Under the Collection of Love

Egotistic Vanity

He was untouchable. Someone I shouldn't love, shouldn't think of. He was ungodly beautiful in every way, a lady's dream. But he wasn't meant to be. His soul was rotten to the core, poisoned with greed and power. A lord with no sense of nobility, no sense of empathy. A player in the courts, yet every lady fell for his charms.

Including me. I was no better, no smarter. Those dimpled smiles, those puppy dog brown eyes... He knew what he had, and he knew it worked. An innocent looking player, the most dangerous of them all.

"Tatania, who are you looking for?" My youngest sister, Amelia, brought me from my fantasy, watching me with knowing blue eyes. "Lord Duke is still awaiting your hand in marriage, you cannot be so distracted with such a... Pig." 

Scoffing, I couldn't help but agree. He was nothing but a pig, and I was an engaged woman. To be fair, my wedding was the biggest event in this court at the moment. I was from one of the wealthiest families, and my lord was from yet another very wealthy court, and he was the best tradesmen in the business. 

Of course, I did like him quite a bit. But with these arranged marriages, there is never love, at least in the beginning. He was a very handsome man yet he remained incomparable to the pig of a lord my heart was set on. Duke knew it, and I pitied him for such knowledge as he loved me so honestly., so innocently. But even I was no fool, there could be no secrets within a relationship, even a forced one. 

Lord Edward met my gaze, his dimpled smile was noting but innocent, it was threatening. He wanted me to approach him, to tell him that I loved him and wished he'd wed me instead. Just like every other lady that would try, he would occupy my thoughts and flirt until he grew tired. That was his game, but we all played it regardless.

 Amelia gave a sigh with a shake of her head, pushing into my shoulder. "You should at least act like you're trying to get over him. Your lord is tortured." I followed her gaze just beyond Edward, my smile turning pitiful and guilty as my eyes connected with my lord's pale blue eyes. He was watching, respectfully, but enviously. "He tries to earn your love."

"I do like him, Amelia." I argued, shaking my gaze from both the lords and turning to her sharply, fixing a few strand ginger hairs from her head. "You'll understand when you're older, somethings just do not go as they ought." 

"Father is not happy with you either." She pushed my helping hand away, smoothing her hair herself. "I doubt he'd call the wedding, but he'll postpone it if he catches word of you still fawning over him so openly." 

That wasn't much of a threat. My wedding may be important and may bring endless riches to both of our families, but I was in no hurry to wed. I had barely just become of age to join the game of flirtatious banter. I was given no time to seek a lord myself, to play that romantic tug-of-war battlefield that every lady calls love. He was handed to me on a silver platter, and I wasn't satisfied. Call me spoiled, but my eyes are always set on the hardest, most expensive target.

While Lord Edward was not as wealthy as Duke, his game is what made him expensive. A novelty that everyone wanted to buy and show off; he was the finest there could be. Nothing would be worth showing off more than a lord that gives his love to no body. I'd be the talk of a century if I locked his heart up for my own. 

Turning my eyes to him once more, I watched as he leaned against an archway to the parlor, talking and laughing amongst a group of women eagerly trying to stand out to him. But his focus was elsewhere, to be exact, his focus was on me. I saw the sly glances, the subtle smiles every time I caught him. 

He wanted me to catch him, I was a wealthy lady that had not yet stepped into his game. This was his way of trying to get me to play, and as much as I longed to play this game, I could not in public, not like this.