“What happened to ‘you’re perfectly right?’” he asked.
“I was wrong,” she said.
“Do you believe anything you’re saying, or just speaking to hear yourself talk?” he queried her.
“I don’t have to listen to this,” she said, and turned to walk out the door.
“Oh, princess,” he called out to her sweetly.
She turned and started at the sight of him. He had replaced the mask over his face. The confusion she felt lasted less than a moment and then all of a sudden she was falling for him all over again…or the mask—she hardly knew which anymore. She blinked the tears of confusion from her eyes.
“I only wanted to please you,” she whispered.
“It would please me to beat you right now,” he replied. “What do you think of that?” He saw her shudder and realized with a faint twinge of revulsion that the idea excited her, and it also excited him. Suddenly he realized he would beat her.
“Come then, and lie down on the bed for me, princess,” he said. When she did this, trembling, he turned her facedown and lifted her nightgown so that she was bare from the waist down. She lay motionless, except for the trembling, which he knew was caused by the excitement of what was about to happen. He picked up his belt.
“I will beat the truth out of you,” he told her as he flung out his belt so that it caught her sharply across her buttocks. She jumped and cried out. He sent the belt flying across her skin again, and then again.
“Oh, enough,” she cried out. She began to rub her reddened bottom with her hands. “I only wanted a taste of it,” she admitted.
“But I am not finished yet,” her husband informed her, taking her hands and deftly tying them to the bedpost with a stray stocking so that she could no longer rub the soreness away. “I intend to punish you until I am satisfied that you have told me the truth.”
“No, no, please,” she cried, squirming. “I have had enough of this.”
“You seem to believe that you should be in charge of everything,” he said, as he flung his belt out at her reddened buttocks again. “Isn’t that what you want?” And he followed this with yet another lash of the belt.
“I only want the same thing you want!” she cried.
“Oh,” he prompted. “And what might that be?” She was silent a moment and he let the belt fly out at her again. She moaned and wriggled. She started to cry. He sent the belt across her flesh again. And then, after a moment of further silence, he hit her again.
“Power!” she cried out at last.
The prince finally stopped, dropping the belt. “You have too much power already,” he murmured, staring at her steaming red buttocks. Suddenly his hands were caressing her skin, inflamed and tender beneath his fingers. He tried to soothe her burning flesh with his hand. She moaned and opened her legs to him. He bent his head between them and began to devour her.
The princess’s hips rose up off the bed from the force of her husband’s sudden change in behavior. He continued to delve between her legs with his tongue even as he caressed her swollen buttocks gently with his fingers. She allowed her hips to be maneuvered up high in the air and her legs spread far apart, leaving her body exposed to his mouth absolutely as her tearstained face rested on the bed. She lay there in utter abandon, with her hands still tied to the post beyond her head. She was once again lost in the tunnel, and surrendered entirely to her desire to find the release.
The prince continued his efforts on his wife, using his fingers and tongue expertly and patiently. He had forgotten his anger momentarily, as he observed her hips moving to and fro, bright red from his spanking, with the flesh shaking and wriggling against his hands and lips as he caressed her so very carefully. With every movement of her hips, and each moan from her lips, the prince could feel himself getting harder and harder, until his desire was at last painful. He reveled in the pain, even as she had herself reveled in the pain he had inflicted on her.
The prince felt her shudder and stiffen, and he coaxed every last shudder from her before he let her go. Then he suddenly took off the mask and untied the princess. He turned her over to face him. “What say you now, princess?” he asked. “Will you please your prince willingly?”
“Yes!” she cried. And she continued to repeat the word over and over, even as he savagely took her, and each “yes” from her lips acted as gas to a fire, to further incite him and her. The surrender made her feel like she was flying. And it finally occurred to him that the power she had been given was what was allowing her to surrender to him without the mask. Then he could think no more.
When he was once again able to speak, the prince said to the princess, “You will not need the mask again.” He saw the disappointment in her eyes and he kissed her.
“I did not say ‘you could not have’ the mask,” he explained. “I said you will not need the mask.”
The princess got up on one elbow and searched her husband’s eyes for his meaning. She was so hopeful that she didn’t dare speak.
The prince could not help but laugh at her expression. He pulled himself up from the bed and her with him.
“Come, princess,” he said. “Let us go and admire what you and I have accomplished together.” The princess gaped at him in surprise.
“And let us never forget how we did it, either,” he added.
And the tower was indeed magnificent, and became a legend that people came from miles around to admire. On its outside wall there stood level upon level of battlements and ammunitions; while on the other side, facing the castle, there were built-in levels of flower gardens, all encased by windows to let in the light. It took a full hour to reach the very top of the tower, and climbing up the delightful staircase was from that day forward the only thing that caused wear to Princess Resentta’s shoes.
