The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Prelude

My name is Daedelas, and I have a story to tell. It is a dark and terrible story; one filled with vengeful gods, a beautiful woman, and a terrible curse that would bring about the ruin of an empire. It is a story of corruption, greed, passion and lust. But most of all it is a story of revenge.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning.

In my youth I had been an inventor of great renown. So famous was I, every king and tyrant throughout the ancient world vied for my talents. I had created chalices that could keep water cold in the summer and crafted sculptures so lifelike that you would sworn they were real. So great were my skills that they brought me to the attention of the greatest monarch of the age—King Minos, ruler of Crete.

In those days Crete was unrivaled in its power. It was an idyllic island, but it held sway over all other kingdoms, with princes from every corner of the world bowing to Minos’ awesome navy and force of arms. Minos’ rule was absolute and if there was ever anything that he so desired he would simply have it. When it came time to take a wife there was only one woman for him—Pasiphae, the jewel of the ancient world, and the most sought after woman of her time.

Ah Pasiphae! She was a beauty like no other: to see her was to believe in the power of the gods to make the ethereal into flesh. Her skin was smooth as ivory, her eyes like celestial sapphires, and her long flowing hair as black as midnight. It was said that a small lock of her hair was enough to ransom a small kingdom. All the princes of the world fought bitterly for her hand in marriage, but none could come close to offering her what Minos could—the title of Queen of Crete, fellow ruler of the greatest empire the world had never known, seat of wisdom, culture and learning, and not to mention a palace of legendary opulence. Minos and the beautiful Pasiphae soon wed and it was a joyous occasion for all—in Pasiphae the empire had found a jewel worthy of so great a crown.

Minos was besotted with his new wife, and who could blame him; she barely passed her twentieth her and he more than twice her age? Pasiphae was like a new toy to our king, and he could not help but shower her with presents and adoration. He was a man who valued his possessions, and Pasiphae was the ultimate possession. Minos was determined to please his beautiful young wife, which is how I came to arrive in Crete.

Minos was eager to indulge Pasiphae in anyway he could and how better then with gifts from a world famous craftsman? Minos offered me a great sum of gold to come to Crete and construct amusements for his Queen’s pleasure.

And so I did. I left my homeland of Athens and arrived in Crete to make for the royal family whatever it was they pleased. I crafted necklaces that gleamed like moonlight, perfumes that ensnared the mind, and any other trinket that the Queen could think of. When I think back to those early days in Crete I cannot help but feel a pang of guilt remembering how powerful was their empire, and how happy Minos and Pasiphae were. But all that was to change on that fateful day when the Queen came to me with her lustful request.

But then I am getting ahead of myself. I began, with what I had thought at the time was a dream…

Chp 1 — A Strange Gift

Even to this day I remember it well—the night the gods and goddesses gifted me with omens in my dreams. I took to bed one night and dreamt of things which seemed more real than dream. It was night in the royal stabiles but strangely, all the animal stalls were empty, all except one and this one held a most foreboding creature in it. Even in my dream I could sense its power, its raw, animal, sinister power, emanating, pulsating even, from its flawless white hide. It had hooves of the darkest ebony, horns so wide they seemed capable of cradling the moon in one and the sun in the other, and most of all the creature had the bluest, most penetrating eyes, like all the power of the sea in those murky blue eyes. It was a bull in form only, for I sensed immediately that this creature was far more than just a mere animal. And somehow I knew that it would be wise for me to be as far from this unearthly creature as possible, but the dream beckoned me to stay and bear witness to what happened next…

I heard voices from behind a door, the first was the stern voice of the King.

“…you will fall in love with it the minute you lay eyes on it, Pasiphae.”

“Why won’t you tell me what it is, darling?”

“You don’t want me to ruin the surprise, do you?”

“But Minos, this is not exactly a place fit for a lady…” The Queen clearly was not thrilled to find herself about to be entering the stabiles.

“Never mind that. Come, let me show you.”

The door opened and in came King Minos and his beautiful young wife, Minos looking as certain of himself as ever. His coarse beard was an equal mixture of black and gray and the crown that he wore covered an increasingly gray head. This was in stark contrast to Pasiphae, whose long flowing hair was as dark as midnight, cascading in silky waves down the length of her back. She looked bewildered to find herself in the stabiles.

“The smell…,” she said, covering her nose with her hand.

“Never mind that, come see what I have to show you.”

I made to bow, but the royal couple walked right through me reminding me that this was only a dream. They stood casually before the creature of pure white, as if to consider it, oblivious to the unease and trepidation it aroused in me.

