E.S. Sayde's Sleeping Beauty - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away there lived a young king and queen beloved by their people and envied by their neighbours. The king was a dark haired mountain of a man, his body kept toned by relentless hunting and sport, and his golden haired wife was as fair and beauteous as he was handsome. Both were as rich as rich can be, for while their kingdom was small its lands were eminently fertile and its bounty ever plentiful. The two monarchs enjoyed lives of opulent and hedonistic luxury in a grand and magnificent castle, and might have lived easily and happily ever after without a care in all the world had they been content.

However, they were unsatisfied by the thought of fading into obscurity like so many rulers before them, remembered only in moth-eaten tapestries and worn engravings. They yearned to found a legacy that would last for a thousand years. They dreamed of uniting all of the kingdoms in the land under their lineage, and becoming the parents of a mighty nation. They had not men enough to form an army, nor discipline enough to train and lead one. Instead therefore, they decided to birth as many children as they possibly could and marry them off to every ruler, conqueror and royal heir they could.

"Any daughter of yours is bound to be captivating enough to get even the most stubborn of kings under her control, my sweet Stella," the king remarked with a twinkle in his eye as they lay entwined in upon their bed, a thin silk sheet separating their naked bodies from the warm summer air. The queen gave a graceful laugh and slid her hand down between her husband's legs, her fingers encircling his girth with a delicate squeeze. "And any son of yours, dear Umbra, shall have due cause to make even the haughtiest of queens kneel before him," she replied sensually as she stroked his shaft to life and pulled herself on top of him.

For a long while, all was well. The king and queen never lost the fervent passion of their wedding night, nor grew tired of one another's company. Even when the queen was swollen with child the king never missed a chance to add to the seed growing in her womb. The royal physician warned that such indecent behaviour would no doubt corrupt and bedevil their children. So they hired a new royal physician who assured them it would add to a daughter's feminine charms and to a son's forceful leadership.

It became a common sight for members of the royal court to walk in on the queen naked and moaning, her large breasts and pert nipples shaking violent as her husband slammed himself into her from behind. Nowhere was safe. The royal lovers acted on impulse, disrobing and fucking the moment one felt a twinge of lust begin to grow in their loins, no matter where they might be.

On those days when their physician had found the queen to be most fertile they paid even less heed to those around them. Every second was precious, and they let nothing get in the way of their coupling. Even meals and meetings with foreign leaders and dignitaries would frequently be conducted with the queen seated in her husband's lap, bouncing obscenely on the king's enormous shaft and thrusting her tits lewdly at their guests. The king tended to get his way far more often during such discussions. Occasionally, if the agreements had been beneficial enough to the kingdom, the queen would offer to take some of the foreign ambassadors into her private chambers and help them relax after their hard day's negotiation.

Of course, they were never allowed in her cunt. Since her wedding day, only her beloved Umbra had been inside there, and only his seed would ever be allowed to impregnate her.

Neither monarch had issue with their spouse enjoying the bodies of others, although it was a rare occurrence none the less. Neither had ever found another's body they craved even half as much as that of their partner, and both had an almost unquenchable sex drive.

Over the coming years the queen successfully birthed six healthy, beautiful children, all daughters. They were named Arethy, Melody, Belean, Irene, Maline, and Cellie, and were much loved by their parents. However, difficulties had arisen during the queen's sixth birthing, and the royal physician pronounced that she would never have another child. The king and queen were distraught, for six daughters was no amount at all to start an empire. Worse still, with no male heir, their own kingdom would be taken by one of their daughter's brides, and while their legacy might still stand their names would surely be forgotten.

Thus began a time of despondency for the couple, and for their kingdom, for with the loss of their dreams neither ruler had much interest in managing their lands. For the first time in her life the queen found herself bereft of carnal thoughts for the king, and began to rebuff her husband's advances. He in turn grew surly and frustrated, snapping at his staff and arguing with his court. The queen thought herself a failure, and hated herself for letting her beloved down, while he assumed that his wife blamed him for giving her the child that had damaged her womb. The king took out his pent up lusts on various maids and the daughters of visiting lords, sometimes getting through half a dozen in a single night as the deflowered maidens passed out from exhaustion, but none could satisfy him as the queen could, and so his mood grew darker.

