Zaria stood still for a moment, her mind racing. The man was only ordering her to hold his hand, and while this was not a situation she wanted to go through, she could not think of a way out of it. Maybe if she started carrying her stun gun with her... but then she would have to run for her life after assaulting her powerful employer. Where could she get to without them finding her? It was just a hand hold. Then she looked up and saw the strain around his eyes. Living every day in pain was not something she could begin to imagine. If holding his hand while he slept would relieve him of it, then maybe she should. Maybe he would let her go if she could take his pain away.

Moving quickly to the opposite side of the bed, Zaria slid on top of the covers and positioned herself as far against the edge as she could. She stretched her arm out toward the middle of the bed, palm up, and waited for him to take it. When he did, she closed her eyes, almost immediately jerking them open again when she felt something cold and hard encircle her wrist. Looking over, she could see a thick metal manacle wrapped around both of their wrists, pressing them together. Duke Berber flexed his fingers a bit and then wrapped his hand around hers. Meeting her panicked eyes, he explained, "To keep your hand from moving away in the night."

Zaria stared at the ceiling for a long time. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the very low levels of light, and she turned her head to look at the man on the other side of the bed. His eyes were closed, and the tension in his face was gone. She tried to gently wiggle her fingers free, but the hand wrapped around hers tightened more, so she gave up and went back to staring at the ceiling.

There was plenty of time to think that night. Sleeping next to a strange person was out of the question. Every time she would drift off, her eyes would snap back open in a panic, and she would be awake once more. When morning finally dawned and the tall man opened his eyes, she could only imagine how ghoulish she looked, with deep circles around her bloodshot eyes. He did not say a word about it, removing the shackle and getting up to prepare for the day.

Zaria managed to get upright and checked the door once he was gone. It was unlocked, and she heaved a sigh of relief before going about her duties of cleaning the room. The task took longer than it should have since she was stumbling due to exhaustion, but it was only mid afternoon when she opened the door to the bedroom to leave.

A tall guard with a shaved head and skin, the color of toasted almonds was waiting outside the door for her. "His grace has asked that you return to your room for now. Food will be brought to you shortly."

A short nod was all she could muster. When she returned to her room, she laid down on the hard mattress and fell asleep right away. There were no dreams because she woke up less than half an hour later to a knock on her door. Matron Teague bustled in, carrying a tray laden with food. Zaria's tired eyes opened wide as she took in the fresh looking fruits and delicious meats sitting in their own juices.

"I don't know what you did, Miss Joseph, but I haven't seen his grace this energetic since he was a young boy! He ordered all this to be brought to you so you can keep your energy up." She paused to look suspiciously at her. "You just slept?"

"I was asked to lay on the other side of the bed and hold his hand through the night. We didn't do anything else, but I still felt very uncomfortable and couldn't sleep at all." Zaria shared it openly. She had not been told not to say anything, she reasoned, and surely that guard already knew that she spent the night there. It couldn't hurt to spread around that nothing happened, just in case.

"Oh, don't be too nervous. His grace is betrothed to the Saintess Anna. He wouldn't do anything inappropriate with you. In fact, she will be arriving by the end of the week and you can meet her then! Just think of it as holding onto a little brother's hand." The kindly woman patted Zaria's hair affectionately. "Come, eat! I will keep you company."

Zaria thought of rejecting the food, but she was very hungry, so she ate a bit of everything before begging off as too tired to continue. The old woman kept her promise of company, keeping her awake until it was time for her to go and set up the evening bath. The guard once again escorted her through the halls, not allowing her to speak to anyone else along the way. Zaria immediately began filling the bath so that she would not be in the little room when the duke began to strip again. She stepped out as the duke approached the bathroom, cocking his eyebrow at her frantic flight but saying nothing as he closed the door behind him. She walked to the little chair by the window and sat down, her eyes roaming around the room and stopping at a small pile against the dresser holding a familiar looking pack.

Shaking her head in case she was confused due to the lack of sleep, the image did not change and she got up to inspect the bags. All of her clothing was neatly folded and every other item seemed to be where she left it, but she could not think of a reason for it to be there. When the lean man came from the bathroom toweling his waist length hair across one shoulder she looked pointedly at him and then at the items on the floor next to where she was kneeling.

