Dionne
"She's fine," Violet assured me quickly, "I left her with one of the older women who watches the children when their parents are working. She's good with kids, and Nora seemed comfortable with her. I figured you'll need some help here if you're going to finish."
Relief flooded through me, loosening the knot of tension in my chest. I nodded, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand and immediately regretting it when I felt the grime transfer to my skin.
"Thank you for coming," I said quietly. "I wasn't sure I'd finish before sundown."
Violet moved past me into the cell, surveying the work I had completed. "Margaret doesn't usually give new servants the dungeons on their first day. She must really dislike you."
I picked up my brush again, dipping it into the bucket of murky water. "I wonder what I did to offend her. She seems so cold, but I can't tell yet if it's just towards me, or it's who she is."
Violet knelt beside me and began scrubbing at a particularly stubborn stain on the wall. "Margaret's been here longer than anyone else. She's seen servants come and go, and she's developed a certain way of sorting people. The moment she saw you, she probably decided you were trouble."
"Because I'm a rogue?"
Violet paused, her brush stilling against the stone. "Partly. But also because the King brought you here himself. That never happens. Ever."
The mention of the King made my stomach tighten. I scrubbed harder, trying to focus on the repetitive motion rather than the memory of his cold gray eyes and the blood on his mouth.
We worked in silence for a while, the rhythmic scrape of our brushes against stone the only sound in the oppressive space. Violet finished her section before I did and moved to start on the next cell.
"Violet," I called hesitantly. "What did Margaret mean when she said the dungeons are the King's playground?"
Violet's brush stopped moving. She didn't turn around, but I could see the tension in her shoulders. After a long moment, she resumed her work, her voice carefully neutral when she finally spoke.
"The King has a curse," she said quietly. "No one talks about it openly, but everyone knows. He needs blood to maintain control over his beast. Without it, he becomes unstable, dangerous. The dungeons are where he deals with threats to the kingdom, but they also serve another purpose. They feed the curse."
My hands had gone numb. I stared at the stain I had been scrubbing, my mind struggling to process what she was telling me. "Feeds the curse? Like h-he eats them?"
Violet chuckled quietly, "Not quite. He drinks their blood."
The nausea returned, stronger this time. I thought about the blood that had stained his mouth when I encountered him in the courtyard, and an image of him, fangs deep into someone's throat, flashed unbidden behind my eyes and I shivered.
We returned to our work, but the revelation weighed heavily on my mind. By the time we finished, the sun had already begun its descent toward the horizon. The cells were as clean as they were going to get. The stains remained, just as Hannah had warned, but at least the fresh blood had been scrubbed away.
We carried the buckets and brushes back to the entrance where Hannah waited with her perpetually disapproving expression. She walked through each cell, inspecting our work.
"Adequate," she finally said, which I gathered was the closest thing to praise she ever offered. "You can go."
Violet and I walked back toward the servants' quarters together, both of us filthy and exhausted. The setting sun painted the sky in shades of orange and red, and for a brief moment, the compound looked almost beautiful.
"How long have you been here?" I asked Violet as we walked.
"Three years," she replied. "I ran away from my pack, but was caught by those fucking traffickers. But I ran away again before I could be sold. Silas found me. He brought me back here and gave me a choice: I could go to one of the neutral tribes, or I could stay here and work as a servant. I chose to stay."
"Why?"
Violet was quiet for a long moment. "Because at least here, I know what to expect. Out there, in those tribes, I would've just been another omega trying to survive. It was the same with my pack, that was why I ran away. Here, I have a purpose. Food, shelter, protection. It's not freedom, but it's not abuse either. That's a win in my book."
We reached the servants' quarters, and I could hear children's laughter drifting from somewhere inside. The sound made my heart ache for Nora.
"The woman watching Nora," I said. "Where would I find her?"
"Common room, down that corridor and to the left," Violet replied. "Her name is Beth."
I thanked Violet again and hurried down the corridor she had indicated. The common room was large and bright, with several worn sofas and chairs arranged in clusters. A handful of children played on the floor while a heavyset woman with gray-streaked hair supervised from a nearby chair.
Nora sat curled in the woman's lap, her small hands wrapped around a cup of something. When she saw me, her face lit up with relief and she immediately began scrambling to get down.
"Mama!"
I rushed forward and scooped her into my arms, breathing in her familiar scent despite the fact that I was covered in grime. She clung to me tightly, and I could feel her heart beating against my chest.
"Thank you," I said to the woman, who I assumed was Beth. "Thank you so much for watching her."
Beth smiled kindly. "She was no trouble at all. Sweet little thing. She ate well and played nicely with the other children. Elena was also here to check on her and she says her fever's cleared."
I let out a relieved sigh, thanking Beth again.
I carried Nora back to our room, where I found clean clothes laid out on my bed along with a note in neat handwriting. "Bath supplies are in the communal washroom, second door on the right."
After the day I had endured, a bath sounded like heaven. I gathered the clothes and supplies and made my way to the washroom with Nora in tow.
The washroom was empty, for which I was grateful. I filled one of the large tubs with hot water and helped Nora undress before lowering her gently into the bath. She sighed contentedly as the warm water enveloped her.
"Did you have fun today, baby?" I asked, working soap through her curls.
"Beth s nice," Nora replied. "She told me stories… and I played with blocks."
"That sounds wonderful."
"Mama," Nora said after a pause. "Are we staying here?"
The question caught me off guard. I paused, my hands stilling in her hair. "For now, yes."
"Forever?"
I didn't have an answer for that. Instead, I kissed the top of her head and continued washing her hair, letting the silence speak for itself.
After I had cleaned Nora and put her in fresh clothes, I scrubbed myself clean, watching the water turn dark with grime and blood. By the time I finished, my skin felt raw but finally clean.
Back in our room, I found Violet sitting on her bed, brushing out her damp hair. She looked up when we entered and smiled at Nora.
"Feeling better, little one?"
Nora nodded shyly and climbed into bed. Within minutes, she was asleep. I smiled, as I watched her sleep peacefully.
I sat on the edge of my own bed, my body aching from the day's labor. Violet set down her brush and studied me with those perceptive eyes.
"You did well today," she said quietly. "Better than most new servants on their first assignment."
"I didn't have a choice."
Violet sighed, putting her brush down, before reaching out to turn off the lights, plunging the room into darkness.
I lay down on my bed, every muscle in my body protesting the movement. Sleep should have come easily after such an exhausting day, but my mind refused to quiet. I kept seeing the blood-splattered cells, kept smelling the metallic scent that had soaked into the stone.
And I kept thinking about the King. About the curse and what it made him.
Sleep must have claimed me at some point because when I woke, sunlight was streaming through the small window above our beds. Nora was still asleep, her breathing deep and steady. Violet's bed was already empty and neatly made.
A knock at the door made me sit up quickly. Before I could respond, the door opened and Hannah stepped inside.
"Your assignment for today," she said without preamble. "Margaret wants you in the main castle. You'll be cleaning the King's private quarters."
My blood turned to ice.