---

Then one day as the queen was bathing in a natural spring in the woods, her fingers furiously pumping into her gash while her thumb rubbed and tweaked at her sensitive clit, a small green frog crawled onto a damp rock across from her and sat still as if watching. The queen paid the creature no heed. She was busy trying to fit her whole hand into her gushing cunt, working her fingers deeper and deeper as her loud, sensual moans filled the clearing. She was used to the long, thick stallion-like cock of the king and try as she might her fingers couldn't seem to scratch the itch he had left in her. She spread her legs wider and wider, her pelvis trembling with the urge to thrust upwards onto her hand.

"Ahh! Ah, ah, yes, yesss, fuck meeeee," she me, she moan, her body alive with electric pleasure. Her handmaidens were far enough away that she didn't have to hold back her voice. Shame was a new sensation for the queen, but she dearly wanted no one to witness this. "Fuck meeee! Please, oh please, I need it, I need you so bad… ahh, ah, yes, yesss… Fuck!" Her body shock with orgasm, her toes curling in pleasure and her rear slamming heavily down on the bottom of the pool as her weakened legs gave way beneath her. It wasn't the earthshattering series of rapturous climaxes her husband could extract from it, but it had been good none the less. The only times she allowed herself to cum now were in the privacy of the forest springs. She loved and respected her husband too much to show any sexual inclination around him while she was still refusing his attentions.

Suddenly she was aware of a voice speaking near her. "Well fuck me! That's the best show I've seen in years."

A deep blush rushing across her skin, the queen looked around in horror as she desperately tried to cover her heaving breasts and swollen sex behind her hands. "W-who's there? Show yourself this instant!" she demanded, the haughtiness of her words slightly undermined by a light tremor in her voice. "I warn you, all I have to do is scream and my guards will tear you apart, whoever you are."

"Considerin' all the screaming you've been doing, I doubt they'd hear," the voice continued cheerfully. "And I already am show'n. Look down." The queen's panicked gaze fell from the surrounding trees and bushes to find the frog on the stone gazing up at her. Or, more accurately, his gaze was flicking back and forth from her face to her now covered sex. "There ‘ent no point in hiding it, is there?" the frog continued. "I've already seen all that, and a lot more besides. Cor…"

A look of affronted confusion fell upon the queen's features. She didn't move her hand. "You're a frog," she said bluntly.

The frog gave her an expression that was hard to read, owing mostly to the fact that he was a frog. "Not much gets past you, ‘eh darling? Yep, frog I am, though not always have I been this way. It's a long and tragic tale-"

"You little pervert! I'm going to squash you!"

"- that we sadly don't have time for now," the frog said hurriedly. "Look, lady, don't hurt me. I haven't seen a real woman naked in years, let alone one so, ahem, gifted in the looks department. For me it's just been frogs, frogs, frogs for the last fifteen years. The occasional toad if I'm feelin' kinky. Look, fairs fair, how about if I give you a gift as a lil', you know, thank you? Make us square, like?"

The queen clenched her teeth. "Are you joking? What on earth could a frog ever give me? And if you dare suggest I give you a blowjob or something, or make any sexual remark whatsoever, I'll not just squash you, I shall personally tear your limbs off one by one, impale you on a spike and roast you over an open fire."

The frog gulped, which was thankfully quite easy to do. "Well, er, I could clear up your bad breath? Not that you have any, of course! I mean, you might, it's just I wouldn't know, see? Or… or I could get rid of any old scars you don't like. Improve your eyesight, perhaps? That womb could use some work if you want to have any kids. Or maybe I-"

"What did you say, frog?" the queen asked, her eyes wide and her hand carelessly falling away from her sex in shock. "You can… repair my womb? I swear to you, if this is any kind of trick-"

"Yes, yes, limbs, open fire, I remember," the frog said quickly. "So that's your wish, right? Deal. Done. Can't say fairer than that. You'll be spawning babies within the year, I guarantee it. And I'm all paid up for the show?"

