Imported Tears

Sadiq stared out the window of the palace, having just returned from an expedition in another country. It was a week's travel there and a week's back on horseback, though it hardly bothered him to be so free. His mask was placed neatly on his face, as it always was, along with his long, white, flowing cloaks and brown leather shoes. He had feasted and bathed, feeling quite at home in his large, white bedroom, the curtains a velvet red, with rugs originating in Turkey on his floor. His bed was far too large for himself, and was made in case he ever decided to take a bride. Why would he want to do that, though? It would be a single chain to keep him from his freedom of conquering lands and kings and foreign women. Okay, maybe not the last part. He never really had any time to look at women, let alone conquer them. He was a busy man, murdering anyone who stood in the way of him and his brothers and his father, all members of the royal family of the strongest empire.

A wife would not interfere with such a luxurious life.

Someone rapped at his door, softly yet firm. He got off his bed, groaning about his aching feet. He threw the large, jewel encrusted doors open, and saw his brother, Heracles, smiling at him just a bit.

"Dammit, what do you want?" He sneered, folding his arms on his chest in annoyance. His brother merely rolled his eyes, and motioned to the man behind him.

"Oh, Gupta, wonderful." He remarked, a smirk crossing his dark caramel skin. His brothers looked younger than he, but he was merely the middle child. Gupta was far older. Gupta smiled a bit, wondering if he should have even bothered to inform his younger brother of the prizes they would be reviewing soon.

"Our prizes are here, Sadiq, and though I know you hardly desire to revel in the riches we steal, I think you could maybe try this time."
Treasure and riches, ones his brother wanted to watch. It only meant the capture of women from the country they had just murdered, and possibly a pretty one at that. Gupta had many wives; fourteen, actually, and none held any special place in his greedy little heart. Heracles had one, and she was his only desire in the world. Then there was Sadiq: No interest women, for he was too busy letting his father know through success that he was fit for the throne.

Gupta somehow managed to drag Sadiq down the stairs and into the large court of his father, who was sitting on his throne with his only wife, who was dying quickly from some sort of disease with coughing up blood. He had never taken another wife, and Sadiq almost looked up to his father for such a noble deed.
"I heard we have a princess in our snatched treasures, Sadiq." Gupta whispered to him, smiling a bit devilishly. The Turkish man turned his attention back to the court, full of rich men from his country, ready to bid on whatever girl caught his attention. The ornate doors opened, and in danced possibly thirty dark haired women, between twenty and thirty, their faces veiled, legs covered, chests covered, and midriffs bare. They danced slowly, having been taught it that day in order to show off their bodies to the bidders. As he watched, they all blended together, the greens and reds and golds of the clothing meshing with their dark hair.
Blue.

She was wearing blue and silver, not red, green, and gold. Her hair was almost silver, not dark and plain and repeated, like all the other women. Her legs were long and slender, poking out from the skirt she wore, the bracelets on her arms jangling as she moved her hands elegantly to the exact movement given out by all teachers to young woman. She was certainly not from his country, nor any he had been to. Her face was covered by the blue veil, her skin pale like the sheets on his bed.

He could lose her in those sheets, her hair and skin and arms and legs and-

Why was he thinking this about her? A mere woman he had only caught a glimpse of? She was going to be bid off to the highest paying man, and she was going to be mistreated and abused and never heard of again.

He wanted to murder the man who would win her now. He felt a fiery lump of hatred bury itself in his stomach, he clenched his fists, he grit his teeth. Why was he so infuriated at the idea of the little girl, maybe nineteen at most, being given off to one of these men? It had never bothered him before. So what if some foreign wench was given off as cattle to the slaughter?

"My sons, the three princes, shall choose those of their liking, first." His father, the king, gave a sweep of his arms to show that all the women could belong to a single one, if he so pleased. Yet even Gupta was not so greedy. Though, he was always the first to speak.

"Father, I have chosen three who have caught my eye in particular." He said, stepping to search through the women who stood in front of the room, their eyes gazing intensely at the floor. He picked one's chin up gently, before sending her to stand away from the others.

Then another one.

Then another.

And another.

He smiled, looking pleased with his pickings, before something caught his eye. It attracted Sadiq's, too, for he grabbed the chin of the silver haired girl, and smiled darkly at her. He opened his mouth to make a comment, his eyes straying from her eyes to her lips, before a loud SMACK echoed.

He stared at her, her blue-violet eyes brimming with hatred at the man who had dared to touch her. She wanted to stab him in the stomach, watch him double over in pain, but the women had taken all her knives upon arrival. She saw it coming; she could feel it before it happened. Gupta had raised his hand in anger, nearly ready to beat her. Sadiq grabbed his wrist, and pulled him from the girl.
"Gupta, have a little control. She was just ripped from her country and forced into clothing she's never had before and forced to stand this way in front of perverted men. I think you deserved it."

He wanted to kill himself for what he was saying! What had gotten into him, what was he thinking? He looked back at the girl, muttering an apology, before asking if she were alright, and for her name.

"I am fine," She spat, almost angering Sadiq, "I am Princess of Belarus, Natalia Arlovskaya."

Sadiq felt himself melt a bit, the name so oddly fitting for her, her feisty, angry, hateful words and her perfect, sculptured body.

"Father, I shall take her." He said, shocking not only himself but all people in the room. All members knew that even if he appeared, Sadiq never took an interest in any of the women, so why was she so different? Gupta was fuming, wanting the Belorussian beauty all for his own pleasures, not his younger brother's.

"Father," He nearly cried, turning to complain, "I asked for her first, why should Sadiq have the right to claim her? I am the oldest; she belongs to me."
Gupta felt pleased, knowing he would win her without so much as an objection from his brother.

"Sadiq, you may have her as your wife, but in exchange, you may only have her."

The words shocked them both, neither one paying much attention to the girl they'd been having a bit of a tiff over. His father gave him a knowing smile, before dismissing him and the girl. The guards grabbed her by the arms, and she hardly put up a fight.
Holy fuck, He thought, I'm getting married.