It was a dark and stormy night when the guard answered the loud desperate knocking at the castle door. Opening it up he found himself looking at a bedraggled, yet beautiful girl. Her blonde hair hung straggling down her back, the linen gown she was wearing clung to her body like a second skin and he could feel his groin tightening at the sight of her firm, luscious curves. Blue eyes peered up at him through thick lashes that were dewy with raindrops.
"Well hello darling," he drawled, "And what can we do for you?"
Raising herself up with dignity, a hard task in that clinging and revealing gown, the girl replied in a soft yet firm voice, "I am the Princess Kerowyll from the Kingdom of Bran, I have come to meet the Prince Granthell."
Looking the girl over the guard was uncertain... sure the gown was made of fine material and there were jewels hanging from her earlobes... and she was certainly very beautiful; but who had ever heard of a Princess walking in the rain?
"Where's your entourage?" he demanded, not wanting to take a common girl before the Queen - the Queen was hard enough on the guards who let real Princesses in, much less a pretender.
"We were attacked by bandits," she replied, "They led a diversion so that I could escape, about half a league from here."
Well, the Kingdom was having a bit of a bandit problem. Perhaps she was telling the truth. And as the Queen had so far turned down all the real Princesses - that they KNEW were real - down as being false, he doubted that presenting one of dubious lineage could be much worse. At any rate, he didn't want to be at fault if this girl did turn out to be royalty - and worse, his future Queen. Not that he really thought she'd pass the test - none of the other real Princesses had - but it was better safe than sorry.
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When they came into the Great Hall, the Queen and her son, Prince Granthell, frankly stared - along with the rest of the courtiers. It wasn't just that the gown was still clinging to her lithe and attractive figure (it was), or that she was soaking wet (she was), or even that the guard was looking somewhat nervous (he was).... it was just that she was uncommonly beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful of the girls to be brought before the throne... and the unusualness of her lack of entourage as well as her disheveled state made for many more stares. Despite all of that, the self-proclaimed Princess Kerowyll kept her head high as she walked a stately gait forwards to the edge of the dais and curtsied gracefully to the Queen and Prince.
"What is this?" the Queen demanded, looking at the guard. But it was Kerowyll who answered.
"I am the Princess Kerowyll, I have come from the Kingdom of Bran to approach the Prince Granthell." Standing calmly and serenely, the Princess didn't react at all to the Queen's towering glare.
"And you expect me to believe that a Princess comes before us, in this lackluster state, and without her entourage?" the Queen was practically sneering.
"We were attacked by bandits, not half a league from here," Kerowyll replied evenly, "And my entourage distracted them so that I could escape and make way here by foot. If I am turned out then I must request a party to accompany me home where my father will be able to put together a force to recover my attendants."
The Queen's sneer lost some of its disdain as she looked at the girl who was dripping water on her marble floors. After a long moment of silence she said, "Well. If you are a Princess, you will first have to pass the test." Looking at her Chancellor she told him, "Prepare the room for the 'Princess' Kerowyll, and get her a new dress. She will dine with us tonight and then we will talk more on the morrow."
As the Prince watched the beautiful girl leave, her hair hanging down to where the dress clung to the curves of her ass, he cursed his mother. Many princesses had arrived at their castle, looking for his hand in marriage, and his mother played a dirty trick on every single one of them. He knew why she didn't want him to marry, when he did he would become King and she would no longer have sole rule over the Kingdom. In fact, she wouldn't have that much power at all... only that of the Dowager Queen. So, she insisted to the court that Princesses had the most sensitive skin of all, real Princesses would be able to feel a pea placed under 20 feather mattresses and 20 big downy blankets.
And so every Princess who arrived at court would leave in tears, completely unknowing as to why the Queen declared that the girl was not a REAL Princess. The court knew, but they believe the Queen. She'd even 'proven' it by doing the test herself. Of course, the Prince had peeked into the room and seen the Queen pinching herself all over that night to give herself bruises for the next morning. No one REALLY had skin that sensitive, but it was a good excuse for her to remain in power longer.
Gritting his teeth, the Prince glared at his mother. Not only was this the most beautiful girl he'd seen in a long time, the tightening in his groin responding to the way her dress clung lewdly to her, but he was tired of his mother's political machinations. It was time for this to stop.
That night at dinner, Prince Granthell poured the wine for the Princess Kerowyll himself. This was because he was slipping a sleeping drug into her drink, guarenteed to make her sleep throughout the night... but with an almost vague memory. Not asleep, not awake, and certainly not truly aware. If his mother could pinch herself to 'prove' she was a real Queen, then he could pinch this Princess to get a wife. And a beautiful wife she'd make indeed... not only that, but he liked her calm serenity and the kind way she treated everyone around her - even the servants. It was a sharp contrast to the imperious ways of his mother. Perhaps the Princess wouldn't like being drugged and pinched, but she would like being tossed out in the morning without replacement attendents even less. And she would apparently like to be married to him, all the trouble she'd gone to with getting to the castle. So it would even out.
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That night Prince Granthell snuck into the sleeping Princess' room and climbed to the top of the ladder, looking down on her sleeping face. Fortunately the mattress' were quite wide - wouldn't do to have a sleeping Princess fall off of course, it was one thing to turn a Princess down and quite another to accidently kill or maim her. There was more than enough room for 10 people on it, much less just him climbing on beside the sleeping girl. Looking down at her he marveled at her beauty. Not only that, but the very kindness of her was visible even when sleeping, in the slight curve of her smile. He much preferred her to many of the other Princesses that had come before her; their haughty ways and snooty looks had annoyed him... how could a women be passionate in bed and be a good companion when they were always looking as though they smelled something awful? Perhaps his mother had been doing him a service... but she wasn't now, not by putting this sweet and joyful girl through the test that no one could pass.
As much as he didn't want to pinch her and give her bruises, he knew it was necessary. Gritting his teeth, he turned down the blanket... and gasped.