The queen said nothing for a few moments. A range of emotions were battling within her. "How, precisely," she began with forced calm, "would a frog heal something that even most highly paid medical experts could not hope to fix?"

"Well, I did say I wasn't always a frog," he grinned – which was a very impressive feat for a frog to manage. "Use to be a wizard, I did. Pretty good one too, if I do say so myself. Very good at getting rid o' warts and scars and that type of thing. Very popular with the upper classes, that was. It was a sweet deal, until I offered to cure this witch's bad breath, and she said she didn't have bad breath, and I said, hah, I was very witty, I said then what's died in-"

But the queen was already out of the water and snatching up her clothes, throwing the garments on over her wet flesh as fast as she could manage and dashing away through the forest.

"So, absolutely no chance of a quick blowjob then?" the frog called as she vanished between the trees.

---

Twenty minutes later, as the king emerged from a thoroughly dull meeting and returned to his chambers to change out of his official robes of office he found the queen standing panting in the doorway. Her dress, a dainty thing already, had been torn almost to ribbons by brambles and low branches, revealing her long shapely legs and thighs. The tears were high enough to make it obvious that she had neglected to put on any underwear. The top half of her clothing was undamaged, but the thin white fabric was so drenched in water and sweat that it had gone almost completely see-through and the queen's sizable breasts stood out almost as prominently as if she had been completely nude, her nipples hard and pointed. She was shaking.

Confronted by such a sight after so many days of frustration it took barely longer than the space of a heartbeat for blood to pool into the king's shaft, swelling his organ to it's full, formidable size.

"Frog," the queen gasped, her breathing ragged. "Pool. Frog. Masturbating. Babies…."

Trying to ignore his painful arousal the king took a step closer and placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder. She was obviously deeply agitated. "There there, calm down my dear. Tell me what's wrong."

"Wrong?" The queen looked at him as if he were mad. "Nothing's wrong! I met a talking frog."

"I… see," the king tried helpfully. "When you were asleep?"

"No! Look, listen," the queen took a deep breath. "At the spring, where I was ma- bathing, there was a frog, a talking frog, and he said he used to be a wizard and and and he said I could have children again." As she was speaking the queen had begun to struggle out of her damp clothing, tossing her top into a corner and, growing frustrated with her dress, simply finishing the job of the brambles and tearing it off her.

"My love, it was probably just one of the pixies throwing its voice," the king said gently. "You know how mischievous they can be." Still he made no move to resist as his wife began tearing off his clothing and throwing the crumpled garments around the room. "I wouldn't get your hopes too high," he continued as she lead him over to their bed and dragged him down on top of her.

She didn't reply. Instead she simply drew him in to a deep, lingering kiss, her hands lovingly caressing the familiar let long missed contours of his body. "Fuck me," she murmured softly, and then the king didn't say anything for a long, long time.

The royal couple were absent from high dinner that night.

And from breakfast the next day.

Whether the frog had spoken truly or not, within three months the queen fell pregnant once again and the kingdom rejoiced. The king was delighted beyond words. Seven was a highly auspicious number, and the birth of a seventh child was always a sign of great good fortune and celebrated accordingly, but in this case the new birth meant far more. Their new offspring signalled a rekindling of their dreams.

---

Nine months later the queen successfully gave birth to her seventh daughter and the king could not contain himself for joy. He declared that there was to be a grand celebration to mark the jubilous occasion and to demonstrate his expectations for his newborn daughter, for he was in no doubt that she would go on to do great things after such a miraculous birth.

As well as festivals across the land, the king arranged for a great party to be held in their castle on the night of his child's christening which he hoped would be remembered for years to come. He invited the royal families of all the nearby kingdoms to witness the love he felt for his new daughter, as well as to impress upon them the wealth and power of his kingdom, for of course it was hoped that one day their children would be wedded to his own. If he was lucky, he might even be able to fix up a few marriages before the night was through.

He also invited all of the lords and ladies of his kingdom, which wasn't an especially great number, and sent an open invitation to the various rulers of the great forest that encroached onto his land where all sorts of strange and magical creatures were known to live, hoping that such a friendly gesture would make them think favourably of his family and his newest daughter in particular. His kingdom could not be ruled without the good will of those who dwelt within the forest. In particular, he sent messengers to seven of the eight faeries that lived within the kingdom's boarders, offering them the honour of being his child's godmother.