“So, what do you think of it, my love?” Minos asked at last.

“You have brought me here to see…this?”

Minos sounded hurt: “But what else, Pasiphae my love? It’s your present.”

“It’s a bull.”

“Pasiphae, surely you must see that is is more than just that.”

“It’s a bull, Minos. You have brought me all the way from the palace in the middle of the night to show me this? When you said you had something to show me I thought you had something special in mind like a new yacht or a carriage, or maybe even diamonds. But a bull? What am I supposed to do with a bull?”

“This is no mere bull, my wife, but a rather special creature. Come, look closer at it. Look at how white its hide is, look at how it is all sinews and muscle.”

“I don’t see what is so special about a bull. In fact, it looks rather common to me,” Pasiphae sniffed dismissively. The large, horned creature snorted loudly in its stall causing Pasiphae to glare at it accusingly. “And it smells.”

“Common? Look at how its hide gleams like the moon. I have never seen a bull like it. It is beautiful. I dare say, next to you it might be my beautiful possession.”

“Oh, how charming,” Pasiphae said icily. “I’m a possession now? Perhaps next you will describe my beauty of that of a cow.”

“No, no, you miss my meaning. I…” Minos sighed. “Do you know how this creature came to be in our possession?”

“Oh Minos please, you know that a lady does not take interest in matters of commerce or animal husbandry. However you procured the beast is entirely…”

“That’s just it, I didn’t procure it. It came from the sea, Pasiphae! The gods have sent this bull to us,” Minos paused to lend importance to his words. “They say it swam out of the waves, formed from water and sea foam, only taking material form once its hooves first touched our soil. We are to offer it in sacrifice to the gods, as a sign of our devotion.”

“A bull…from Olympus? Minos, how is this possible? How do you know this is true?”

“The priests were there when it came from the sea and saw it all happen. They brought it immediately here and told me the gods are testing our devotion.”

Pasiphae laughed: “Oh they did, did they? Now I think I am beginning to understand. And would these be the same superstitious fools that make omens of doom out of bird droppings? You will excuse me if I put little stock in what they have to say.”

“Pasiphae…”

But the queen just rolled her eyes. “If left to the priests, they would have us as mere puppets to their whims, spending our days praying to this god and and groveling before that god. I have better things to do with my time than sending devotions to every little whim they make up. I’m sure they just dragged one of their own bulls here and came up with that elaborate story.”

“You are too quick to dismiss the powers of the gods, Pasiphae.”

“So you think this ugly brute used to be sea water?”

“That’s not the point. Even if this bull is just another bull, it would still do you well to give this creature in sacrifice to the gods.”

“Why on earth would I…”

“Because it would serve as a good example to our people if they saw you paying homage before the gods at the next festival. You are their Queen after all.”

“Minos, you know how I feel about those ridiculous rituals. If you want to stand up there before an altar with a barnyard animal standing next to you, chanting bizarre incantations then be my guest. Just don’t expect me to take part in any of it.”

“Very well, I can see that you are determined to not like your present.” Minos sighed. “I will make the necessary arrangements for the white bull myself.”

“Good. You do that. Now if you will excuse me, this night has been rather strange, and I cannot abide the smell of manure a second longer. Goodnight, husband.”

Minos didn’t respond but looked dejectedly at the bull.

I watched as Pasiphae made her way hastily to the door, the musky scent of animal heavy in the air. She reached out for the handle but suddenly stopped, her eyes narrowing and looking back at her husband.

“Minos, darling?” Pasiphae called over her shoulder with the feigned tone of mild disinterest. “What god did you have in mind to sacrifice it to? I merely ask.”

Minos cleared his throat, shifting his weight. Something about this line of questioning bothered him. “Oh well, you know, I thought next festival would make the most sense so…”

“And that festival would be?”

“The…uh…well, it is the Festival of Fertility in two weeks and so I guess that would mean...”

”Oh,” Pasiphae said, cutting her husband off icily. “I see. Aphrodite!” She whirled around with fists balled in cold anger.

“Now Pasiphae,” Minos began, arms spread out plaintively, “I know how you feel about the goddess of love but it is only one small sacrifice. And besides, it wouldn’t hurt if you paid a little homage to her.”

“Wouldn’t hurt?! Why should I have to pay homage to her at all? She isn’t even that pretty,” Pasiphae said, playing with her own, beautiful hair.

“You know, sometimes I think you are jealous of her.”

“Aphrodite’s a cow,” Pasiphae sniffed contemptuously. “Why would I be jealous of a cow?”

“Pasiphae, I think you make too much of it. She’s just another goddess, like all of the others.”

