"She's gone mad!"
"She's slandering my good name!"
"Everyone knows the Lady is cruel!"
Those were just some of the objections Martha tried while we waited. I didn't answer her. Didn't acknowledge her existence. The two women looked confused and perturbed. One glance from me was enough for them to set their shoulders and do just as I'd asked them. No matter my reputation, I was still the Duke's Daughter after all.
"Just what is going on at this hour of the night?!"
"I don't know My Lord."
My father and Anias both. The man had been rather diligent. The kitchen door opened. My father strode in first, followed by Anias. They looked exactly like two people would if they were roused in the middle of the night.
The cook bowed his head to me. I smiled and nodded.
"Esra? What is all this about?"
There was no time to answer him before Martha threw herself on her knees in front of my father. "My Lord! Your daughter is dirtying my good name! After all the years I've looked after her, she is now accusing me of…of theft!" She sounded like she was in tears. "Please, My Lord! You have to believe me. I would never do something like this!"
My father glanced from her to me. It was hard to describe the look on his face. Conflicted, perhaps? The conflict between a father wanting to take their child's side on everything versus a Lord who knew his heir did have quite the infamous reputation.
"Esra. Is what she's saying true?" His voice was grave.
He sounded like he was more inclined to take the maid's side. My heart would have shattered into a million pieces if I'd been Esra. As it was, it only shattered into two for her.
"Father, do you recall the gift I asked for today? It was a beautiful ring."
"I remember. Why?"
"And do you recall the gifts you had sent the day before? There was a rather beautiful ring amongst those too."
"Of course I remember, Esra." He now just sounded confused.
"She stole both." I pointed, not looking at Martha. I caught her stealing the white ring from my room today.
"She's lying!" Martha cried out again, practically throwing herself at the Duke's feet. "Why would I ever do something like that?!"
"Esra this is…." A heavy accusation? Yes father, it is.
"Anias, would you please check her pockets? She didn't have time to do anything with it."
Anias, who had thus far been silent, looked to my father. On receiving a nod, she stepped forward.
Martha tried to crawl away from her. Anias held her down, inspected her. I almost thought she wouldn't find anything, but she finally stepped back, held up an unmistakable ring in the air.
"That…that….!" Martha's eyes were wide, her face was pale. "I was just…setting it away. Somewhere…somewhere Lady Esra wouldn't lose it!"
"In the middle of the night?" I whispered quietly. "I didn't know I had such a diligent maid."
I looked at my father. "Have her rooms checked. I wouldn't be too shocked to see the second ring hidden somewhere there."
"Yes…Anias, please see to it." Anias rose, bowed, and stepped outside.
My father made his way over to a chair, sat down. He looked older than when he'd come in.
"My Lord it's not what it-"
"Silence." A single word. The air grew heavier, so thick it was hard to breathe. My own breath caught in my throat. Every instinct I had told me to turn, leave and never come back. The air stilled again. "You will be silent."
Martha's body shook. Then she glanced at the floor. Something inside of her seemed to break.
My father's gaze drifted over to me. "Esra…why didn't you tell me this when it happened?"
It was hard to answer him. Besides, it wasn't my place to answer him in the first place. What might have the real Esra said?
"I know what people say about me, Father." I said formally. "Why would they take an accusation from me seriously?" I left unsaid the fact that he himself hadn't looked like he would at the start. "I needed proof. Thankfully, she was rather quick to provide."
Sadness on my father's face. Something inside me twisted. Maybe that had been a little too harsh.
"You…made the right choice." He said finally. Reluctantly.
Anias stepped in again, and in her right hand was the other ring. "My Lord, I found this in her room. Stowed away amidst her possessions." There was something cold in her voice. Angry.
My father nodded gravely. He rose again to his full height, stepped in front of Martha. "You swore an oath when you joined this household, as did everyone else here." He glanced around at the other staff. "Not only did you violate my trust, you violated my daughter's."
Martha stared up at him, eyes completely red.
"By all the laws of this realm I can have your hand for this. Since you did this twice, the punishment shall fall on you twice too."
So that's how they dealt with this in this Kingdom, huh? I had no love for the woman at all. At any other time, I would have let her consequences smash right into her. Right now however, something was bothering me.
"Father, may I speak to her?"
He turned in surprise. Saw the look on my face. Nodded hesitantly.
He stepped aside and I stepped forward. Martha looked up at me. I didn't see anything in her eyes but fear.
"Why?" I asked, hunching down. "Why did you do it?"
"What?"
"You stole the rings to sell them, obviously." I leaned in. "Why?"
Something in her face twisted. She looked away from me. "Just do what you want already."
"That's not the question I asked." I whispered coldly.
She flinched a little.
"Answer her." My father's voice, strong and commanding.
