Nolan was not particularly pleased by our late arrival, but it was not until a week later that he called me into his office, with Marion being our only other company.

“I have heard a rumor,” he said as I shut the door behind me, “about a woman who commanded a giant and delivered a thieving bandit to the city of Lumin.” My jaw tensed, a twitch the only sign that I was affected by what he said. “I would assume that is my daughter they speak of.” Again I refrained from responding, letting the assumption be made, but not affirming or denying. “Pray tell, why was my daughter, my most prize possession, in the sights of a bandit?”

I was perturbed by the way he called Autumn a possession. “She was never in any danger during her ride, Lord LeBlanc.”

His lip curled at the way I did not directly answer his question. “I am finding it hard to trust that she is truly safe.”

“Lord, I assure you that in my care, she could be no safer.”

“Ha!” he laughed, but there was no joviality in the sound. “Who protects her from you?”

“Nolan,” Marion cooed, her hands coming from behind him to rest on his shoulders. “Do you not think you are getting a bit ahead of yourself? Autumn is within our home; she is safe.” He grumbled but seemed to relax. “I, myself, need to turn in for the night. I am going to have Seth escort me.” As Nolan’s face shifted, she added, “we woman should never have to fend for ourselves.” I watched Nolan’s eye twitch as he realized he could not deny her escort without admitting that women could fend for themselves or doing it himself, neither of which he seemed inclined to do.

Marion moved out from around his desk and I opened the door for her, bowing slightly, to keep up appearances. When we were alone, she sighed. “He thinks you are going to woo Autumn away from the path he sees for her.”

“Woo?”

Marion’s face sagged into a sad expression as she shook her head. “Women are so susceptible to the influences of men that she will not even know that you are taking her for yourself,” she said in a tone that matched her expression.

It took me a moment to realize she was pulling my leg, imitating what Nolan might say. “He is on to my nefarious plot,” I sighed. “So, what am I twisting her away from?”

“Roland. She is staying from him, towards you, in Nolan’s eyes.” I think my confusion must have been plainly written on my face. “I cannot say that she was ever truly on that path, but, you certainly are more appealing to her. You are a choice she would be making, to start.”

“I shall have to make myself appear more feminine and then I will not be a lure,” I joked, my statement’s irony holding its own humor for me.

“It would not change her view of you,” she said. Her tone was serious and oddly knowing, making me want to backpedal away from the conversation.

“So, what has given him the idea that I am influencing her?” We were nearing the private quarters and I knew we would soon be in the presence of the night guards that stood vigilant outside each room worth guarding.

“She is smiling a lot more, has not complained in three days, and is adamant about garden walks.”

I lifted my brow. “And that is proof enough that she is poisoned by the likes of me?”

“Why not just try to keep your alone time more alone,” Marion suggested with a smile. With that, we were in sight of her room. “Thank you for your assisting me to my room.” I bowed in response.

~*~

I found Autumn in the morning and escorted her to break her fast. She brought her meal to the study, under the pretense that she would be awaiting her tutor. We were relatively alone, but there was plenty of reason for sudden intrusion. “I hear that my father spoke to you last night.”

“He did, Lady,” I said, knowing it would result in the miffed look that Autumn then wore. She did not like when our status difference was vocalized. It did not sit well with her. However, it was my way of letting her know that we needed to keep up pretenses.

“And, what did he have to say?” Her tone was neutral.

“He was concerned about your ride a week ago. He heard a rumor.”

“Oh?”

“About a woman who ‘commanded a giant’.”

She looked up from her food, concern coloring her eyes. “And what did you tell him of this woman?”

“I did not tell him about how she threw the first punch, so to speak.”

A snort broke our charade and we grinned together, before each struggling to regain our composure. “Was there anything further?”

“Yes, he seemed concerned that we spend too much time together, Lady.”

She groaned, rolling her eyes. “That is his own fault.”

“It is not my place to say.” At that point, I was mostly poking fun at her dislike at the situation.

“What do you suggest we do?”

“Your mother suggested we be more private.”

Her brow raised. “Mother approves of our behavior?”

“So it would seem,” I replied with a grin.

“I do not have studies tomorrow,” she offered.

“I have duty every day. I do not know if I will be able to get it off.”

She chuckled. “So you will be all mine?”

I felt warmth in my chest invoked by her phrasing. “At your service,” I said, keeping with the charade to hide the way her words affected me.

“Perhaps that is all we need,” she said, her eyes distant, thoughtful. I recognized that she was plotting.