“And that’s the problem. Look at me.” Pasiphae commanded. “Can you tell me that her hair is more beautiful than mine? Or that her figure is somehow more feminine that mine? Perhaps her waist is thinner? Her breasts fuller?” And here Pasiphae stood tall and proud, throwing her hair back and putting her hands on her hips so that Minos could see for himself. Blasphemous though her words might be, they were also true—if one of Aphrodite’s many statues had come to life I don’t think they could have competed with the beauty of Pasiphae. “Now tell me why I should send her one of our best cattle and fill her temples with our gold?”

“It is true, my love, no one can compete with your beauty, not even a goddess. But I don’t see why it should bother you that I sacrifice the bull to her. It is only one day.”

“Because it isn’t not just one day, Minos. She has three Festivals already, plus four holidays, and a feast day. Her temples overflow with more gold than her priests know what to do with and now you want me to give her my bull. That hardly seems fair.”

“But Pasiphae...” Minos began but then startled, stopped. “Wait, what do you mean ‘my bull’? I thought you said you didn’t want it?”

“I did. And I don’t. But what I mean is…well…,” Pasiphae thought for a moment, looking petulantly at the creature she had found so beastly. Her eyes seemed to be reassessing it. “I never had a pet before, not like this one. It is so big and white. It would look quite stately in our fields, I should think.”

“That’s great! I’m so happy you…wait…you want to keep it as a pet?”

“You said yourself that it was beautiful. It seems a shame to kill such a beautiful creature.”

“But it really isn’t killing it if all we are doing is sending it back to the gods from which it came. And besides dear, bulls don’t make very good pets. Let me send for a rare bird from Africa, or a better yet a...”

“I don’t want a bird. I want my bull!”

“But what about Aphrodite?”

“What about her?” Pasiphae said, folding her arms. “She already has everything she could possibly want. Why does she need my bull as well?”

“I just don’t want to risk offending the gods. The priests said…”

“Never mind the priests, what about what YOU said! You said this bull was my present and if it is you can’t go promising it to others now can you? And what about me?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with…”

“I am a Queen and what a Queen wants a Queen gets!”

Minos sighed. He did so like to indulge his wife, but at the risk of offending the gods?

“Well, perhaps we could think on the matter for a few days. There is no harm in that, I suppose.”

“The gods dislike hasty decisions,” Pasiphae agreed.

“But are you sure you really want the bull? And not just because I was going to sacrifice it to Aphrodite because I could always sacrifice it to another god.”

“I’m sure.” Pasiphae could hear Minos’ will beginning to waver. Her eyes looked triumphantly at the trophy she was stealing from Aphrodite. “Absolutely, positively sure.”

Minos sighed. “Very well. You sure are a difficult one, you know that?”

“So I can keep it?”

“You can,” Minos said with a smile.

“Oh, thank you, Minos!” Pasiphae exclaimed, jumping up and putting a hand lovingly to her husband’s cheek. “You won’t regret this, I promise!”

Minos kissed her hand: “I’m sure I won’t my love.”

Pasiphae sighed contentedly. “But dear, next time?”

“Yes?

“Save us both the headache and just buy jewelry!” Pasiphae laughed merrily before kissing her husband on the cheek.

And with that the King and Queen left the royal stabile and my dream faded.

Chapter 1—Content like a Cow

I remember the days following my dream well, for they created a minor scandal at the palace, though nothing like the one that was to come.

Two weeks later Aphrodite’s festival arrived, only it was renamed as The Festival of the White Bull, and though I was not in attendance, I heard that the mood of the people was quite sour.

They had expected to revel in all the licentiousness that worship of Aphrodite involved. Instead they got something else entirely. Aphrodite had been usurped and with her went the public sexual excesses in the market square replaced by speeches celebrating reason and control over ones emotions and passions. And at the heart of it all was Pasiphae, our Queen, and the white bull, given to her by the gods themselves, a symbol of divine power used as proof by Pasiphae that the gods approved of these changes.

A day of debauched revelry had become a day devoted to her highness, the most chaste Queen Pasiphae. No woman had ever reached such high heights of power as Pasiphae had that day. I sometimes wonder if the gods gave her this day so that when her fall came, she would have that much greater distance to plummet.

What happened next is not so well known if only because Minos did his best to keep the scandal quiet. The night after the Festival, Pasiphae slept alone in her chambers, Minos being busy with matters of state. I am told that the Queen instantly fell into a deep and impenetrable sleep.

