Aggie looked at the collapsed body of her new… Servicer? Whatever that was. He seemed harmless enough as he lay crumpled on the chamber floor of her future husband.

Even Sean O’Farrell seemed somewhat surprised at the unconscious man, and looked as bewildered as the two women in the room.

“Did you… Do it right?” Aggie hadn’t fully realized she had asked the question out loud until she heard the sharp reply.

“I followed the script exactly. This must be a side effect of the bonding.” Despite his bravado, Lord O’Farrell didn’t sound as certain

“Do I have to wait until he becomes conscious…?” Aggie shifted her knees, the stone was bruising them further with every passing moment.

Sean O’Farrell leaned down and offered his hand without pausing, and Aggie thankfully took it.

“Return to your chambers, I will send for you for dinner.” Lord O’Farrell said this order while staring at the still unconscious Servicer.

“Could I perhaps stop by the library first?” Aggie had asked the question before considering the weight of such a request. Under normal circumstances it would’ve seemed harmless, but Sean O’Farrell had proven to be a man capable of overreacting to anything.

“You read?” His tone was cruel, and before Aggie could stop herself, she rolled her eyes.

“I’m naïve, not stupid.” She snapped aggressively.

The silence that followed her quip was weighty, and Aggie knew she should be the one to break the silence with an apology.

“Your insolence is-” Lord Sean O’Farrell was ready and waiting with his scathing criticism when Aggie had begun to open her mouth, so she cut him off.

“Your condescending tone is oppressive and degrading. My Lord.” Aggie knew her outburst was beginning to run away with her, that hadn’t been the apology she was meaning to put forth.

“Despite being young and impulsive at times, I am educated, and to think otherwise would suggest you were ridiculously misinformed about me.” That shut him up for a moment, but even so, Aggie had the sense he was choosing his words carefully as he narrowed his eyes.

“You are rude, unaware, and presumptuous.” Lord Sean O’Farrell took two steps towards Aggie, invading her personal space, and forcing her knees to buckle in an effort to stay steady under his dark expression, which was already a challenge as her legs were already shaky after being sick.

“I’ll work on that.” Aggie answered without any note of the sarcasm that she felt in her heart. He eyed her face for several more minutes as though making more calculations, but the effort of staying upright for Aggie was beginning to churn the acid in her stomach again. She couldn’t help the sweat that beaded at her brow as she fought the urge to be sick a second time. What in the hell had the shitfest ceremony done to her?! She felt as though she was about to throw up her life essence.

It was Lord O’Flannery’s turn to roll his eyes as he exited his own chamber, leaving Aggie to gasp, and clutch her stomach in privacy.

“For Gods sake Kathleen, what in the fiddler’s fuck did he do to me?!” Aggie never remembered shouting those words, and yet they had exited her mouth all the same before she collapsed to her knees again, and then careened over, narrowly missing the puddle of vomit in front of her.

*

Aggie stirred slowly in her new bed as she began to rejoin the land of consciousness, and hoped that her memory of the bonding ritual had been a terrible dream. She didn’t want a living shadow with her everywhere she went. A governess had been annoying enough, and the dark eyed man with his black hair was only another chain added to her life.

She opened and closed her eyes slowly, and stared… at the sleeping form in the large armchair beside her bed.

The Goddamn Serciver.

“Ms. Kathleen!” She called desperately as she watched the Servicer snore with his mouth open. “MS. KATHLEEN?!” She hollered more frantically not waiting for a response to her first call.

“Mistress-” She heard the familiar voice from the other side of her bedside. Kathleen rose from the chair she had sat in for the past 4 hours as the Mistress and Servicer had slept deeply. She’d had had a lot of thinking and worrying to do, and she had reached some unsavory conclusions.

“Kathleen, what the bloody hell did he do?! I’m bound magically to a body guard as well as a husband?” Her cry struck her governess’ heart, as Arlen slept on peacefully despite his Mistress becoming hysterical.

“Lady Agnes, a Servicer is a symbol of great esteem and expectation-”

“HAVE I EVER FUCKING SEEMED LIKE SOMEONE WHO COULD HANDLE EXPECTATIONS?!” Aggie exploded, sitting upright in her bed, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the face of her teacher… the only familiar being to her in this place.

“For the love of the GODS Kathleen! You and I both know I barely gave a horseshit about politics, and that I am barely capable of running this house!” Aggie felt her heart pound as she finally expressed her thoughts.