PRINCESS TARTIA
P RINCESS T ARTIA HUMMED CHEERFULLY AS SHE POWDERED HER NOSE . It was getting later in the day and she could hardly wait for the wizardess to arrive. A real wizardess, coming to see her! She was intrigued. If the wizardess truly had magic powers this could most certainly work out to her advantage. The wizardess had already foretold her discontent with her marriage, so it would stand to reason that the wise lady would know how to fix it.
She prepared certain phrases in her mind, little hints that she intended to drop in order to help the wizardess use her magic in the most useful way. She would naturally have to mention those things she believed to be the cause of her discontent, like the heart-shaped diamond bracelet she had received when she had specifically asked for the tear-shaped one, or the dress that should have had the gloves and stockings to go with it. These little inadequacies in her husband’s gift-giving abilities drove her to distraction. It wasn’t as if they were genuine gifts, after all, for didn’t she make every effort to compensate him for each and every present? It’s not as if he weren’t always trying to get something from her, too. There had to be something in it for her, didn’t there?
Once the wizardess was made aware of these things, the princess was certain she would put a spell on her husband that would help him behave in a more generous manner toward her. That would most definitely solve the problem with her discontent, and put an end to her little shoe problem. And really, didn’t the wizardess have as much to gain in this matter as she herself did?
The princess assessed her image in the mirror. She looked demure and sensible, just as she had intended. She did not want to appear extravagant.
She went down to wait for the wizardess and was surprised to find her husband waiting there, too. She gave him a questioning look.
“I would like to hear what the wizardess has to say,” he explained with a shrug. He had caught all her insinuations that his presence was neither necessary nor welcome, but he had learned from experience that her discontent often led to his own, so he had a vested interest in what the wizardess might recommend.
“I will fill you in later,” Princess Tartia assured her husband. “I’m sure you have things you s
hould be doing.”
“Nope,” he said casually, giving her a stiff smile. She returned his smile with a frosty one of her own. Well, she thought, this will put a crimp in things!
And with her usual impeccable timing, Harmonia rang their doorbell at just that moment. She greeted the princess and her husband cheerfully, assessing the situation all the while.
“I think the wizardess might like some refreshment,” suggested the princess. “Darling, would you be a dear and fetch her something?”
“I would, my love,” he replied smoothly, “but I fear that eating at this time of day may ruin her dinner.”
The princess bit her lip with another frosty smile. “Always so thoughtful!” she murmured. He gave her a genuine smile at that, crushing her to him and landing a loud kiss on her forehead. She forced the smile to remain on her lips even though they felt as if they might crack.
“Perhaps something to drink then,” she continued, determined to get him to leave the room for a moment so she could speak to the wizardess alone.
“Don’t you remember?” he said, looking her straight in the eye with an expression of determination that she didn’t like at all to see. “We are completely out of things to drink.”
“Perhaps some water…”
“I am neither thirsty nor hungry,” interjected Harmonia at last. Indeed, she was quite befuddled by the pair. Certainly there was a power struggle between them, but what was the source of the problem?
Not to be thwarted, Princess Tartia tried a different tack. She took the wizardess by the arm and led her into the sitting room, saying, “Look at the beautiful bracelet my husband gave me the other day.” She twisted her arm this way and that as she displayed it for the wizardess, adding in as casual a tone as she could muster, “I had wanted tear-shaped diamonds at first, but my husband chose the heart-shaped ones instead. I think they’re nice, too. What do you think?”
Harmonia thought the princess was a brazen little hussy but she said, “I think it’s quite lovely. And if you’ll forgive me, I don’t think I’ll sit. There’s too much to do and I’m afraid I must be off.” With this she dislodged her arm from the princess’s grasp and began to fish through her large bag.
“Oh, but I have so much I would like to talk to you about,” insisted the princess. “Surely you could sit for a moment or two?” She gave Harmonia her most disarming smile.
But she might have spared herself the trouble because Harmonia had not even looked up from her bag. “Aha,” Harmonia said with satisfaction. “Here it is.” She drew from her bag a little black jewel box. This caught the princess’s attention.
“What is that?” she asked, itching to open the box.
The wizardess answered her, but unfortunately handed the sleek little black box to the prince. “Inside the box is a magical golden eel and a ring,” Harmonia explained. “The golden eel is for you and the ring is for your husband.”
The prince opened the box and the princess gaped at its contents in wonder. “A magical golden eel,” she repeated, wide-eyed. She was already affiliating it with the golden goose of fairy tales, and imagining an unlimited supply of desirable things coming her way.
“What do we do with them?” her husband asked.
“Once you put on the ring you will know what to do,” Harmonia assured him.
The princess was so happy she impulsively embraced the wizardess. The wizardess’s words confirmed her guess; now her husband would know instinctively which gifts she wanted simply by wearing the magic ring.
“Thank you,” she gushed. Harmonia chuckled in spite of herself.
“It is my pleasure,” she said with meaning, and without further ado she left the young couple alone.
Princess Tartia looked at her husband. “Well,” she prompted him excitedly, “put on the ring!” He was rather curious over the matter himself and so he slipped the ring onto his finger. He didn’t feel any different, and yet, he suddenly knew how the ring and the eel were meant to be used. He looked at his wife doubtfully.