At dawn Pasiphae’s handmaidens arrived to awaken their mistress only to find her bedchamber was empty! When the Queen could not be found anywhere within the palace walls the alarm was raised and the King alerted to his missing wife. The King sent his guard in every direction, fearing the worst.

He had no idea what the worst actually was.

Even in my workshop, far away from the city walls, I could hear the alarm in the city streets. I was summoned to the palace to begin work on new siege weapons, Minos being convinced that his wife had been abducted by a jealous prince. It was while I was at the palace that news reached Minos that his wife had been discovered, alive and unharmed.

A shepherd had found her sitting under an olive tree in the royal fields, watching the herd graze. She must have been there the entire day even though Pasiphae was in a state of near undress, wearing nothing but a gauzy nightgown, complete with unbound hair, no jewels and lacking any kind of makeup. This from a queen who never set foot outside of her bedchamber until her ladies had spent two hours on her hair alone.

The court knew at once that something was terribly wrong.

My services were no longer needed and so I was told to leave. As I did, I can still remember hearing Pasiphae’s voice, for the first time insane, echoing down the winding corridors as her servants brought her back.

“I am all right, I tell you! I just wanted a little air, nothing more! What is so strange about that?”

“But your majesty, the fields are no place for a Queen. What if one of your subjects had seen you in your night dress?” I heard one of her handmaidens say.

“Can a Queen not go where she likes in her own kingdom anymore? It is my field! I can do what I like in it!“

I heard whisperings from her servants, imploring Pasiphae to keep her voice low. This only infuriated her, making her voice grow louder and angrier.

“I will not be careful what I say! Let them hear! Let the whole kingdom hear! Let me go! I just want to go back to the fields! Let go of me! Let go! I want to go back to the fields!”

I knew at the time that the Queen’s words sounded strange, mad even, but how could I have known that her mind was even then, being controlled by another?

Chapter 2: A Cownundrum

Days passed. Weeks. Months. And all the while I worked for Minos, toiling away bitterly for his spoiled wife, dreaming of my homeland that I would never see again. Indeed my work load for the queen increased dramatically in this days, making for her one mindless diversion after another, almost as if my trinkets no longer held her attention.

It happened one dark and cool summer night, about a year after my strange dream, that I heard a light knock on my door. Before I could answer it the door opened and in came a sight I never expected to see in my cottage. It was nearly midnight, a strange hour for visitors of any sort, so when the most beautiful and powerful woman in all the realm stepped into my workroom my mouth nearly dropped.

Queen Pasiphae entered my workshop just as she would her own dining chamber with a small entourage of handmaidens in tow. “I hope you don’t mind me letting myself in.” She smiled sweetly at me. It was more a statement than it was a question.

So stunned was I that I forgot to lower my eyes or kneel before my royal sovereign. Instead I simply stood and stared like a man struck dumb. It was the first time I had ever set eyes on the Queen so up close and personal, and what I saw put all legends of her to beauty to shame.

She was Aphrodite’s equal in every manner and by the look of her mocking smile she knew it.

Pasiphae seemed amused at my sudden fit of dumbness and walked leisurely about my workshop with taunting eyes and a faint smile, surveying it as though it were her own. She carefully inspected my tools, picking up one of the longer chisels and running a hand suggestively down the length of it, looking at me appreciatively. She did the same admiring all my instruments of creation, inspecting the heat of my furnace, the current projects I had on my table, my drawings, my blueprints, my measuring cord—she took it all in with a careful eye.

“Yes, this will do nicely,” she decided and smiled at me.

I finally remembered to bow, which I hastily did. She motioned for me to rise.

“Daedelas, I have come to you because I wish for you to make me something…unusual.” Pasiphae explained, her tone one used to strict obedience.

I didn’t know what to say, the king had always sent his commissions for Pasiphae via a servant, never in person, much less sending his wife to make her own requests. It must be something special indeed to require the Queen’s presence. I wondered what it could be? “My talents are yours to command, Your Majesty. I am at your service. And the King’s.”

But something I had said clearly did not sit well with the Queen.

“Yes, the King, my husband,” she said contemptuously. “It is technically to him that you have taken your oath, not to me. But I wonder…can you serve your Queen as faithfully as you serve your King?”

“Your Majesty? I don’t understand….”

“You don’t need to.” Pasiphae dismissed my objection with a flick of her hand. “You just need to listen. And obey.” She paced a little bit, as if not sure how to proceed.

“My husband says that you are the greatest inventor in all the world. He even tells me that you are a genius and that you can create anything that you set your mind to. Is this true?”

“It would not be proper of me to boast, your majesty,” I said, choosing my words carefully, “but I do not wish to disagree with the King, either.”