“I’m a full-blooded Human, but that doesn’t make me the best choice for the FUCKING Lord O’Farrell!” Aggie felt the chaotic fear grow in her. She wasn’t sure what about the bonding ceremony had broken her composure, but she found that she had little to no control over her current explosion.

Ms. Kathleen handled the outburst in the only way she could think of.

She slapped Aggie.

Hard.

“Lady Agnes; you aren’t qualified to be the head of this house.” The truth of her governess’ words brought Aggie back to her senses the same way being dropped in a lake in the dead of winter cooled the body.

“You are not able to provide insight on political manners, and the fact that you can read is somewhat of a surprise to me given your limited comprehension of the written works I have assigned to your studies over the years.” Aggie’s jaw dropped.

“Aggie, you are no where near ready to be Lady O’Farrell.” Ms. Kathleen’s tone wasn’t chastising or disparaging. Mortified, Aggie realized that Ms. Kathleen was speaking out of desperation and panic to her ward.

“Listen to me, you are here to bear that man a pure-human son. That is it. Do that, and your life will not be as tedious here. The Lord will see that you served your purpose.” Red was rising in Aggie’s face, and she gaped at her teacher, clinging on to her every word.

“I did not realize the level of influence your betrothed had until he told me of his wedding gift.” Ms. Kathleen nodded towards Arlen who had yet to move a muscle.

Aggie looked at the Servicer asleep near her bed, and wondered what about him was so extraordinary that it seemed to be driving everyone, herself included, mad.

“There are only dozens of people in this entire world who have Servicers Aggie. The only reason your husband would spare the expense for you, is to protect any offspring you bring to the world. He does not owe you this level of care by a long shot.” Ms. Kathleen stopped and took a shaky breath. She didn’t know what else she could do but be honest with Aggie.

“Aggie,” Her voice was barely a whisper. “If you enrage him, or displease him beyond what he deems manageable, he could exile you. Isolate you from everyone, and everything in disgrace, and force you to spend your days less than a peasant, and no one would question it. That is the strength of his influence. He has even considered this already if you prove to be too problematic.” Ms. Kathleen’s deep blue eyes were wide as she watched Aggie taking in what she had to say. It was the most focus she had ever gotten from her.

“Be smart Aggie. Become a shadow, and you will live long and comfortably, and one day when he is no longer with this world, you may live an easier life.”

The darkness that was wrapped around Aggie’s heart squeezed its captive, and Aggie felt more tears beginning to fall from her eyes. She was trapped. She had known that her life would be one of duty and household responsibilities, but a life where she was to be silent and scorned if she behaved like anything other than a dull armchair was… torture.

“As for your new Servicer,” Ms. Kathleen nodded towards Arlen. “Utilize him to the best of your ability. He will be the only one to truly trust here.” Ms. Kathleen watched the scared young woman who had barely become an adult, despite girls younger than her already being married with babes of their own. Aggie was clutching her sheets tightly, her hair was completely disheveled, and she was crying silently, her eyes screwed shut. Kathleen’s heart was completely shattered. What had Aggie’s father been thinking with this arrangement…?

“Aggie, I will be leaving after the wedding, but I will help you however I can before I leave.” Aggie didn’t respond to her words. She had never connected strongly with Ms. Kathleen, but in that moment, she felt all the love in the world for her.

“Could I… please be alone?” She asked, her voice a croak. She lifted her bloodshot eyes to Kathleen’s.

“Aggie I-I can’t.” She nodded towards the Servicer who was asleep in the chair. Aggie clutched the sheets harder. She had known the wedding would mean she wouldn’t be able to waste entire days exploring the woods, or reading whatever story she happened upon in the library like she used to, but she hadn’t thought that she would lose every moment of privacy she had.

Aggie rested her forehead in her palm, and continued to cry silently. She hated crying, and so she rarely did it, but right then, she couldn’t handle anything around her. She would soon be alone, and yet always surrounded, in a keep ruled by a vicious man, and expected to lay with him every night. There was nothing to do, but cry over her helplessness, and pray for a miracle.

***

Sean O’Farrell paced his chamber with his hands clasped firmly behind his back as the setting sun’s light poured in from the windows, bathing his chamber in its burnt orange hues. He was so deep in thought, that he didn’t hear the door creek open, or see Head Maid Bertha Brady, enter with the pitcher of fresh water.

“Lord O’Farrell?” She asked calmly, waiting for him to snap out of the distant place he had taken himself too. She placed the jug on the table beside his bed, and he still didn’t raise his gaze from the floor. Bertha turned and was halfway to the door when she heard him mutter:

“Useless woman.”

