"If it pleases you, my Prince..." she stammered.

"Ah, that is lovely," he said. "And now to work, my beautiful one. And I want to see you work fast, yet gracefully. I want to see you do all things correctly, yet with some artfulness. In my closet on a hook you will see my red velvet scapular and gold girdle. Bring these things to me quickly and lay them out on the bed. You are going to dress me."

Beauty rushed to obey.

She had the clothing down from its hooks and hastened to bring it back, moving on her knees, the clothing in her arms. She laid it out on the foot of the bed, and turned waiting.

"Now undress me," said the Prince. "And you must learn to use your hands only when you cannot accomplish something otherwise."

Obediently Beauty took the leather lacings of his surcoat in her teeth, pulled loose the knot and saw them open. The Prince pulled the coat over his head and gave it to her. And now as he seated himself on a stool by the fire, she went to work unfastening his many buttons. It seemed she met with one obstacle after another. She was conscious of his body, its perfume and warmth, and his strange preoccupation. Soon she had the shirt off with his help, and then she must remove his long breeches.

Now and then he would aid her, but most tasks she performed herself, taking the upper lip of his velvet-lined boots carefully in her teeth she pulled at the heels with her hands until they slipped off easily.

It seemed a long time that she labored, learning every detail of his wear. And now she must dress him.

She placed the white silk undershirt on him with both hands as he slipped his arms into it. And though she laid the placket of buttonholes in place with her hands, she drew each button through with her mouth so that he was very pleased and commended her.

She grew tired; her br**sts ached from the heavy brass bells, and she felt the weight of the others between her legs, and that maddening stroking of her thighs and the jingling sound, which never quite died away. But when she was finished, and he had just pulled on his new boots to help her, he gathered her in his arms and kissed her.

"As time passes, you will learn to work faster. It will be nothing for you to dress or undress me, to perform any small task I ask of you. I shall have you sleep in my chambers, and attend to everything."

"My Prince," she whispered, and she pressed her br**sts against him, aching for him. She kissed his boots quickly, and all she had seen during the day came back to haunt and tantalize her: Princess Lizetta's cruel punishment, the Princes being trained, and then the one she had not seen, but never forgotten, Prince Alexi -- all of this came together in her mind, stoking her passion and at the same time frightening her. O, if she could only sleep in the Prince's quarters now. Yet when she thought of all those male slaves she had seen in the Hall...

But the Prince, as if he sensed her mind was not as attentive to him as it should have been, began kissing her roughly.

Then he ordered her to go down on her hands and knees with her forehead pressed to the floor so that he might see her bu**ocks turned to him. She obeyed, the cruel little bells reminding her of all the naked parts of her.

"My Prince," she whispered to herself. She felt some change in her heart, which she did not fully understand. Yet she was afraid as always.

He ordered her to rise, and again he gathered her into his arms, and this time he said:

"Kiss me as you desire to kiss me."

And overjoyed she kissed the cold smoothness of his forehead, kissed the dark locks of his hair, his eyelids and his long eyelashes. She kissed his cheeks, and then his open mouth. And his tongue passed into her mouth and she weakened all over so that he had to support her.

"My Prince, my Prince," she murmured knowing that she disobeyed. "I am so afraid of all of it."

"But why, beautiful one? Isn't it clear to you now? Isn't it simple?"

"O, but how long will I serve? Will this be all of my life now?"

"Listen to me." He became grave but not angry. He held her by the shoulders, and then he looked at her swollen br**sts. The little brass bells shivered as she breathed. She felt his hands between her legs, and then his fingers inside of her, stroking her in an upward motion that caused her to twist her body with the pleasure of it.

"This is all you are to think about, this is all you are to be," he said. "In some former life, you were many things, a lovely face, a lovely voice, an obedient daughter. You've shed that skin as if it were a cloak of dreams, and now you think of these portions of yourself only." He stroked her pubic lips, he widened her vagina. And then he squeezed her br**sts almost cruelly. "This is you now, all of you. And your lovely face, only because it is the lovely face of a naked and helpless slave."

Then, as if he could not resist, he embraced her and carried her to the bed. "In a little while, I must take wine with the Court, and you will serve me there, demonstrating your obedience to everyone. But that can wait..."

"O, yes, my Prince, if it pleases you," she breathed the words so low he might not have heard. She was lying on the jeweled coverlet, and though her bu**ocks and legs were not as raw as they had been the night before, she felt the painful prickling of the jewels.

The Prince knelt over her straddling her, and then opened her mouth with his fingers, and showing her his hard penis, drove it into her mouth with a quick downward motion. She sucked on it, drew on it. Yet all she need do was lie back helpless for he made the strong thrusts himself, into her, and she closed her eyes, smelling the delicious fragrance of his pubic hair, and tasting the saltiness of his skin, the penis nudging the back of her throat again and again as it all but bruised her lips.

She was moaning in time with its movements, and when suddenly he drew himself out, she gasped, her hands up to embrace him. But he had lain down on her full length, parted her legs, and pulled away the brass bells. Her pubic lips ached as he did so.

He drove into her. She felt herself explode with pleasure, her back arched so rigidly that she lifted his weight with her. Her body was drenched in pleasure. She thrust with her hips in almost a snapping motion, and when he came at last, he gave her cruel thrusts until he lay exhausted.

It seemed she slept; she dreamed. And then she heard him say to someone standing there:

"Take her away, wash her, adorn her. And send her to me in the upstairs parlor."

Chapter 13

SERVING MAID

BEAUTY COULD not believe her bad luck when, entering the upstairs parlor, she saw the lovely Lady Juliana was playing chess with the Prince, and that other beautiful Ladies were seated about at various chessboards, and that there were several Lords as well, including an old man with white hair that flowed down over his shoulders.