Free TheDutyofPain by Viola Grace Page B

pouting lips and highlighted her brows. The final effect was to dress her, roll back the long sleeves and treat her hands to the same colouration. When she was pale and unremarkable aside from the extravagant gown she wore, she waited for dawn. It was the same routine since the day she had been hauled into the duke’s chambers for the first time and his pain called to her.
    When the duke finished his morning court and retired for lunch, her guards shepherded her back to his rooms. He was starting to hunch, and she watched from the hidden hallway as he returned to lie down.
    Once the courtiers were out of the hall, the guards marched Alda into the duke’s rooms.
    “Your Grace, please sit down.” Alda rarely spoke to him directly, but this was one of those moments.
    Duke Ralen-Croth paced restlessly. “Do you know what Inor is planning for you?” The duke was angry.
    Alda blinked. “I am fairly sure I have a good idea. He will either sell me or pimp me out to diseased nobles. Now, sit down before you fall down.”
    He grinned and did as she said. “Few women bother bossing me around now.”
    She pressed her hands to his head and absorbed the agony of burning nerves and degrading muscle. “I think that has more to do with your foul temper than with the women themselves. You still cut a dashing figure.”
    He grimaced. “Under all this makeup, I feel like a damned clown. Do you know why we wear it?”
    She smiled. He had told her this story before. “No, your Grace.”
    He sighed as she started to work on his right arm. “When the planetary Duchy of Olsted was first settled, multiple races offered to send settlers to occupy the land. There was a confusion of governments and political intrigue ripping through the planet. The emperor appointed the duke and it was in his women’s quarters that he saw the answer. His concubines were dressed alike and wore the same makeup. He could hardly tell one from the other. In that moment, he chose the colour of the Yavish cliffs as the unifying colour, and everyone in the court had to be painted in order to speak to him or to make a treaty.”
    “I imagine it went over well.”
    “The men balked and the women were upset by the masking of their beauty, but the planet calmed. The practice of painting one’s body before political manoeuvring became standard. It is silly and effeminate, but it is the way we do things.” He smiled as she finished working on his limbs.
    “And the reason that I wear it?”
    “If anyone from the court sees you coming and going, they will believe you to be my concubine. No harm in boosting my ego in my old age.” He chortled and patted her arm.
    She shook her head. “Well, you are good for another six hours. Have your lunch and get back to work.” She grinned and curtseyed deeply. “Your Grace.”
    He smiled and then grew solemn. “I want you away from here before I die, Alda-Xeri. Will you go with the Citadel Reps if I order you to?”
    “I will always follow orders, your Grace, but you will wind to an end very rapidly if I go.”
    He nodded. “I have had more than enough time to get my affairs in order. My heir is on his way from the imperial court as I speak to you. He will be here within days. You need to go, Alda. For my sake as well as yours. I don’t want service to this sad old man to be the last good thing you are allowed to do on this world.”
    A tear formed in her eye. “Thank you for thinking of me, your Grace. I will act as you will. Now, get some food in that shrivelled husk before you blow away.”
    He cackled and bounded to his feet.
    With chains jingling, she left the duke’s quarters, and she was taken back to her watch post for her own cold fruit and water. Her dinner would be more substantial, but while she was dealing with pain and standing at attention, she could not consume a more robust meal.
    She waited silently for the duke to resume his seat, and she looked out to the representatives of the Citadel who were milling