For the Love of a Duke

[Daughter of Artemis]

------For the Love of a Duke------​

Thousands of years spent living in peace, ruined by a few hundred. Who would have ever imagined that the Draconic race would be lost almost completely. There once had been hundreds of thousands of dragons that soared through the skies and roamed the countryside. Now there were only a dozen and they were all in hiding. Hiding from the same creatures that they had watched spring from the primordial goo. The same creatures that they had watched over, taught and enlightened with knowledge and magic had betrayed them. The humans, the bipedal mammals had taken all their knowledge, had taken the trust placed in them for years and used it to launch a war against the Dragons that had once lived beside them as friends, neighbors, and in some cases companions.

Atella was one of the few dragons left alive. Having long since feared the mammals that others willingly shared their lives with. Her fear had driven her into the deep reaches of a vast forest where she had created a home for herself. Cutting her own spacious home, the size of five human Manors, into the rock face of a large hill found towards the west of the center of the forest. A home that had taken decades, a full century in fact to complete and furnish accordingly. In that time her forest had begun to shrink as the humans cut down the trees and hunted the same game that she until Atella feared that within the next fifty years her forest would be gone and she would join her brethren in the afterlife.

With her naturally green scales she easily camouflaged in the forest, which was why she had picked this particular forest to hide in, for there were always green, evergreen trees that hid her thirteen foot long and eight foot tall form from the hunters that now roamed the forest freely. They thought they were safe. They thought that they were the hunters in this forest. But they were wrong and every once and a while, when feeling particularly rambunctious she would show those hunters exactly who they had to mess with, though their stories of the big bad dragon never reached another’s ear for she kissed her prey and enjoyed their screams. Imagining it as her own form of revenge against her fallen brethren.

As much as Atella had come to despise the humans she needed them. Or, more importantly she needed a male. A strong powerful male as her mating season approached. And as one of the last of her kind she knew it was her duty to continue her race, even if her offspring would be cursed as half-breeds. Having failed in her many attempts before to find a suitable mate, Atella had searched the continent for a mate flying high above the ground behind the clouds so that she could not be seen, her sight allowing her to see the movement of a rodent between the alleyways of a home even as she soared nearly fifteen thousand feet in the air. This year, as her anger mounted, frustration escaladed and hunger for raw meet rose she knew it was time. Time to find a mate, and she had the perfect specimen. He was strong, intelligent and would be the perfect mate for her. With a shortage of time, it would be a month, perhaps less, before she fell into the throws of her heat, she needed to act quickly.

Thankfully, living for eleven hundred years had given her a broader knowledge in magics than some could or ever would expect. With this knowledge came her ability to transform from her true form into that of a human female. Live in plain sight, keep your friends close and enemies closer. It had been the last resort of many dragons in the centuries but many could not hold the transformation for long periods of time. Atella could. She planned to hold it for as long as she needed to, to gain the attention of the young Duke and seduce him to her bed. It would should hardly take her any time at all. With her wealth, wealth earned or stolen in her long life she would make a fine ‘bride’ for the young handsome Duke and once she had gained his favor, lured him close enough so that she could weasel her way into his heart, attain a marriage proposal she would wait until the first night of her cycle and then take the man for all he was worth before disappearing into the night never to be seen or heard from again by any in this insignificant city.

Purchasing the loyalty of a young paige she sent the boy to town two days before her arrival to buy a lovely cottage and inquire about builders willing to work through the change of season to build a small manor before returning to her. With the young boy, two hired women and an older gentlemen she rode into town inside the confines of an embroidered carriage, her long black hair tied behind her back with a green bow, her flowing gown a deep emerald color that matched her bright ethereal shining aqua eyes.

Her small parade of hired help, her show of wealth to clothe them all in the finest of silks all a deep green with red etchings, her favorite color and the color of her 'house' she arrived in town with a small entourage of people crowding around to watch as her carriage past. The attention wasn't wanted, at least from the common folk. But what gained all of their attention would soon gain the attention of the Duke she had set her sights on, of this she was sure.

