garden. Then let the flies and the little insects of the air find her honeyed mouth. She deserves it."
She turned to express her thanks to Lord Gregory, and again Beauty was struck by her bright ruddy face. Her braids were done with tiny pearls and thin strands of blue ribbon.
But Beauty, almost lost in her contemplation of all this, was suddenly shocked to realize the Lady was looking at her.
"Oooooh, yes, it is the Prince's lovely one," she said, and now she advanced, and Beauty felt the Lady's hand lifting her face. "And how sweet she is, how truly beautiful."
Beauty shut her eyes, trying to restrain her heaving breaths. She did not believe she could endure the imperious touch of this young Lady. And yet there was nothing she could do.
"O, I should so like to have her take Princess Lizetta's place, it would be a treat for everyone," said the Lady.
"But that is impossible, my Lady," said Lord Gregory. "The Prince is most possessive of her. I cannot allow her to participate in such a spectacle."
"But surely we'll see more of her. Will she be run on the Bridle Path?"
"I feel certain, in time," said Lord Gregory. "There is no accounting for the whim of the Prince. But here, you may examine her if you wish. There is no rule prohibiting it."
He lifted Beauty by her wrists and forced her hips forward with the handle of the paddle. "Open your eyes and keep them down," he whispered. Beauty could not bear to see this lovely Lady's hands as they moved towards her. But Lady Juliana touched her breasts, and then her smooth stomach.
"Why she is radiant and so full of tender spirit."
Lord Gregory laughed softly. "Yes, she is, and you are so discerning to value it."
"They turn out all the better for that," said Lady Juliana with quiet wonder. She pinched Beauty's cheek as she had Princess Lizetta's secret lips. "O, what I would give for a quiet hour alone with her in my chambers."
"In time, in time," said Lord Gregory.
"Yes, and I bet she fights the paddle so, with her tender spirit."
"Only with her spirit," said Lord Gregory. "She is obedient."
"I can see that. Well, my girl, I must leave you. Be confident that you are exquisite. I wish I had you over my knee. I'd paddle you until sundown. You'd play a lot of little games running from me in the garden, you would." And then she kissed Beauty warmly on the mouth, and left as quickly as she had come, in a flurry of burgundy velvet and flying braids.
Just before Beauty took the sleeping potion from Leon she begged to know the meaning of what she had heard. "What is the Bridle Path?" she asked in a whisper, "and the village, my Lord, what does it mean to be sent there!"
"Never speak of the village," Leon cautioned her calmly. "That punishment is for incorrigibles and you are the slave of the Crown Prince himself. As for the Bridle Path, my lovely, you shall know soon enough."
He laid her down in her bed, strapping her ankles and wrists far away from her so that not even in sleep could she touch herself. "Dream," he said to her, "for tonight the Prince will want you."
Chapter 12
DUTIES IN THE PRINCE'S CHAMBER
THE PRINCE was finishing his supper when Beauty was brought to him. The castle hummed with life, torches flaring in the long, high, vaulted corridors. And the Prince sat in a library of sorts, eating alone at a narrow table. Several ministers were about with papers for him to sign, and there was the sound of their soft leather sock boots on the floor, and the crackling of the scrolls of parchment.
Beauty knelt by his chair, listening to the scratch of his pen, and when she was sure he would not see, she looked up at him.
He appeared radiant to her. He wore a blue velvet surcoat trimmed in silver and emblazoned with his coat of arms above a heavy silk girdle. The sides of the surcoat were loosely laced and through them Beauty could see his white shirt, and she admired as well the firm muscles of his legs in the long tight fustian breeches.
He took a few more bites of his meat as a plate was set down on the stones for Beauty. And quickly she lapped up the wine he poured in a bowl for her, and ate the meat as delicately as she