“Then it is true, what my husband says of you, you can create anything, anything at all?”

“Anything at all,” I repeated.

“And I all I have to do is describe it?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “You have but to name it, and I can craft it.” Then uncertain, I added: “Do you have something you wish for me to create?”

“Yes! I must have…” A desperate mania overtook the Queen as her eyes lit up and she nearly lunged at me, so desperate was she to tell me, but she halted, remembering herself. I saw a look of hesitation as she looked from me to the corner of the room where her handmaidens waited in perfect quiet. She seemed to consider matters for a moment. And then…

“Away with you,” she commanded, turning to her handmaidens. “I would prefer an audience with the commoner alone. Await my return outside this door.”

COMMONER?! I was the royal inventor! The greatest in all the world! COMMONER!?

Obediently her ladies bowed and left my workshop, one after another, before closing the door quietly behind them, thus greatly increasingly my discomfort. To have an audience with the Queen at midnight was strange enough, but to be alone in her presence was dangerous should anyone ever find out. My discomfort was obvious, though Pasiphae did not seem to mind it, indeed it seemed to amuse her. She smiled pleasantly at it me, moving slowly toward me now with a casual grace. Nervously I took in a deep breath of air and caught scent of what was the most intoxicating perfume I had ever encountered. It was honeyed roses with a heady bouquet of something I could not quite place my finger on…

“Some transactions are best completed without an audience, don’t you agree?” She smiled innocently as she moved closer.

I nodded dumbly. Me the most clever man in the world and I had no idea what to say!

“Now then Daedelas,” she said to me in a soft, dulcet tone, reaching out to straighten some of the wrinkles on my tunic. “Let us talk, just you and I about what it is I want and what it is that you can give me.”

“Um…yes…my…Queen.”

“I want you to build something for me,” she breathed. “Something very personal and…private.”

“Your…your will is…,” I said, finding the words difficult to get out. “My will. You have…but…to name…it….and I shall build it.” By the gods she was close to me!

“Good.” Pasiphae’s smile widened as she leaned in closer to me. I tried to to take a step back but bumped into my own workbench. “Because I need your help.”

“Um…how…how can I help, Your…um…Highness?”

“I shall tell you,” she said, her eyes looking up at me imploringly. “But first I must have your word that what I say here tonight shall remain our secret. You can’t tell anyone. Is that understood?”

“A secret? Is this something the King needs for war...” I began, but Pasiphae cut me off.

“No! This must be kept from my husband most of all!”

“But, keep a secret from the King? That would violate my oath to him. I can’t...”

“Has my husband in the past not had you make things in secret for me, Daedelas?” She asked, running a delicate finger over my chest.

“Yes, Your Majesty. But those were to be gifts to you, so surprise was naturally…”

“Then let us consider this a surprise as well, only one commissioned not by him for me, but by me for me. You’re a man of logic, is this really so different than what you normally do?”

“I…um…well…I suppose not…”

“And you do want to help me…don’t you?” She looked up at me sweetly, her blue eyes so lost and pleading that before I realized it I had agreed.

“Of course Your Majesty, I will help you in any way I can.” Zeus’ beard, why had I said that?!

“Good, because I have a bit of a problem and only you can help me. There is something I want…or rather, something that I need but not everyone would understand it if I told them what it is. And that is why I have come to you, Daedelas, because I know that as a man of science you will understand and that you can be…discreet. You can be discreet, can’t you?”

“Yes, of course Your Majesty,” I stammered. “And...and what would you have me build?”

“Well…you see…” Pasiphae blushed, letting her eyes drop demurely to her chest as she spoke. She was wearing a thin, low cut dress that, given her reputation for modesty, showed a surprising amount of flesh. Her hands played absentmindedly with a pearl necklace that was draped loosely about her, pulling at it so that it kept rising and falling between her soft breasts as she spoke. I could not help but follow the rhythm of that necklace moving in and out, in and out between that soft, milky white flesh, so near to me that…

And then like a cat the Queen eyes darted upward, catching mine with hers, and a smile of wicked delight told me that Pasiphae had caught me, and we both knew it. And then, so as to make her point, she took in a deep breath, pushing her breasts upward and outward, tightly against the thin linen of dress until it seemed as though they would surely tear through at any moment, before letting it all out with a sigh.

“I see that we have an understanding,” Pasiphae said. “What I want is a costume for me to wear, nothing to strain your talents too much, and your pledge of secrecy. And what you want, well…I believe it is considered treason, isn’t it?”

“Your Majesty I didn’t…I wasn’t…I swear I wasn’t…!”

