for her husband, and she smiled at the memory.
The prince could not remember the last time his wife had smiled, or more especially when she had smiled at him. His whole body reacted to that one little smile, and all of a sudden the things he had planned to do that day seemed not so urgent. Here was his wife, who had shunned him in their marital chamber for months, under his power to succumb to anything he desired. He felt that he ought to take every bit of what he had been denied—and then some.
The prince approached his wife and took her face in his hands. She allowed him to lift her face and even opened her mouth willingly for his kiss. He moaned out loud at her eagerness to kiss him. Was this his angry little wife? Where was all the resentment of a moment ago? What was she thinking at that moment? He decided he would not question the magic of the mask, but simply enjoy it for as long as he could. He lifted the sweet acquiescent Princess Resentta into his arms and carried her up the stairs to their bedchamber.
The princess clung to her husband. She was filled with a desire to please him and sat eagerly awaiting him on their bed where he had placed her. Just seeing her there, waiting for him, warmed his heart, but he, too, had some resentment stored up from the past months of her abuse. He had a desire to test the limits of the mask, and see just how willing his wife would be to honor his wishes.
“Come here, wife,” he said. She instantly rose from the bed and came to stand before him. He felt another surge of power rush through him, and he found it even more satisfying than the first.
“Remove all your clothes,” he continued.
Once again she complied fully with his request. He watched in utter shock, hardly able to believe what was happening.
“Now, take off my pants.” This, too, she did willingly and efficiently.
He was standing, and in the course of lowering his pants down his legs, she was obliged to bend and kneel, so that she could better undress him. Once this was completed she began to get up, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Stay there,” he said. She looked up into his eyes and it was as if she could read his thoughts. While he still held her eyes with his, she reached out to wrap her arms around his hips and she clasped on to his manhood with her lips and tongue. She immediately took to the task at hand with eagerness. She sucked and licked diligently as she moved her head to and fro, trying to take more and more of him with each forward thrust of her head as she perceived he wished it, according to his moans and movements.
As the princess was giving her husband this pleasure, her mind reeled in confusion. She almost felt that she had never before caressed her husband in this way with her mouth and tongue, or tasted the wonderful flavor of him. Certainly she had performed this act on him, before she had begun to dislike him, but that had been different somehow. It had satisfied her to please him back then, but it had not actually given her pleasure. Now, her whole body quivered with a fierce longing and desire to give her husband the most intense pleasure she could supply; indeed, it appeared that she could feel each and every little ripple and wave of exquisite sensation that coursed through him when she sucked hungrily at the tip of him, or lapped her tongue along the length of him. It was as if in pleasuring him she was pleasuring herself. She almost felt as if she could not endure it if she did not make the experience better than any he had had before, and make it one that she alone could provide. She struggled harder to take him deeper with each stroke of her head, sucking more and more vigorously with her lips as she drew them over his flesh. It was as if she was starving for him, gasping and choking as she struggled to please him and her both.
The prince stared in stunned amazement at his wife. Her naked breasts bounced and bobbed against his legs as she franticly worked on him with her lips and tongue. Her hands clung to his hips for support, and her knees were set apart for stability. She was wild to please him, but it was not only him. He could hear her little moans and cries as she sucked and licked at him furiously. He could see her hips moving more and more frantically, as if she were trying to find something right there in midair that might give her relief. He had never seen his wife so aroused without even being touched. He didn’t want her to stop what she was doing, but he could not stand to watch her hips bouncing aimlessly in the air, untouched, either. He wanted to give her the same pleasure she was giving him.
With effort, the prince took his wife’s face in his hands and pulled himself out of her mouth. She looked up at him, questioning, panting, whimpering, wanting…and he almost lost himself then and there. He picked her up off the floor and placed her on the bed, filled all of a sudden with the same strong desire to please her that she was consumed with to please him, but it was still mingled with pent-up anger from months of neglect. He would please her, of course, but it would be on his terms.
The prince positioned himself over his wife, facing in the opposite direction, with his legs spread wide and his knees settled on either side of her head. He kept his hips raised for the moment, and the princess felt a yearning desire as she stared up at her husband’s manhood bobbing directly over her face, hard with anticipation, a little bead of excitement escaping from its tip.
Meanwhile the prince took his wife’s ankles in each of his hands and pulled them forward and apart, causing her knees to bend and her legs to spread wide apart as they were pulled up toward her body. He loved having her opened to his view like this. He stared at her lustfully for a moment, recalling how she would often hide herself from him. The bad memories caused him to pull her legs even farther apart, forcing her to become even more exposed to his hot gaze than before.
Wanting to keep her open to his view, the prince carefully and deliberately positioned his arms under and around her upper thighs to fasten her legs wide apart while giving him the full use of his hands. Again he recalled how she tended to censor his view of her and he instinctively tightened his elbows around her legs, opening her even wider yet.
The sight of her legs spread so far apart, and all the little parts and pieces of her anatomy popped right up toward him, almost reaching for him, softened his heart. Very gently, with the tips of his fingers, he pulled apart her little private lips and looked at the soft, pink glistening flesh inside. He touched it with his fingers
, delighting in the silky wetness. Mesmerized, he rubbed his finger deeper into her and then circled it around the outside, and continued for a moment, massaging his fingers gently in and around her soft opening. Wishing to taste her, he lowered his head and dipped his tongue deep into her softness, while his fingers pried her open to receive him. As he did this, he lowered his hips toward her face and felt himself being instantly received by her warm, wide-opened mouth. It caused another surge of power to flow through him to have Princess Resentta accept him in her mouth so eagerly, and yet, he, too, was eager to give her pleasure.
With this in mind, the prince’s fingers began carefully exploring his wife as he continued to lap at her with his tongue. He felt all around the area just above her opening with his fingertips, looking for the little mound of flesh that he knew he would enhance her enjoyment further. She moaned when he found it. He became keenly aware of her responses as he massaged the spot, anxious not to rub too hard or too fast. By carefully noting her reactions, he was able to massage the little swollen nub with exactly the correct precision and timing and pressure; all the while licking and swirling his tongue deeper and deeper into her, tasting as well as feeling her pleasure. In short time the princess’s hips were moving in perfect harmony with his fingers and tongue; and he delighted in the knowledge that he was truly mastering her at last!
In the wake of the prince’s expertise, the princess had temporarily forgotten her desire to please him, and was now completely unconscious of everything but the prince’s fingers and tongue. She seemed to be traveling through a long, dark tunnel that absorbed all of her thoughts except those that concerned her present obsession for that which she single-mindedly sought after. As if on cue, she followed the perfect motion of his fingers with her hips. She sucked him absently, without thought for how or what she did, but rather, only as it enhanced her own pleasure to feel the length of him inside her mouth.
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