The faeries, or the fae as they were also known, were beings of great and cunning magic. Rumour had it that they could see into the past, the future and the souls of all living creatures. They could cause and end droughts and storms, could start fires with a glare and cause ships to crash with a wave of their hands. They were deliberately ambiguous as to the scope of their power. There was less danger of anyone challenging them that way. They had long ago sworn to remain non-partisan in all matters of politics provided they were not threatened, but the king and queen hoped that with such close ties they would begin to look favourably upon their daughter and her family.

Only the eighth fae in the land, the faery Carabosse, was not invited. She had a malign reputation for causing mischief and mayhem wherever she went. Villagers near her castle accused her of poisoning their crops, stealing their children and cavorting with demons and other nether-creatures. Those who passed the boarders of her estate told stories of meeting fearsome dragons and vicious hellhounds prowling around her gardens. Peasant women who found themselves pregnant out of wedlock often swore blind that they had been raped by the fae's infernal minions and subsequently forgotten about it until right this very minute, really, honest. Carabosse was known throughout the kingdom for her malevolent cruelty, and no doubt would sour any celebration with her presence.

More importantly, it would be extremely awkward. Carabosse was also the king's former lover, the subject of a brief infatuation during his adolescence as the kingdom's prince.

---

One bright day when he had been out hunting in the woods he had come upon a rare sight, a brilliant doe with a silver coat as bright as moonlight. Such creatures had been spoken of in legends since the time of his great-grandfathers, but none in living memory had ever managed to bag such magnificent prey. Setting off in quick pursuit he soon found himself crossing the path of an unfamiliar female of stunning and enchanting beauty. The two had fallen into an argument over who had the right to slay their quarry, and the doe, startled by the noise, had run off and left the nobles to scrap among themselves.

The prince insisted that all the woodland in the kingdom belonged to his father, and therefore all their inhabitants too. Carabosse challenged that it was a fae's right to hunt where she may, and had been since before men walked the earth. Each felt their honour irredeemably besmirched and were soon spoiling for a fight.

Both relied on sex as their primary weapon when seeking to dominate members of the opposite gender, and it wasn't long before their harsh words had turned to moans, shouts and animalistic grunting.

Since coming of age the young prince had had an endless fascination with the carnal arts, and had attempted to seduce, trick or force virtually every woman he met into his bed. There was not a single maid in the royal household who had not at some time felt their cunts, assholes or throats torn open by their prince's fantastic girth. He had proudly deflowered many of the daughters of those lords and kings who came to visit his parents, and frequently claimed their wives or lovers too. He had little concern for whether he made his conquests by fair means or foul. All the young prince cared about was draining his balls as frequently and pleasurable as possible, and thought of his partner's as little more than tools in that endeavour. Yet it was rare that any woman could manage to endure his appetites, and the prince was often compelled to make use of more than one before he could find the blissful peace of sleep.

In turn, the faery Carabosse hardly let a day pass her by without screwing at least one or two of her servants. To that end she had learned to conjure demons, incubi and even succubi from the depths of the hellish never realms to tend to her almost insatiable lusts. And when she did not have time or strength to call upon them she could always entice one of the nearby villagers to fulfil her needs. She had devoted years of study to learning sensual magicks of the flesh. Indeed, as one of the eldest fae in the kingdom she had spent several lifetimes perfecting her body and skills until she could fuck any male to the point of utter exhaustion. Carabosse delighted in cruelty, and by the time she felt satisfied enough to let her toys rest they were often leaking more blood than cum from their aching slits.

However, the prince and the faery found in one another a challenge they could not overcome, an enemy they could not break, and hours later when they collapsed breathless to the forest floor neither were able consider themselves the victor. They became fascinated with one another, first as uneasy rivals and then, slowly, as lovers. From that day onwards the prince visited the woods far more frequently, although he hardly ever bothered to take his hunting gear with him. He told the fae about his life and family, and she in turn showed him around the enchanted woods where the faeries and pixies and centaurs roamed.

