The next morning, Zora woke up while the room was still painted in the soft, grey shades of early dawn.
The air in the servant quarters was cool and still, and the only sound was the distant, rhythmic chirping of a bird in the mansion gardens.
Her internal clock was precise, she had always been able to wake up exactly when she needed to. She slipped out of her bed quietly, making sure not to let the wooden floorboards creak and wake anyone else. She dressed in her new uniform,
smoothing out the dark fabric of the dress and tying the crisp white fabric strings into a neat, firm bow. She felt a strange sense of focus. This was her first real day of work, and she was determined to do everything right.
She had just finished braiding her hair when her roommate, Xila, began to stir in the next bed.
Xila rubbed her eyes and sat up, squinting through the dim light at Zora, who was already fully dressed and standing by the door. When she realized that Zora was already prepared for the day, she furrowed her brows in deep confusion.
"Why are you awake so early?" Xila asked. Her voice was thick with sleep and carried a hint of her usual annoyance. "The first bells for the morning shift haven't even rung yet. Most of us stay in bed until the very last second possible."
Zora didn't let the girl's cold tone bother her. She just gave her a calm look and a small, simple shrug of her shoulders. "I am an early bird," she replied. "I have always liked the quiet of the morning before the rest of the world gets too busy."
Xila rolled her eyes and climbed out of bed, muttering something under her breath about "ambitious new girls" as she reached for her own uniform.
Zora waited patiently by the door. She knew she didn't yet know the complicated layout of the massive mansion, and she didn't want to get lost or accidentally walk into a wing where she didn't belong.
She needed to follow someone who knew the ropes. Once Xila was finally ready, they walked together down the long, cold stone hallway of the quarters.
When they reached the back courtyard, the morning air was sharp and refreshing against Zora's skin.
A few other servants were already moving about, their shadows stretching long against the cobblestones. Some were sweeping the stones with large brooms, while others were carrying heavy wooden buckets of water from the well.
Zora scanned the area and spotted Mrs. Lilian standing near the tall arched entrance of the main house.
Without a word, Zora immediately abandoned Xila. She had felt bad vibes from the girl since the moment they met and didn't want to spend any more time with her than she had to.
When Mrs. Lilian spotted Zora, she gave a short, sharp nod of approval. She liked servants who were on time.
She took Zora to a quite large hall located at the back of the mansion, near the quarters. Lilian explained that this was the assembly hall.
It was a simple, cavernous room with long wooden benches and tall windows that let in golden streaks of the rising sun.
This was where the servants gathered whenever there was important information to share or if the Duke had new orders for the staff.
There, Lilian gave Zora the basic servant rules of the household. The instructions were clear and very strict. "First," Lilian said, her voice echoing off the high stone ceiling, "you are never allowed to go near the Duke's wing without explicit permission.
That area is private. Second, stealing is a crime that we do not forgive. If a single piece of silver goes missing, you will be handed over to be punished severely immediately.
Third, you must always be quiet. The Duke values his peace, so there is to be no shouting or heavy running in the hallways. And finally, you are to keep your appearance neat at all times."
Zora listened attentively, absorbing every word as if her life depended on it. She didn't want to make a single mistake that could lead to her being sent away.
Lilian told her that her main job for today was simple, she was to observe how the other maids worked and offer assistance wherever it was needed.
She wasn't expected to handle any big tasks on her own yet; she just needed to learn the rhythm of the house.
As they talked, Zora began to realize something interesting. Lilian mentioned that there actually wasn't as much daily cleaning to be done as one might expect for a mansion of this size.
This was because the mansion was not filled with a large family. It was just the Duke, his soldiers, and his servants who lived here.
There were no children playing in the halls and no loud relatives visiting. Zora was curious about why the Duke lived such a solitary life, but she was smart enough not to ask any questions about his family.
There were dozens of guest rooms and sitting areas that stayed empty for months at a time.
Because they weren't being used, the maids only cleaned them twice a week to keep the dust from settling. Unless there were visitors, which Lilian said was a very rare thing, the workload was steady and organized.
Once the briefing was over, Zora started her day by observing the kitchen. When she stepped through the heavy wooden doors, she almost stopped in her tracks.
It was a massive room, filled with the smell of baking bread and roasting meats. It was so much larger than her entire shop back in Lardin.
Her own small kitchen at home was like a tiny closet compared to this place. There were giant iron stoves that gave off a constant heat, long wooden tables covered in fresh vegetables, and rows of gleaming copper pots hanging from the ceiling.
Everything was scrubbed until it shined, and every person moved with a specific purpose. Zora watched them work, realizing she had a lot to learn about how a house this grand operated.
_____
While Zora was busy in the kitchen, Duke Avner was standing on the high balcony of his private room.
From his position, he had a perfect view of the courtyard and the entrances below. He had watched the previous afternoon as the vampire girl entered his gates, carrying her small bag and looking around with curious eyes.
A satisfied glint shone in his dark eyes. The girl had been lured exactly as he planned.
It was now only a matter of time before he could dig out her deepest secrets. To the Duke, this had actually been very easy to pull off.
He was a man who always got whatever he put his sights on, and if this plan had failed, he would have found another way to bring her here.
He leaned against the cold stone railing, thinking back to how he had set the trap.
Ever since he had left the town of Lardin that day, he had never truly let her out of his sight.
He had people trail her, watching her from a distance. He knew her nature from the moment he first saw her; he knew she would try to avoid trouble, so he planned every detail to push her toward his mansion.
The sorcerer who had cornered her in that alleyway was not his ally. That was just a random man used as a tool. The Duke had hired people to carry this out. A man was made to find a lone sorcerer in town and lead him toward the alley where Zora was hiding.
They had told the sorcerer that they saw a suspicious lady running away and pointed him right in her direction.
Once she was cornered and in trouble, the Duke's true allies, the ones who "saved" her, stepped in.
That sorcerer from the rescue was an old ally of the Duke who owed him a favor. Avner remembered the note he had read from that day from the sorcerer, telling him that he was in town and waiting for the signal.
The plan was to let her get into trouble on purpose so his people could take the credit for saving her. It worked perfectly.
Her gratitude and cautiousness was the bait that led her to the capital. Even her finding the servant outside the gates was managed; he had people watching her from the moment she entered the city. This was going to be fun. He had the vampire right where he wanted her.