Martha slowly met my gaze. "I needed…I needed money. For…for my sister."
I waited.
"She's…she's sick. Can't…can't hear anything. Can't find work either and the landlord keeps making the rent higher and…."
"She's deaf?" I asked again, just to be sure.
"Y-yes." Martha sounded like she was about to cry again.
My expression didn't lighten. I turned my gaze towards Anias, assuming she would probably know. "Is this the truth?"
Anias looked at Martha, then at me. There was a silence. Finally, Anias sighed."I do believe she has a deaf sister. I do not know about the rest."
Nodding, I turned back to Martha. Having a deaf sibling to take care of certainly couldn't be easy. Certainly couldn't be cheap either.
"Why the rest?" My voice was still just as cold.
"The rest?"
"My food. It was always cold, or the portions were too small. A problem I never had when someone else delivered it. Why?"
"You tampered with my daughter-!"
I glanced behind me, staring at my father. Whatever he saw made him pause. I looked back at Martha. She was crying now.
"You…you just sit there all day. Not moving. L-living like…living like a Queen. I just thought…I thought that there's no…no justice in the world so…so maybe I could…."
"Get back at the world a little. Through me. A young girl." I cut through her crying.
Martha weakly nodded her head, her face a mess of tears.
"And did you do anything else? Answer very carefully."
Martha shook like a lone leaf in a strong gale. "I sp- I spit in…in…."
There were footsteps behind me. I raised a hand. "Father, please."
"You spit in my food. Anything else?"
She weakly shook her head.
I let out a long breath. Rose. Fury boiled within me but it wasn't like a part of me didn't understand. I myself had seen the riches of my new life and wondered if anyone could ever possibly deserve them all. Why wouldn't a maid come to resent seeing that up close?
Besides, it wasn't like she had tried to kill me. Tampering with my food infuriated me, but I would live. Stealing a few gorgeous rings was insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
I could take it. Could…could Esra? Could the girl who'd become a ghost in her own home have taken it?
"How long have you been doing this?"
"I…a year." Martha admitted.
That made my decision for me. I turned to look at my father. His face was red with fury.
"Father, what would be the normal crime for what she's done?"
"A hand each for the rings. For what she did to your food…public beatings. Perhaps even death. For the fact that she's done this for a year?" He shook his head, perhaps not able to imagine what level of punishment would be sufficient.
"Would you leave her punishment to my discretion?"
"What?"
"I am the victim here." I said simply. "She stole from me. Hurt me. Of course all of this happened in your household. If she stole my ring, it was the one you gave to me. Perhaps I don't have the right to ask this but…." I curtsied in front of him, as best as I could manage. I'd only ever read about this in books. Mine was doubtless clumsy and awkward.
"Please, let me make this choice."
A silence stretched after that, as if everyone had even stopped breathing. I was surely stepping out of line with this. It was stupid. There was no way he wo-
"Okay, Esra."
I looked up.
"If that's what you wish, I will stand by your decision." My father was staring at me. Was that guilt on his face?
I nodded, and stood straight again. I turned back to Martha. She didn't meet my gaze. She wasn't even really staring at the floor she was looking at.
"Father, do we have an estate that's not this manor? Perhaps a villa or the like?"
"We do have two estates in two other cities."
That wasn't quite enough. "Do we have anything more…rigorous?"
"We do have some mines in the North."
"Have her transferred there." I said simply. "Have her work something grueling, yet still something she can do with the skills she has here. A cook, perhaps. Have her do that for one year, then have her transferred to one of the other estates."
"What?" Martha sounded shocked.
"What?" My father sounded confused.
Had I not been clear?
"Have her transferred and put to work there. Do not cut her pay. Have the difference between her current wages and her wages then be sent directly to her sister. Do not allow her to show herself in front of me again." I turned back towards him. "Can that be arranged?"
"Yes it can." My father's face was unreadable again as he looked down at me.
I turned towards Anias. "Is there work in this manor that someone deaf can do? Work that they can be taught to do?"
Anias' expression was just as unreadable. "There is."
"Then have her sister employed here as a maid. Do not tell her what happened." I glanced around the room. "Nobody tell her what happened."
I looked back at Martha again. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.
"And then there is the punishment." I stepped forward, struck out with my hand. There was a crack as I slapped her across the face. She cried out, fell over. Stared at me. "The punishment is administered."
I regarded the room. "Father, would you say that settles this matter?"
"I suppose I would." I wish the man was easier to read.
My gaze drifted to Martha again, for the last time. "Your sister. What's her name?"
"L-Lana My Lady." Martha just stared.
"I will remember that." I turned away from her. "Well then, I came here under the pretense of being hungry." I looked to the cooks. "All this talking has actually made me hungry. If I could have something sent to my room, I would be most grateful."
I turned and walked away.