Long ago, in a forgotten time, a princess awoke, startled by ink-black darkness, grasping for where she was. She was blindfolded. She was naked. She couldn’t move; her arms and legs were stretched out, bound tightly with rope to wooden posts. She pulled and twisted her body, but her movement caused the ropes to pull painfully on her wrists and ankles. She cried out, and an unfamiliar voice, dark and honeyed, filled the room.
“You truly are beautiful, princess.”
She struggled again, fear rushing through her, as the full weight of her situation grew clearer in her mind. “Be still, my bride,” he said, hushing her as he advanced toward the bed. “I have come to welcome you. I am not going to harm you.”
His hand traced the outline of her body, and she shuddered at the whisper of his touch. The princess cried, barely able to process what was happening. Just that morning, she had awakened in her own bed, in her own home, safe and happy and cared for. Now, she was held like a prisoner by a man who assumed himself to be her husband.
Her family had fallen in nobility and depended upon her marriage to restore their fortune. From birth, the princess was educated accordingly and trained to be the wife of the finest king. Tales of the princess’s beauty had spread far and wide, and she was shielded from the world, sheltered in a remote castle tucked into the craggy cliffs overlooking the sea. Those who braved the journey were rewarded by her otherworldly beauty and graciousness, but the princess had kindly rejected all offers of marriage.
“I will recognize my love when I see his face,” she had insisted.
Her fate changed when the messenger came to the castle. He brought an offer from the king of a faraway palace, and enough riches and jewels to reclaim the fullness of the family’s royalty. Her mother and father were desperate. They tried to persuade her. They tried to reason with her. But the princess had been raised on fairy tales; she believed in love. The offer stood until the sun went down. There was nothing to pack, nothing to bring; the messenger said that the master of the kingdom would provide all and more for the princess. The king and queen could not, would not, allow her to refuse.
Her dreams shattered, the princess was betrothed, sight unseen. Her mother and father had thrown her into the carriage, ignoring her pleas, and forced her into the marriage in exchange for all the wealth they had hoped she would bring.
“You have had a long journey. I understand you need a little time to acclimate to your new role. I am not a monster.” He cleared his throat, and continued. “But I am no ordinary man either, and there are rules to be followed, now that you belong to me.”
He circled the bed, never taking his eyes off her, and even blindfolded, she could feel his eyes upon her nakedness, drinking in the curves of her soft, pale skin and the pinkness of her nipples. She blushed, thinking of her legs spread and the agonizing breeze that teased the tender place between her thighs.
“In the daylight, you are free to go anywhere you please in the palace, as well as anywhere in the valley. You will find everything you may desire here. Being from such a remote place yourself, I doubt you will be offended by the lack of population. During the day, you will be alone.”
She could hear him walking around her, the air whooshing slightly as he walked, the sound reminiscent of the rustle of feathers. The princess listened to the deep tone of his sensual voice; the rise and fall of his cadence soothed her, and almost against her will, she felt herself calming.
“When the darkness falls, you will get ready for me. You will extinguish all lights, and prepare yourself with a blindfold. Then, and only then, I will come to you, and I will train you as my wife.”
He cleared his throat again.
“You may never touch me. You may never see me.”
The princess gasped.
“That is all.”