“I know you didn’t mean to, commoner, but my husband, well…let’s just say he is less understanding than I on matters such as this. Just make for me this costume and he never need know.”

I tried to make sense of what I had just heard but it was nearly impossible with Pasiphae’s cleavage there on display for me. A costume? Had I heard her right? I was the court engineer, not a seamstress. It didn’t make sense.

“A costume, my Queen?” I repeated slowly, trying to force eye contact. “I think one of your handmaidens would be suited for such a task.”

“No, you don’t understand, Daedelas, I need you. This is a very SPECIAL costume that I have in mind. It must be…large. Yes, very large, large enough so that I can fit inside of it, almost like a carriage. And sturdy, too.”

“I see...,” I mumbled, wishing I could get some room between myself and the Queen. “Perhaps if you explained the nature of the costume you have in mind?”

“I want…I want…” Pasiphae blinked, all her regal bearing and confidence leaving her. “I…” And just like that her entire demeanor changed. She whirled angrily from me: “I can’t tell you! It’s impossible!” And then more to herself than to me, “It was a mistake coming here. I should have never come…”

“I can craft anything you like, but you have to let me know the sort of costume that you want. It’s really a simple matter…”

“It is FAR from a simple matter! And I told you that I prefer not to speak on it at this instant.” She snapped over her shoulder, wrapping her arms protectively around herself chest. “Let us just pretend that I said nothing at all. It was foolish of me to think that you would understand.”

“Very well your Majesty, I will forget the entire thing, as you wish. Which is just as well, for I have many projects for the King as it is and it would have taken me a long time before I could have even…”

“No, it must be now!” She screamed. “I need it now and I can’t wait another da…” She clapped a hand over her mouth in surprise by both the content and vehemence of her words. Head in her arms she seemed to think for a moment, a debate raging within her, the terms of which I knew not. For a moment I thought she might even cry and so gave her a moment, but eventually she held her head up and wrapped her arms even more tightly about herself. When she spoke, she spoke in a clear, calm voice.

“I apologize, commoner. I have not been myself as of late. I will tell you what it is I need.” She kept her back to me, looking out the window to the darkness beyond. “But be it on your head if you ever whisper a word of this to anyone. I want...” Pasiphae paused. She looked suspiciously about my workshop. “We are alone, aren’t we?”

I assured the Queen that we were.

“You would swear your life on it?”

“Yes, your highness.”

There was a long pause.

“I need you to make me a costume in the shape of....” she paused, and then whispered hesitantly: “an animal”

“An animal?” I repeated incredulously.

“That IS what I said, isn’t it?” Pasiphae said, annoyed by the very word.

“What kind of animal…?”

“By the Gods, must you ask so many questions!” Pasiphae was growing more and more agitated with each question.

“If it vexes you so, your majesty, then perhaps I should select the type of animal for you? I have a good eye for…”

“NO! Haven’t you been listening? I said this costume was to be SPECIAL. It can’t have just any shape to it.”

“Well if you have something particular in mind,” I explained, speaking as carefully as I could, “I must know what the design is to be. Without the design I cannot begin work.”

There was another long pause. Then a sigh.

“By the gods. Breath not a word of this, commoner! It isn’t just any animal I wish for you to make. I wish to be a…,” She whispered the last word so quietly that I could not hear it.

“A what, Your Majesty?”

“A…” Still refusing to look at me, Pasiphae whispered a little louder: “A cow. Make me into a…cow.”

I was certain I had misheard her. “A cow?”

“Yes, a cow,” she hissed.

“A…a cow???”

“Shh!”

“But, a cow?!”

“Yeeeesss!” Pasiphae seethed angrily in the loudest possible whisper.

“But…you…a cow? An actual cow? You a…”

“A COW!” She whirled around angrily and shouted it so loudly that I was certain that her handmaidens outside had heard it. “Yes. Me. A cow.” She said icily. “Must I say it again?”

“But…but you are so regal, so graceful. You are a Queen! And a cow, well a cow is so…”

“What?”

“Common. Surely there is a better costume for one such as you, something more magical, with feathers perhaps. What about a beautiful swan, I should think that more to Your Highness’ liking.”

“This has nothing to do with my liking, commoner. Nor is it a costume I need for a fancy dress party. I have need of it for something else entirely. It must be a cow. It is the only way”

“I don’t think I understand.”

Pasiphae sighed and looked up to the heavens as if to summon the strength for what she was to say next. She closed her eyes.

“You know of the bull?” The Queen asked longingly, her voice seeming to fall into a trance as she spoke. “The big white one that roams the royal fields?”

