1 Chapter One

"Hestia, you know as well as anyone what the repercussions of failing to enter the lottery are!" Henry Montcourt was red in the face. It was a usual morning routine for him to argue with his twenty year old cousin. In fact, it was so routine that on days where his cousin had left long before the sun had risen, he felt his day hadn't started quite right.

"I understand the risks cousin, and I'm more than willing to accept my consequences should they arise." Hestia wrinkled her nose at her reflection. Her incredibly thick brown hair was the bane of her existence. To make matters worse, her cousin wouldn't stop pestering her about that damn lottery. She has bigger problems to deal with and her main priority was to tame the rat nest that insulted her at this very moment.

"You are willing to take that risk?!? On my behalf?!?! Hestia! You know what happened to the last woman who refused to enter the lottery?" Henry was fuming now.

"I know very well what happened. She refused, as a woman should be allowed to do by the way, and the guard came in the night and slaughtered her and her entire family." Throwing her hair down in frustration Hestia sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Honestly Henry, with the way things are going now, death might honestly be a blessing." Hestia stood from her vanity and looked around the tiny apartment she and her cousin shared. It was well known that the pair of cousins were far from rich. It hadn't always been that way though, their families had once been the richest of landowners in Westinia. But due to Hestia's father and uncle, they'd lost everything in a matter of five minutes during a drunken game of cards.

Hestia and Henry were left with all of the debts of the family. Hestia's' mother died from a plague a few years back and she had no siblings to speak of. Her father ran for the hills the moment the first past due bill came. Henry's own father had been imprisoned for petty charges, Henry didn't seem to mind his father's absence at all.

"Hestia, my dear most valued cousin, please in the name of the old and new God's; quit being a self righteous feminist for one second and help me!" Henry was pacing now, a habit he'd picked up in childhood.

"Self-righteous! Ha! You wouldn't know the first thing about having free will and choice, you're a spineless dog who willingly lays at the feet of his master. This is my life were talking about, this whole lottery is ludicrous! He's a king for God's sake, shouldn't he have his eyes on foreign princesses?" Hestia placed her hands on her hips and glared down at her cousin.

"Those foreign princesses have heard of our kings...temper. None of the royal families are willing to form a matrimonial alliance for that reason alone." Henry sighed and walked over to the tiny apartments window. Hestia, for a very brief moment, felt sorry and pity for the stress she'd caused her cousin. He was, afterall, the only family she had left.

"I just wish...I was more seen as an equal than a piece of meat. Our king has already gone through three wives since he began his rule. He's a tyrant, we women have a lot to lose when the stakes are this high. We don't even get a choice in the matter, and who knows how long this lottery will last." Hestia wrapped her arms around herself. The old king would have never allowed Westinia to fall so low.

But then again, the old king had found true love in his beautiful wife. The story goes that the marriage was arranged to fortify the kingdom. The court had its doubts about the arrangement, seeing as Westinia and Lorate had been enemies for centuries. But once the old king and his bride apparent had met, they felt a deep love immediately. They ruled the kingdom with that same deep love and we prospered greatly from it. But the queen fell ill during her second pregnancy. Some say she was poisoned, others say she went into labor too early and her already frail body couldn't handle it. She died two years ago this past spring, and her beloved king followed soon after.

The new king, King Edwin, succeeded his father. Everything was fine for a while, the people of the kingdom had no reason to worry. That was until King Edwin was ordered by the courts to wed a Princess from the same kingdom his mother had hailed from. Princess Johanna was just a much a beauty she'd been rumored to be. The court had assumed that the two would have fallen for one another just as the previous king and queen did. But as fate would have it, the pair were a match made in hell. Edwin was renowned for his temper and Johanna was as beautiful as she vain. It was even rumoured that the marriage had gone unconsummated for months, eventually the church had to intervene. The two divorced and not long after war was declared.

The second princess to come into the picture was kind and generous. Albeit she was not as beautiful as her predecessor. But as a country we were convinced that if anyone could love the king it was her. They divorced within two weeks of their wedding. Usually and annulment would have sufficed but the princess insisted on divorce, "to cement the separation". The third wife married King Edwin and then promptly took her own life by throwing herself from the clock tower. It was rumoured that the king had said that this wife was neither kind nor beautiful and that he would never love her. He even went as far as to describe her as ugly as a sow and as dimwitted as sloth. There was also the issue that her family had been so inbred that she was barren and her ears stuck out as far an elephants. At this point in time, as a result from these ill-fated matches; Westinia was now at war with two and a half other countries. I say half because the third wifes own motherland couldn't really blame the king for his harsh words.

Now being divorced three times, King Edwin found himself in quite the sticky situation. He needed a wife or he would forfeit his throne. The royal court was in such a state of panic, no other princesses wanted his hand and the ladies of the court refused to even consider the possibility. So the scum of society was left to step up to the chopping block, and some women were actually keen to become a queen. What girl hasn't dreamt of being a queen, having all that power and money. Oh the money! If Hestia hadn't been so prideful then the she would have been the first to sign up. But the prospect of losing her freedom and being married to a violent man made her change her mind right quick. In addition to the many women who wanted the crown, there were just as many who publicly protested against the very idea. Thus the lottery was set in place. There was a set list of women who were eligible to be married to the king, even if they'd been divorced or widowed. For the lottery to work a woman would need to put down her own "dowry". The higher amount she put down, the greater chance she had to be picked.

Of course no one really new what the correct amount of money was to put down, but to play it safe everyone decided at least a hundred would be fine.

"Hestia, you are one woman out of at least a hundred thousand that live in this city alone, forget about the whole country! What harm could it do to at least put your hat in the ring. The chances are slim to none." Henry had finally turned to his cousin. Just looking at her he could already see the wheels turning in her mind.

"Fine. I'll participate." Hestia bit the inside of her cheek as she watched the invisible weight lift from Henry's shoulders.

"Thank the Gods."

"Don't thank the Gods just yet, I'll participate but I'm going to do it my way. I will only enter one dollar into the lottery. If what you say is true, then it makes no sense to drop a huge amount of money on this." Hestia folded her arms and Henry sighed.

"So long as we won't be swinging from our necks by the end of the day, I don't see that being an issue."

"Then were agreed. A dollar for a crown." Hestia smiled as they made their way to the town square.