Dionne
"Follow me," he commanded, already moving toward the door.
I stumbled after him on shaking legs, my vision still blurred with tears. But instead of leading me out into the corridors, he walked toward a section of his sitting room I hadn't noticed before. A narrow door, almost hidden in the paneling.
He pushed it open to reveal a cramped corridor, barely wide enough for one person. At the end was another plain wooden door.
The room beyond was tiny. Barely larger than a closet, with rough stone walls and no windows.
A narrow bed sat against one wall, covered with a thin blanket. A washbasin perched on a small table in the corner. That was it. No chair. No closet. Nothing else.
"This is where you'll sleep," Kael said, gesturing into the space. "The servants' quarters attached to my chambers. Close enough that I can summon you at any hour."
I stared at the room, trying to process what I was seeing. This was meant for me? This cold, dark cell?
"Your duties begin immediately," he continued, and his voice had taken on a flat, detached quality that made every word feel like a brand. "You wake before dawn to prepare my bath. You'll have my clothes ready, my breakfast prepared. You'll clean my chambers daily—every surface spotless, every book in its place. You'll remain available throughout the day for whatever I require. You speak only when spoken to. Eyes down unless I command otherwise."
I couldn't look at him. Couldn't do anything but stare at the miserable little room and try not to start crying again.
The list kept going. And going. Each new duty piling on top of the last until I couldn't keep track anymore.
"Any failure costs you your hour with the child. Repeated failures eliminate it entirely. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Your Grace." The words scraped out of my throat.
Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks, but I didn't make a sound. I'd learned that lesson already.
"You have an hour," Kael said, checking the watch on his wrist. "Go back to the servant quarters. Collect your daughter. Explain the situation. Say your goodbyes. I expect you back here in exactly one hour."
"Yes, Your Grace."
He walked away without another word, his footsteps echoing down the corridor until they faded completely.
I stood in the doorway of that tiny room for a long moment, trying to make my legs work. Everything felt distant and unreal, like I was watching this happen to someone else.
But the throbbing in my cheek, the ache in my knees, the taste of blood in my mouth, it was all too vivid to be anything but real.
I forced myself to move, making my way back to the servants quarters.
My hand shook as I reached for the handle of my shared room.
Inside, Violet sat on her bed, and the moment she saw my face, she was on her feet.
"Oh goddess, Dionne. What happened?" She rushed forward, reaching for my swollen cheek, but I flinched away. "Did someone hurt you? Was it the King? I heard he came back early—"
"I broke something," I said, and my voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. "Something important. And now I have to pay for it."
The story came out in broken pieces as I moved mechanically around the room, gathering my few belongings and shoving them into the bag Violet held out for me. The portrait. Getting caught. The King's rage. My new role as his personal servant.
The part about only seeing Nora one hour a week made Violet's face crumple.
"That's not fair," she whispered. "She's your daughter. She needs you."
"I know." I couldn't cry anymore. I'd run out of tears. There was just numbness now "But there's nothing I can do about it. This is my punishment, and I have to accept it."
A soft knock at the door made us both turn. Beth stood there with Nora holding her hand, and the moment my daughter saw me, she broke free and ran.
"Mama!"
I caught her, lifting her into my arms even though my body protested. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and buried her face against my shoulder, and the familiar weight of her nearly broke me all over again.
How was I supposed to do this? How was I supposed to let her go?
"Mama, you're crying," Nora said, pulling back to look at my face. Her small hand touched my swollen cheek, and she frowned. "It hurt?"
"A little, baby." I tried to smile, but my face wouldn't cooperate. "Mama needs to talk to you about something, okay?"
I sat down on the bed, keeping Nora in my lap. Violet and Beth moved toward the door, giving us privacy, but I could feel them hovering just outside.
"Mama has a new job," I started, and my voice cracked on the words. "A very important job. I'm going to be working for someone very special, and it means I have to live in a different part of the castle now, but you have to stay here."
Nora's face scrunched up in confusion. "But I want to stay with you."
"I know, sweetheart. I want that too. But sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do." I smoothed her wild curls back from her face, memorizing every detail. The way her nose crinkled. The gold flecks in her green eyes. The tiny scar above her left eyebrow from when she'd fallen as a baby. "You're going to stay here with Violet and Beth and all the other nice people. And I'm going to come see you every Sunday."
"Every day?" she asked hopefully and her tiny voice brought tears back to my eyes.
"Every Sunday." Each word felt like I was swallowing broken glass. "We'll play games and I'll read you stories and we'll have so much fun."
"But what about the other days?" Her lower lip began to tremble. "Who will tuck me in?"
"Violet will take care of you," I promised, even though the words made me want to scream. "She's very kind, and she'll make sure you're safe and warm. And I'll think about you every single day, every single minute. You'll always be in my heart, even when we're not together."
"I don't want you to go." Tears welled up in Nora's eyes, spilling over to track down her cheeks. "Please don't go, Mama. Please."
"I have to, baby. I'm so sorry, but I have to."
She started crying in earnest then, that heartbroken sobbing. The sound cut through me like a blade, and I pulled her close, rocking her while my own tears fell into her hair.
"I love you so much," I whispered against the top of her head. "More than anything in the whole world. You're my brave, beautiful girl, and I'm so proud of you. You're going to be okay. I promise you're going to be okay."
But even as I said the words, I wasn't sure which of us I was trying to convince.
We sat like that for what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than twenty minutes. When Beth finally knocked softly and reminded me of the time, I felt something inside me shatter.
"I have to go now," I told Nora, even though the words nearly choked me. "But I'll see you on Sunday. That's only a few days away."
"Don't go," she sobbed, clinging to me harder. "Please don't leave me."
It took every ounce of strength I possessed to unwrap her arms from around my neck. To hand her over to Beth while she screamed and reached for me. To turn away while she cried "Mama!" over and over, each repetition like a knife to the chest.
Violet pressed my bag into my hands, her own eyes red and swimming with tears. She didn't say anything. There was nothing to say that would make this better.
I walked out of that room and forced myself not to look back. If I looked back, I'd never be able to leave.