She stopped, and turned with a sigh.

“Sean.” She said his name with a firm tone, and this time his eyes snapped up to look at her. She was only a couple years older than him, but her face had deeper lines from years of hard work, and stress.

“Bertha, sorry I didn’t see you come in.” He unclasped his hands, and his eyebrows shot up.

“Sean, go easy on Agnes Beatha. She has a good heart, and she isn’t nearly as thick headed as we were all lead to believe. She is odd, but not a fool. In fact… I’m beginning to think she’s far more clever than even she knows.” Sean was in the process of sitting himself down at the table, and had frozen at her words. After moment of pause, he continued his descent to the chair, and gestured to the seat across from him.

“Share your books.” He smiled at her as he recited a line from long ago that both held deep meaning to them. It was a rare person that could make Sean O’Farrell smile like the lighthearted teen he had once been, but Bertha was an exception.

She sighed again, and seated herself at the table, but she too had a smile.

Their history was one only one or two other individuals were fully aware of, and one of the best kept secrets of the O’Farrell house.

“You sent your most aggravating courtier to her bedchamber this morning if you recall.” Bertha watched his eyes twinkle. He truly was like a completely different person than the one that everyone else knew. The man in front of her could have been a kindly grandpa, instead of the powerful and terrifying man that almost every person in the North and South kingdom had heard of.

“Lady Stewart seriously underestimated Lady Agnes just as you are doing, and left that room looking far more foolish than she probably knew.” Sean’s smile faded at the sound of Agnes’ name, and he instead looked at the grain of his table.

“Agnes Beatha is a lot like you in a lot of ways to be honest…” Sean’s expression was one of mild horror, which made Bertha chuckle. Any other person in the keep would have been cowering.

“She is far more comfortable with the serving staff than other courtiers-, perhaps to an inappropriate amount.” Sean smiled ruefully at that. “She doesn’t take to being bullied well, and she- on more than one occasion made me laugh.”

Sean let out a long breath, and after a moment of processing what Bertha had said raised his gaze to meet hers somberly.

“Bertha, she won’t be able to handle this household and its obligations. She will bring me problems, and I have enough of those.” He nodded towards the map on his desk that had several lines drawn on connecting the bright red X’s Agnes had seen earlier.

“Teach her then.”

“That’s why I bought her a Servicer. In hopes that he would make her fit to run this keep.”

Bertha was eyeing him carefully as she weighed her words. He could tell she was trying to phrase a very important question exactly right, and found himself smiling. Bertha looked like the effervescent woman from all those years ago whenever she got that look.

“You took a big risk getting her that Servicer…”

“You’re wondering why?”

Bertha nodded slowly.

Sean leaned back in his chair and rested his hand on the table.

“I’m not known for my abundance of patience-”

Bertha gave a ‘Ho’ of a laugh before he continued.

“-I learned everything I needed to know about being a Lord from my first Servicer, and had it not been for Peter, I would not have survived this far in my life. My father, as you recall, shared my inability to be an effective instructor.”

Bertha stared sadly at him; she would never forget the cruelty of his father. He had made the name O’Farrell strike fear in the hearts of every serving member, and peasant that was thrown in front of his boots.

After another thoughtful moment, Bertha stood. She had stayed too long; the other maids would already be slacking off their evening duties. As she began to turn to go, she felt his hand clasp her own.

“Would you ever change your mind, and save me from this new wife whose youth will infuriate me to death?” He was only half kidding. Bertha clutched his hand in hers.

“You’d lose a lot of face with the courtiers for wedding an old maid like me.”

“My face isn’t that great to begin with.” They both laughed easily, then with her other hand she touched his cheek, and watched the fire in his eyes burn pure love.

“My answer is the same. I am a woman of faith, when you turned your back on God, you turned your back on me.” The pain in his eyes was clear, but he still looked at her adoringly.

“I’ve seen too much darkness in the world, and had too many unavoidable conversations with Lady Deborah Stewart to believe in Gods anymore.” Bertha laughed until tears ran down her cheeks. She knelt down in front of him, and pressed both hands into his cheeks.

“The day your feet are back on faith’s path, I will be here with you in a heartbeat.”

Sean kissed her wrist, and then slowly helped her to her feet, noting with great sadness that her body was becoming stiffer, and arthritis was beginning to ruin her fingers.

“Those bloody maids are probably stabbing each other with the dusters, so please excuse me.” She dipped a curtsy, and wiped the last of her tears from her face, leaving Sean alone with a novel’s worth of new thoughts.

