"Miss King." Mr. Petrov's voice rang through the air. I sighed softly and turned around, putting on a smile.

"Yes, Mr. Petrov?"

"Go fetch some tea from the kitchen, will you? Lady Miriam has a raw throat."

"Make sure there's lemon in it! And I want it piping hot." Mimi's shrill voice rang out from beside Aleksandr on the couch. She was basically sitting all over him, continuously stroking his strong arm. Alek looked a little uncomfortable, but only one who had been working with him for years, like Chloe, could know. You see – Chloe's father died while delivering a message in the rain. The lightning and thunder had scared his horse half to death, and his steed slipped on the wet rocks and sent him flying, causing him to hit his head and bleed there, with no one to find him. Chloe's mother had died giving birth to her, so basically Chloe was alone.

Nobody in her family wanted Chloe – not her aunts, uncles, cousins. To them she was just another mouth to feed. After all, she was just a girl. What could a woman do?

So she roamed the streets, starving, begging for food, until one day Jasmine found her and brought her back home. Alek wouldn't let Chloe stay for free, but he allowed her to work there in exchange for a room and food.

"Of course, Mr. Petrov." Chloe smiled, curtsied, and turned her back to them. Her face immediately dropped and she rolled her eyes, internally scoffing. Chloe made her way down the grand estate, pushing open the doors that led to the kitchen.

"Boil some water for the tea, please." Chloe called out to the cook, whose name was Christopher. Everybody called him Kit. "Lady Miriam has a raw throat."

"Of course." The Kit called back, getting the kettle.

"I'll be back for it shortly." Chloe sent the chubby man a grateful smile, and he flashed his smile at her warmly. Then Chloe made her way back up the stairs and to Jasmine's room.

"Ms. Petrov?" Chloe rapped on the door softly with her knuckles.

"Come in, Chloe!"

She smiled and made her way in. Other than Amelia and Paul, Jasmine was her only friend. Not to mention she was of noble blood. Amelia, who Chloe called Amy, worked in the garden, collecting herbs and roots. Paul was a gardener, so they got to see each other more often. Chloe worked inside, though, tending to Alek and Jasmine's needs. Their parents were almost constantly away on business, so Chloe didn't see much of Mr. and Mrs. Petrov.

"Do you need help dressing, Ms. Petrov?" Chloe asked sweetly, closing the door behind her. Jasmine rolled her eyes.

"Alek's not around, you can call me Jazz now."

Chloe shrugged. "Just making sure." She came over and tightened Jasmine's corset, tying the ribbons into neat little bows. Then she got the dress that was lying on Jazz's bed, which was an emerald green color with black lace trimmings. It flowed down to the floor, wrapping around her legs.

She helped Jasmine put her dress on and did her hair in an intricate braid for her. After they were done, they sat on Jasmine's bed and talked.

Jasmine Petrov, sister of Aleksandr Petrov, was not your normal snotty noblewoman. She was sincere, she was sweet, she liked people for who they were, not by their social class.

She was everything her brother was not.

"Chloe! Where's the tea?" A muffled voice shouted. Chloe shot up and looked at the clock. 9:47. Shoot. had been twenty minutes already?

"Oh my goodness." Chloe exclaimed, jumping off the bed. "I'll talk to you later, Ms. Petrov!" She shouted, running down the stairs, lifting her annoying skirts so she wouldn't trip and fall. She sprinted for the kitchen and quickly grabbed a lemon, slicing it in half. She set it on the tray with the kettle and some cups, and got a spoon and honey for good measure, knowing it was Alek's favorite. Maybe that would allow him to overlook the lateness.

She quickly made her way up the stairs and knocked on their door.

"Finally," she heard Miriam mutter.

"Come in." Alek answered.

Chloe had to balance the tray in one hand, and quickly open the door with the other. She came in to see Mimi fully on Alek's lap now, and it took all of her will power not to wrinkle her nose in annoyance. They weren't kissing or doing anything innapropriate – oh, no. That would be much too damaging to their reputation. They wouldn't – until they wed each other.

And right now, reputation is all a man has.

"Took you quite a while." Miriam sneered.

"I'm sorry, Lady Miriam, next time I'll urge the water to boil faster." Chloe retorted. She instantly wanted to take it back.

Mimi stood up, eyebrow cocked.