 

[desertpaladin]

The duke was a exactly as she described, powerful and wealthy yet he was a bit old for human standards being in his 30's and still not with a woman after the death of his first wife. It had been a sad event, but still the man was on the loookout for a new wife to carry on his lineage, and when a boy had come to the manor door delivering a letter about a woman who was of high nobility coming to his town he could not help but be interested in meeting this woman. Taking a step outside of his library of books he looked out at the town as he heard the commotion, grinning as he saw the small parade that was made by her in his honor really. "Might be worth it to at least to see if she is worth it" he said as he stepped back inside and with the help of a few female servants he got dressed in a rather nice outfit however as he was putting on the finishing touches another servant came to the door knocking before being allowed enterance. "M'lord..." "yes I know she is almost here" "No sir..." the servant chimed back, "Actually the blacksmith Lawrence is here with the blade you requested" The lord grinned as he nodded "interesting, well let him into one of the meeting halls, one of the lesser ones of course to keep him out of the way of the lady who is coming in."

The servant nodded before hurrying away to the servants enterance where the blacksmith stood waiting with the sword completely wrapped up in cloth to keep it from getting dirty before presentation to the Duke. The servant ushered him in and had him sit in one of the lesser meeting rooms before the Duke came in. Now there was a big difference in the two and how they dressed. The Duke was dressed in easiloy some of the finest clothing in the land while the blacksmith Lawrence was dressed in clothes that were covered with many soot and other spots all over his shirt, pants and apron that he wore to protect himself from the flames. His gloves were the most worn of his attire and his boots the least. He looked at the Duke before bowing, his dirty brown hair slightly falling in front of his hazel eyes as the duke looked on with his piercing blue eyes.

Lawrence opened the cloth to present the blade. "A custom metal and gold scabbard with a leather interior to keep the blade protected when not in use. The handle is inlaid with gold and rubies," those were the two colors of the lords house, red and gold "And the blade itself' he said pulling it from the scabbard just slightly "holds your family motto etched in and then laid with gold to make it flash while not taking away from the sturdiness of the blade" he said as he put the blade back in the scabbard as the lord looked at it grinning "Marvelious work as always Lawrence..." He said taking the blade and holding it up "It is a bit heavy" he said looking at the blacksmith "Yes well..." Lawrence replied "I was trying a new technique and I think you will like it, because despite the weight..." However the lord shook his head "smelt it down, try again" "But my lord!!!!"

However the duke held up his hand tossing the blade back into the hands of its maker as he began to leave the blacksmith following "This blade took me an entire week to prepare for you... I went and did every last bit of detail myself and you are telling me to melt it down?" The duke nodded "that is exactly what I am saying" Lawrence looked even more mad as he followed "my lord you will not find a blade more beautiful or stronger than this..." But the duke waved his hand going into the main audience hall where the woman was now coming in "My lord, all due respect I will show you just how strong this blade is" And as he was surrounded by guards and as the dragoness in discuise came in he pulled the blade out and he sunk it into the hard stone floor, a feat that would have broken nearly any other blade as the guards were already pointing weapons at him before the blacksmith pulled the blade out and handed it to the duke to inspect it "not a single scratch..." and sure enough... there was none.

"Guards stand down" the duke said as he looked at the blade and he called a servant over to say "pay the man, and take out the cost of the stone that he will be replacing in my floor" he said the blacksmith fine with that as he began to leave, clearly not happy with the duke still.

