Dionne
My stomach dropped at the mention of dungeons. Why would a castle need dungeons?
But I kept my expression neutral and lifted my chin. "Yes, ma'am,"
Margaret turned around and made to exit the room, but she stopped just by the door. "That's the King's playground, Dionne. You'll be sure to take extra care with its cleaning." She said, before pulling open the door and exiting the room. The door closed behind her with a soft click.
"Sooo… you're lucky. This is actually one of the larger rooms. The mattresses are better and the pillows are softer." Violet said
I turned to look at her, unable to process her cheerful tone. Had she not heard what Margaret had said? The dungeons were the King's playground. What did that mean?
Before I could respond, another knock sounded at the door. A tall woman with brown hair pulled back in a braid pushed the door open without waiting for an invitation.
"I'm supposed to supervise the new servant," she announced, her eyes landing on me. "Margaret sent me. Are you Dionne?"
"Yes," I managed to say.
"I'm Hannah. Get some boots on and come with me." She said, before turning around and walking away.
I looked at Violet helplessly and she chuckled. She moved quickly to a small cabinet near the window and pulled out a pair of worn leather boots.
"Here. Since we wear the same size of clothes, we should be about the same shoe size." She offered and I accepted the boots, slipping my legs into them. They were slightly bigger, but I didn't mind.
"You don't have to worry about…" Violet looked in the direction of Nora sleeping on the bed.
"Nora," I supplied.
"Right. You don't have to worry about Nora. I'm assigned to the garden for this week, it's real light work and it won't take a lot of time. I'll feed her some breakfast when she wakes upn, and will let you know if she needs anything." She offered and I nodded.
"Thank you very much, Violet. I really appreciate you. She's just recovering from a fever so the healer will come check on her at some point." Violet nodded and offered me a smile which I returned.
I moved toward the bed to press a kiss to Nora's head, smoothing back her wild midnight curls. She stirred slightly but didn't wake. I sighed, before heading toward the door.
Hannah was waiting at the entrance to the building, and as I approached, she began walking without a word, setting a brisk pace. Now that I was beside her, I realized she was considerably taller than I had initially thought, with a lean, almost muscular build.
"You might want to put your hair in a bun, or tie it back." She said without looking at me. "It gets messy in there and you won't want remains in your hair when you're done."
My stomach churned at the casual way she said "remains," but I did as instructed, gathering my curls into a tight bun at the base of my neck.
Finally, we approached a solitary gray stone building set apart from the others, built directly against the outer wall of the compound. Guards were stationed at its entrance, their faces hard and expressionless. Their presence alone made fear coil in my chest.
"New servant here to clean," Hannah announced to the guard at the gate.
The burly man looked me over with thinly veiled contempt. This was not thr lustful gaze that I was used to from the guards at the BloodMoon, this felt even worse. It was a look of disgust, as if my mere presence offended him. After a long moment, he gave a curt nod and pulled open the heavy iron door.
Hannah led me inside, and I froze just past the threshold. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
The dungeon stretched before me, a long corridor lined with cells on both sides. I counted ten cells in total, but only five showed signs of recent use. The air was thick with the sharp, coppery scent of blood so overwhelming it seemed to have permanently soaked into the stone itself.
The walls of every cell bore deep gouges, as though massive claws had raked through. Dark stains covered the floors and splattered up the walls in different patterns.
There were no bodies remaining, but the evidence of death was everywhere. Pools of dried blood. Scraps of fabric. Things I couldn't identify and didn't even want to examine too closely.
A wave of nausea hit me with such force that I couldn't contain it. I stumbled to the side and vomited, my stomach heaving until there was nothing left.
"Clean that up too," Hannah said without sympathy. She gestured to several buckets and brushes already waiting near the entrance. "I've brought in the supplies you'll need. Scrub the walls and floors of the occupied cells until the blood is gone… or at least until most of it has been removed. The stone holds stains, so don't expect perfection. Just do the best you can."
She moved toward the door, clearly eager to leave this place.
I stood alone in the dungeon, surrounded by evidence of horrors I could barely comprehend. My hands trembled as I approached the nearest bucket and picked up a brush.
The hours that followed blurred into a miserable haze of sweat, grime, blood and aching limbs. I scrubbed the floors and walls on my hands and knees until my kneecaps felt like they were filled with ground glass. My hands stung and bled from the harsh lye in the cleaning buckets. The stench of rot and blood clung to my clothes and hair like a second skin.
But I didn't complain. I worked until my back screamed and my muscles trembled with exhaustion. Because as long as I kept working, as long as I completed my assigned tasks, Nora remained safe. Nothing else mattered.
I was halfway through the third cell when I heard the door creak open. I looked up, expecting Hannah to return and criticize my slow progress.
Instead, Violet stood in the doorway holding a second brush and wearing a soft smile.
"I knew there was no way you'd be done before sundown," she called.
I dropped the brush that I was holding back into the water, rushing toward her.
"Where's Nora?"