A Game of Stolen Whispers

You wake on your eighteenth birthday alone in your chambers, naked beneath sheets of fine velvet. You rub your eyes against your sore eyelids as you blink against the light spilling through the skylight of your room. Your head is pounding... there must have been some potioncraft in the drinks Bally gave you last night... It isn't uncommon for that old coot of a wizard to play tricks on you, even if he does technically work for your parents.

You shrug off the sheets and move to your wardrobe, which opens onto a suite of fine robes, each one woven of fine silk, inlaid with golden seams, so that you seem to glow as you walk before anyone who might have the pleasure of basking in your presence. You pick one of your favorites, a nice piece of gold and white, the colors of your family. Yes, as of today, you will no longer be the baby of the family. You are a full-fledged adult now, ready to serve the realm of Kayem as its only true prince.

There come three swift knocks on your door. Bally -- Balthazar -- is the only one who knocks like this. Normally, it is a guard who brings all requests to your doorstep, but the wizard has his tricks and soon he is standing before you with a beard drooped to his knees, leaning on his walking staff, draped in the dark robes assigned to him as the High Mage of Vanguard's Dusk, the smallest of your family's castles, and the one in which you currently reside. Your parents are off at Gold Sky, ruling in the largest city on Kayem; all you have is this little castle and the town in the valley beneath it...

You look up at Balthazar, your face a frown, wondering why he's disturbed your sleep.

"Forgive me if I've woken you, my prince," Bally says, his voice worn with age. Still, his eyes shine like crackling amethyst -- no matter how old he gets, no matter how aged his voice, you know there is deep magic coursing through his bones. "I came to congratulate you on coming of age... and to bring words from the King and Queen."

"Yes, yes," you say. "Have they sent well-wishes? A present would be nice -- though I've seen nothing of that from them for years now. To speak truthfully, I'm pleased they've remembered me at all."

"Perhaps you won't be, upon hearing the news..." Bally says, entering your room to find a seat on the mess you've left of your bed. "They require you to marry by the end of the harvest season."

"What? But the summer heat has nearly fled already -- there is, what, ten days between now and the end of harvest?" You ask, your voice raising higher with juvenile confusion.

"Nonetheless, so they have decreed, and so it shall be. Already you have suitors, though you will have to meet them before deciding anything."

"Might I have a moment to think?" You ask.

"Of course, my prince," Bally says. He sits in silence, clearly counting out the seconds in his head until a full moment has passed. "Are you ready to continue?"

"I had thought -- I had wanted to experiment, to try all there was to try..." you say. "What is the joy in being a prince, if you cannot have any fun with a promiscuous youth?"

"My prince, I'm afraid I wouldn't know," he answers. "But you have until the end of harvest -- a firm ten days to make your decision. Perhaps you can have your fun prior to making your choice? Or perhaps you will find courtship more entertaining than you believe, and fall madly and deeply in love. Suitors have come far and wide, across gender and species, to meet with you. I suggest taking the following days and thinking carefully about whom you would like to make your princess, and eventually your queen."'

"If I must..." you grumble.

"It seems you must," the wizard says. "But worry not, I've given you a few gifts to assist you in your courtship -- snuck a small potion into your ale last night, without you hardly noticing. The gifts are threefold. 1) You will be able to control the size of your phallus with a thought; larger or smaller, to your hearts content, or whatever your partner may prefer."

You glance down at your penis, tucked beneath your robe, and will it to grow slightly larger -- in an instant, your cock grows until it is six inches while still completely soft. You feel the thickness of your balls brushing against your thighs and wonder just how big you might be once you grow harder... Though such an occurrence is quite difficult to **** with an old, ugly wizard in the room, picking at his teeth with a finger.

"2) By asking your suitors a question and looking directly into their eyes, they will be **** to answer your question truthfully. A gift that will matter only with distrustful suitors, but there may be many of them."

You make note of this new skill, wondering exactly how it will present itself. Did it work on everyone? Or just suitors? You might have to try it out...

"And 3) For your own safety, I have granted you a very small amount of power to influence the thoughts of others. While this can theoretically help in seduction, it is better spent keeping yourself safe from danger. It is also important to note that if you overuse this power -- if you try to **** someone to do something they vehemently do not want to do -- it may backfire: The person you **** your magic on may never recover, or you yourself may be put completely under their influence."

"Got it," you speak aloud. "Use the power to influence others as a nudge and to keep myself safe."

"Wonderful," Bally says. "I believe that is all you need to know. I will, of course, be lingering around as always if you need assistance. But I believe it best for you to begin meeting your suitors, don't you? I have a list here. Who shall you start with?"