“It was enslaving Lexius that taught me how to be a master,” I continued. “There was something in him I couldn’t resist. I think it was his pride. Most of the time when I watched other slaves being punished, I was jealous of their accomplishments. I wanted to be the one punished. It tormented me. But when I watched him being punished, I wanted to be the one with the paddle or the strap in hand. You wouldn’t believe how completely I mastered him. He told me once he was as afraid of me as he’d been of Laurent. He poured out his soul.”

“And the Queen never caught on?”

“It’s a long story,” I said. “A long and terrible story. Bad things happened. Bad news from the sultanate. And well, eventually . . . Lexius actually broke the Queen’s heart.”

“But how? I never knew that the Queen had a heart to break.” She looked at me innocently.

I sat up now, facing her. I couldn’t stop myself from cupping her breasts in my hands. My cock was stirring again. I bent down and kissed her nipples. I kissed the tender pendulant underside of her left breast. I ran my tongue along the seam where her breast met her chest. Such a lovely place, where the softness and the firmness came together. Rather like the back of the thigh meeting the soft curve of the bottom. Suddenly I had her in a firm grip and I was suckling her savagely.

I could feel her yielding, feel her sweet scent rising again with the heat in her, hear her sighs.

“Stop, wait, you must tell me,” she insisted. She broke away. She put her finger on my lips. “How did Lexius break her heart?”

I was burning for her, but I released her and looked into her eyes. She loved brown eyes, she said, but I loved eyes like her eyes that were the color of the sky and the sea.

“If you take the reins of the kingdom,” I said, “you and King Laurent, I will tell you the whole story. It is an interesting story, and Lexius and I were sent away from the kingdom together by the Queen and in total disgrace.”

“In disgrace?”

“Yes. Because I . . . I stood up for him. But again, it is a long story.”

“But you were in the kingdom when word came that the Queen had died. You’ve come here on behalf of the kingdom, with Lady Eva and Tristan.”

“Yes, I came back, but that was after many years. The Queen no longer cared. She forgave me and she allowed me to stay. She was indifferent to me, but I was welcomed as a courtier. I might have had a manor house like Tristan had I wanted the bother. I didn’t. She always welcomed the returnees, even more happily in the last years because she relied upon their enthusiasms to fuel the kingdom’s fires. And I came back because I didn’t want to be anyplace else in this world anymore. . . .” I paused, confronting that truth clearly yet ashamed of admitting it at the same time.

“I know what you mean, Alexi,” she said. “Believe me, I know. We knew something there that is intoxicating beyond description.”

“Precisely.”

“And those who’ve never known it . . .”

“They can’t possibly comprehend. Tell them what was done to us and they shrink in horror. They have no idea what we knew. Sometimes I have to laugh at it, how little others grasped of what pleasure slavery had been. What can they know of the endless pleasures, the endless spectacle of gorgeous flesh, the endless luxury of easy naps, and scented oils rubbed into sore skin, and fingers always stroking, prodding, searching, and kisses without end and the deep soft cleft ever ready for the cock—” I broke off, blushing.

But Beauty was smiling.

“Laurent and I have always shared that knowledge, that private, heated knowledge, shared it as we played our little games, as we came together tenderly and violently in so many configurations, but the kingdom was a world . . .”

“I know. The kingdom became the whole world and we became its most innocent and fortunate of inhabitants.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t want to be in any other place,” I repeated. “Beauty, the kingdom must survive. You and King Laurent must take over.”

“Kiss me again, Prince,” she said suddenly. “I know Laurent better than I know anyone in the whole wide world, and I am almost certain of what he will decide. Now kiss me, and take me, and do it roughly, as roughly as you can, as if we were riding through an endless night, you and I, you riding me on and on towards the bright lights of the kingdom.”

It was noon before we had discussed everything to our satisfaction. Then properly dressed in all the appropriate finery, we made our way down the stairs to the great hall where the emissaries of Bellavalten had been waiting patiently for some time.

