a fairy tale - the story of the princess

Once upon a time in a kingdom far north of the center of the world there lived a man and a woman married and in love. Unlike many fairy tale lovers, they were not wealthy or with great means, but where love was concerned they were in want of nothing. They lived a happy life for years and years resting on the joy of their love, trusting in it, from the moment they began, to heal their hearts of the years of resentment and anguish they suffered at the hands of a cruel and evil world.
You see, before they stole away and married in secret, there were those who had dared to drive them apart, and one day had almost achieved the sinister goals to their vile plans. They did so because these evil ones could not (nor can not even now) stand the sight of true love peering through the darkness, like how the sun breaks through the clouds in strong beams of light on an overcast afternoon in the land by the sea. In those days the beautiful maiden was a princess, the crown jewel of her land, and the star that shined the brightest even among her own family.
There she sat, in those olden days, high upon her throne of gold and diamonds, a princess greater than all the gathering masses, head strong dukes, foriegn kings and Oriental dignitaries who moved and shuffled through the halls of her father's great courtyard and colonade just in short to take one look upon the mere cloud of her winters breath, or the briefest siloutte skirting across her shut window.
Her beauty was known throughout the land and men would speak of her like a wild beast running through the forests, unseen by human eyes, yet known to all; peaceful enough to touch, but deadly if one were to get too close. Men were afraid of her and with good reason, for though her beauty and her outward demeanor was kindly and sweet, innocent and soft, inside a spell was cast over her that left her cold and hard, seathing with hatered, and a fire inside that turn her heart dark, and consume the very soul of any man foolish enough to turn his gaze upon her. This accursed spell was magical, and the great king knew it to be so, and so he hired to his court any number of wizards from far and near to break this great curse, but there were none who could break the magic spell, for there was no way known to break such a spell as this, for it was deep magic -- deeper than any magic ever seen upon this earth.
After years of her solitude, slowly, the royal callers, crowds, and dignitaries began to stop calling the men left the accursed castle and it's fair maiden, many having never seen her in the years they waited, and they walked away to find other more safe loves that were by no means love at all, for their great passion was still for the princess who stole away into the far night of the castles of their mind, while in body they were to love their respective wives. From that day to this not a single wife of one of those men had ever received the total love of their husband, for the deepest parts of his heart would be driven to madness by desire of the one princess he could never have. However, they were the lucky ones, for though she was locked away in the tower of her castle by the sea, she had seen more than a couple of the bravest and most fearless knights, but even they upon gazing into her eyes were stricken with terror at the evil they saw in the deepest reaches of her tender soul. From that day to this, they walk the streets, raving lunatics, drinking at bars till their feelings are dull and their swords so loose in their hands they can bearly keep it up straight. They terrorize the towns they were once heroes of, they too walk in darkness, for now even they share the princess's curse until it is broken by some deep, deep, deep magic that in no way is known to even the greatest of this earth's magicians.
So there the princess sat, seated upon a throne -- alone, wonderous princess of the north land by the sea, waiting for her prince to come and save her from the curse. She waited for a man to come and look into her eyes, deep into her soul and come back alive, to see more than the dark shadows and evil dreams that lurked deep within her but see the true beauty that is still buried deep down, underneath the curse that covered it with such choking force.