Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
JOLIE
Shit. Fuck. Dammit.
I should have just swallowed my pride and just asked Beatrice to show me the dining room again.
But how hard could it possibly be to retrace our steps and find a room filled with a giant table and a dozen of chairs?
The answer? Way too fucking hard.
Somehow, I'd gotten turned around and so lost, I couldn't even find my rooms at this point.
Rooms I was definitely not thinking about or marveling over. No. Absolutely not.
The master giving a housemaid a suite fit for visiting royalty was not on my mind.
Nope. Not at all.
Okay, so maybe I was laying on the sarcasm a bit thickly, but it was my default when I was freaking out and I couldn't help it. I was going to be late meeting the damn master!
A master, I might add, that still didn't have a name.
It wasn't until I was getting ready to hunt down the dining room that I realised Beatrice had not once referred to him by name.
How on earth was I to greet the man if I didn't know what to call him?
Sir? Master? Somehow, saying 'hey, you' didn't seem like the wise option.
I shook my head at my own idiocy.
Not that any of it mattered. For me to greet him, I had to actually find him.
As dinner crept closer, I hadn't run into a single soul. But I had discovered multiple guest rooms, a couple of powder rooms, a nursery-looking space, a broom closet, and the most breathtaking library I'd ever seen.
But no kitchen. No dining room. Not even the damn drawing room I remembered seeing when Beatrice first started her tour.
My stomach growled, reminding me it had been far too long since I'd eaten a decent meal, along with sending another burst of nerves through my system because I was most certainly going to be late for dinner.
No way I wasn't getting fired before I even started. Who wanted a fool too proud to ask for help as a maid? Especially if that maid got lost in the damn house she was supposed to be cleaning!
The thought of losing this chance, of failing my papa, tightened something painfully inside my chest. Tears built behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I could do this. I would do this.
If I was late, so what? I'd explain to the master that I got turned around. If he couldn't accept that, then I didn't want to work for him.
Probably.
No, dammit. I really did. I needed this.
Swallowing down the fear, I pushed open yet another door just as a deep, resonant clock somewhere in the manor chimed the hour.
Shit. Fuck. Dammit.
I was officially late.
And it seemed, to add insult to injury, I'd also stumbled into the one room I wasn't allowed access to.
The master's study.
A massive dark wood desk dominated the far corner, tilted diagonally so whoever sat behind it would have the wall at their back.
A wicker basket overflowed with satin cushions beside it.
Three of the four walls were covered floor-to-ceiling in books.
The fourth was a mix of tall windows and large cabinets. Each one very clearly padlocked.
Curiosity burned inside me to see what a man would hide behind padlocks in his own study. A study that was out of bounds for all staff except the housekeeper.
Without a thought, my feet moved forward into the room I wasn’t allowed to enter.
As if in a trance, I moved closer and closer to the walls of books to see which titles the mysterious master would choose to keep in his inner sanctum when he already had a library big enough to rival the one in the city.
But before I could reach out and touch the first aged spine, a rumbling roar had me jumping around to face the door.
"What on earth do you think you're doing in here!"
The voice was deep, gruff, more beast than man, and the moment I saw him, I understood why.
He wasn't human.
Not even close.
He towered in the doorway, shoulders broad, chest bare, dark fur covering thick muscle. His head was that of a bull. It was massive, horned, with a powerful snout pierced by a gleaming golden ring. Only his eyes were human-looking. Icy blue, furious, and locked on me like a predator to its prey.
I knew monsters existed. Of course I did. Ten years ago they came out of hiding. Some looked human. Some even lived among us. But I'd grown up in a rural town. The most I'd ever seen was the occasional fae or vampire passing through the city.
This? This was a creature out of nightmares and mythology, both.
Before I could appreciate the broad chest tapering into low slung lounge pants, he barked, "Are you deaf? Dumb? I asked you a damn question, woman!"
I squeaked. Actually squeaked. Like a terrified mouse.
Immediately, my gaze lowered to the ground, and I found myself unable to look up and face the glower he directed at me. "I'm sorry, sir! I was lost. Turned around. I was looking for the dining room so I could join you for dinner."
My knees wanted to buckle. Something primal inside me begged me to kneel, to show submission and make myself small and nonthreatening. But something deeper kept me standing.
Instinct? Pride? Probably more like unadulterated terror at the thought of making one wrong move and having him spear me with those horns.
"Did you think that the dining room was hidden behind that book, then?" He growled in response, and I flinched at the censure in his tone.
I shook my head in answer, unable to form any words thanks to the fear running through my system.
Fear coursed through me. Fear... and something else. Something hotter. Lower.
I didn't know what it was, but the way he towered over me, growled at me and the way he looked. Well, it made me wet.
"Now I'll ask again, why are you in my study when I know full well Mrs Kettleworth would have told you it was the one room you were not to access?"
A lone tear fell down my cheek, and I quickly moved to swipe it away. When too long a time passed without a response from me the beast roared again.
"Answer me, damn it!"
A sob escaped. "I apologise, sir. I was merely curious about the books on the shelf, and they distracted me from my search for the dining room. I didn't mean to disobey. Please don't fire me. I really need this job. I'll do better. I promise!"
More tears streaked down my cheeks at that point, but I ignored them, letting them drop to the floor as I was still unable to look up and face him.
There was the slow build of a growl, the sound of it vibrating through me as I stood there, silently crying as I waited to find out what would happen next.
"Fuck," he bit out.
Heavy footsteps crossed the room. He stopped in front of me. A large, warm, rough hand lifted my chin, forcing my gaze up to meet those piercing blue eyes.
"You're not fired. But you will be paying for this once your initiation is complete."
My breath caught.
Initiation?
"Now go to your room. I'll see you at breakfast. I'll send someone to retrieve you in the morning so you don't get lost again."
I didn't know how I was supposed to find my room when I couldn't even find the damned dining room. But I wasn't fired. Papa was safe. For now.
I bolted past him and out the door, heat prickling the back of my neck.
Thankfully, it didn't take me too long to find the correct hallway and even less time to lock myself in my suite and press my back to the door, heart pounding.