Lady Eva looked as delectable and gorgeous as she had last night, with her lush and full breasts pressing against the dark blue velvet of her gown, the skin of her throat creamy and clear, as was her radiant face. And such red hair, such gorgeous red hair, done up now with combs and pearls yet boldly unveiled. Oh, if only she’d ordered me to brush it last night. Oh, how delightful that would have been, to brush her long hair at her command, red hair brushed in the light of the fire. But I wasn’t complaining. Last night had gone very well.

I couldn’t help but smile at her and wink at her as I sat down to the table, and of course this made her blush. I could still feel the cuts and welts on my backside and thighs and I almost laughed at the secret delicious pleasure of it, a flash of her sweet voice and hands coming back to me, enough perhaps to make a satyr of me again. But there was work to be done now and much to say.

Prince Alexi and Tristan were beautifully turned out as though for a Court fête, and Lady Elvera, though reserved, was her unchangeable and unchanging self, with a cold grandeur to her pale skin and her hard eyes. As for handsome blond Captain Gordon, he was tentative and obviously ill at ease as if he did not feel entirely comfortable at the table with his betters. But I wanted him there, so this did not matter to me. I knew why they had brought him. He was a pillar of Bellavalten.

“Good day, my beloved guests,” I said. “Please do forgive us for keeping you waiting, but it was imperative that we know our own minds on the matters that are so important to us all. We want to give you our decision.”

There were nods and whispers, but clearly they were all in a torment of suspense.

“My queen will speak for us both.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Beauty said softly. She was incomparably lovely in her rose-colored gown with gold embroidery, and her hair was exquisitely coiffed beneath a sheer loose white veil. She flashed her most agreeable smile at me and then turned to the little assembly.

“It is our desire to accept your gracious offer,” she said. “But wait, you must hear us out. For we would bring about several key changes to the way of things. And it seems meet to warn you of what those changes would be. For now is the time for you to protest what we mean to say. Once we are crowned as your monarchs there will be no arguing with improvements to the kingdom of Bellavalten that we mean to carry out.”

“By all means, do tell us,” said Lady Eva. “I speak with the authority given me by the Grand Duke.”

How polished and confident she seemed for one so young. But there was a simplicity to her that was beguiling, and neither Alexi or Tristan challenged her in any way. Tristan actually smiled at her lovingly, as though her beauty delighted him, and Alexi was studying Beauty and studying me.

Beauty continued:

“It is my wish that slavery in the kingdom of Bellavalten should henceforth be voluntary, and that no tribute or trophy slaves should ever be demanded from its allies, and furthermore that all those slaves who want to leave the kingdom at our accession to the throne be allowed to do so, with the appropriate rewards.”

No one spoke. In fact all seemed astonished.

Beauty went right on.

“And furthermore it is our desire to solicit throughout the world for ripe and beautiful and willing slaves, both male and female, to enter servitude in our kingdom, not only from the ranks of royal and noble families, but from all walks of life, the qualifications for such slaves being physical gifts, vigor, and aptitude, regardless of rank. We would send out our emissaries to publicize our announcement, and to receive applicants whom they would then bring back to Bellavalten to commit to two years of complete erotic servitude and some perhaps for longer if they so wished, and we so wished.”

A smile was playing on Eva’s lips and I saw Alexi’s eyes suddenly crinkle with good humor and Tristan actually sat back with an audible sigh and smiled. Lady Elvera evinced no response whatsoever, and Captain Gordon seemed frankly amazed.

“Imagine it if you will, my lords and ladies,” said Beauty. “We are talking now of a call to all the realms of the north, the south, the east, and the west, for those who long for the sweet fetters we offer them in Bellavalten, and no qualified postulant would be turned away. Of course the royal houses may continue to send their princes and princesses for service, but the slaves themselves must consent to it, want it, want to please.

“Now you have told us of many who have returned to the Court—like you, Prince Alexi, and you, Prince Tristan. Well, surely there are enough of you to undertake journeys abroad to all points of the compass to publish our appeal and to review and receive those likely to please and bring them back to our gates.