‘Is this your first time in this manor?’ he asked.

‘Hmm,’ she nodded. ‘Though at times I feel like I have been here before. Still, it has to be because this place is so beautiful,’ she grinned, waving it off.

‘Really?’ he exclaimed, his eyes gleaming. ‘Are you sure it’s not because you have been here before?’

Kamora frowned slightly, ‘Forgive me, my lord, but why are you asking me all these? You haven’t even told me your name.’

The young lord huffed, looking away. ‘You have no right to know my name.’

‘I thought we were getting to know each other,’ she pouted.

He glanced at her sideways. ‘How can you not know my name?’

‘I am new here. Everyone addresses you as the young lord. So I do not know your name.’

‘And what will you do when you know it? Would you call me by my name?’ he asked.

Kamora shrugged. ‘If you so wish, my lord.’ When he didn’t say anything, she smiled. ‘Do not worry then. I’ll keep calling you my young lord.’

She turned around and walked towards the oven to check what she was baking. The smell of the cookies had slowly permeated into the air, and Kamora took a long inhale, smiling in ecstasy.

‘Jarosh,’ the young prince said suddenly. Kamora paused, and she turned around to face him.

‘My Lord? What did you say?’

‘My name is Jarosh,’ he repeated.

Kamora smiled. ‘That is such a beautiful name, my lord.’

The young lord huffed and looked away. ‘You can call me that if you want.’

‘Really?’ Kamora exclaimed.

‘But not in public!’ he warned. ‘I do not want to seem too soft.’

Kamora laughed but nodded. ‘Okay, Jarosh.’ She said.

He looked at her again, and the strange look he had in his eyes earlier returned.

Before she could ask him about it, the door opened, and in walked Lord Maroke. Kamora quickly bowed, and Jarosh jumped down from where he sat.

‘Father, what are you doing here?’

Kamora was also curious about that. The presence of the lord overwhelmed her, over to the point of choking.

Kamora. That was his voice that called out for her in her dreams, she knew it without a doubt. It was always sensual, joyful.

And in pain.

‘I was told that you made a ruckus the other day because you wished to see me,’ he said to his son, his voice wrapping around her like the hands of a lover. ‘So I came to meet you.’

Though Kamora didn’t look up, she sensed Jarosh’s frown. ‘Why didn’t you just call for me? Why did you come all the way down?’

She felt Lord Maroke’s gaze on her, and her body shivered. ‘I heard you were busy. It was an odd thing, so I decided to check it out.’

Jarosh huffed. ‘What’s wrong with me being busy? Kamora was just teaching me how to bake cookies...’

The place fell silent, and Kamora’s heart pounded harshly in her chest, wanting to break free.

‘Kamora, you say?’ Lord Maroke said, her name rolling over his tongue like sin. She gulped and bowed further. Any lower and her head would be face flat against the counter.

‘Good day, my lord. Young Lord wished to have cookies and asked for my help in making them.’

The lord remained silent, then said, ‘Look at me. I do not like people hiding their faces away from me.’

She stood straight immediately, and once her gaze landed on him, her heart stopped. It squeezed, and cried out for him, yearned for him. She couldn’t understand why, didn’t understand the feelings raging through her.

Was this lord a part of her past life? Did he know her?

She doubted it. If he did, he would not be looking at her as if she was a mere stranger.

‘You are teaching my son how to bake, you say?’ he said, looking around the kitchen. Kamora nodded.

‘If what I perceive is your creation, then you must be very good. Though it doesn’t smell like the usual ones we eat here.’

‘It is different, my lord,’ Kamora said. ‘As it is not uncommon to those not of nobility.’

‘You are baking cookies eaten by commoners?’ he said, glancing at his son with a slight frown etched on his face. ‘I never knew my son had such... interests.’

‘How would you know,’ Jarosh grumbled, looking away. ‘You are hardly ever around.’

Kamora’s heart broke for him, and she looked at her father to gauge his reaction. Except for his slight frown, nothing else revealed that he felt guilty or hurt by what his son said. He displayed no remorse, and a spark of anger ignited beneath her skin. She clenched her fists at her side and tried to suppress her sudden anger.

The lord’s gaze shifted towards her, almost as if he could discern what she was feeling, and her heart skipped a beat.

‘I can’t deny that I am curious why you suddenly wish to eat a commoner’s delicacy,’ he said to his son, although his gaze remained fixed on her. ‘But I am pleased that you have found something worthwhile.’

He stared at his son and suddenly a calculating look crossed his face. ‘Why didn’t you simply ask Claudia? Why did you single her out from the rest?’

Jarosh’s face went blank. ‘That is for me to know.’

‘You are preventing her from doing her job. That is not very considerate of you.’

‘I merely asked for her help!’ the young lord huffed. ‘She can always go back to whatever she was doing.’

‘And what about when you need her again?’

‘I’ll call her back,’ the young lord said proudly.

Lord Maroke shifted his gaze to Kamora. ‘I have a proposition,’ he said to her.

‘Please do continue, my lord,’ she said, bowing reflexively.

He fell silent momentarily, then began. ‘Firstly, always look at me when I speak to you.’ Kamora quickly raised her head, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

‘Secondly,’ he continued, ‘what do you think of becoming my son’s personal maid?’

Kamora’s eyes widened, and the young lord exclaimed loudly, ‘Really?’

‘You will attend to every one of my son’s needs, and focus solely on him. Your chores will also revolve around him. What do you say? I won’t force you if you are unwilling.’

Jarosh turned to look at her, and though he stood with pride, hope gleamed in his eyes. She swallowed, feeling the sudden pressure bearing down on her. She thought of Claudia’s warning when she first arrived, and now she found herself confronted with the very situation she was cautioned about. Her gaze shifted from Lord Maroke to Jarosh. The past she had evaded for a while had finally caught up with her in the manor. To survive, she couldn’t evade it any longer. So, she reasoned, since fate had already set her on this course, she might as well embrace it.

Kamora released a sigh and then nodded, grinning. ‘Thank you so much, my lord, for this opportunity. I accept.’

A radiant smile illuminated Jarosh’s face, warming her heart. Above all else, the greatest reward would be the time she would spend with this young fae lord.