"Excuse me?" She slowly walked over to Chloe, her huge, puffy skirts knocking things off the table and onto the floor. Alek stood up, too, eyes wary.

Instead of showing fear, Chloe simply shrugged.

"It isn't my fault the water wasn't boiling fast enough for you. Next time I'll try and urge it on."

Suddenly, the tray was flipped out of her hands, the steaming water splashing all over the front of her body. Chloe shrieked and fell to the ground, hugging her knees for a few moments.

Her chest, stomach, and parts of her thigh were burning. She looked down, and parts of her skin were already peeling away. It was kind of a numb feeling, and her skin was tingling.

Not very pleasant.

Chloe raised her piercing blue eyes up to the smirking Miriam's face. She bit her tongue so hard it hurt – she so badly wanted to slap that smirk off of the pathetic trollop's face and call her every unkind word there was.

"You seemed a bit hot, dearie. Thought I might...cool you off."

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "That was boiling hot water." She spat out.

"My bad. I'm so terribly sorry." Miriam laughed. Chloe looked up at Alek, wondering if he would do anything. She had been working for him for years, he would come in her defense, wouldn't he? But he just stood there, staring. There was an odd emotion in his eyes that Chloe couldn't quite place. He was gnawing on his lips, his chocolate brown eyes locked on her, but his gaze was unfocused.

Without being dismissed or excusing herself, Chloe picked herself off the ground and exited the room, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

So that was it. Aleksandr Petrov was a heartless fool, who did not care in the slightest what happened to her. To any of his workers. He probably wouldn't even care if anything happened to Jasmine.

All he cared about was his reputation. Of what the community would think of him. And if he was kind to one of his workers? He would be seen as weak, not the powerful man he wanted so badly to be.

Meanwhile, Alek stood in the room, half-ready to go after Chloe. Just before she had left, a tear had escaped her eye and slid down her cheek. An odd feeling of protectiveness overcame Alek, but all he could do was stare after her while Mimi laughed.

"I ask you not to physically harm my workers again." Alek said through clenched teeth. He needed Miriam on his side – she was probably going to wed him one day, it was for the best of his reputation. That is what he has been hearing since he was a child – his mother probably already planned their wedding.

Then why did doing what was best for his reputation feel wrong for his heart?

He knew he didn't love this girl.

She was horrid – the only good thing he could say about her was that she was from noble blood, and she was attractive. He quickly made up an excuse and got her to leave his estate, and cleaned up the tea and cups himself.

He saw Chloe had even put honey on the tray – she knew that it was his favorite. He quickly brought the tray down to the kitchen, and they thanked him for being so kind to clean it up, astonished that he was doing something out of the goodness of his heart for once.

"Have any of you seen...Ms. King anywhere?" he asked quietly. All of his kitchen staff turned and stared at him. It was the first time he had actually asked them a question not relating to an errand or chore.

"No...not since she brought up the tea. Did something happen?" The cook asked.

"No. Forget I said anything."

Alek walked back up the stairs to Chloe's small, dusty room. He heard water running and realized Mimi must have burned her, badly.

Normally Alek wouldn't care, but there was something different about Chloe King – how she actually had the nerve to stand up for herself against Miriam was...astounding.

Should he go in? Should he knock?

He pressed his back against the door and listened, and heard sobs. His eyebrows crinkled together and he looked down. This was partially his fault – he should try and fix it.

And before he could convince himself out of it, he opened her door and stuck his head inside. Chloe had her undergarments on already, but he could see her stomach and thighs were peeling and red. He quickly looked away, closing the door.

He was wracked with even more guilt, now. One because he saw her without her dress on, and two because her burns looked extremely painful. He quickly went to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a cream that soothed burns.

He walked to Chloe's room, set the small bottle of cream on the floor, knocked on her door, and walked away before she could see him.

Hi guys! :D

Yep. I know. I know. New story.

BUT I was inspired after watching this kind of like, mid-evilish movie, and yea![:

This FF will have lots of chapters, and in this Alek and Jasmine are brother and sister, not cousins.

Also, there are no Mai. They live somewhere in England, so they all have that fancy British talk. And this is set way-back-when, so their talking is kind of formal, too.

Anyways: Please review and tell me what you think of this story?[:

It'll make my day.

Thank you for reading!