The Duke's Bed Warmer

"We need new threads," Marguerite said at the sewing circle. "Also Lady Brennan has been using the same needle for a month. At this point, she is basically punching holes in the fabric."

Lady Brennan lifted her needle in defence. Its condition was indeed tragic.

"Let’s go to the market together," Lady Talbot said.

Excitement spread through the circle. Marguerite clapped while Lady Brennan smiled wider than Alina had ever seen. Even Lady Talbot looked happy at the idea of going to market just for shopping instead of intelligence purposes.

"I’ll ask His Grace," Alina said.

The excitement vanished. Alina couldn’t walk out of the castle gates without the duke’s permission. No one said anything because they understood.

Later, she went to Austin’s study. He was at his desk reading something.

"I need permission to leave the castle grounds," she said, stepping inside.

"Where?"

"The market with the sewing circle."

He then looked at her. She braced herself for his conditions, the guards, the escort requirements, and the lecture about safety.

"Fine," he said.

"Fine?" She asked, shocked.

"I said fine."

"You’re not going to argue? No guards? No conditions?"

"Take Lady Talbot with you and be back before it gets dark."

"Also," she said. "I want to bring Evelyn with me."

"Evelyn? The kitchen staff."

"Yes. She has been working seven days a week for six years. She deserves a break."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Stop repeating it as if it’s surprising."

"It is surprising. You said yes to everything immediately. Without a single..."

"Would you prefer I said no?"

"No," she replied. "I’d prefer consistency."

Then she shook her head, smiling.

"Never mind. Thank you," she said and turned to leave.

"Alina."

She stopped.

"Enjoy."

Her smile grew wider as she walked out.

The market was loud and alive. There were colors and laughter everywhere which was rare in the castle. The women scattered within a few minutes. Marguerite vanished into a thread stall. Lady Brennan examined needles like they were surgical tools and Lady Talbot slipped into the tavern for information.

And Evelyn stood frozen at a spice stall, staring as if she had stepped into another world.

"He actually said yes?" She asked Alina for the third time.

"Yes."

Evelyn stared at her.

"I can’t believe this version of the duke."

Alina smiled.

"Neither do I."

Alina then wandered alone leaving Evelyn to buy spices. She walked the stalls touching things she couldn’t buy. She had no money since she arrived at Ravenmoor. Because the contract covered her basic necessities like food, clothes and shelter but it didn’t cover her wants.

She stopped at small jeweller’s stall. It had simple things like brooches, combs, clasps and hairpins. Her eyes landed on a small silver blue stone hairpin. It wasn’t expensive or grand. But to Alina, who owned nothing, it was beautiful.

She picked it up and looked at it in the light. The blue stone caught the sun.

"It’s lovely," Marguerite said, appearing at her side with the thread she had bought. "Buy it."

"I don’t have money."

The realization hit her immediately. The fact that the woman who ran a sewing circle and stood up to lords at dinner didn’t have a single coin. That the contract that provided her dresses and food didn’t provide her the means to buy a simple hairpin at a market stall.

"I’ll buy it for..."

"No." Alina set the pin down. "Thank you. But no."

She then walked away towards Evelyn who was arguing with a spice seller. She joined them in the middle of the argument and was trying to understand the problem when she saw Austin at a book stall. For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating but he was real.

"What are you doing here?" She walked to him.

He looked up from the book as if finding her at a market stall was exactly what he expected.

"Buying a book."

"You have a library."

"This one isn’t in my library."

"You could have sent someone else."

"I prefer to choose my own books."

"Since when? You send servants for everything."

"Books are personal."

She stared at him as the market hummed around them.

"You followed us?" she asked.

"Get over yourself. I’m just buying a book."

"You’re the Duke of Ravenmoor. You don’t go to markets. You summon markets to you."

The corner of his mouth twitched for a second.

"Enjoy your shopping, Miss Ashworth."

He turned back to the bookseller discussing the book with the owner of the stall while she stood there looking at him buying a book in a market he had no reason to visit at the exact same time she happened to be there with her sewing circle.

"You’re so hard to understand," she said and walked back to her group.

"Was that the duke?" Marguerite said.

"He is buying a book."

"What? Doesn’t he have servants?"

"Ignore him," Alina said. "Let’s go buy some more threads."

She spent the rest of the day with her circle. They bought thread, needles and different types of fabrics while Evelyn bought enough spices to revolutionize the castle kitchen. They ate pastries from a cart and laughed at each other’s terrible jokes.

Alina saw Austin twice more. Once at the honey cart buying a jar and then near the gate, heading back up the hill toward the castle.

The group returned before dark laughing and carrying bags of supplies. Evelyn disappeared into the kitchen immediately clutching her spices like treasure while everyone else went either to their rooms or back to their duties.

Alina after putting the sewing circle supplies in her room and resting for a while went to Austin’s room for the night.

She walked towards the desk to read a document when she saw a hairpin resting there. It was the same silver blue stone hairpin she had seen in the market. She picked it up.

Did he see me looking at it at the market and bought it?

She heard footsteps in the corridor and knew it was him. Then the door opened and he stepped inside.

He saw her standing at the desk holding the pin in her hand. She held up the pin.

"You were in the market to buy a book...then what is this?"