I nodded. Everyone knew of the white bull, risen from the sea, a gift from the gods to the royal couple. It was the proud symbol of the empire’s power and proof that the gods favored our King and Queen. Everyone knew of the white bull.

“A year ago, Minos kept it from the sacrificial altar, so beautiful was it that he could not bring himself to kill it. He kept it instead, in hopes of it breeding divine offspring on one of his cows. It has yet to so much as mount a single cow. Yet all the priests and soothsayers assure us it carries within its loins the divine seed of a god. And yet it waits in our fields.”

I too waited, waited for her to continue. A long moment stretched between us. Her eyes were still closed. At last I spoke.

“And what is it you want this costume for, my Queen?”

“By the gods…I have said it every way I can!” Pasiphae cried in exasperation, her eyes looking upon me in pained incredulity. “For so clever a man, you are ever so blind to the obvious. Very well then, let me make it plain for you commoner: I have come here tonight so that you can help me to join myself to this animal.”

“Join…? I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“I want it, Daedelas, I want the white bull.”

“But, you have it, Your Majesty. The gods have given it to you. You own it.”

“No, I do not have it, or at least not completely, not in the way I want it, I don’t. I am so ashamed but…I want it...” and here I saw Pasiphae blush. “I want it to own me.

“Wait…! You don’t mean…”

“I want it to fuck me, Daedelas.”

Chapter 3: Her Majesty’s Secret Service

My mouth fell open and I nearly tripped over my workbench as I backed away from the mad Queen. Yet, despite my obvious revulsion, Pasiphae continued to speak as though she were commissioning a new chariot or carriage for the royal household.

“You will be well paid of course: gold, jewels, riches beyond your imagination, slave girls, whatever you please. I don’t care the price; I care only that this costume is made,” and here she stopped for emphasis. “And that it be made in secret. No one must learn of what I have asked of you this night.”

“But...but...you...with.....a bull...?!” I stammered. “It is impossible...!”

“You will make it possible!” Pasiphae snapped, her eyes ablaze like the fire in my furnace. “That is why I have come to you. Did you not just claim to be able to make anything I named?”

“But this...!” I gasped. “I can’t do this. You can’t do this! If the King were to find out...!”

“The King will not find out, not if you do your job properly. Indeed, if you design this costume well enough, not even the bull will know.”

“You cannot ask this of of me!”

“A Queen does not ask,” Pasiphae corrected me. “She commands. And you WILL do this for me!”

“And if I refuse?”

Pasiphae could see the determination in my eyes. I thought she would match my will with her’s, but to my surprise she merely shrugged her shoulders.

“Very well, commoner, have it your way,” Pasiphae said casually, wrapping her linen hood over her head to leave. “I shall trouble you no further.”

“You mean, you’re leaving, just like that?”

“Yes. I can see that you are determined. Though, I do worry what my husband will say when he finds out that I have been away from the palace for so long. He’s rather the jealous type, you know. More than one man is chained to the dungeon walls for having being alone in my presence, some for as little as a minute. I would certainly hate to see that happen to you, Daedelas.”

“You wouldn’t...!” I began, but Pasiphae cut me off with a knowing smile.

She had me, and we both knew it. I tried to think of some way, any way to refuse her mad request without ending up in the dungeon. I was a clever man, but the Queen’s power was absolute. If she willed it, she would have it. I was trapped.

I sighed. “Very well. I will make this for you.”

“I thought you might change your mind. You are wise after all...for a commoner,” Pasiphae smiled smugly. “Now listen to me carefully, for I have instructions to give to you and must speak fast for I have tarried here for too long as it is and my husband will soon notice my absence.”

“Yes…,” And then added as an afterthought: “Your Highness.” How in Hades had I got myself into this?! “I am ready, you may begin.”

“Listen well for I do not have the luxury of repeating myself,” Pasiphae said as she began to pace the room, addressing me as one might a child. “You are to make this costume in secret. Any materials that you may need I will have sent to you at night so that no one notices.”

“Of course.” I felt myself sinking fast. “A most sensible precaution.”

“It will need to be built out of solid material but the inside must also be hollowed out so that I can fit inside of it. Make sure the outside is strong enough to protect me—I will need to support a great deal of weight over my back—but at the same time I wish you to design it with enough room for me to move around. Can you do that?”

“A strong exterior with a hollow center?” I thought for a moment, wondering how much the bull weighed. It was reputed to be as large as a house and weigh even more. “It will have to be made of the thickest oak possible and reenforced throughout with bronze ribbing. I might want to add a few strong beams of cedar on the inside, just to be safe. It won’t be easy but…I think it can be done.”

