The next day in town, a knock on the door disturbed Zayne’s slumber.

"Not now!" Zayne yelled, not ready to start the day. "Let a man rest," he muttered.

Zayne rolled onto his back, trying to get more sleep, but another knock was heard.

Zayne muttered a string of curses under his breath before opening his eyes to the dark chamber. "They never listen," he said, forced to get out of bed. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Zayne sat up in bed and dragged his feet over to the door. He opened the door to face a maid. "What is it?" He asked, his hand gripping the door.

"A letter from the warden," the maid handed Zayne an envelope.

Zayne snapped out of his drowsiness and took the letter from the maid’s hands. "My uncle? What does he want now?" He questioned, afraid of opening the envelope. "Carry on. Wait, I have never seen this maid before," he said, eyeing the stranger.

"The head maid employed two new maids and a gardener. I am to show her around. Introduce yourself."

"I am Iris Wilk- Johnson," Iris said, quickly correcting her last name.

"Leave us," Zayne instructed the other maid. "You hesitated on your last name. If you lie to me and I find out, it won’t be pretty for you. What is your story?"

Iris wished the man before her would carry on with his business and stop minding her own. She finally found a good job which could keep her hidden from her mother.

"There isn’t a story to be told," Iris replied, keeping her head down.

Zayne leaned against the door frame, examining the young woman before him. "You look young. Is this your first job?"

"No," Iris replied, unwilling to share the truth with a stranger. "I have worked on other homes before."

"You’re not a very good liar, and you think avoiding my gaze means I won’t be able to pick out your lies. Let me take a guess," Zayne said, considering the reasons Iris left home. "Did you run away from home? Are you an orphan? Did you get married against your family’s wishes, and now you must work?"

Iris raised her head, annoyed that Zayne kept prying.

"There it is. Finally, a truthful reaction from you," Zayne said, amused by Iris’s glare. "You can stay as long as what you are running from doesn’t drag me into your troubles. Did you kill anyone?"

"No," Iris answered.

"Did you steal from your last employer or have a nasty affair?"

"No, and why would the latter concern you? You are not married or engaged," Iris said, but bit her tongue. "I’m sorry for stepping out of line," she apologised.

"No, no. I happen to like honesty, but to answer your question, I am a man with morals, and I don’t need that kind of drama within my home. This is my castle," Zayne said, stepping back into the bedchamber. "I like to have peace."

"Is peace... darkness?" Iris questioned, still puzzled by the darkness. "Are you blind?"

"If I were partly blind, why would I keep the estate dark? To make the servants live like me? To torture them because I am angry with the world?"

"I do not know, that is why I was asking, but forgive me. It was my fault for prying," Iris replied, yearning to get back to her training.

"My home is dark because I prefer it to be that way. When you enter the bedchamber, if I am asleep, don’t pull the drapes to the side to let the light in. Don’t call for me. Just tidy the chamber and be on your way until it is time for me to be served food."

Iris’s brows knitted as she didn’t understand the fine details she was being told.

"If I am lying still on the bed, I am not dead. If you are loud, I will have you fired. Do we understand each other?" Zayne questioned, pushing the door open for Iris to enter the chamber.

"I do, but why have you shared this with me? I have been instructed to work on cleaning the other chambers, and warned that your bedchamber is off limits," Iris repeated the rules. "Now, you are telling me what to do about your bedchamber. Am I allowed to enter?"

"Yes, because I am now assigning you to tend to my chamber. You look like you don’t want anything to do with me. You’ll be in and out, which is what I need. I also need to keep a close eye on you, Iris Wilks," Zayne said, turning his back to Iris as he walked into the bedchamber. "Wilkins?" He asked, facing Iris. "Are you a Wilkins?"

"No," Iris shook her head. "It was a mistake with my last name."

Zayne raised his brow, sensing another lie. "Are you related to Eloise Wilkins? I haven’t heard of many with that name besides her family. Did Damien send you here to toy with me? Did he send you to see that I am well?"

"I have not spoken to Lord Hawthorne since I last visited his estate-"

"Ha!" Zayne exclaimed, pointing his finger at Iris. "You are her relative. I was thinking you remind me of someone. What relative are you? You must be the daughter of the man who stole from her. What brings you here?" He asked, considering sending Iris away.

"Neither Lord nor Lady Hawthorne know that I am here. When I heard of the job, I didn’t think of how close you are to the Hawthornes. I wasn’t thinking," Iris confessed, realising her mistake. "Everyone knows you are his friend, so I should, but I just wanted to work. I thought I could blend in."

"If I am fired, can you please let me go without saying a word to them? I don’t want to disturb them. I only want to work and have somewhere to rest," Iris said, toying with her fingers. She didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Anyone Iris turned to now would send her back to her mother.

Zayne sighed. He tilted his head back as he weighed the options. "Fine. You may stay as long as you don’t cause any trouble."