“My lady,” Helena said, opening the door to Maude’s room.

“Again?” Maude asked. It had been a few days since she’d decided to try to avoid Jaspar as much as possible. Every single night since then, he’d invited her to have dinner with him three nights in a row.

“Again,” Helena said with a nod.

“Tell him not tonight,” Maude said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll take my dinner in my room as usual.”

“Very sorry to inform you of this, but unfortunately that won’t be possible,” Helena said with a small bow.

“What do you mean?” Maude asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

“Duke Rosenberg asked me to inform you that this time it’s not a request, it’s a command.”

Son of a...!Maude thought. The contract she’d signed in the training yard came to mind, which had specified that so long as she obeyed the duke’s commands, she was welcome to stay. He’s just using it to his advantage now, she thought.

“Fine,” she replied with a sigh. “How much time do I have until I need to be at the dinner table?”

“Just a few minutes,” Helena answered.

Maude looked down at her velvety peasant style dress. “Do you think I am presentable enough?” she asked. “Who else is going to be dining with us?”

“It’ll just be you and his grace,” Helena answered. “And do you have a choice if you are presentable enough?” Helena gestured that Maude should follow her.

Maude sighed and stood up. She slid the slippers off of her feet and stuck them into the flats instead. “You’re right,” she grumbled.

It was not as though the duke had seen Maude in a less presentable state. Multiple times when she’d tried to escape, she had been wearing a thick nightgown. Maude felt a flush creeping up her neck at the thought. Things are different now. Maude thought. I want him to be impressed by me now.

Helena led Maude down several hallways in a twisting path that Maude knew she would have gotten lost in. It would probably take years before Maude would ever feel confident navigating it on her own.

The ever present Jakob trailed behind them as they walked. Maude noticed a couple of times that Helena looked back at him and smiled. Color filled Helena’s cheeks. She looked as though she was on cloud nine. Maude felt a pang in her heart. Her stomach churned. If only it could be that simple for me and his grace. If only I could act like a cute girl who’d just fallen in love for the first time.

I’ll ask her later if there’s something going on between the two of them, Maude thought.

“Here we are, my lady,” Helena said, opening one of the dining room’s double doors. “Please enjoy your dinner.”

The room was by far the most lavishly decorated room Maude had seen in the whole manor. There was a jewel covered, ornate, golden chandelier that hung directly over the center of the dining table. The table itself was luxurious. It was a beautifully finished slab of wood that still had the bark around the edging. A luxurious royal blue rug ran the length of the table, covering up the stone floor. The ceiling was painted with what most certainly would be considered master artwork of little angel cherub babies, all of different colors, shapes, sizes and expressions on their faces.

“Wow,” Maude breathed. Though her family was the same standing as Jaspar’s in the empire, it seemed as though the Rosenbergs were far more established in their role as nobility than the Holloway family was.

At the head of the table, far from where Maude had entered the room, sat Jaspar. Hot plates of food were laid out in front of him.

“Lady Maude,” he said with a warm smile. “So glad you could make it tonight.” Maude smiled tightly at him. “Come have a seat next to me,” he said, standing up, and pulling out a chair that Maude knew would normally be reserved for the lady of the house.

Her heart skipped a few beats. This man sure knows how to test my resolve, she thought. She sat in the chair, and he helped her push it in so that she was sitting closer to the table to eat.

Jaspar began to put food on her plate. She was surprised that he was doing it himself, but he seemed completely unfazed. “So, Lady Maude,” he said. “How have you been lately? I feel as though it has been a few days since I’ve seen you.”

Maude swallowed hard. So he had noticed that she was avoiding him. She wasn’t too terribly surprised that he had, as she’d probably been a bit too obvious about it, but she did feel her stomach twisting up. I didn’t expect him to be so direct, so quickly, she thought.

She cleared her throat, trying her hardest not to squirm in her chair. “Ah, things have been going well. For you, Duke Jaspar? How have things been going for you?”

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He gently placed her plate down in front of her, then grabbed his own, filling up his own plate as well. “They have been going well for me too. Though, I have been missing my friend, Lady Maude. It seems as though she’s been trying to avoid me the last few days.”

Maude’s eyes met his. Her heart jumped into her throat as soon as they did. Much to her chagrin, rather than seeing anger in his eyes, he just looked hurt instead.

He placed his plate down on the table, and sat down in his chair. “Any idea what that might be about?” he asked her. “I asked her to have dinner with me three times, and she refused. I heard she was in the library, so I went there to see her, only for her to leave almost as soon as I got there. The next morning, I was training in the yard, and felt overjoyed when I saw her coming. Only for her to turn around and leave when she saw me! The next morning I requested a duel with her, only to have her maid turn me down and claim her lady was still sleeping. Do you have any idea what I could have possibly done to deserve this treatment?”

