He saw her. In his mind's eye, in the flickering flames of the torches in his mansion, in the shadows cast by the statues and the curtains, he saw her. Dancing, passionate, swaying her hips, moving her body in a way that should be- that was- illegal. Yelling, screaming, shaking her fists, cursing him and to hell and back in Italian, angry tears running down her face as her father burnt. Swearing in language that even a Gypsy girl shouldn't use, promising that he would burn, oh yes, he would burn for what he had done.

So different than her younger sister, the one who sang while Lovina danced. That one had cried, cried like so many others as their loved ones were lost to the inferno. But it wasn't the little sister's angelic face he saw when he looked through a window at the people in the town below. Hers was the face that made so man stop and toss coins at them, but it wasn't the one that occupied his every waking moment. It was the darker face, surrounded by a mass of curling raven hair, golden eyes promising all the torments of Hell to him, that enticed him, that disgusted him, that challenged him.

How could he, Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, one who carried out the verdicts of the Church, be so weak as to want her? Lovina, who had bit and kicked and scratched at the guards, trying to save her father, who was beyond all help. He wasn't supposed to crave things like this, lust after a common Gypsy girl, a dirty Gypsy girl. It was wrong, and he knew it, but…

It was she! She was a witch, that Gypsy girl, who had cursed him to want her like this, her with her sly eyes and dangerous smile and taunting words… he had to have her. He had to. But she would have no reason to stay, not now, her father was dead… He could charge her with a crime of her own, and offer her his proposition instead of the death penalty…

But no, the stubborn woman would probably choose death. Well, he would just have to find something she valued then, something she would do anything for… Wait- brown eyes, auburn hair- her sister! That was it. Antonio grinned maliciously, planning it out. He would arrest the sister, then Lovina would come to beg, to get her sibling out of jail, away from death. And he would give her a choice, to be his and his alone, or to have her sister's death weighing on her head. Not much of a choice, really, but one that he knew she would accept. She had to.

After all, it had been a long while since Antonio had had a real challenge.

Authoress' Random Ramble

This is inspired from this: http : / www . fanfiction . net /s/5979585 /18/ La_Principessa_y_el_Matador

and yes, I asked the authoress and got permission to use this idea ^^

if you have any suggestions for other characters and who they should be in my little semi-AU here, please review and tell me :D

less than three. less than three