Love & War

Prologue.

"No! Please! What is it that you want? You're a king! There's nothing I have that you could possibly want! Please let me go — I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" Nathaniel asked.

"Yes, please, I'll do anything just spare me."

"Even betray your king?"

At the suggestion, the Duke of Highbridge went silent.

"I'll take your silence as your unwillingness to do so."

The duke still did not speak.

"I commend you for your loyalty to your king after all the beatings you've endured this night, but I fear that your efforts may be for naught ... because your king will die by the end of tonight's celebration."

At this, the duke's head shot up.

"Ah, that seemed to get your attention," Nathaniel mocked. "Have you decided to change your mind yet?"

The duke's response was to spit on the ground where Nathaniel stood.

"I'll take that insult as a 'no'," he chuckled. "It's a shame that a valiant man such as yourself has to die but you were merely a means to an end and are no longer of any use to me."

Finally realizing that he was going to die in mere moments, the duke spoke, deigning to have his last words be the simplest of questions:

"What is it that you want, you monster?"

"What do I want?" Nathaniel replied with a dark laugh before leaning in close to the duke to give him his answer.

"I want my life back."

He didn't wait for a response before using a dagger to slit the man's throat, the gurgling sound of the dying duke filling the room.

"Clean that mess up," he ordered two of his servants before turning to the rest of his men:

"Gentlemen ... Let's go to a party, shall we?"