“Good, now as to my…comfort,” Pasiphae tried saying as casually as she could, but I couldn’t help but notice a slight blush again, “upholster the interior with soft pillows and line it with silk. Don’t skimp on materials, I want it to be plush on the inside! And I want expensive silk too; something exotic, not the local stuff. Oh and make the silk purple, that is the royal color after all.”

“Pillows, plush, silk, purple…got it.” I said nodding. This was insane!

“And remember,” Pasiphae continued, “it must be so real and life like that when I am inside of it no one, not even my husband—ESPECIALLY my husband—may know it is me!”

“Absolutely,” I said, unable to believe my own words. “Protection, comfort and disguise—I understand. Anything more?”

“Just one,” and here the Queen blushed a deep crimson. “I…I am almost ashamed to say this but I have come this far so I might as well say all that I have to say. I want you to make this cow a pretty one. I don’t want to be just another cow to him, I want to be special. I want to be more gorgeous than any cow he has ever laid eyes on. When he sees me, he should know that I am his perfect mate. Make the cow white, just like the bull without a blemish on its hide. And it is to have gold horns upon its brow, gold just like my crown. The eyes are to be a brilliant blue, like sapphires sparkling in the sea, big, bright and blue glittering with love. And lashes! Long, beautiful lashes. You may want to model the eyes based on my own. And I want the hooves to be of the darkest ebony.”

I felt my mouth falling open again. The white bull? The Queen? A cow suit? What madness was this? Somehow I managed to utter a: “yes, Your Highness.”

“Good, then you have your instructions. See to it that you follow them to the letter,” Pasiphae said haughtily.

“I will do as you say, Your Majesty,” I promised, unable to believe my own ears. Had I just promised to help build the Queen a cow so she could mate with a bull? A bull!?”

Pasiphae seemed to think something over for a moment. She looked at me suspiciously. “You are a clever man, Daedelas, but clever man can’t always be trusted, now can they?” It was more a question to herself than it was to me. Then, with a sly smile and wink of mischievous delight she strolled casually toward me once more, this time making no effort to obscure her seductive purpose.

“But I think you can be. And you know something, Daedelas,” she breathed, when she was near enough that all that separated me fro, her was her her thin linen gown. “I have alway had a great admiration of your what you can do with your hands. They have have never failed to make for me the most amazing things, things that I have enjoyed…fully.” She looked up at me innocently, her perfume swirling about us. “And isn’t that why my husband has brought you to our island kingdom, so that you may craft for me trinkets for my amusement? That is all I am asking for really, if you think about it.”

“Of...of course your highness. Yes...just an amusement. Nothing more.” I mumbled as she leaned closer to me. Her perfume held me enchanted, and for the life of me I could not think of anything else save for the beautiful, flawless, young body so very near my own. The tips of her breasts glided gently across my chest as she leaned in closer.

“Serve me well,” she whispered into my ear, putting a hand on my arm, “and I shall reward you beyond your wildest dreams, even a return to your home. Fashion for me this costume and I will see to it that you get everything you desire.” She moved in even closer now, pushing her soft breasts against my hard chest, holding herself there as she spoke: “And I can give you ANYTHING you want, you have merely to name it. You just have to help me get what I want first.” She looked up at me, her dark, tormented eyes boring deep into mine.

“Yes…anything I want…,” I muttered, my mind spinning from the intoxicating ecstasy of her perfume. Had she really said that I could return home? It was hard tell, as my only thought was the softness of her breasts and the fullness of those ruby lips so very near mine. Without realizing it I had moved in to kiss Pasiphae.

“Yes, I know I can trust you, Daedelas, because if you deny me…” she warned in the sweetest of voices, “I will deny you,” and pulled herself away just before my lips met hers. My body ached as I watched Pasiphae’s body walked nimbly toward the door. I could still smell her perfume wrapped about, my chest could still feel those soft breasts pressed against mine, and those lips…

“I think we are going to be good friends, you and I, Daedelas!” Pasiphae playfully called over her shoulder. “In fact, I am glad that I came here tonight. I have always wanted to see the workshop that has produced such fine amusements for me. You shall begin making my newest amusement tonight; tomorrow, I shall return for my measurements. I want to be fitted to this creation of yours as soon as possible!”

I tried to speak but all that came out was an inaudible grunt. Pasiphae just smiled as she looked at the hardness between my legs: “Looks like you’re becoming something of a bull yourself.” And with a slight laugh she left, leaving me to wonder what madness had transpired before me.