Everything Has A Price

Chapter 1

Dalian sat in the corner, desk tucked to the side, as he flipped a silver coin into the air over and over, watching the light shimmer over polished metal.

The girl perused among the antique wares. The shopkeep, she noticed, was clearly bored by her presence and quite nearly as bored as herself. Stopping at a small glass shelf, she bent over slightly, her hand reached for the small but ornate rounded brass container. Her fingers pinched over the age-discolored metal knob atop the lid and lifted. "What is-?"

Without her even realizing it, he had moved, a whisper so fast her eyes hadn't caught it at all. Dalian's hand pushed down over her's, closing the container once more just as the first note of a breathy wail sounded.

"Not that one."

Her eyes lifted to stare at him, the honey brown strands of her bangs cutting her line of vision. Handsome, deceivingly young looking. His coy smile that played teasingly at his lips. Her mouth moved, a small questioning sound escaping, quickly cut off by his other hand pulling the small golden trinket from her.

"Unrequited Love. Gotta be careful; it's contagious."

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Dalian placed the brass container back onto the glass display shelf but, this time, much higher up. Then he looked down at the woman, he'd guess early 20s at best, who was several inches shorter than himself. Brown hair that shone golden when light directly hit it, curved down along her cheekbones with bangs so long they nearly overshadowed her eyelashes.

"What's your name, sweetheart?"

"My name?" An echo, shy and wavering.

"Name. Today." Dalian resisted rolling his eyes. Every young girl that came in and wandered his shelves seemed to lack a backbone. The only evidence of a spinal column being that they entered the store at all.

She seemed to buckle down into herself even further as she shrunk at his tone. "Candice."

Finally. Why was that always so hard? Dalian sank his hands into his pockets. "Alright, Candy-Cane, well this shop-"

"Candice."

Dalian paused. Maybe not such a spineless little girl after all? He let a coaxing smile lift the side of his mouth. "Candice." He paused, seeing if she would correct him again in some way but she didn't. "What exactly are you looking for?"
"Anything, I suppose." Candice's hands wrinkled together before her as she squeezed one set of fingers with the others.

Dalian's tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth as his eyebrows lifted. "Anything? That's a bit open-ended." He twisted on the ball of his foot and headed back to his corner desk, sliding with the chair as he sat once more. "Then the grand question would be - what do you plan to pay for it with? I take local currency, precious metals or stones, though I'm pickier about the stones, broken hearts, and secrets." He glanced up, adding, "But only good secrets. I have no need of what siblings stole or tattled to their mother."

Candice had followed him to the desk in back that acted as a store counter, ledger book draped open and register to the far end, so dusty from disuse it had cobwebs covering half the keys. Her eyes wandered somewhat, falling on the shopkeep once again. She frowned at his directive. "What secrets could someone possibly offer that would not be deemed so childish?"

Dalian leaned back in the chair, running his left fingers through his dark hair, the longer strands slipping through. "Some people kill to keep secrets."

Candice's nose scrunched up at the idea.

"Alright, well, maybe not you."

"If someone tells you such, how would that help them if it's then no longer a secret?"

Dalian shrugged. "Not their secret anymore. I hold it and for them, it's as if it never happened." He rocked forward in the chair, crossing his arms over the counter in front of him, his shoulders lifting with the movement and his voice dropping to a whisper. "How many memories you think a grown adult wants to never remember? Not everyone's life is peachy, Princess."

"Candice."

Dalian frowned at the second correction. "Fine, Candy-Cane."

"I told you my name is Candice."

"Not anymore. I tried to give you 'Princess' instead but you refused. Now you're back to Candy-Cane."

Candice frowned deeply. Her fingers curling into a twisted fist, heat flaring her cheeks. What nerve! "You, sir, have not even yet given me your name."

A cocky grin returned to his lips and he rose slightly from the chair, leaning forward on his crossed arms and smirking directly into her face. "Manners are for customers who can pay."

Her jaw went slack at his sheer audacity.

Dalian watched her mouth move like a fish for a moment. He was sure she was floundering for some kind of etiquette that would make him suddenly spill his entire background. As if. When the first note of sound began to escape her at last, he decidedly cut her off. "Listen up, Candy-Cane. You got something you want to barter with - great, let's hear it. If you don't, take a business card," Dalian let his smirk fall completely and his voice took on a knife's edge, "and kindly get the fuck out."