Chapter 7
“Maeve.” My shoulders tensed at the sound of Death’s voice. “Take tea to the Presentation Room on the second floor. I’m meeting with the Devil.”
“Yes, my goddess.” I dropped into the deep curtsy Talia had shown me the day after I failed my assessment, and went to gather a tray.
Even when I was out of Death’s sight, the feeling of her watching me persisted.
I’d discovered she had little to no patience for anything done the wrong way.
She watched every move I made, always with the same expression, like she was convinced I was hiding something.
I hadn’t taken a full breath in three weeks, and my nerves were stretched so tight I thought they might snap at any moment.
She kept me busy following her around the castle on her daily rounds, like a shadow.
I suspected it was so she could keep an eye on me since I rarely did anything.
On occasion, I’d hold something for her, like the basket of flowers for her rooms someone thrust into my hands while we were in the greenhouses.
Then I stood there while she channeled power into the soil so it would grow the food that fed all of us, but she insisted on my presence.
Back in her rooms, I kept busy cleaning and serving her meals.
Despite being a goddess and able to summon anything she wanted, Death preferred her meals served the human way.
Which meant servants bringing them from the kitchen to a pantry in her rooms, and then me serving them to her in the dining room like this was a rich household in the World of the Living.
It was strange, but I’d also discovered she rarely used magic in private.
I wasted no time in putting a kettle of water on to boil, and pulling a tray together, gritting my teeth the whole time.
Every time I touched something, I expected my hands to start glowing.
It had happened twice since my assessment.
Once, I’d destroyed a plate and set of silverware as I set Death’s table for lunch.
No one had been around then, or the other time when I’d burned holes in my uniform and had to sneak down to my room to change, but it was only a matter of time before my luck ran out and someone saw.
I wished I knew what caused it, or if there was someone I could ask about it.
The only one who might know was Death, and there was no way I was asking her.
She’d probably decide I was a threat to be eliminated.
Permanently. Even if I was dangerous, I had no wish to be annihilated.
I still wanted to atone, in whatever way I could.
My chest tightened, and I forced myself to breathe. I’d figured out how my curse worked in the World of the Living. I would do the same here, hopefully without Death finding out, and without hurting anyone.
Picking up the tea tray, I made my way from Death’s rooms to the other side of the castle.
The Presentation Room was on the third floor next to the Amphitheater.
Death often took afternoon meetings there with Judges to approve judgments.
Why she didn’t meet with them in her rooms instead, I didn’t understand.
There were plenty of people in the halls.
Preferring to stay out of sight, I used the hidden network of corridors and staircases used by the servants wherever possible.
I wound my way past the Nexus, which Death visited every morning.
As I passed the servants’ entrance, I could hear the hum of activity inside.
It contained dozens of podiums in the shape of tree roots, one for each Order, bearing paper, a pot of deep red ink and pens, much like the one I saw in the Burial Chamber during my Ritual.
It also had a tally of offerings for every Order in the World of the Living on one wall that was updated daily.
Death seemed to put great store in the numbers, though I couldn’t tell why.
They didn’t seem to have a tangible meaning.
I had to cross one of the main hallways in front of the Library, which occupied two floors on the same side of the castle as the dormitories.
Slipping into another set of back hallways that circled the center of the castle, I felt the pull of the Well three floors down, where souls waited to be judged.
That was what was down the staircase I’d seen outside the Arrival Hall.
I’d never been inside, forced to wait in the large, mirror-lined antechamber while Death and a Judge disappeared inside every morning.
I heard whispers every time we went near it, though I didn’t say anything, since no one else seemed to hear them.
Descending two sets of stairs, I finally came to an exit that let me out three doors down from the Presentation Room.
As soon as I hit the main hallway, a soft rumble of voices sounded, like a distant wave approaching.
My shoulders tensed as a crowd of people rounded the far corner, filling the hallway.
Trainees walked past, discussing their last class.
I felt a stab of envy at the way they moved with ease and purpose.
That could have been me, if I weren’t a danger to everyone.
Shaking off the feeling, I kept moving. There was no point in dwelling on dreams of what might have been.
“No, that’s not what he meant.” Bea’s voice rose above the noise.
My eyes found her in the crowd. I hadn’t seen her since our assessment.
Her expression was determined as she argued with someone.
It was the same look she’d worn when she refused to leave my side in the Arrival Hall, even though she had been naked and shivering beneath a blanket.
Loneliness hit me hard as I realized this was what it would always be like, me on the outside looking in. I didn’t have to look down to see my hands were glowing again. I could feel it.
I needed to get out of here.
Ducking my head so Bea wouldn’t see me, I looked for an exit. The door to the Presentation Room was open on my left. Darting through it, I kicked the door shut. It was blessedly empty.
The tray in my hands had gone from gold to copper. I dropped it on the first surface I saw, the tea sloshing a bit. The metal had shaped to my grip where I’d held it.
Unlike the last three times, both of my hands shone like beacons.
Swallowing the lump of dread in my throat, I closed my eyes and found the source of the light.
The hole in my chest that it streamed through had gotten bigger since the last time.
I tried to smother it again, but I couldn’t contain it.
It kept slipping from my grip. As if it sensed my intention and objected, the heat in my hands intensified.
Gods. I was stuck. I couldn’t touch anything. I couldn’t go anywhere. I felt so helpless.
My breath caught in my throat, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears I felt forming.
