A life of debauchery was the only way he knew how to live. After Claude had gained sole control of Obelia, he had been diligent in ridding it of troublesome folk. His cold reign struck fear in as many hearts as it enticed. A tyrant by day and philanderer by night, Claude was fickle.
Both of his reputations had traveled far and wide on the lips of visitors and gossips. It didn't take long for other countries and nations to bring offerings of the womanly kind in hope of appealing to the mighty Sun of Obelia.
So when Siodonna's ambassadors casually mentioned a dancer amongst their party, Claude already knew that they were aiming for the honor of entering his bedchambers. He didn't mind playing along with their poorly concealed game. Even if the dancer had the luck to be beneath his sheets, most offerings never got to receive the honor twice.
He knew he had made a mistake the moment her dance began. There was an allure that he couldn't resist. Claude found himself genuinely looking at the dancer and not through her as he did with so many other women. Instantly suspicious, he glared at every inch of her figure, determined to figure out if there was magic play involved. How else could he be so thoroughly enraptured by a mere woman?
When the dance ended, the Siodonna representatives waited with bated breath for Claude's command. Either their offering had succeeded in enticing the cold tyrant or they, as a nation, had failed to secure any ties with the powerful Obelia Empire.
A chill blanketed the room, every second that crawled by served only to worsen the feeling. Siodonna's representatives barely moved, hardly daring to breathe, the gravity of the king's decision weighing heavily upon them.
"Her, tonight." And with two words, lazily declared, Claude rose from his throne and exited the royal receiving chamber without even knowing her name.
With a quiet intensity, Claude entered his bedchambers that night. His palace as empty as usual with the exception of a certain dancer delicately perched upon the edge of his bed. As Claude closed the distance between them, even in the dim moonlight, he found himself contemplating, 'Ah, tonight's conquest is beautiful, indeed.'
'What a shame,' he thought as he pressed her against his silk sheets. Claude almost found it a pity that something so beautiful would be ruined by him tonight. For just one night in the king's bed rendered her used goods, unable to be touched by any other man for the rest of her life.
But what he had never expected was that he would be the ruined one, unable to ever love another woman again.