Come Alone
"I don't think it's done yet."
As Siu raised his hand, the young lady caught his wrist. Her fingers had more strength in them than before.
"That's enough. I know my own body."
Siu glanced back and forth between the nightgown and the lady's face. The chill was creeping back, but her breathing looked easier than it had when he arrived. He let the tension drain from his seized hand.
He looked at the Head Butler. Was he to follow her out now?
The lady's fingers were still wrapped around his wrist.
"What's your name?"
"Siu."
"Siu."
The lady opened her eyes and looked at him directly.
"Come at the same time tomorrow."
"...Yes."
The lady released his wrist, and Siu lowered his arm naturally.
Moisture still clung to his palm. He looked once more at the fingertips that had returned above the blanket, then followed the Head Butler out.
The moment the door closed, he braced his right arm with his other hand. When he'd entered, all he'd needed to do was roll up his sleeve; now even bending his elbow felt stiff and sore.
"Will you come to fetch me tomorrow as well, Head Butler?"
The Head Butler slowed her pace.
"I will. Until then, you'll be learning attendant duties."
At the foot of the stairs, a maid was coming up. Siu pressed himself against the wall. A red stone wrapped in cloth passed between the two of them.
And yet even that stone was useless until a moment ago.
The room he'd been assigned held a single bed and a small table. Siu ate the meal that had been brought to him, drained the water glass, and lay down on the bed. With the blanket propped under his elbow, the ache eased a little.
The moment he closed his eyes, he saw the frost spreading again along the hem of the nightgown. Her chest had already begun to freeze over—he never got to see how long the hand he'd warmed first had held out.
Tomorrow, I'll warm the hand, then pull away for a moment to see.
The next morning, two empty glasses clinked together on the tray.
When Siu hurriedly steadied them, the woman across from him braced the underside of the tray.
"Fix that before you worry about the glasses. You must keep one hand free. You'll need to open doors and pull out chairs."
Siu straightened the tray, opened the door with an empty hand, and walked to the table. After setting down the glasses, he pulled out a chair—though even when he lifted the front legs, the back dragged along the floor.
"Again. You'll startle the guests when they sit down."
The second time, he stepped close to the chair before gripping it. This time there was almost no scraping against the floor.
The woman adjusted where Siu's shoulders should stand.
"When you're addressed, answer briefly. There's no need to explain matters you haven't been asked about. Bow your head only slightly—never so far that your face is hidden."
When Siu settled his gaze around shoulder height, the woman gave a nod of approval.
"Rest for now. Then we'll practice again with the water pitchers."
He set down the tray and bent his arm. It was better than the night before, but holding it up for long made his shoulder ache.
In the afternoon, he held the door of the reception room exactly as he'd been taught. Once the guests were seated and he set down the teacups, the woman's eyes rose from the cup to his face.
"Wherever did you find such a face... is he the new boy?"
"Yes. He was difficult to obtain."
The Head Butler answered as she handed over some documents. Siu, who had been tilting the teapot, paused and turned his eyes to the cup.
...One more drop and it would have overflowed.
He righted the teapot at once and checked the saucer beneath, but there was no spill.
He was clearing away the empty cups after the guests had left when the Head Butler called to him.
"It's time. Follow me."
Siu passed the tray to the woman beside him and set off after the Head Butler. Outside the windows, sunlight lay in a long stripe along one side of the corridor.
Frost still lingered before the eldest young lady's door—though the top of the doorframe, white yesterday, had regained its color.
While the Head Butler opened the door, Siu noticed the water stains that had run down beneath the handle.
From inside came the crackle of firewood. The floor far from the bed was damp, and a single flame stone glowed red.
The lady was sitting upright, pillows propped behind her back. His eye was drawn to the fingertips turning the ledger spread across her knees.
A sheet of paper caught at her fingertips turned slowly to the other side.
Yesterday she could barely straighten her fingers.
"The cold spread twice more over the night. Still, we did not replace all the flame stones."
The maid at the bedside said this as she cleared away the empty cup, and the lady gave a small nod without closing the ledger.
"Leave us."
Once the maid withdrew, the Head Butler stepped aside to give Siu his place.
"You came."
"Did you rest well, my lady? How are you feeling today?"
The lady laid her left hand on the blanket.
"Care to see for yourself?"
Siu cradled the outstretched hand. Frost clung white to the fingertips, but the fingers were not frozen stiff as they had been yesterday. When he cupped the hand with his other one, the lady's thumb moved slowly.
"It's less cold than yesterday."
"It turned cold again during the night."
"Were you able to move it, like just now?"
"Yes. I held a pen."
On the blank margin of the ledger across her knees, there was a blot of smeared ink, and beneath it a few more lines of writing.
Siu gathered his warmth little by little, hands still cupped around hers. The frost between his palms turned to moisture, and the whiteness on her fingertips faded. Once the warmth reached deep into her fingers, he pushed no further.
"May I let go of your hand for a moment?"
The lady looked up from the ledger.
"Why?"
"Yesterday, when I let go, the frost came back on your clothes. I want to see whether the same happens to your hand."
"Mm. Do it."
When Siu withdrew both hands, a flush of red remained at the fingertips. A short while later, he asked her to move them; the hand clenched once and opened, and even while he waited, it did not immediately turn white.
"It's staying."
"So it is."
The lady took the corner of the ledger in her left hand. The page slipped once, but she caught it again and turned it.
