Heart's Desire ((Full Story))

Heart's Desire

"You wish to obtain the Key To The Heart?" Lady Diane questioned, standing behind her desk in the spacious study of her estate.

"After all, why not? The Key should be ours. A treasure of that value is of no use in the hands of that recluse," the portly Baron seated on a nearby settee concluded.

His statement was cheered on by the echo of agreements of the fellow noblemen and noblewomen of the land.

Diane placed her hands flat against the rough surface of the desk. "You cannot acquire the Key. It does not belong to you, and there is no way Count Valarian would part with it."

The room fell silent until a skinny Duke spoke up. "Why don't we take it then?"

Diane suddenly straightened as all eyes in the room fell on her again, including those of the skinny Duke. "Why don't you take it from him? You could. You are the only one of us who could."

Diane shook her head once and kept her face free from emotion, though her heart raged. "He would never give it to me."

"We were not telling you to ask it from him like a child," a wrinkled Duchess scoffed. "You're familiar with the Count, familiar with that place. Go there and take it."

Diane's pale eyes turned steely. "I will not. The Key you seek, it is not a magic lamp or wishing star to grant your every whim. You have no use of it."

"Aye," said the portly Baron. "But the Key leads the holder to their heart's deepest desire. That alone could be worth more than all the wishes in the world."

"Exactly," the old duchess continued. "Upon having the Key, each of us will have our turn with it until we've had our one use of it." She paused to level Diane with a haughty expression. "You would not go unrewarded either. You could have your turn with the Key, and of course a monetary reward."

"Precisely," a handsome but haughty older Earl chimed in. "The other nobles and I are prepared to offer you a generous sum for obtaining the Key. That money would help with your..." He gestured around the study. "Humble conditions?"

Diane clenched her hands into fists in the folds of her skirt. Several thoughts passed through her mind, including the enticing thought of telling them off and storming out of the room, and thoughts of memories which both pained and consoled her.

Yet, it was the memory of the words her mother had spoken to her that broke through the rest, the words that had made Diane return home only six months ago. We need you here, to rebuild our legacy and restore our family name.

The fortune the nobles offered now would bring them back from the brink of poverty and restore the Roxfield home. Then Diane could leave the place for good.

With a heavy heart, she accepted the offer.

*****

The next evening, Diana and her elder brother Thaddeus rode in a carriage to Count Valarian's manor.

Diane's dread grew with every turn of the carriage wheels, but she resolved, once again, to continue on in the mission to rescue the family she detested, apart from her dear brother.

"Are you sure you wish to do this?" Thaddeus asked.

Her answer was soft and tinged with hopelessness. "I have no choice."

Thaddeus exhaled roughly. "Of course you do. I can help. I am the eldest, after all. It is my responsibility. I could ask Maria for money. It wouldn't be much, but enough to get you by for now."

Diane turned to him, hardly able to see his face in the inky shadows of the carriage. "No, Thaddeus. That is your wife's fortune. I cannot turn to charity to save our name." Only thievery, she thought with a sinking heart.