Check the door and ask what happened

Stewart got up and checked outside the door to make sure no one was coming, and having confirmed that to be the case, locked the door and returned to Chantelle.

"Tell me what happened," he said. "This is important. Something terrible is taking place, and I need to know everything if I have any hope of preventing it."

Chantelle nodded and said, "I have no problem telling you everything. I fear the memory will never leave me. If I close my eyes, I can see everything just as it happened. You had just left me to go to the ceremonies, and I was lying in bed...."

* * *

Chantelle looked longingly at the door and wished she could have enticed her beloved Stewart to stay with her for at least a while longer. It was so unfair that he was being **** to marry someone else when it was so patently obvious that she was the right one for him. So what if she was a commoner? So what if she was blue? The way their bodies fit together so perfectly night after night was confirmation of how right they were for each other.

She stretched lazily and looked at the window. Night after night she entered this room through that window. Her Ciguapa climbing ability never came in more handy than when she called upon it to scale the tall turret in which the Crown Prince's chambers rest. Thankfully, the location of the turret at a back corner of the palace minimized the likelihood that anyone would see her comings and goings, but with the sun pouring through the window now, it would be best to exercise caution to avoid detection.

Lazily, Chantelle got out of bed and stretched. As she did so, she admired her lithe, blue form in the mirror and gasped at the pink parallel scratches on her back and side. Stewart certainly let passion overtake him last night -- or was it early this morning? She remembered the savage eroticism of his fingertips clawing into her flesh as she perched on him, riding him energetically. The scratches remained as visible reminders of their physical acts of lovemaking.

The sound of keys at the door jolted her out of her daydreams. Remembering Stewart’s words that the Queen may be bringing visitors on a tour of the Palace, she quickly looks for a place to hide. Seeing the full-length standing mirror, she quickly ducks behind it, just as the door opens.

“Mindy, aren’t we supposed to knock before entering?”

Chantelle sneaks a look and sees two housemaids entering the room. They both appear to be in their early 20’s. The one who was just speaking is carrying a laundry basket, following the other — Mindy — who has a large ring of keys in one hand and an armful of folded clothes in the other.

“Yes, we would, Hannah, but considering that we just saw His Highness going into the throne room, we are safe to assume he isn’t in his chambers.”

“What about any guests he might be entertaining?”

“On the morning that he is to be matched with his new bride?” Mindy laughs in response. “That would be quite brash, even for Prince Stewart!”

Chantelle watches as the ladies begin their task of cleaning the rooms, wondering if she will have an opportunity to slip out the window without being seen.

“Is it too much to imagine?” asks Hannah. “If he is anything like his brother, it’s exactly what I would expect. I was assigned to him for six months, after all!”

“We all start with Prince Duncan,” says Mindy. “I was with him for nearly a year before getting promoted to the Crown Prince.”

“A year! How did you manage? I put in for a transfer after the first week! I have never experienced anything like it. I don’t ever remember a time when there wasn’t at least one woman in his room, and when he was there, he wouldn’t even stop his sexual adventures long enough for me to clean his rooms!”

“That sounds like the young prince,” says Mindy. “Did they warn you ahead of time that he would try to seduce you?”

“They did... and I admit I was intrigued and more than a little willing. After all, what woman doesn’t dream about being lived by either of the princes — they are so handsome and dashing! But nothing prepared me for the level of debauchery! It is as if he is driven by a mad obsession for sex!”

“He was always enamored with the ladies,” says Mindy, “from the time he reached adolescence. But as he approached his 18th birthday, it increased steadily, and when he turned 18, it was as if someone flipped a switch, because that is all he seems to do now. We can’t keep enough maids employed because of how difficult it is for them.”

“Is it the effect of too much money and power, and not enough to do to keep him busy?”

“I don’t know... Some say he comes by it honestly. My mother worked for his grandfather as a maid. She tells stories about debauchery in those days that would curl your toes!”

“Really?” asks Hannah. “Like what?”

“The way I hear it, the king — our king’s father — would throw lavish parties that invariably turned into mass orgies. And in those days, he would open the doors to anyone — magical or mortal. My mother says it was nothing to see humans copulating with satyrs, elves, and the like. She even saw the Queen with a Minotaur once!”

Hannah gasps and holds a hand over her mouth in disbelief.

Mindy continues. “And that’s when the prohibition against mating with magical beings came into being. They say the king ended up siring more than a few children, creating a bit of a crisis as to who the true heir to the throne was. There were also some rumors about a succubus getting her claws into the king, but those were never confirmed.”

“Well, Prince Duncan certainly seems to be on track to follow after his grandfather, then,” says Hannah, resuming her cleaning. “It’s a good thing Prince Stewart inherited the more responsible genes, since he will be our king one day.”

“All princes go through a period of sowing their wild oats,” said Mindy. “Stewart has certainly had more than his fair share of women come through these chambers. In fact, when I first was assigned to him, I actually spent a rather wonderful weekend as the third person of a very memorable threesome!”

Hannah giggled. “Oh, I bet that was wonderful! The Crown Prince is so handsome, with his dark, brooding appearance.”

“It isn’t just his face that is apealling. After being stretched by his ‘royal scepter’ for three days, I could barely walk for a week!”

Chantelle feels her face burning, hearing of her handsome prince being discussed this way. She bites her tongue and continues to observe from behind the mirror.

The ladies laugh. Hannah asks, “So what changed to make him so responsible? And why did it have to happen before I got assigned to him?”

“Only one thing could ever do it,” says Mindy. “He must have fallen in love.”

“But with whom?” exclaims Hannah. “I have not heard of anyone having the prince’s affections.”

“I don’t know,” answers Mindy, “but there have been times when I have come here to clean, and as I knock on the door, I could swear I have heard a woman’s voice. Upon entering, however, it has been only the prince.”

“And has he invited you into his bed since that weekend?”

“No... he has not,” admits Mindy. “Although I have tried to make it clear that the invitation would be readily accepted. He seems smitten with someone else. And there’s another thing....” She pulls down the bedcovers, revealing the sheets. “What do you make of these?”

Hannah examines the sheets and exclaims, “Someone has been doing far more than sleeping in this bed!” She places her hand on the sheets and says, “And judging from the dampness, it hasn’t been that long ago!”

“It is like this almost every morning,” says Mindy. “But no one has seen anyone other than the prince come or go from these rooms!”

At that moment the conversation comes to an abrupt stop at the sound of the door opening. The ladies look up in surprise. Chantelle follows their gaze and sees Prince Stewart returning to his room.

The maids stand at attention, facing the prince. Chantelle realizes this is her moment to slip out the window, without the maids seeing her. It will allow Stewart to see her, though, and she cringes at the thought of how disappointed in her he might be if he knew how close she had come to being discovered.