It was a relationship built almost entirely on sex, but that was all either of them really cared about. At least, it had been until the prince had his future wife and found himself falling in love as well as in lust. His journeys to the woods had grown fewer in fewer in number until at last he told the fae that he no longer wished to meet with her.

The king had not set eyes on her in five years, and both he and the queen agreed that it would be for the best if she did not attend.

After that, they quite forgot about her. There was, after all, so much to prepare for their honoured guests and beloved daughter.

---

The night of the celebration was bright and cloudless. A glimmering full moon was surrounded by an enchanting sea of stars, as if even the heavens themselves had gathered to pay tribute to the newborn princess. The lights above however were almost dwarfed by the lights below as racing flames marked the passages of a half dozen hundred coaches as they converged on the castle. Great bonfires had been set up around the grounds to light the way and to give the common people somewhere to have their fun. Fêtes had been held for the commoners all across the kingdom during the day, but anyone important was showing up now, well after the last rays of sun had trickled over the horizon.

Some wore costumes, while others were clad in imperial armour, military regalia or fine robes and ball gowns. No dress code had been given under the assumption that it would make it more festive, and expensive finery mixed with the garish, the outlandish and the slutty. Even in the royal family the divide was clear. The king had worn his full ceremonial outfit while the queen seemed to have done her best to make a dress out of as little material as possible. Dainty strips of fabric did the work of a long dress while the backless outfit barely managed to hold up her fulsome breasts.

She was mingling amongst the kings, dukes and lords of the neighbouring kingdoms, laughing politely at tedious jokes. Every state occasion was an opportunity to work on trade agreements, and besides, it did no harm to demonstrate the type of bodies her daughters would have when they came of age.

The party was just beginning to reach full swing with more and more guests were pouring into every hall and room in the castle, filling the palace with the noise of shouting and laughter. Wine was flowing plentifully and several bands had stuck up, filling the place with a harmony of music.

In one corner of the great hall, surrounded by a respectful buffer of empty space despite the crushing closeness of the crowds, the fae chattered and gossiped excitedly together. Their beauty was unearthly, and the garments clearly made by no human hand. Trapped moonlight gleamed in their hair and their eyes shone with ethereal radiance. Every nearby gaze was upon them, but none dared venture any nearer than was absolutely necessary. You never knew what might happen, with a faery.

"-and I swear it was as big as a tree trunk," one in a blue dress seemingly woven from insect wings was saying. "You've just got to try one during the next migration."

"I don't know," said another, a dark-haired woman biting a pair of delicate lips that beauty queens would have killed for. "Don't ogres have all sorts of terrible diseases."

"No, no," put in third. "That's orcs, you're thinking of. Ogres are just smelly."

"I hate things that smell," said a forth, touching her perfectly formed nose as if in demonstration.

"The smell was worth it," said the first one dreamily.

"You're just a nasty slut, Loubess!" added a fifth reproachfully.

"So?" the blue dressed fae retorted, turning on her accuser, a fiery headed female with wide green eyes and a small pouting mouth. "That's just what people say when they're jealous, Aelem. If you like, next time I fuck one I'll let you lick his cum out after I'm done," she smirked. "If you don't mind the taste of ass, anyway."

Aelem stamped her feet and huffed in such an unintentionally cute way that several of the nearby young men found their trousers unusually tight and were forced to retire to the wash room to cool down. "Fuck you! I'm perfectly content with the glade elves thank you."

"Elves? Their dicks are smaller than humans."

"Size isn't all that matters!"

"There speaks a fae who's never tried a big dick before."

"Well at least I don't have to lay down on the forest floor with my face in the dirt like some kind of common tramp in order to entice some brainless swamp beast to fuck me! I can get laid any time I want with any elf I chose."

"I bet the cock of every elf in your stupid glade wouldn't add up to even half the size of an ogre's dick!"

The others had fallen into conversation amongst themselves. Where fae gathered arguments were certain to follow. None of them took it too seriously. It was more a ritual than anything else. "So how are you enjoying it?"

