Once upon a time,
In a faraway land,
There was a kingdom.
Shadowvale was located near the sea, and mountainside. The castle overhung the town that kept growing with the winters that passed; a symbol of prosperity that gave the people a fine standard of living. Craftspeople, nobles, knights and maidens lived together in harmony with nature and time.
Shadowvale was a prosperous kingdom, with a substantial wealth due to the trade of wood and gemstones. Its King, Alexander, was a good one. Strategist, intelligent, and fair. He knew what he had to do to make his kingdom and people prosper, and never was afraid to do so. Alliances, trades, even wars.
But Alexander was also handsome and charming. He had been blessed with the looks of a deity and had been aware of it at a very early age. Women started looking at him with desire in their eyes as soon as puberty made his sixteen-year-old body grow into one of a man: he was tall, with a figure well-built that he maintained through regular exercise, and a beautiful face with fine and elegant features. Eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through your very soul.
As a result, Alexander never truly understood the idea that men should find one wife and stick to it. Women liked him, and he was definitely not going to deprive himself of the pleasure of their company for some concept of faithfulness.
Therefore, he got intimate with a lot of them, gaining experience as the years passed. He got better and better at detecting the signs that a woman was getting aroused by his attitude or his presence, and at pleasing them the right way when that time came.
And, as he sat on his throne, not being able to really move as he was the subject of a portrait that would soon be sent to a lot of other kingdoms to signal that he was looking for a spouse, he got all the time he needed to notice the signs in the painter.
“Aria, is it?” He asked, breaking the silence of the room.
The young woman looked up from her canvas, seeming genuinely surprised that he decided to speak to her. It took her a few seconds to answer, and it was simply a nod.
“Your professor told me a lot of good about you. He seems to think you are gifted.”
“Mister Abernathy is too kind, Your Majesty,” she answered with a pleased smile.
“Are you implying that my portrait is in poor hands?”
Aria reacted immediately, the smile being replaced with a look of surprise and realization.
“Of course not, Your Majesty! I assure you I will not stop working on it until it is absolutely perfect and you are satisfied.”
Alexander smirked a bit, resting his chin on his closed fist.
“I suppose it means we will spend a lot of time together then.”
The painter lightly chuckled, her attention back on the canvas while she drew something on it. “I suppose so.”
“I hope your husband won’t mind.”
“Oh, I am still unmarried, Your Majesty! The marriage fairy has not yet provided me with a respectable suitor, I’m afraid.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow, an amused smile parting his lips. The possibility of such a beautiful woman being still unattached was so slim that it took him by surprise.
“I cannot believe it.” He finally said, getting up to stand.
Aria looked surprised, but did not say a word. Alexander just kept going down the few stairs that separated his throne from the rest of the room and walked toward her. Hands behind his back, he finally stopped at just a few steps of distance.
“Stand up, my dear.”
She obliged, confused but obedient to her King. Alexander raised a hand and made a turning gesture. She seemed hesitant at first, but finally turned on herself, slowly.
Alexander looked at her while she did, letting his eyes take a peek at everything she had to offer. Aria was a gorgeous young woman, with long wavy hair that she liked to style in the back with braids and ribbons, a slim figure and a cute face. Her dress did not really allow him to dive in her cleavage, but he could see that she must be ordinarily gifted in that area.
“I cannot believe no man is chasing you, Aria.”
“I did not say they were not chasing, Your Majesty.”
He raised his head again to meet her eyes, and she simply shrugged, although a playful smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
“But they are just boys, immature and uncouth. I get bored of them pretty quickly.” As she started explaining, the King started walking again, this time in an arc of a circle, to turn around her. Aria did not move a muscle, simply turning her head a little to follow him with her eyes. “It is not that I do not want them, or them me. But I feel like they do not really see me. I am simply... a means to their end. A vessel, if you see what I mean.”