It seemed as if the Hera's voice echoed throughout because all 11 of her siblings turned to face her whereas Daman visibly stiffened in his seat. He was merely enjoying his morning coffee and replying to his work emails with a beautiful woman seated next to him.

Almas snickered at Hera's statement, "That's rich, Hera. You can't possibly expect us to believe that the Duke of Doulah is your plus one?"

The Duke of Doulah?

Hera nearly gasp at Almas but held it in. Daman was a duke? Since when? Why wasn't she informed of that? Did she really expect a duke out of all people to partake in her horrible charade of lies? Hera was done for, Daman would call her out and she'd have to bury her face in the core of the earth. Why did she act so carelessly?

Clearing her throat, Hera held her head up high as she faced the table of gazes. "But he is. Isn't that correct Daman?"

Internally Hera was direly praying for Daman to go along with it. She was looking at the handsome Duke with pleading eyes, hoping that he would be kind enough to not call her out on her bullshit.

Daman had his gaze set on the panicked beauty gripping his arm. In all honesty, he didn't have to think twice about it. Hera was dangerous. Those eyes were dangerous. She was dangerous. It worried Daman yet made him enjoy the thrill of it.

"Why would you doubt her words, Almas?" Daman questioned with a strong voice that put a dent in Almas' arrogance.

Almas seemed to be at a loss for words. His sister was anything but extraordinary, the weakest sibling of them all in his opinion yet the Duke of Doulah was interested in her.

"I apologize," Almas voiced out with respect and looked away.

The rest of the siblings turned back to their previous conversations to rid the awkward and uncomfortable atmosphere. Hera still had her hand gripping Daman's forearm and she was so grateful that he didn't let her face shame.

Dina stood up from the opposite end of the table adorning beautiful palazzo pants with her hijab worn loosely yet securely to compensate for the overbearing heat.

"Right everyone, there is a tour of the Bahrain fort scheduled in the next hour, however Ahmed and I shall sit this one out. Ruby is unwell as the heat is affecting her. Please do enjoy," Dina said referring to her husband and daughter.

Hera and Daman had waited for everybody to leave the breakfast gazebo before conversing.

"I'm so sorry. I-I just... I couldn't-" Hera began shakily.

Daman wasn't upset though. In fact he was quite intrigued by her doing. "It's alright. No need to fret."

Hera took a deep breath once again and gathered herself. She was a lawyer for crying out loud. How could she get far in life is she got frazzled so easily?

"I acted impulsively but please do not call me out."

Daman now knew why she always had her guard up. Her siblings weren't the gentlest and they certainly knew how to pack a punch. He would never compromise her dignity even if she had lied. Additionally, he felt hers was justified.

"You didn't tell me you were an Uzayr?" The Duke was sulking about that part though. Why hadn't she told him?

Hera fidgeted with her fingers before setting them on her lap. "Well, it's a little hard to believe that I am part of the family, I'm sure you can tell."

Daman inspected the nervous woman in front of him.

God, how pretty can she get?

Slowly he nodded as his eyes raked over her, "Appearance wise, yes. You do not match any of them but the resemblance to Youssef is prominent. I should have picked up on it."

Hera was always uncomfortable with discussing the appearance part and how she lacked in fitting in with them. "Yes, um, my mother is an Indian Malaysian whereas everybody else's mother is white. Hence I am the odd one out."

Daman was intrigued. Hera was definitely a lot to unpack and he would enjoy doing it.

"You're a lawyer?" he further questioned.

At that Hera slouched in her seat. "That's debatable," she muttered in disappointment. Sure she had the qualifications and completed the internship, but what good was it to call herself a lawyer when she wasn't practicing her trade.

Daman's face perked up in jest. "So, not senior associate then?" he teased her.

Hera shook her head trying her best to not wallow in the details of it. "Not quite."

Hera's eyes caught the sight of a lonesome strawberry left on her breakfast plate she took a bite of it. "You didn't tell me you were a duke."

"Similar to how you didn't tell me you were an Uzayr."

The silenced enveloped them for a few minutes and they sat together simply enjoying the presence of each other. Daman once again admired her not caring to hide his stare whilst Hera was too busy in her thoughts. There was a lot going on for her yet nothing at the same time. She'd decided to ask her father for help after the wedding but now she was second guessing. Everyone else had made it up themselves yet here she was struggling. Life was cruel.

"Shall we get ready for the tour of the fort?" Daman asked her politely.

Hera was snapped out of her reverie and turned to him. "You're joining?"

Daman tilted his head to the side as he looked at her with those staggering hazel eyes. "I am your plus one right?"

"Uh, yes. Of course." Hera was now confused. She was to put up with this charade for the rest of the wedding until she went home. Her life was already worrisome and she didn't need the added pressure of another lie, but it was already done.

They both stood up and Daman offered to accompany her up to her room. "Thank you for going along with it, Daman." Hera quickly bit her lip at the realisation of her mistake. "Sorry, I meant your royal highness. Thank you, your royal highness? Your grace?" Hera was unsure about this. It sounded a bit weird saying it because she had never uttered those words out loud let alone met a member of a royal family in her life.

The corner of Daman's mouth lifted at his newfound interest stumbling over her words. She was a real pleasure to be around. "It will always just be Daman to you."