THE STARLESS SKY - PART 12

Carter watched people mill about the town when a familiar face appeared in the crowd. It was his lovely Dahlia, and, as usual, she was mesmerizing. She had her hands filled with brown paper-wrapped packages as he watched her walk back toward the inn. He smiled, knowing she had spent the coins he gave her earlier this morning.

Dahlia was unaware that the measly coins she had argued with him about taking were of little significance to Carter. He was a self-made man who had accumulated a substantial fortune during his years of service to the empire, and he had tucked all of it away and only spent money when he needed to.

He had never married, did not own land, and made his living on the back of a horse fight on the battlefield. He had no place to spend or waste his money.

He really did not need to work. As it stood, he could retire now and become a Lord over his own land.