"Verence, did you order this book by a Karma Sutera or something?" Magrat had found the book hidden under his pile of clothes. It was called "The Joyous Bed-Chamber Companion, by Karma Sutera" which sounded much more interesting than some old tome on foreign religions.
She looked at her soon-to-be husband curiously. He blushed even deeper than usual and stammered, "Well... er... I mean... no, not exactly..." His eyes flickered and his cheeks flushed a red only seen in some jellies and many embarrassed flowers.
Magrat smiled mischievously. "Then why don't we find out what all this talk about 'the marriage act' means? We could start here." She opened the book to a random page.
King Verence hesitated for only a moment before following suit, sitting down beside her on the edge of the bed. "Oh my, these drawings are very...erhm... detailed." Magrat said out loud. They both stifled giggles as they leafed through the pages together.
"Hmmm, let me see if there's anything useful here..." she murmured, skimming the text aloud while glancing up every so often at one of the many illustrations. Her voice grew high pitched as she continued reading. "...and then the man must insert his member into the woman's moist entrance until he feels resistance, indicating that their bodies are properly joined...."
Her words made no sense, "What moist entrance do you think they mean Verence? Is this a metaphor?" Her sheer ignorance of the sexual rites of kings and queens was astounding. Verence had never learned of this before either and as a trained joker, they had no need of carnal knowledge. Everyone knows a joker is about as randy as a eunuch with bells. It's not that they practice celibacy so much as celibacy practices them, only in a comedic way.
But now, faced with the innocent curiosity of his betrothed, he felt compelled to educate her. With a deep breath, he began explaining the mechanics of intercourse, using terms like "manhood" and "womanhood" instead of the crude language from the book. As he spoke, Magrat listened intently, occasionally interrupting with questions or comments.
What he didn't know is that he had it all wrong. "Well Magrat, a man and a woman have hoods, these hoods are like a pair. Some people like to dress them up together like...those foreign dolls that stack. Um, sometimes the dolls will drool and other times they sneeze. I think it's like a dance of coats and then... well that's all I know for sure."
Magrat was even more confused, "Maybe there's a manual in here Verence?" She searched through the book again, hoping to find a section titled "How To Have Sex Like A Real Couple." But after several minutes of fruitless searching, she gave up.
They sat there in silence for a moment, each lost in thought about the mysterious world of marital relations. Finally, Magrat broke the silence. "Perhaps we should ask someone who actually knows how to do this?"
King Verence's cheeks flushed and he nearly cried out, "No, no, no. A king is supposed to know these things... only I've just become a king and I can't let anyone know. I have an idea, in these pictures, each character is um... you know...not in pants..." He couldn't finish his sentence before silencing himself in embarrassment.
Magrat was picking up on his train of thought like a fly recently splattered by a windshield. "Oh, I see. So should we?" She asked mostly confounded but also curious what she might do if she were naked with a man in the room. She'd heard of witches being nude together while dancing in the mountains, but a man and a woman?
With a defeated sigh, King Verence nodded reluctantly. "Very well, my lady almost wife. Let us begin our lesson in the art of lovemaking." Guided only by the colorful illustrations and misguided advice of "The Joyous Bed-Chamber Companion." Their journey would begin with a stubborn silence where neither spoke at first. Then came giggles, followed by nervous questions, blushing responses, and eventually Verence spoke up, "Should you or me be the first?"
Magrat looked at her dress and remembered all her layers and the near hour long struggle with the wraps of fabric she had battled. "Um, you go first." Magrat finally said in matter-of-fact tone.
King Verence swallowed hard and took off his clothes carefully folding them neatly next to the bed, revealing a pale and skinny body free of hair save for around his member which he covered self consciously before taking hold of himself. He hoped that Magrat hadn't noticed that it was not in it's normal docile state. But Magrat observed him in a nearly clinical manner not knowing an excited member from a sleeping follower.
"So...in that last page the woman, touched the man... down there." Magrat said pointing to where his hands covered his semi excited serpent, well serpent might be too strong of a word, the garter snake may be more apt with his genetics.
Without looking away from his task of covering himself again, King Verence nodded slowly. "Yes..." His voice trailed off uncertainly.
Magrat continued, feeling slightly more confident now that they were discussing something she understood better than sex itself; books! Magrat started to read, "...and then the man should sit back as if lounging with his hands to his sides and the lady should gently grip and hold the shaft of his erect penis." She paused expectantly, waiting for him to respond.
Finally, still avoiding eye contact, King Verence muttered, "Ah yes... um... right... so uh... why don't we try that?" Magrat reached over as her fiance leaned back and held his average snake in her hand without any motion. "The lady should then move her hand up and down." Magrat continued to read noticing his soft skin was started to go rigid. "Is everything okay Verence?" He was making a noise like a creek and a rooster fighting over a drowned beetle.
King Verence closed his eyes tightly trying to focus on anything else other than how good it felt having someone touch him there. "Um... yeah... just fine... keep going...." He managed to croak out between moans. Magrat looked at him curiously before continuing to read. Her own body tingled and she found herself moving faster unconsciously.
Time seemed to stand still as they both lost themselves in the sensations created by each other's touch. Finally, King Verence could take it no longer and felt a sensation like urination or pressure a valce was about to open is all he really knew. At that very moment Magrat released his little snake and turned the page.
"Oh um, is that it then Verence asked?" Magrat started reading out loud once more, "The lady should undress next and lay on her back. Oh, I don't think that's all of it, but you'll have to watch me undress and maybe help where everything gets complicated." She stood up and tried to pull her 3 stone dress up and over her head. Unfortunately, due to the layers and folds, she ended up looking like an oversized caterpillar struggling to get through its chrysalis.
King Verence watched her struggle silently, feeling a mixture of amusement and desire welling up inside him. Eventually, he stepped forward and began helping her remove the garments, revealing her complicated network of under-dresses, stockings, two pairs of socks, and a corset. He got to work on the corset first as Magrat asked, "Do you enjoy undressing the future queen?" She was trying to speak through her own nervous thoughts.
Without answering directly, Verence carefully loosened the laces until she finally let out a relieved breath and was in only her lining dress, stockings, two pairs of socks, and panties a grandmother would call too conservative. Next he removed her heavy silver necklace and bracelets before stepping back to admire his handiwork. Magrat blushed crimson beneath her pale skin.
"Now," King Verence murmured hesitantly, taking off her small bra, "I can do the underthings after this." Magrat said as he exposed her very meager pale and pink breasts. They were nothing like the voluptuous creatures he had seen painted on ancient walls or sculpted in marble. But they were hers and he found himself unable to resist leaning forward to touch one like a figure in an antique shop. A simple poke at one nipple then he stepped back to watch her shimmy out of her stockings.
He had never seen a woman's full bare legs before and he rather liked it as she slid the stockings down. She tugged at one sock, then a second, a third, and a fourth, then removed the last of her leg covering. She stood up in only oversized white underwear.