"Well the music sucks, but the food's not bad. Puh-leanty of guys worth a look around too."

"Oh honestly Emmien."

"What?" The fae call Emmien turned to frown at the youngest member of the seven, a brown-haired girl with pert clad in tight but serviceable leggings and a black skirt that reached her knees.

"Is that all you think about? You're as bad as Loubess."

Emmien frowned. "It's a party, Columi, what else am I meant to be thinking about? Everyone knows that parties are just an excuse to get really, really drunk and fuck until you pass out."

The other fae nodded sagely, but Columi grimaced. "That's not what it's about at all! It's about that darling little baby being born, and the celebration of life, and meeting people, and friendship, and love, and- Hey!" The others had fallen into bouts of giggling, and even Loubess and Aelem had stopped their quarrelling to see what was going on.

"No, that's the excuse for a party. What a party's about is screwing until you can't walk right for a week," Emmien grinned lewdly, leaning over the younger fae until her impressive bust was in Columi's face. "Have you still not got round to having your cherry busted? I can put you in touch with some great guys you know. Or just pick some commoner out here, there are enough of them."

The junior fae glowered but said nothing, turning her face away . "Fine, fine, suit yourself," Loubess cut in, waving a hand dismissively. "By the way, have any of you decided what gift you're giving to the sprog?" she asked, and Columi brightened. She'd been giving the matter a lot of careful thought since she received her invitation. She had assumed that the elder faeries would naturally provide staples such as intelligence, humour, kindness, charity and dedication, and had been puzzling over what significant contribution she would make. As the youngest it fell to her to present the last gift of all.

"Massive tits," put in one of the fae instantly, a tall, majestic creature with long golden hair that reached all the way down the back of her neck. "Hey, no fair Espis!" Loubell countered. "I was going to give her those!"

"Well I'm the eldest so I get to choose first," Espis retorted, heaving her own enormous bosom playfully.

"I want to give her a killer ass, then," added another of the group quickly.

"I was thinking oral skills."

"I was going to give her tight holes no matter how many times she gets ploughed."

"Oooh, that's a great one Lathiny!"

"You can't be serious!" Columi has been stunned into horrified silence by the first obscene suggestion, but she had found her voice. "You can't possibly stand in front of her parents and give her those! You're affecting a future queen's life! What about kindness? What about leadership? What about artistic skills?"

Espis sniggers, raising a dainty hand to her mouth. "Artistic skills? Fuck, Columi, what prince is going to marry her for her talents at water colouring?" "Why does that matter!? This is about guiding her to be a decent queen, not… not just making her like you!"

"Aww, Columi dear, don't fret. We're just giving her what every girl wants," Espis smiled sweetly, patting the younger fae's hair. "Everything important that one could possibly wish for in this world. She'll be far happier with a developed chest than developed mind."

Columi didn't hear any more. She turned from the giggling fae, her face burning and ran into the crowd, jostling several young men who managed to accidentally paw at her breasts as they tried to get out of her way.

A little over an hour later the pre-party festivities were slowly drying up, and the main guests were being gently ushered into the grand dining hall where a great feast had been prepared. At the very end in the place of honour stood a high table on a raised platform with thirteen plates fashioned ornately from gold and gemstones set out upon it. Two were for the king and queen, seven for the attending faeries, and a further four for the rulers of the four kingdoms that bordered their own. In front of the high table sat the cot where the baby princess slept peacefully amidst the hubbub.

It was agreed that the christening should take place before the meal was served while every important guest was in attendance and not too worse the wear from drink. First the king rose to his feet and declared that his beloved daughter would be named Aurora after the goddess of the dawn, for with her would come the dawning of a new age for their kingdom.

Then in turn each of the faeries took to their feet, bent over the infant's cot and blessed her before presenting their magical gifts as the child's new godmothers. True to her world, Espis told the king and queen that their daughter would have the largest, most alluring breasts in the land. "The most perfect fuckpillows you ever did see."

Next she was offered the greatest of asses. "I mean, not all mean are breast guys."

Then slightly begrudgingly Loubell offered the regal personality of a queen. "If she wants to rule anything, she'll need a domineering attitude."