“Well?” she said again.
“You have to wear the other part,” he began.
“Of course!” she said eagerly. “That makes perfect sense.” She put out her hand for him to give it to her.
“It’s rather, er…delicate,” he warned.
The smile left her face. “What do you mean, delicate?” Why was he acting so strange?
“You wear it inside you,” he said.
“Inside?” she repeated, and then seeing his expression her eyes widened in shock. “What?” she expostulated. She wished she had asked the wizardess where she was going next in the event they had difficulties. This could not be right.
“It’s true,” he said, reading her thoughts from her incredulous expression. “It is the only way it will work. I am certain of it.”
She hesitated another moment. There was a certain logic that suggested the magical golden eel could communicate her wishes best from inside her body. Still…
“Very well,” she agreed at last. “Give it to me and I’ll put it in.”
He smiled. “It has to be me who places it there,” he told her. To the look she gave him he put up his hands, saying, “It will all become clear afterward.”
“Oh, all right,” she said. This better pay off, she thought. She pushed up her skirt and pulled down her undergarments.
The prince went down on one knee, holding her hips steady with one hand while he inserted the little golden eel with the other. The moment the eel was exposed to her fleshy softness it suddenly came alive and disappeared inside her of its own accord. The prince looked up at the princess.
“Do you feel anything?” he asked.
“I don’t feel anything at all,” she replied. They stared at each other for a moment, waiting for something to happen. She began to wish fervently for the little tear-shaped diamond bracelet she had been pining over as she stared intently at him. However, he didn’t seem to be receiving the communication she was trying so hard to convey.
“Is there something you’re supposed to do to make it work?” she asked.
He sighed. “Actually, it is working.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Do you have the urge to do anything for me?” she asked him with a sly smile, thinking over and over in her mind: get me the bracelet…get me the bracelet…get me the bracelet.
He smiled, genuinely amused by her childish self-absorption. “I have a few ideas,” he remarked suggestively. “But before you say any more, princess, I ought to warn you…”
“You aren’t seeing an image of anything all sparkly in your head?”
“Look,” he said. “I don’t know what you think is supposed to happen here but the ring and the eel…”
“Something sparkly and tear-shaped?”
“Don’t say any more until you hear me out,” he warned.
“Are you or are you not going to buy me the tear-shaped diamond bracelet?” she whined in exasperation.
“Princess!”
“Oh, just tell me what I have to do to get my bracelet.”
Fully exasperated, the prince suddenly touched the little golden ring that was on his finger and in the next instant Princess Tartia felt a piercing sting between her legs, causing her to cry out. It was as if the little eel he had placed inside her had come alive, sending a stinging shock between her legs that reverberated outward through her entire body. It shocked, then stung, then smarted and finally ached and throbbed, leaving her tender and tingling in the lingering aftermath. It took, however, several minutes for her to reach the tingling aftermath, and she could not guess how long that part would last. It felt as if the entire area between her legs was swollen and tender and pulsating. She stared at the prince, dumbfounded. She had completely forgotten about the bracelet for the moment. She was angry and terribly, horribly, painfully aroused.
“Now do you see?” he asked her.
“I…don’t understand.”
“The
eel is not a means to get what you want,” he explained. “It is a behavior modifier.”
“A…what?” It was impossible to grasp what he was telling her while it felt as if her heart was pounding between her legs.
“A behavior modifier,” he repeated patiently. “From now on, when you try to negotiate marital intimacies in exchange for gifts, the eel will help me to modify your behavior.” Boy, do I owe the wizardess for this, he thought.
“From now on…?” Just those first three words were enough to fill her with dread.
“Well, until you have no further need of it,” he amended. He moved closer to her but she backed away from him. She felt an unwelcome yearning for him.
“Negotiate marital intimacies…?” She was starting to comprehend the situation now with a mortification that teetered on horror. Was this what he thought of her?
“Yes, you know…the little tricks you dole out in order to get the things you want.”
“And just how is this supposed to change all that?” she asked, hating him and the wizardess. She wished fervently that she would make the throbbing between her legs stop.
“That remains to be seen,” he replied.
“I will take it out,” she decided.
“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” he warned.
She lifted her skirts, ignoring him. She pushed a finger into her body, feeling around for the eel. “Ah,” she exclaimed, but the second she touched it, it seemed to disappear from her reach while simultaneously sending out another stinging shock. She cried out again, yanking her finger out as if it had been burned.
Princess Tartia went through the agonizing chain of sensations all over again, and when at last the smarting and aching subsided a bit, leaving her with only the throbbing, she looked at her husband desperately. “Help me,” she begged him. She felt as if there was nothing else in the world besides the aching hole between her legs.
The prince realized that this was the moment of truth, when he could restore sexual balance between them, not only by reclaiming some of the sexual control but also by helping his wife salvage her own sexuality. He used her own words to do this, saying, “What’s in it for me?”
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