A torrent of emotions flooded through me.
Anger. Hurt. Sadness. Jealousy. Fear. Everything I’d been bottling up the last three weeks in an attempt to keep this exact thing from happening.
I couldn’t hold them back any longer. The heat built and built until it filled my entire body, and I felt like I would melt through the floor.
And then, as if it had reached the peak, it started to drain away. The rush slowed to a trickle and then winked out.
I let out a shaky breath and looked at my hands. Normal. If it weren’t for the tea tray, no one would know anything had happened.
The clearing of a throat made me spin around. My hand flew to my mouth as I found the source. The Devil. My eyes widened. He’d seen everything.
I backed up towards the door, desperate to escape, but my hip hit the edge of the table. I let out a hiss of pain as the tea tray went sliding off, the teapot tipping.
Shadows whipped out and caught it, righting it before it could spill. They caught the teacups and saucers, the milk, sugar and biscuits, and eased it all back onto the tray and the table without spilling a drop. Then, they faded away.
I stared at where they’d been, my heart pounding.
“Maeve?” The Devil’s voice was a caress that I felt everywhere.
My gaze snagged on his and held.
His eyes were full of concern, with an intensity that made me shiver. If it weren’t for the crown of horns on his head or the power thrumming around him, I could pretend he was human. That he cared about me.
But he wasn’t. And didn’t. He was the Devil. A master manipulator. And now he knew about my curse.
Dread settled in my stomach like a rock. This was my worst fear come to life, only it was ten times worse, because there was no escape. I was here for the rest of my existence.
My chest tightened and I fought to breathe as my mind spun, wondering what he’d try to make me do with it, and how he’d coerce me. Would he try to seduce me? Threaten to reveal my secret to Death?
“Are you alright?” It was such an unexpected question, it brought my spiral to an abrupt halt. I expected the Devil to be pleased with his discovery, smug, to see him plotting all the ways he would use me. Instead, he studied me with a furrowed brow, as if trying to figure out what I needed.
It tugged at something in me, my heartbeat slowing, but I brushed it off. He could be trying to manipulate me by convincing me he cared. I couldn’t forget how dangerous he was.
The door behind me opened, and I was knocked forward.
My hip caught the tray and knocked it to the floor, again.
This time there was nothing to stop it. The teapot and cups smashed and broke into pieces, sending liquid and ceramic shards all over the carpet.
The tray skidded under a chair, out of sight.
“Maeve,” Death said. “What…” She stiffened when she saw the Devil.
The hair on my arms stood on end. I shrank into myself, wanting to be anywhere but here, and praying that Death hadn’t seen the tray and the way it had been deformed.
“You’re early.” Her words were coated in ice.
“Last time you accused me of being late.” The humanity in the Devil’s expression was gone, replaced by the dark god of shadows.
I shivered.
“You’re early,” she repeated, turning to me, “and yet the tea is not set out.”
“No, my goddess.” I knew better than to argue by now. Death was never wrong.
“If you can’t execute a simple task like this, Maeve, perhaps I should confine you to my quarters and have someone keep an eye on you. Show you how to do things. Make things easier for you.”
My heart sank and chills ran through me. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if my hands started to glow around someone who would no doubt report it back to her.
Death waved her hand. In a flash of light, the mess on the floor disappeared and reappeared on the table next to the Devil’s chair, intact. The tray was gold again, back to normal. “You’re dismissed.”
I looked at the Devil through my lashes as I curtsied, unable to resist the pull of him. I thought I saw a flare of anger in his eyes, but it was gone before I could blink.
Stepping into the corridor, I eased the door shut behind me and fled.
* * *
Death kept me later than usual, until well past dinner that night.
“The Devil is dangerous, Maeve,” she said when she returned from meeting with him.
“You should never be alone with him.” Then she told Talia that I was not to be assigned any tasks outside her quarters until further notice, and to assign me a partner to make sure I fulfilled my duties properly.
I kept expecting her to reveal that she’d seen the tea tray or to at least scold me further for my inadequacies, but she never did.
By the time she dismissed me, I was dead on my feet, anxious to crawl into bed and seek relief in sleep.
The room I’d been assigned in the servants’ quarters was small but adequate, with cloudy, mirrored walls, a narrow bed with a firm mattress, and a fireplace with a perpetually burning fire.
And I didn’t have to share it with anyone.
The first night, I’d fallen asleep in my clothes since there was no blanket, but I didn’t care.
After everything that had happened, I’d been grateful for the privacy.
Several nights later, a blanket was waiting for me when I turned in, and two nights after that a pillow.
It was now a small sanctuary that I looked forward to coming back to at the end of the day.
I opened the door, expecting Star to be waiting for me. The salamander I’d seen in the room I’d shared with Bea had found me and visited nightly. I knew it was the same one because of the yellow starburst on their snout, hence the name. But they weren’t there.
Something was different about my room. The air felt heavier and it looked darker, even though the fire was the same size as always.
My scalp prickled. Part of me wanted to run away, but I had nowhere to go, and I rebelled at the thought of being driven from my sanctuary.
Whatever it was, it was better to face it.
I hesitated on the threshold for a couple of heartbeats before easing my way into the room and shutting the door behind me.
Leaning against it, I looked around. Aside from being darker, everything looked as I expected, nothing out of place. Until a large form melted out of the shadows in the opposite corner. My eyes went wide as it solidified into the Devil.