This was followed by the most talented mouth in the kingdom, the physical beauty of a goddess and holes as tight as the most chaste virgin time after time.

With every pronouncement Columi felt her face turn a darker and darker shade of red. She had desperately hoped that the other faeries had been teasing her, but each offered their gift without the slightest hint of shame. It was disgraceful. She couldn't bring herself to meet the king or queen's eye. The worst part was that the crowd of onlooking nobles actually seemed to approve of the depraved presents. The men, anyway. Each pronouncement was met with a smattering of applause and deep cheers. Deviants Columi thought bitterly to herself.

Finally it was her turn to rise. She had but a single gift to offer. What could she possibly give to best improve the princess' life now the other blessings had been squandered? Duty? Kindness? Intellect? What would a queen be most in need of? What, indeed, would best counteract the shallow pronouncements made by sistren?

The answer came to her in a flash, and for the first time that evening a truly happy smile spread across her face. Love. It was the perfect answer. Spiritually uplifting and morally desirable. The love for her people would make her a great leader, and her love for the world would help her to foster a great intellect. And no matter what kind of whorish fucktoy her sisters gifts might make her look like, love would keep her pure and true until she met a man who loved her for her soul rather than her body.

It was the answer, and Columi was just about to jump excitedly to her feet when a sudden peal of thunder shook the rafters of the hall. The flames around the vast chamber began to dance and shiver atop their candles or in their brackets, and the mighty gates at the end of the hall tremored and then flew open with a hideous crack. Standing in the entrance way, dressed in a gown of midnight black and holing a wand of thin mahogany, was the eighth faery of the land.

Only silence greeted her as she glided across the stone floor, past the open mouthed nobles and up to the raised dais that held the high table. Her pale skin and oil black hair were as beautiful and striking as the first day the king had laid eyes on her, and her ruby red lips were twisted into the ghost of a smile. Her dress had a long V-shaped split down its middle, each side softened with black fur. It started at her collar bone and ended only just above her sex, exposing a good half of each of her fulsome breasts.

She stopped before the king and queen and gave them the slightest of bows before regarding the startled fae that sat beside them with a lengthy stare. "My lord. My lady," she added after the slightest pause.

Silence again swallowed the hall. Several palace guards had come running after the clattering of the doors, but now stood about uncertainly neat the entrance, unsure of what to do. After a few awkward seconds the king realized that, as king, he should probably say something. "Um," he began, which was not the most auspicious start, but he plunged on valiantly none the less. "It's such a…"

"Pleasure," the queen quickly interceded, laying her palm upon her husband's hand.

"A pleasure, indeed, to see you again, Carabosse," the king continued, forcing a welcoming smile onto his face.

The faery regarded him silently for a moment too long before speaking. "Indeed, my lord. Such a pleasure that you spend no less than half a decade building up its anticipation," she said a sweet, respectful tone that did not reach her eyes. "But I'm sure you've been engaged with… other matters," she added, turning on the queen a smile that could quite easily have launched a thousand ships if only so that the sailors could get away from it as quickly as possible.

"Ahh… yes," the king replied lamely. As witty repartee went, he had to admit that it was not one of his best. He sought for more words but they seemed to stick in his throat, pinned down by the fae's emerald gaze.

"This little creature for one," Carabosse continued, reaching down and running a finger down Aurora soft cheek. Behind the table the king tensed, and he could feel the queen's nails digging into the back of her hand. "You know, you really must be more discerning with your staff," she said in a conversational tone as she continued to gaze down at the baby, her black-painted fingernail just catching the edge of her skin as she traced the same line down the princess' face again and again. "Did you know, my invitation never arrived? I had to find out about your party from the villigers." She turned her piercing gaze on the king. "Shocking, is it not? Quite the worst humiliation I have received in at least, oh, five years."

"Please," the queen cut in. "Please… leave her be. The night has been long, and she needs her rest."

Carabosse regarded her with a bemused expression for a few moments before drawing back her hand. Across the hall there was a collective releasing of breath. "And so she shall have it in due course, my lady," the fae said, smiling and rising from the cot. "I trust, your majesty, that you will have the messenger who failed me send to my residence so that I might convey my displeasure?"

