'Why? Why must the rules of this kingdom be so? Is it so hard to understand the reasonings for my desires? Is it so outlandish to want someone such as that to exist?' Lucian asked himself as he sat in the open room surrounded by warriors, nobles and women. The ten women were beautiful. Almost too beautiful.

Like a piece of artwork too beautiful to touch. For fear that if one touched it, the beauty might drain out from the canvas and leech out from the fabric and vanish. These women were just like that. All beauty, all delicate features enhanced by ink and powder. They were like pieces of pottery, ready to be placed upon a pedestal to be shown off but never to be touched again.

Lucian did not want that. He did not want a piece of art he could look at but never touch. He wanted an abstract piece of furniture. Sonething he could carry and move. Something he could touch and enjoy at his leisure. These women, dressed in gowns and robes of silken fabric woven by hands of master tailors, had been raised with the expectation of being placed on display.

It was their desired duty to look good. To be at the very peak of perfection in appearance and presentation. That did not appeal to Lucian, not completely. His garnet colored eyes flicked over to a stout man in a suit that looked like it had costed him the average sum of most people's yearly income. The short rounded man spoke in a fast and high pitched voice that put Lucian on edge.

He was not an easily irritated man. Rarely did he ever raise his voice over a soft spoken volume. Something he had learned to do in order to get people to stop talking over him. If he talked softly, then they would have to actively listen to him in order to hear his words. 

"These Ten lovely ladies are more than willing to be at your side. From now until-"

Lucian put up his hand and the stout man stopped abruptly as though all the air in his lungs had been forced out. A panicked expression slid across his face as he tried to take a breath but failed to take in any air. The Ten women exchanged worried glances as the man began looking more red in the face than he usually did.

"Leave us." Lucian commanded. 

The short man bobbed his head and as soon as he rushed out of the room he drew in a deep breath and collapsed into the chair outside the hall. The Ten women, all kneeling on the floor, pillows under their legs, looked up at him. Lucian looked up and met their gazes one by one. He looked into the first woman's eyes.

Dark brown eyes that glistened with hesitation and fear. Through her gaze he could see what she desired. Her true desires, not the ones that she had been raised and trained for. A picture of herself standing around a school yard of children appeared in his mind. 

"A teacher? Fascinating." He said aloud in his customary deep soft voice. "Go." 

The woman dressed in a robe of gold looked at him in confusion. 

"P-Pardon me sir but...you want me to-"

"Leave, yes." He answered her before she could fully complete her question. "I am not interested in those who do not desire to be here. I know you all have lives you wish to lead beyond that of your family duties. So go and live them." 

Nine of the ten women looked at one another before slowly getting up, bowing to Lucian and then heading out the door. The only one that remained was a woman dressed in a frilly pink dress with short blonde hair and blue eyes. 

"Look at me." He said in a soft tone of strict command. The woman lifted her head and met his dark garnet gaze. She drew in a sharp breath of air when she felt his mind penetrate her thoughts. A single question bounced around in her mind. It echoed across her consciousness like thunder through a valley.

'What do you desire?' The voice asked and her true wants washed to the shores of her mind for Lucian to see. A young woman dressed in all white with long black hair and pale skin floated into his mind. The image rippled like a pebble thrown into a pond. In its place was a stack of coins and gems sitting across from a chubby man in a suit of white and brown.

Lucian blinked and the connection was severed. She fell to her hands feeling as though she had just been held underwater. No air or oxygen from which to breathe from. 

"Who is she?" Lucian asked, his deep voice, soft as a feather, filled the room like the roar of sm ocean wave. 

"Let me serve you sir. Please let me-"

"Do not grovel." Lucian growled. "Who is she?" 

The woman in pink shook nervously as tears trickled down her face causing the thick make up that coated her eyes to smear and streak down her cheeks. 

"Please sir....let me-"

"Tell me!" He rose his voice with the volume of a clap of thunder that shook her to the core.

"She is my love. I love her but I can't have her." She sobbed. 

"Why?" Lucian asked, his voice once again soft and calm.

"Her father expects a dowry of two hundred Mari. I can't afford it!" She sobbed. "Please sir. Let me serve you. I'll do anything I-"

"Enough." He raised his hand and stood up. 

"No. Wait please sir! Please don't send me away. I'll do anything. I swear it. I-"

"Enough I said." He interrupted her once more. Lucian looked down upon the woman. Her face had become a muddy river of make up and colors that obscured her plastered beauty. It was clear that this had been her last resort. The very last chance she had to claim what she so desperately desired.

Two hundred Mari was a steep price for a life, even one for royalty. Lucian's loose baggy black pants made of thick silken material did little to hide his large muscular thighs that pressed against the black fabric. His black button up shirt was loose fitting but the creases revealed where his muscles bunched and connected.

As he stood up, the woman looked at him wide eyed. He was a tall muscular man. Dressed all in black from head to toe with shoulders as wide as mountains and a presence as unyielding as stone. His eyes though. His dark garnet eyes were like dark pools of blood. Dripping with emotions that his face didn't give away.

As he reached a hand out to her, she looked at it as though she had never seen a hand before. As though the gesture itself was foreign.

"Come with me." He said. 

She took his hand and just from his fingers she could feel his strength. Like touching a tree that had weathered the worst storms, she could feel the power within his roots.

They walked out of the double doors passing the stout man who looked like he was on the edge of having a panic attack.

"M-M-My L-Lord? What-"

"Stay put. I'll return shortly." Lucian commanded with a gestured of his finger.

He walked down the black marble hallway which had large windows that looked out over a garden as thick as a rain forest. The black marble hallway turned and became a jade hallway with rivers of gold running through it. The jade hallway turned to the right and descended down a stairway that ended at a pair of steel doors.

Etched into the metal was a winged dragon protectively perched on a chest. 

"Stay here and do not move." He said as he placed his hand on the door.

Metal gears shifted and large dead bolts within the making of the door shifted. Each dead bolt sounded like a crack of thunder as it slammed open. As the gears came to a stop, Lucian pushed open the door and walked in. Beyond the doors sat a room. A wide room with checkered walls and ceilings.

Sitting in the center of the room was a large antique metal chest. Looking at the black and white tiles ahead of him, he stepped in a particular pattern, one that had taken him a fairly long time to remember. Two black, one white, two white, one black. As he reached the chest, he placed his hand on a circular pad at the top of the container.

Tiny cogs and gears shifted along the sides of the chest and with a soft click, the lid sprang open. He reached down into the chest without looking and pulled out a small burlap sack. As soon as he stepped away, the lid slammed shut and relocked. Using the reverse steps, he walked back to the doors and out to the hall where he found the woman in pink looking wary and catious.cautious.

"Take this to the father of your lover. It should be enough to pay him twice over." Lucian said, dropping the bag of Mari in her small thin hands.

The most she had ever held was ten Mari and that had been her whole life's savings in order to make herself presentable for this very occasion. She looked from the bag to him. Makeup smeared eyes wide with disbelief. 

"I don't...I-"

"You owe me nothing. Go and be happy. Your desires should be of your own. Not those of another."

She bowed low and headed up the stairs. Lucian turned down the opposite hallway and headed back to the stout man that he ordered to stay put. Lucian had gone through this ordeal several dozen times. He had grown tired of the event. He had grown tiresome of meeting people who were trying to forfeit their dreams to appease the desires of those who had desires of their own that had gone unmet long ago.