（外文电子版资料）Anne Rice - The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.docVIP

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty Anne Rice Writing as A. N. Roquelaure The First of the Classic Erotic Trilogy of Sleeping Beauty an erotic novel of tenderness and cruelty for men and women CONTENTS THE CLAIMING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY THE JOURNEY AND THE PUNISHMENT AT THE INN BEAUTY THE CASTLE AND THE GREAT HALL THE PRINCES BED CHAMBER PRINCE ALEXI PRINCE ALEXI AND FELIX THE SLAVES HALL THE TRAINING HALL THE HALL OF PUNISHMENTS DUTIES IN THE PRINCES CHAMBER SERVING MAID THE BRIDLE PATH THE QUEENS CHAMBER LADY JULIANA IN THE QUEENS CHAMBER WITH PRINCE ALEXI PRINCE ALEXI TELLS OF HIS CAPTURE AND ENSLAVEMENT PRINCE ALEXIS EDUCATION CONTINUES THE VILLAGE THE CLAIMING OF SLEEPING BEAUTY THE PRINCE had all his young life known the story of Sleeping Beauty, cursed to sleep for a hundred years, with her parents, the King and Queen, and all of the Court, after pricking her finger on a spindle. But he did not believe it until he was inside the castle. Even the bodies of those other Princes caught in the thorns of the rose vines that covered the walls had not made him believe it. They had come believing it, true enough, but he must see for himself inside the castle. Careless with grief for the death of his father, and too powerful under his mothers rule for his own good, he cut these awesome vines at their roots, and immediately prevented them from ensnaring him. It was not his desire to die so much as to conquer. And picking his way through the bones of those who had failed to solve the mystery, he stepped alone into the great banquet hall. The sun was high in the sky and those vines had fallen away, so the light fell in dusty shafts from the lofty windows. And all along the banquet table, the Prince saw the men and women of the old Court, sleeping under layers of dust, their ruddy and slack faces spun over with spider webs. He gasped to see the servants dozing against the walls, their clothing rotted to tatters. But it was true, this old tale. And, fearless as before