"Um, actually…" the king stumbled. The fae's eyes were almost hypnotising. Not too long ago he would regularly coat her dainty eyelashes in his spunk and grip her by her hair as he pounded her throat for all he was worse, but now it was all he could do to meet her gaze. "Actually, we thought that you would be… busy."

"Well how fortuitous that I am not," she replied in a voice that might have frozen the candles that covered the high table. "I see that I am not too late for the festivities, at any rate. And all my sistren are all assembled. Will you have a plate brought in that I might dine with you, my lord?"

The king gave instructions at once for a new place to be laid at the high table, but when the servants rushed to set it up they found they had no more gold plates left for their newest visitor. The finest that they had left was silver. The king was mortified, but could do nothing about it. To ask any of his guests to give up their plate for the fae would be a grievous insult. To give her his wife's would be unthinkable, and to give up his own in front of so many rulers and nobles would be to show weakness before all those he sought to ally with.

The eighth faery lifted the silver plate with a sneer of scorn upon her face and threw it to the floor with disgust. "Your majesty would ask me to dine on silver while my fellows eat on gold," she hissed, and the shadows around her seemed to dance in the flickering candle-light. "You dare insult me so? Did I mean so little to you?" she snarled, fury trembling in her voice. "Very well. I find myself unwelcomed at your door and unwelcomed at your table. I shall not stay a moment more than necessary where I am so scorned, but before I take my leave I demand at least one equal favour with my sistren, for I too have a gift for your dear daughter."

At this the queen leapt to her feet. "Don't you dare hurt my child!"

The fae gave a laugh like the tinkling of funeral bells. "Calm your whore," she told the king, a look of genuine pleasure appearing on her face at the queen's outrage. "Where would the fun be in hurting the little bitch now? I could end her life with a single though…" She let the threat hand in the air for a moment. "But you'd no doubt forget her and spawn another one in under a year. No, I shall give you time to love her," she said, licking her lips. "Before the girl's twenty first birthday she will prick her finger on a spinning wheel, and she shall die," she pronounced, her eyes blazing. "Pricks can cause so much damage, can they not my lord?" she added almost coyly before breaking into a peal of laugher. Once again the wind and thunder was upon them, and by the time that calm had fallen the eighth fae had vanished from sight.

Guests screamed. Guards ran back and forth shouting at one another with no idea what they should be doing. The queen sobbed into her husband's chest. Then the last and youngest of the kingdom's fae, noble and virtuous Columi, stood from her seat and came to the cot. "There is still my gift left." She touched the baby's brow and shivered.

"Shit." Columi deplored swearing, but the sensation of the curse running through the child's body was enough to rob her of such niceties. Carabosse was centuries older than her, and the complexity of the spell woven around the infant was far greater than anything the young fae had encountered before. She had shamefully dreamed that she would be able to cure the child with a flick of her wrist. Just let those bitches look down on me then, she had thought as she approached the cot, but it was clear that undoing such potent magic was impossible. "Your majesties, I'm so sorry, I can't undo this kind of enchantment… but I can alter it a little." She took a deep breath, and wished that the people behind her would stop speaking so loudly. This was meant to be her moment. "Your daughter won't die. Instead, she will fall into a sleep of, um, about a hundred years or so. Until she's woken up by true love's kiss," she added, with just the hint of a smile.

Obviously saving the girl was the important part, but she had felt robbed of the chance of delivering her stirring speech on the importance of the gift of love that would no doubt have shown everyone what a sensitive, intelligent and good person she really was. At least this way the princess would be rewarded with true love once she was finally free of the curse. It had a certain romantic ring to it that she was deeply proud of.

"Columi, you idiot!"

"What kind of moronic condition is that?"

Columi turned on her sisters with her eyes blazing. "A perfectly good one! What's wrong with being woken by love?"

"It's ridiculous!"

"It's stupid!"

"It's statistically unlikely!"

"It's clichéd!"

The faeries quarrelled into the night and long into the morning, for with the curse laid against the young princess there seemed little enough to celebrate.

Continued in Chapter 2...

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