Raven-Black and Serpent-Gold

Then the memory of her sixteenth birthday rose in her mind and blocked out the pleasant thoughts with a shadow dark as a raven’s eyes—and there was nothing blacker than that. For it was on that anniversary of her birth that Randolph Fitz-Hughes arrived, handsome and dark and coarse with his raven-black and serpent-gold raiment billowing about him. He had come to buy her freedom with a pledge: The princess of Scarlettania for the safety of her country.

Fitz-Hughes knew his own strength—he had set his sights on the Princess of Scarlettania, and he would make her the Queen of Gildnoir—of his own dark, wild, forested country—if not by her will, by the blood of her people.

~The Scarlet-Gypsy Song by Rachel Heffington 

(Yes, this is the working title of my newest story.) I wanted to introduce you to the villain of The Scarlet-Gypsy Song: Randolph Fitz-Hughes.He is handsome and powerful--the ruler of a dark kingdom bordering the homeland of Cecily Woodruff--her beloved Scarlettania. 

"...Fitz-Hughes began pillaging the outer reaches of Scarlettania, spiraling inward, slowly but surely like a python wrapping its coils around its prey."

Because Cecily would not marry him, Fitz-Hughes has declared war on her country. She will be his bride, or it will mean the death of her people. He is arrogant, ruthless, bold, and swaggering. Of course when concocting a villain, one must stop and consider "Why?"
"Why does he desire Cecily?"
"What is so unique about her?"
And my answer for Fitz-Hughes springs from a very simple cause--one that has been reenacted throughout our world's history time and again: He desires her because she is the one thing he does not have. His lust for power and prestige has been immersed in ruling the country of Gildnoir. There is nothing left for Fitz-Hughes to win there, and so his roving eye rests upon the beautiful Cecily, Princess of Scarlettania. When he has won her, he will have her country under his thumb as well.
I am looking forward to writing more scenes with Fitz-Hughes. As of yet he has just been introduced through Cecily's memories of the events that transported her here, to our world. I can't wait to write him as himself in all his horrible, leering beauty. Ah yes. My pen shall be busy indeed.