I was forced to wait patiently until the next day to find out her plans. I went to her room, but was directed to the bathing room by a maid who had set about cleaning her room. I was confused, but it just became harder to comprehend as I arrived. Two guards stood outside the entrance, barring my way. “No one is to enter,” one said, his voice monotone. I did not recognize the guard, nor his companion, but was saved having to explain myself by Autumn opening the door.

“He is permitted, but no one else. He is my bodyguard, after all.” The two moved aside, letting me pass. I hesitantly entered the chamber.

The chamber was comprised of two separate rooms. The first was a room that was more similar to a sitting room, but had standing screens for the purpose of changing behind. The room was for getting oneself ready for special occasions after bathing. Beyond it was a room with a massive sunken bath. I had never been in either room, but the lay out had been explained when I was getting a rundown of the manor’s layout.

“No one is to enter,” Autumn repeated the man’s words, smirking.

“Clever,” I offered.

“We can talk without the charade,” she exclaimed, grinning.

“Are you supposed to be bathing? Is that going to happen while we talk?”

“It was not within my plan, but if you would like, we could soak in the water.” My breath hitched. She was offering something I had not expected. I wondered if I had missed some step in our relationship. “The water gets cloudy, so, as long as I enter first, we are just two people sharing a bath. It has plenty of room.”

“Um, maybe another time,” I declined, the idea of my being nude not sitting well with my image as Seth.

“I look forward to it,” she chuckled, and I felt my stomach flip over. Did she know how much it hurt to say no? I knew my liking for her was expanding.

She moved to the couch, sitting down. I slowly moved to sit across from her. “So,” I said, but my voice died as my thoughts lingered on the idea of being in the bath with her.

“We have to come up with a better way to live,” she prompted.

“Yes! Your father is wary.” My brows furrowed as I recalled our predicament. We saw each other as our only companions in the smothering grip of our own statuses. Our time to talk was our only escape from these confines, but our statuses did not even allow for that to be easy.

“Why was it that he got all concerned about woman and bodyguard being together?”

“Um, he thinks I am going to influence you away from Roland.”

“Huh,” she let me wait for her thoughts. “He could be more wrong.”

“Excuse me?”

“I think I have been fairly clear,” she stated.

It felt both straight forward and convoluted. “Could you say it plainly?”

“I thought your biggest muscle was your brain,” she chuckled, unperturbed by the conversation.

“Yes, but sometimes it overthinks things, this being a grand example.” There was a tightness in my chest. I had been receiving hints, I knew, but I always overwrote them with new meaning.

“I like you.”

“And I like you. That is why we are able to share conversation.”

When she blinked, it held for a moment longer than normal, in time with her breath being held before sharply released. “I find myself attracted to the possibility of viewing our relationship as something other than comradery or even friendship.”

“Oh.” My brain had halted, momentarily overloaded by what seemed like something suddenly thrown on me, but as I began to cycle through the events of the past days, I began to conjure incidents where Autumn’s hand lingered on my back or the seemed to be smiling without cause while meeting my eyes. I was aware of my own feelings, but had not considered them a possibility.

“Is that as far as your overthinking goes?”

I chuckled, broken from my own overwhelm enough to recognize that I felt strongly enough to forgo my own fears, at least at this point. “I do not know that I would have put it so well, but I feel the same.”

She grinned. She rose, her movements like a cat, stalking towards me. I rose to meet her, as we collided in an embrace, our lips tangling, further communicating our feelings, in a way that words could not. I felt a weight I did not know I was baring lift off of my shoulders.

When we split, there was a silence that lingered between us. “We are really going to need to find a solution,” I murmured.

“No one enters my rooms at night,” she responded, her breath playing on my neck.

“I am included in that,” I chuckled.

“But you could get by the guards, right?”

It took me a moment to understand what she was implying. “It would not be easy.”

“Are you willing to do it?” She was looking up at me with a pleading expression.

I had already decided I was, nodding to convey the message. Which is how I found myself at the corner of the hall that led to Autumn’s room, later that night. The night guards could not see around the corner. With that in mind, I pulled at my magic, tugging it into my body, forcing my world to expand rapidly, until I stood half as tall as the trimming that lined the bottom of the walls. I peeked around the corner, noting that my journey had expanded from about ten paces to a sizeable hike. I kept myself close to the trimming, walking the distance while the whole time looking up at the gigantic men that stood guard over my destination.

The closer I got, the more strained my nerves became. I did not like being at such a great disadvantage, even though the men had no inclination that I was there. All it would take was one wanting to shift their gaze, studying the floor for a new pattern, and my predicament would become far worse. I made myself smaller, less noticeable, and eventually my journey took me passed the boots to the first man. The sole of his boot reached further into the air than I. I was just glad to see the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door. Passing over the threshold brought me to the next leg of my journey – traversing Autumn’s room.