 

[Daughter of Artemis]

Atella took the offered hand of the man standing upon the ground outside of her carriage. With her gloved hand she wrapped her fingers around the base of his palm and stepped from the carriage, holding the skirt of her gown as the placed the heel of her black leather tied womanly boots onto the wooden step before the cobblestone path. The small parade of townsfolk that had been watching their arrival stood back forming a bubble that bulged in the back as the path into the wooden gated area of the Manor where the Duke lived was left empty. The path flanked by a few guards standing at attention as they looked to her. Their colors…Atella noticed were in fine contradiction with her own. Gold and red to her sapphire green and red, it would do nicely. Not that she planned to stay much longer than it took for the Duke to lie with her and produce an heir…for her.

Bowing her head to Anthony, her hired man she walked briskly down the open path to the Manor her ladies following just behind her, their heads bowed as she led their way into the well decorated home. This Duke was a man that obviously liked to flaunt his wealth and his power. It was why she had easily been able to ascertain he was the perfect mate. She was a humble being and did not require more than the comfort of her own home and things that brought her pleasure, she never took more game than she needed but for now she knew she must play a role. She must play the role of a snobbish human female who too was impressed with the wealth and power of the handsome duke. It would not be a very hard role to act.

It was, however, very hard to pretend to be offended but such a brute showing of strength and courage to watch the young man plunge a sword into the stone beneath and watch the stone crack rather than the sword. It was a magnificent blade, one that had the possibility to pierce even her stronger scales. Her brisk, graceful gate came to a halt at the realization and her gloved hand rose to her mouth as if to cover back a shocked dropping of her jaw. Atella looked to the man that the guards were trying to show out of the room. He was dressed poorly his clothing smelling of soot, ash, and fire all very appealing scents to her inner beast. Still, she shook the sudden haze of arousal as she forced herself to look to the Duke as he approached. She curtsied as he neared and offered him a small smile, her hand moving to rest over her breast as she found her eyes pulled back towards the dark haired blacksmith, for obviously he was indeed a blacksmith and the human who’d crafted such a dangerous weapon. He would need to be watch, Atella decided, just in case.

“My Lord…” Atella bowed her head as Anthony stepped forward to formally introduce her to the handsomely distinguished human.

“May I have the pleasure of introducing to you my Lord, the Lady Atella Orkwood of Berkshire, last surviving heir to the Orkwood family.” It was a fine backstory as Berkshire had been a town long lost to the communication of other cities as it lay deeply incrusted in her woods.

 

[desertpaladin]

"Ah yes I know that place" the Duke said, clearly lying to try and seem like he was well informed of the world. Hell he may be good looking and rich but when it came to brains he was a bit lacking. He looked at her as he said "then I assume you already know me but introductions are always good on a first meeting. I am Duke Fredrick Gray" he gently moved over to her as he smiled taking her hand in his he kissed it politely as he said "I have to admit, it is rare to see one such as yourself alol the way in my area..." He looked her over a little, clearly having no shame as he said "Most women tend to stay in their homes... not really much for the long travels... Though considering you are the last I can understand the need" he said as he looked at her smiling a bit "So tell me... what does bring you here?"

 

[Daughter of Artemis]

Atella hid her smile as the Duke compensated for his lack of true knowledge with the lie, exageration of his own wisdom. Should he have known of Berkshire than he would have known of their lack of royalty, as the people were all very religiously intune with nature and their diety. They were all of the same station, they all worked together to survive in their environment.

"It is a pleasure, Duke Gray." Atella bowed her head her eyes looking up through the top of her eyelids as the male kissed her hand in greeting. "As I am sure you will find, my good Sir, I am not like most women and have enjoyed a great deal of travel since my father's passing. I have come here in search of a new home. Word, travels farther than you may think of the benefits of your small town. I found it very, lonesome in Berkshire, very...emotional to remain there as I had traveled even as a young woman, never having settled for the life of a true Lady. I was whimsical and rash. Now, as I have aged I find that I need someplace to settle, to call my own and Berkshire...had never been such a place. But here, I feel I might find a place where I belong." Atella raised her head, standing straight as she looked to Fredrick and then to her right, her head remaining forward as her eyes found her man Anthony.