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Why was he always doing that?

Diana watched him retreat as quickly as he'd come, excusing himself on the grounds the dog was the one needing attending, adding on that she was doing fine. Did he think her so incapable? It ruffled her feathers, to say the least, but she kept quiet and watching him go, both he and the dog seeming to become more at ease the further they got from her.

She supposed she didn't blame him too much for his odd behavior. He was a rarity in this part of the world, and one that was not treated with kindness. Diana did not understand the hate in some men's hearts. Being a servant she was used to being looked down upon, but status and simple blind hatred were two different things. She could live with being sneered at for being the help, or even a woman. But for how she looked?

Letting it go she returned to work, staying in the garden until the afternoon when it became too hot to stay. She retreated back inside the manor to get some water and something to settle her stomach for the time being, deciding to take the small time of leisure to walk the grounds once more.

The stables were just up ahead and she could hear the familiar voices of the two men. Nando was the first to spy her and she smiled just a bit, the expression widening when Mingan's eyes followed. Getting near enough to be heard, she dipped a casual curtsy.

"Afternoon, gentlemen," she greeted. "I do hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just thought I might take a stroll before going back inside to return to work."

Really she had no idea why she was bothering. Nando seemed to like her well enough but Mingan twice now had made every excuse to get away. Diana was uncomfortable around those she did not know herself but she felt slighted by his distance.

A thought occurred to her then and she had to fight to not show her embarrassment. Oh, he must have heard the rumor of why she'd been let go from her last master! What shame, he must think her a harlot or other lowly creature. And if he had heard, what did her new master know of why she'd written them for employment?

Graciously she accepted the invitation, coming to sit beside Nando. She smoothed her skirts and played absently with the edge of her apron, feeling a bit silly and as though she was the only one not in on something as Nando made a gesture or two to Mingan, who silently nodded in return before Nando opened his mouth again and asked for stories. Almost instantly and without her realizing she put a hand on her abdomen right over where the scar began and she looked away briefly.

That was a story she would not tell. It brought too much pain.

"Well," she began hesitantly, "I was born at the Coldwater estate. Both my parents were servants. I was good friends with the master's youngest daughter, Vanessa, she was just a couple years my senior." How was Vanessa? What had she been told about why Diana was no longer there? "I was forever getting her out of trouble; oh, she was very spirited. It often landed me in trouble instead but that was alright."

Once Vanessa had decided to slide the banister of the main staircase in her best dress and Diana had gone after her, pleading for her not to. Both girls went tumbling and Diana ended up with a broken arm and had to polish the silver and brass with only one hand. Feeling guilty, Vanessa had snuck to her and helped.

"I know our statuses were different but we felt more sisters than servant and mistress. It was why when Vanessa received a husband she begged I come and work at her husband's home, so we could still be together." Her gaze dropped. "Unfortunately it was not to be."

The master was throwing another terrible party while her mistress was away attending her ailing father. Women of the night had been invited but most were too drunk on spirits to be of much use and so were his friends. Diana was one of the few that put up with these parties, only for her mistress, and had been ordered to hitch up the horses for a carriage to send his friends home to sleep off their drunkenness.

Unfortunately her master was still sober enough to walk and he followed her to the stables, pinning her against one of the horses' stalls and clamping both her arms at her sides. She writhed and resisted, begging to be freed.

"It's such a shame," her master drawled, breathing in the scent of her hair, "that I should be married to such a cold cow and be tempted every day by you." He pressed himself against her and she felt his temptation against her thigh.

"P-please, My Lord, I am only doing what is asked..."

"Then I ask you to raise your skirts."

"I cannot."

He frowned. "Then I command it." She repeated her answer. Hands freeing her own he went to slap her and she instead scratched his cheek, leaving trails of blood from her nails, and wrenched away to stumble to the other side of the stables, shaking violently. "You insolent b***h!" He cried. "You dare defy your master?!"

"I love my mistress," she sobbed. "I would do nothing to hurt her!"

Taking a whip down from its hook, the master cracked it once causing Diana to jump. "You're just a servant. You are the dirt beneath my feet. You think she cares about you the same? She won't when she learns what a harlot you are, how you coveted her beloved husband."

'Please, Sir--" Diana screamed as she felt white hot pain hit her abdomen and wrap around her side to her back, splitting her serving dress and apron which began to stain with blood. Holding her injury she toppled in to a stack of hay, wrenched with sobs from the pain.

Her master looked down upon her coldly. "Don't even think of coming back inside the house tonight. If you do, I'll slit your throat as easily."

Diana wiped an absent tear from her eye. "I know there must be stories about me, but they are not true. I would not have dared ask for this chance if they were. I've heard the stories about my master here and it was why I specifically wrote here. I thought, if he could overlook the rumors about me then I would gladly do so with him. Everyone deserves a chance, don't you think?"

She looked to the two men, realizing perhaps she'd gone too far and she flushed, looking away instead.

"Forgive me, I seem to have turned the mood sour."

Diana's embarrassment subsided as Nando told his story, one of his own tragedy but also of friendship and kindness. She smiled despite herself hearing him tell of his friendship and how the young man he used to harass ended up being his savior. What she did not expect was Mingan to lure them away from where they had been chatting to outside her bedroom. He seemed to be very aware of those around them as was Nando.

And then Mingan spoke.

She stayed silent the whole time, her expression unreadable, but inside she felt as though she might faint. It explained near everything, though. The rumors, the secrecy, why he seemed to follow her around as if spying. Still she could not get over the thought she'd been so casual with her master, even if she hadn't known, and, feeling green, she slowly reached up and untied the beaded necklace from under her uniform and held it out for Mingan to take.

"Then Sir," she said, addressing him properly for once, "if this was your mother's I would not feel right wearing it. I was cleaning the room this morning and found them and thought nothing of it, but if my Master feels uneasy for these things and has not given me permission then I cannot wear them."

Diana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand.

"As for what you have told me: your secret will be kept with my life. You and your staff have shown me every kindness I would have never expected for what words I carry on my back and I will repay that in any manner you ask of me." She looked him straight in the eye, feeling even weaker staring in to his dark depths. "Thank you... for trusting me."

She realized as his hand closed over hers to tighten her grip on the necklace in her hand that it was the first time they had even touched or ever come close to doing so. Since she'd arrived yesterday he had kept both a physical and emotional distance. Now, so close, she had to admire the contrast of his copper skin atop her own pale flesh. Had his father seen the same allure in his mother?

Diana realized the gravity of her thoughts and willed them to the back of her mind.

"You are a kind soul," she corrected him at his use of the word 'weird' to describe himself. "If all our pasts are cast in shadow thusly, then by being here we know our futures to be in the light thanks to you."

Finally she took her hand away and returned the necklace around her neck, tucking it in once more so the others wouldn't see it and question her. She gave a small curtsy to the two men and went down to one of the many unused rooms to help the women polish the silver and brass as well as swipe for any growing cobwebs.

What strange circumstances she found herself in. She knew rightfully she should be appalled she was working for a non-white Master who had deceived her but with what little she knew of Mingan she had decided he was pure of heart at the very least. And what right had she to judge when he knew of her past and had not judged her, instead choosing to believe there was another truth? She owed him her kind thoughts, at least.