The king regarded the princess as a puzzle as she finished her second story, one finger pressed against his temple. The tales had piqued his interest for more than just their eroticism--although that had certainly had an impact on him as well. He had shifted in place many times during the stories, but had ultimately been forced to give up any pretense. His hardness would certainly be evident to the princess, even through his clothes, and there was no preventing it.
The princess took a long sip of wine. She looked at the king over the rim of her goblet.
"You may consider me chastised," the king said at last.
"How so, my lord?"
"Will you permit my analysis?" the king asked. The princess nodded.
"In the first story, a brutish beast king tricks a princess out of her rule," the king said. He drank from his goblet as well. "Their treaty and marriage brings about the end of her society and culture."
"Her kingdom is the better for it," the princess argued. "It becomes a peaceful, wealthy country."
"Only by its destruction," the king countered.
"By transformation," the princess said. "Not destruction."
"It is a story about consumption. The fairies are consumed. Nothing of their culture remains. Then in turn the humans are consumed. Their scope of influence is reduced almost to nothing. The next generation of minotaurs bear twins, but they are minotaurs."
"My king is very wise in the interpretation of stories," the princess said. "What does my lord think of the second?"
The king ran his hand over his beard a few times. He shifted in place, still, admittedly, affected by the eroticism of both tales.
"Also a story about the downfall of a small kingdom," the king said. "The prince is bewitched by fairies, and in the end, he is reduced from his station. He and his line are cursed to lose their humanity by marriage into a foreign household."
"He orchestrates that himself," the princess said. "He never needed to abandon the kingdom. Once he fulfilled his reciprocal relationship, there was no need to follow the fairies into the forest."
"And yet he does," the king said. "The princess in the first story also brings about her own downfall."
"Both stories have happy endings," the princess said with a mysterious smile. Yes, they did. Yet the king couldn't see them that way. Maybe it was because the prince in the second story was a man, the loss of his legacy stung the king more greatly. His nostrils flared thinking about some particular details.
"Allowing themselves to be seduced was ruinous," the king said. "They lost control of their kingdoms."