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"Are you trying to ask me why your things are in my room?" He asked, softly laughing at her expression. "The experiment was a success. There is no reason for you to return to that little place you were staying before. You will sleep here every night to deal with my curse, and then you can relax here during the day. You can of course continue your normal work of tending to me here, but the rest of the day you can read, or sew, or whatever it is you women do that you enjoy when you have the time for leisure."

"I...," Zaria opened and closed her mouth several times before getting words to come out. "I can't stay here, your grace! A maid can't live in your room! Not only is it inappropriate as all get out, but your fiance is arriving this week! "

"It is not inappropriate if I say it isn't," he answered, stepping next to her and opening the wardrobe to get out his sleep wear. "The saintess is only marrying me for political reasons, because the crown is making her. It is a token gesture to make it appear that they are doing something to help me with this curse, when in reality it was they who had it cast upon me to begin with. The saintess has light powers which can lessen the effects to some extent, so I will naturally have to have gratitude toward the King for his magnanimous gesture. She will receive a title and access to my enormous wealth, which every woman desires. She will not care if some dreary little maid is sleeping in my bedchamber."

"But I will care," Zaria exclaimed, turning away with a shriek when the robe dropped to the ground next to her. "Oh my god, stop stripping in front of me!"

Duke Berber paused while pulling on his sleep pants. "Why?"

"I don't need to be seeing the miniature duke is why! Jeez!"

"Miniature duke? What are you talking about?"

Zaria sighed and counted to ten to control her self. After she felt she could speak politely again, she said, "Where I am from, people do not strip and show their reproductive parts to others casually. I apologize if I have offended you, but it makes me very uncomfortable."

"Hmm," he responded thoughtfully as he finished getting on his sleeping clothes. "But it is normal for servants who take care of nobles to see their body, how else would they bathe their lords and ladies?"

"I understand that," she responded patiently. "But as I have said before, I am not a maid, I am only doing the job of one to pay you back for your help. It is not something that I am comfortable with."

"Why do you need to be comfortable with my getting dressed in my own bed chamber? I would think that only I need to be concerned about that."

Zaria saw his feet walking over to the bed and climbing up onto it. Raising her eyes she could see that he was sitting against the headboard, resting as he began to read a thick book in his hands. When it was obvious that she was not getting up he sighed and closed the book on his lap, looking down at the small maid staring across the room toward the windows. " I will have someone bring in a chest for you to put your things in tomorrow, you don't have to sit guard over them."

"When I came here I had a bracelet on my wrist," she said, still staring at the windows. " I wonder if I might have that back now."

"Why do you need it?" He asked her, his brows furrowed as though perplexed by her question.

"Because it is mine, and I would like it back." Zaria did not know if she was being horribly rude or not, but she was very tired and the idea of being forced to stay in the duke's bed every night was scaring her, even if he did seem completely detached from any lecherous ideas.

"I will keep it safe for now. You don't have to worry about it." He dismissed the conversation by picking his book back up and beginning to read.

"But I do worry," she whispered to herself, dropping her head down onto her knees. In her mind she could see Gu Cheng, a hint of a smile on his face while she told him some story or another over dinner. Her eyes grew warm and she closed them to keep tears from coming out. It was just an unrequited crush, barely enough to be called her first love, but it still hurt and it probably would for some time. She hope that he was alright, that he had already realized that he didn't need her around to make his meals and keep his schedule. Two weeks was long enough that he was probably getting pulled into blind dates again. She smiled sadly, thinking of Grandpa Gu hitting him with that cane for standing up some other rich young heiress again. The old man had not been in her life for long at all, but she had ended up wishing that he really was her grandpa and that he would take care of her as adamantly as he did his grandson. A part of her brain knew that she needed to stop focusing on her memories in City C, but the rest of her brain told it to shut up because she wasn't ready yet.

The only reason that Zaria knew she had fallen asleep was that she was kicked awake not long after. She looked up with bleary eyes to find an annoyed Duke Berber standing over here where she was leaning against the wardrobe. "Get into the bed, I am ready to go to sleep."

Grumbling silently, her lips moving to let out the expletives that wanted to be shouted into his face, she leveraged herself to her feet and stumbled to the opposite side of the bed and laid down on top of the covers again. Her heart raced as she felt the manacle trap her hand again, but when nothing else happened she slowly drifted off into much needed sleep.