<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/6j5V3rI.jpg)</div>Tehr appreciated the duke's kind words, and smiled and nodded graciously as the duke caught that he'd been attempting to rebuild his family's fortunes without spending a fortune.  One their ancient and somewhat poorer house could ill afford.  While he spoke for Wynt in all manner here in Londinium, his mother was still the head of the house until she officially 'retired' and passed all control to him.  Until that day, she maintained control of the purse strings, and it was his responsibility to make sure that the funds were dispensed with in a judicious manner.   He of course would accept a position as the queen's husband, were she to ask him.  But in truth that was not where his heart lay.  While he would do so, for the greater glory of house Wynt, and for the queendom as a whole, his true interests lay in his magic.  While he knew that being the king, subordinate to the queen of course, would offer him great opportunity to advance his skills, it would also hamper him greatly.  It would mean that he'd have to shift his focus from the blue magic of sexuality into more socially accepted schools.  Further his days of being an open 'tomcat' bedding who he wanted would be over.  Certainly mistresses and secret encounters, for not even the queen himself would break him of his sexual compulsions, but openly bedding several women in one day the way he had?  That would be unacceptable for the Queen's husband.<br/><br/>He had to throw in his thoughts as his sister commented on her steel toed shoes.  "She jests of course... her boots do not contain steel tips."  He gestured down at the footwear she had on, "Though in fairness they are quite hard leather and the point they come too is wicked enough to make me wince and want to cover my bits just thinking about it."  He joined them as they laughed, but then was cut short as Christina stopped at his bedroom.<br/><br/>He sighed and shrugged, "I suppose since Miss Rosalyn is here with her father as a chaperon, it would not be untoward to show her this room."  The pretense and implication of course being that he would NEVER do so without her father there, an implication of course that was completely untrue.  But he was trying to make a good impression on these two, and letting it be known of his sexual addiction wouldn't likely be the best maneuver.  So he opened the door and gestured them in, saying "The view from the front window is quite nice."  He was glad he had such competent household staff, the room smelled of sandalwood as well as lemon and oil that was used in cleaning and shining the wood in the room.  Gone were the musky scents of passion, hidden beneath the pleasant sweet and woody fragrance.  He gestured to the erotic statue, covered by a black cloth as the foursome entered and simply said, "I warn you to steer clear of that cloth though, it is a magical project I have been working on."  Then lying he added, "It is not yet complete and the effects are rather unsettling if it is uncovered."<br/><br/>It was a risk, drawing attention to the object itself.  For it may draw curiosity and invite someone to peek, exposing the two women and the duke to the effects.  But at least it gave him deniability, were they to use it, he could claim that he warned them it was untested.  In all honesty he was not so worried about the elves as he was his own sister, who had a childlike curiosity.  But if she could behave now, in front of guests, he promised himself that he'd show it to her later... along with whatever that might entail.