Especially when it came to Agnes Beatha.

***

Aggie sat in her bed, staring out the window at the pale sky of dusk, lost in thought.

Kathleen was asleep on the edge of over her bed, and the Servicer remained in the chair, his snoring had subsided a few hours earlier to her relief. Aggie needed silence to think. She needed to try and find a way to make things better.

“I should run away.” She thought to herself as she saw a group of shadowy birds swoop by the windows. “Run to the next biggest settlement, and settle down. Not that I know any trade that would make me worthwhile in the working sense.” The idea was only mildly ludicrous, and if Aggie had thought she could find help, or knew a useful skill, she felt she would be far more tempted to flee.

Suddenly, Aggie felt eyes on her, and so she immediately shifted her gaze to Arlen, who hadn’t moved except to open his eyes and stare at her.

“Don’t do that.” She snipped at him, uncomfortable already at being seen in bed by a man that wasn’t a doctor.

“Sorry My Lady, I wonder though if you might tell me where I am, how I got here, and what happened.” He was slowly sitting up as he stared around her room calmly.

“You fainted and have been sleeping for 6 or 7 hours.” His eyes snapped to her face. “You’re in my chamber, because apparently you are to always be within earshot of me now.” Aggie didn’t try to mask the bitterness in her voice.

“You don’t sound pleased with me, My Lady.” Arlen stood slowly, glancing more carefully around the room.

“I don’t like having someone follow me around.” She answered shortly as she watched him walk towards the fireplace.

“If you need me elsewhere to complete a task, I will go where you direct me. However given the dangers you are currently facing, I believe it wise that I stay nearby.” He began to build the fire.

“What dangers are you talking about?” Aggie asked sharply as she sat up straighter.

“My Lady, you are not well received in this house, and with that opinion being common among those living here, it can have an effect on the way you are treated.”

Agnes slumped back in her pillows. Great. She had more problems.

She was thankful she had gotten all of her crying out of the way hours ago, otherwise she would be tempted to start again.

“I wonder how the other O'Farrell wives survived.” Aggie mused to herself as the fire caught, and light filled the chamber.

“The first Lady, Carolyn O’Farrell, perished less than a year of being wed from a surprise kidnapping attempt that ran awry during the war. The second Lady, Theresea O’Farrell, was forced upon Lord O’Farrell for political reasons after the war ended, and she died giving birth to twin stillborn boys. The third wife, Sarah O’Farrell, was exiled and the marriage annulled in light of treasonous actions. He had another betrothed before all of them, but that was mysteriously dissolved, and the woman disappeared.” As he had explained Aggie’s predecessors, Arlen had gone around the room lighting candles until the entire room was bathed in soft light, but he was now finished, and so he turned with hands folded in front of himself to face Aggie. She noted that the third wife had not been referred to as a ‘Lady’.

“How do you know this?!” To say Aggie was shocked was an understatement. She had thought that the stories of Sean O’Farrell’s previous wives would be kept hidden from any, and all prying eyes and ears. Perhaps that had been her overactive imagination thinking of her fiancé with dark secrets he never wanted told. Guarding them as a vicious dog guarded his bones.

“Lord O’Farrell told me.”

“He told you?” She asked incredulously.

“Indeed. He gave me a brief overview of his family history so that I may best instruct you.” Arlen watched her carefully, she seemed fidgety, and there was something different about her now that they were bonded. Though Arlen wasn’t sure what it was yet.

“So you work for my fiancé, but are my personal bodyguard…?” Aggie had a small frown on her face as she stared at him, as though she were thinking of accusing Arlen of some heinous act.

“I do not work for your husband. I am your Servicer, and no one can change that or force me to betray you.” He paused, but saw that she was about to become accusatory again, so he continued his explanation.

“Your husband thought the more I knew about your new home, the more helpful I would be to you as you grew into your role as Lady of the house.”

Aggie didn’t say anything for several long moments, but she looked at Arlen for a long time, and then at her governess who was fast asleep on her bedside. She seemed to be thinking carefully.

“So Arlen, you have to follow me wherever I go, help me, and you won’t ever report what I say or do to Lord O’Farrell?” She asked the question carefully, and Arlen felt his heart thud in his chest, he had been her Servicer for less than a day, and he could see she was already about to make his life a complete mess. Was it wrong that he felt excited?

“That is correct.” He answered with a slight bow, and then met her gaze head on.

“Then Arlen, would you be able to help me run away?”