Okay, maybe I was a bit too obvious, Maude thought. The number of times I’ve had to actively avoid someone in my life are few and far between. It had been nearly impossible not to be obvious about it. Every time she’d seen him over the past few days, her heart felt as though it had grown wings and was threatening to take off, right out of her body. Even now, with the intensity at which he was looking at her, she could feel her mind filling with hope.

She broke eye contact with him. “Ah,” she replied. “So you noticed.” It took all of her willpower to repress most of a blush that was threatening to come through. She felt her cheeks warm a bit anyway.

“Only a fool would not have noticed something so obvious,” he replied, his voice dripping with disdain.

“I was worried that I was troubling you by taking up too much of our time,” she lied. Immediately, she regretted lying to him. She felt as though lava was being poured inside of her stomach. “Lady Cristyne pointed out to me at the tea party that as the duke, you are a very busy man, your grace. I was starting to feel worried that you felt obligated to take care of me, and check up on me, so I started to avoid you when I saw you.”

Jaspar narrowed his eyes, looking at her. She looked away again. She fidgeted with her hands under the table. Of course he wouldn’t believe her. It wasn’t even that believable of a lie! He had every right to be suspicious of her words.

“Well, I want you to stop worrying about that,” he replied. Maude looked at his face again. It still did not seem as though he fully believed her, but instead had decided that he just was not going to pry any further. “I’m an adult,” he continued. “And I can manage my own time without you having to manage it for me. I may be busy, but if I have time to seek you out or have dinner with you, I’d rather you not deny me the pleasure of your company over fears about my workload.”

Maude’s heart skipped a beat at the idea that Jaspar might enjoy her company even in the slightest.

“Do I make myself clear?” he asked.

“Crystal,” Maude replied.

“Wonderful,” he replied, smiling and digging into his food. Maude followed suit. “Just go back to acting as you did before,” he said. “I enjoy your spunky self.”

Spunky? That’s a new one, Maude thought.

She nodded at him in agreement. “I will do my best, your grace.”

His smile widened. “I’m fairly certain I’ve already told you once before, but please just call me Jaspar. We are friends now, after all, Maude.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest. This is an absolute disaster, she thought. There is no way I’m ever going to stop having feelings for this man if he keeps smiling at me and insisting I call him by his name only.

Despite the tidbit of nausea she was still experiencing from lying to Jaspar, the food went down easily, with Maude enjoying every bite.

“My compliments to the chef tonight,” she said.

“I am very glad to hear you’re enjoying the food that much,” he replied with his warm smile on his face. “You brought up Cristyne. How are things going with her? Are you still enjoying society life?”

“Things are going well,” she replied. “Cristyne invited myself and Lady Melissa Wright to a private tea party the other day and it was lovely,” she paused, attempting to daintily pat her mouth with her napkin. “I’m still getting the hang of things, though. And it’s very different from how I’ve lived my life thus far, so I struggle a bit.”

He nodded, sipping some water out of his glass. “I understand. High society isn’t really my thing either. Unfortunately I can get away with a lot more, what with being a man and all, but I often find it tedious and dull.”

Maude nodded. “It’s not so much, tedious and dull for me yet at this point, more so as it is I lack understanding as to why things are done the way they are. I find the social decorum dreadful.”

He chuckled. “Yes, the society woman’s way of speaking and going about things is one of the most confusing things,” he agreed.

“They all seem direct but are usually asking things while having ulterior motives. It is all just too subtle for me,” Maude replied.

He nodded. “Well, nonetheless, I am glad that you are enjoying Cristyne and Lady Melissa’s company,” he said.

“Very much so,” Maude said with a nod. “How is the war going?” she asked, changing the subject.

“It is going well,” he answered. “We are fairly evenly matched with the empire, so we are working on coming up with some strategies to help see some gains.”

“Ah, I see,” she replied. She couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. His answer was so vague that it almost seemed as though Melissa and Cristyne had known more about the war than he did.

“Have you been able to track down a newspaper from the empire?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he admitted. “I’m still trying to get my hands on one for you still. I still plan on keeping you updated of anything I think you will find interesting, there just hasn’t been much change since the last time we talked,” he said.

“Alright,” Maude replied. “Then I suppose I’m looking forward to hearing more when there is more to tell.”

“Have you been training much lately?” Jaspar asked her, before wiping his face with his cloth napkin. Maude felt herself being mesmerized by the motion and drawn into his lips.

She shook her head at both herself and his comment. “Only a bit recently,” she admitted. “For a while there I was so busy with etiquette and dancing lessons that I did not have much time to practice.”

He nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “Would you be interested in training with me again one of these mornings?” he asked.

Maude could hear her heart beating in her ears, and memories of the last time she’d trained with him came to mind.

This is dangerous, she thought. If I train with him again, there will be no going back. These feelings will be solidified. She swallowed hard. I want to avoid him, but I just told him I won’t.

She met his eyes, “Sure,” she replied, “I’d love to sometime.”

She knew that she had just sealed her feelings, and very possibly, her doom, if Fronica Von Wickten had her way.