"So you won't need to keep holding on the whole time?"
"Not for now... but I'll need to observe longer to know how far it lasts."
The lady rubbed her fingertips together once.
"Then start somewhere else."
His hand pressed against the thin layer of frost on her nightgown, just below her throat. When Siu laid his palm over it, the chill spread through the fabric. It was far colder than the back of her hand had been.
He was gathering his warmth when he noticed his elbow floating in the air. It was the same posture he'd endured so long yesterday—and just then, a chair came into view beside the bed.
"May I sit? It would be easier if I could rest my arm."
Before Siu could even turn to the Head Butler, the lady spoke.
"Bring the chair."
Siu withdrew his hand, lifted the chair by its legs, and moved it silently to the bedside. Seated, he placed his right hand in the same spot and propped his elbow with his free one—far more comfortable now.
The lady looked down at Siu's arm.
"You did the same thing yesterday."
"Yesterday I didn't even know how long I'd need to hold it. So today I started with your hand."
"Right. Speak up first, like you did a moment ago—if you're going to test it on my body."
"Yes."
Siu gathered warmth into his palm. The frost on the nightgown melted, darkening the fabric, and the lady's breaths grew longer. After listening to two more of them, he examined the area beneath his palm, but the spot he touched was still cold. He pressed a little more weight into the hand braced under his elbow.
"Did you hear my name?"
When he raised his head, the lady was pushing the ledger aside.
"No. I only heard that you were the eldest young lady..."
"Karina Winterguard."
"...Lady Karina."
"Yes. Call me that."
Karina pulled the ledger closer with the left hand he'd treated first, pressed down on the page, and pointed to a line.
"Can you read?"
Siu, who had been watching her fingertips, shifted his eyes to the paper.
"Yes."
"How much of a difference is there between this line and the one below it?"
Siu looked at the 742 and the 693 written beneath it. He checked the entry preceding them as well before answering.
"Forty-nine."
Karina drew a paper from between the ledger's pages and laid it beside a line bearing the same mark. Siu, leaning in, froze when the hand he was treating moved.
"Could you shift it a little this way, please?"
When Karina pushed the two sheets toward him, Siu straightened his posture and compared the figures.
"This one's the same."
While he checked the next line, the chill beneath his palm grew fainter. Siu did not increase the warmth, and he kept an eye on Karina's left hand as well—the color still lingered beneath the nails of the hand pressing the paper.
Karina handed the paper to the Head Butler.
"Put that back between the ledger pages."
While the Head Butler slid the paper into the ledger, Karina looked down at Siu's hand.
"Now the back."
When Siu withdrew his hand, Karina turned around on the bed. She swept her silver hair over one shoulder, undid two buttons at the back of her nightgown, and through the parted fabric, the frost clinging below her shoulder blades came into view.
"You can touch here."
"Is it all right to do it on bare skin?"
"Yes."
Siu raised his palm carefully. Her skin was cold enough to make his fingertips sting. The instant he touched her, Karina's shoulders flinched and drew in slightly.
"Does it hurt?"
"It's just strange. Continue."
As the warmth spread, the melted water ran down her back, and when Siu wiped away a droplet trying to slip inside the nightgown with his thumb, Karina turned her head a little.
"That tickles."
"The water is running."
"Leave it."
Siu lifted his thumb and kept only his palm against her. Her back rose and fell beneath his hand with every breath, and when the last of the frost had melted, he pulled away. Karina turned her body back around.
"The front now."
Karina undid a single button at the front of her nightgown. Beneath the parted collar, her collarbone and the upper swell of her chest were exposed.
"I'll start here."
Siu laid his palm just below her collarbone. As he waited for the chill to fade, Karina looked down at the hand resting on her chest.
"A little lower."
When he moved his hand down, the soft weight of her breast pressed against the thin nightgown beneath his palm. As he traced the cold spots, the side of his middle finger brushed the tip of a nipple standing firmly erect against the fabric.
Karina's breath broke off short. The fingers resting on the blanket crumpled the cloth.
Siu stopped at once.
"Did that hurt?"
"...No."
Karina's gaze traveled back and forth between Siu's fingers and her own breast pressed beneath them.
"Shall I take my hand away?"
There was no answer for a moment.
"That thing you just did. Do it again."
"...Here?"
"Yes."
Siu moved only his fingers, without adding any warmth, just as before. When the same spot brushed against the fabric once more, Karina's breath caught—then continued in a long exhale.
"It's not cold, but my body's trembling."
"Shall I reduce the warmth?"
"No. Keep it as it is."
Karina turned her gaze back to the ledger. She flipped past the page she'd been reading, then immediately turned back.
Siu eased the pressure of his palm and simply maintained the warmth, but even with his arm braced, his hand grew heavier by degrees, and the warmth gathering at his fingertips came slower and slower.
"My lady. May I rest for a moment?"
Karina raised her head.
"Are you tired?"
"Yes. A little."
Karina covered the back of Siu's hand and slowly pushed it downward.
"That's enough for today."
The damp patch on the nightgown began to freeze over again from the edges inward. Siu watched her left hand where it lay on the blanket, not touching it. Karina closed the ledger with that hand.
As Siu rose from the chair, the Head Butler asked,
"Shall I come to fetch him at the same time tomorrow?"
"No."
The Head Butler's eyebrows rose slightly, and Karina looked at Siu.
"From tomorrow on, let Siu in alone."