Free The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice

and felt sharp fear, and also some sense of drama.
    Would she be sent away to some place with all these slaves? Or would the Prince take her?
    She was stunned with confusion, when she realized the Prince had risen and given an order to the gray-eyed Lord to bring Beauty after him.
    She was untied; she was very stiff. But the Lord now had one of those gold paddles in his hand which he tested loudly upon his palm, and giving her no time to stretch her aching muscles, he ordered her down on her knees and forward.
    When she hesitated, his command came very sharp again, but he did not strike her.
    She rushed to catch up with the Prince who had just reached the stairway.
    And soon she was following him up and down a long corridor.
    “Beauty,” he stood back. “Open the doors!”
    And kneeling up, she quickly opened them and forced them apart and then followed the Prince into a bed chamber.
    The fire was already a great blaze on the hearth and the windows were curtained, and the bed had been turned back, and Beauty was quivering with excitement.
    “My Prince, shall I begin her training at once?” asked the gray-eyed Lord.
    “No, my Lord, I shall attend to it myself the first few days, possibly longer,” said the Prince, “though you may of course, whenever the occasion arises, instruct her, teach her manners, the general rules that pertain to all the slaves, and so forth. She does not drop her eyes as she should, as you can see; she is so very inquisitive.” And at this he smiled, though Beauty at once looked down, much as she wanted to see it.
    She knelt obediently, glad her hair concealed her. And then she checked herself in this thought. She was not learning much if that was what she wanted.
    She wondered if Prince Alexi had been ashamed of his nakedness. He had had large brown eyes and such a beautiful mouth, but he was much too lean to be cherubic. She wondered where he was now, and was he being punished more for his clumsiness?
    “Very well, your Highness,” said the Lord, “but I think you realize that firmness in the beginning is a mercy to the slave, especially when the slave is such a proud and spoilt Princess.”
    Beauty blushed to hear this.
    The Prince gave a low, gentle laugh.
    “My Beauty is very like an unstamped coin,” said the Prince, “and I wish to draw in the full character. I shall take delight in training her. I wonder if you yourself are as attentive to her faults as I am.”
    “Your Highness?” the Lord seemed to stiffen slightly.
    “You were not yourself so very strict with her in the Great Hall that you prevented her from feasting her eyes on young Prince Alexi. I rather think she enjoyed his punishment as much as her masters and mistresses.”
    Beauty flushed hotly. She had never dreamed that the Prince had observed her in this.
    “Your Highness, she was only learning what will be expected of her, or so I thought...” the Lord answered very humbly. “It was I who drew her attention to the other slaves so she might profit from their obedient example.”
    “Ah, well,” said the Prince wearily and agreeably, “perhaps I am only too enamored of her. After all, she wasn’t sent to me as a Tribute, I won her and claimed her myself, and I am too jealous, it seems. Perhaps I seek for some reason to punish her. You’re dismissed. Come for her in the morning, if you will, and we shall see.”
    The Lord, obviously worried that he had failed, left the room quickly.
    Beauty was now alone with the Prince, and the Prince was sitting quietly by the fire looking at her. She was in a great state of agitation; she knew she was blushing as always, and that her breasts were heaving slightly. She rushed forward quite suddenly and pressed her lips to the Prince’s boot, and it seemed to move as if it welcomed her kiss, rising slightly as over and over again she kissed it.
    She was moaning. O, if only he’d give her permission to speak, and when she thought of her fascination with the punished Prince,