When Angels Sin

32. A Secret Deal

Lucian

"Would you like me to wrap one of these for you, my lord?" a voice said, and Lucian realized he had absently stood before a stall selling women's jewelry. He was lost staring at one particular choker made out of black velvet, decorated with a dark red stone and dangling black chains. It would look heavenly around Daria's neck.

"Yes, I will take this one please," he smiled weakly, trying not to imagine Daria wearing only this choker and nothing else, where the dangling black chains would brush and tease the top of her naked breasts...

"Is it a gift for your lover?" the woman asked with a sideway grin. Lucian blushed, wondering if he should tell anyone he had a lover. The woman smiled knowingly when Lucian did not answer, as if reading his mind. "Is she beautiful?" she insisted and Lucian couldn't help but smile.

"Her face is as fair as the white of snow, and her hair is as red as a ruby stone," he said dreamily as he watched the woman wrap his gift for Daria.

"You must love her so much. Would you like anything else my lord?"

Lucian only shook his head as he took the gift box and handed a whole gold coin to the jewelry seller. He was just about to leave, when something suddenly tugged at his coat. Lucian flinched and Sunrise cawed, hopping off his shoulder. Lucian turned and found a little boy looking up at him with round eyes. 

"I'm hungry," the boy said. Lucian knelt down and smiled at him.

"Here," he said as he took out a gold coin and handed it to the boy. "Go buy something to eat."

"What is this?" the boy asked with a frown of disappointment as he examined the coin. "Will this buy me bread?" 

"This is a gold! It will buy you bread and much more," Lucian chuckled and the boy's mouth fell open with surprise. Apparently the child had never seen a gold coin before. He quickly closed his little hand tight around the gold coin and went running away.

As Lucian rose back to his feet, he realized that many people had watched him and now started approaching him. He knew he shouldn't be giving gold like that in public. But he did not really care. Even if Bernard found out, what was the worst he could do? Beat him again? But perhaps Lucian didn't care because he was certain that Bernard was too far away and too busy with battle to find out that he gave a gold coin to a hungry child in public.

"Sir Lucian!" someone called out. "How generous of you!"

"Young Lord, you are truly an angel," someone else said.

"Sir Lucian! My child is sick. Can you give us some gold too?" a woman said as she approached him.

Lucian didn't care anymore. He took out all the remaining pieces of gold from his pockets. In a  moment, a large crowd of humans had closed upon him and all the gold was gone in an instant as eager hands snatched it away. More humans surrounded him, pushing through each other and grabbing onto him, but he did not carry anymore gold now. He couldn't help but feel a little unsettled.

"Give us gold too!" a woman grasped his arm.

"That is not fair!" a man protested. "Giving gold to some people while leaving out the others."

"I'm sorry," Lucian said timidly. "I promise I will carry more gold for everyone the next time."

"And how long until the next time?"

"I hope my little ones wouldn't starve to death until that next time!" a woman sobbed.

Lucian's heart twisted, and a wave of guilt washed over him. He could not bear the responsibility of causing the death of this woman's children, only because he didn't carry enough gold today.