A Beautiful Cage #2
The memory of my reflection in the mirror last night flashed in my mind. I bowed my head over my bowl and ate the rest of my breakfast in silence.
When we got back to the laundry room, Miss Melda hauled two full bags of table linens to the folding station we were assigned to and reminded us how these specifically should be folded.
“When these are done, Bea here can show you the rest of the servants’ areas. Sometimes we get pulled into different departments to lend a hand when needed, so I want you to know where everything is.”
Bea didn’t look too thrilled about that.
Nella and I got to folding the square white-and-gold napkins, each embroidered with the thorn crown and green flame.
“You shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed by your scars.” Nella could tell I was down. “If anything, they make you more badass. How many mortals have taken a ball of lightning to the face and lived to talk about it?”
Come to think of it, she actually had a point.
“Nella, you really shouldn’t swear. It’s very unladylike.” I held a straight face for almost two whole seconds before we both broke out in laughter.
“They are pretty badass, huh?” I was putting on a brave face for Nella... I found them far more hideous than badass.
But it was enough for her to smile and start telling me all the wonderful things she had noticed around the castle. She was happy.
I listened to her talk until we were nearly done with our breakfast linens.
“And that Prince Varyn, he’s super cute.” I looked up from the napkin I was folding to see her eyeing me, as if she knew something I didn’t.
“Very cute. And very annoying and arrogant. And very much the son of King Caedryn.” I didn’t dare elaborate. More than once, I felt like the castle was watching, seeing. I didn’t know who we could trust yet to talk about the king and the rebellion, and to ask about my mom.
“And very much flirting with you,” she said, and giggled.
“No, he was not!” I threw a napkin at her. Surely that’s not what that was. Why would the handsome crown prince flirt with me, a mangled-up mortal? I must not have seen properly when I thought he winked at me. Or maybe he was like that with all the ladies and females.
The little bubble of hope I didn’t even know was growing in me popped.
We finished the breakfast napkins and waited for Bea to finish her towels before she showed us to the kitchens first. It was between breakfast and lunch, so the cooks weren’t there.
She showed us the row of stoves and the three giant cooking fires, then took us to the cold room, cooled by fae ice magic, she told us.
They kept meats, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits on shelves stacked to the ceiling in the frigid room.
Then we took the servants’ corridors to the next stop—the maids’ rooms, where cabinets and shelves were overflowing with all manner of rags, mops, brooms, potions, and aromas.
In the corner was a stack of chamber pots and a basket of scrubbing sponges.
With a wrinkled nose, I prayed I never had to help the maids.
Back in the servants’ corridors, Bea explained that the castle inhabitants didn’t want to see the servants walking the halls with chamber pots and bed linens, so we were expected to use these corridors to move about unseen.
Bea then led us to the gardening area and explained that the gardeners cultivated all the fruits, vegetables, table flowers, herbs, and spices that the castle used and consumed.
She then showed us the slaughterhouse where they, well, slaughtered animals for their meat.
Nella threw up, and I couldn’t blame her.
From there, we went to the stables, where servants cared for the horses, and finally to the library, where one servant kept the books organized and logged.
My heart expanded at the sight of so many books.
They were piled into neat rows of shelving, floor to ceiling, spanning two floors.
The librarian told us that they had books in every genre here.
My heart deflated when Bea told me that no mortals—other than the librarian—were allowed in. I secretly wanted to punch her for even showing me the library if I couldn’t go in.
She ended the tour and went back to her folding station while we went back to ours. Miss Melda had brought in several bags of towels of various sizes for us to fold while we’d been touring the servants’ areas of the castle.
More folding. But it beat roaming the streets hungry and barefoot.
* * *
And so the days went on. Early rise, fold.
Breakfast, fold. Lunch, fold. Dinner…fold.
Bathe, then bed. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely monotonous.
With each passing day, we learned more about the inhabitants of the castle, the nobles who came from far-off continents to dine with our king and queen.
Noxie occasionally popped into my head with small tidbits he’d picked up in the city.
Nothing about my mom or the rebels.
We learned that mortal servants here occasionally disappeared without explanation. No one knew what happened, but they never came back. People just went on about their day when it happened. They moved on. Super weird and depressing.
I tried not to think that they were likely dead.
We also learned which mortals in the laundry room were receptive to talking to us and which weren’t.
Bea definitely wasn’t. But the other two ladies, named Ott and Moe, were. They were both thin and old enough to be my grandmother, with their graying hair and wrinkles. I suspected they were sisters with their slight resemblance and closeness in age.
Ott, Moe, Bea…mortal names were short now, hacked down generations ago when the fae decided long names took too long to shout.
They were both considerably older than Nella and me, but the prince had one thing right—they were gossips.
They would talk about who was who, who liked whom, who was sleeping with whom, who was married and sleeping with whom…both the fae and the mortals in the castle. It passed the hours of folding pleasantly enough, even if I wasn’t a fan of the drama.
Nella and I had agreed we should establish a friendship with these ladies before even thinking about bringing up my mom or the rebels, and we would need to do it carefully. If Moe and Ott gossiped to us about others, there was a high chance they would gossip about us to others.
A week had gone by since we’d arrived with the prince at Ashthorn Castle. The morning came just as every other had, except…
“Happy Birthday, Naci!” Nella appeared at the side of my bed with a small cake, the number “20” written with hearts in red frosting.
“Nella, when did you do this? How did you do this?” I couldn’t believe it, my very first birthday cake. Happy tears pricked the back of my eyes.
“I made friends with the cook, and he said he would make it for me if I agreed to a date with him.” She was smiling shyly.
“Wait, a date? The tall boy? Nella, this is way more important than my birthday. Tell me everything!”
She giggled, her cheeks turning pink.
Apparently, when I hadn’t come to lunch the other day, because I was helping the gardeners, he sat next to her and they talked and talked, and she thought he was so cute.
“Don’t you dare have sex with him, Agnella Corren, or I will cut his balls off myself.”
She laughed, rolled her eyes, and helped herself to the cake she had brought.
“Thank you, Nella. This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
I was twenty. Something about that felt…more adult. Felt good. Not that my birthday was an excuse not to work. It was right to folding we went after a breakfast of delicious cake.
As I was folding, I realized I hadn’t seen the prince since we’d arrived.
And I also realized that I was disappointed by that.
I mentally shook myself. I shouldn’t be disappointed by, or even thinking of, Varyn.
It clearly had not been flirting, and I was kidding myself to think, even for a second, he would like me or make time for me in his busy, princely life.
He was also the son of an evil king. I couldn’t forget that, but he’d made it very tempting and very easy to when he smiled or winked.
Gods, I had to forget about that damned wink.
The day went on as usual, folding and listening to castle gossip.
Dinner was just as bland as ever, served by Nella’s new boy. Nella had smiled at him when he gave her dinner. I just stared him down, turning his face as red as his hair.
We left the dining hall, following the rest of the laundry ladies.
We’d learned that, while we were supposed to use the servants’ corridors to get around, the servant’s dining hall and the laundry room were right next to each other.
So this was practically the only time we were ever allowed in an area of the main castle.
As short of a walk as it was, it was nice to see some lavish part of the castle.
I heard the ladies ahead giggling. Before I could wonder why, there he was. Prince Varyn.
And he was looking right at me. My heart did a little tumble, and I stopped walking.
He nodded to each servant who walked by and then stopped in front of me.
He was so close that I had to look up to see his face.
I didn’t miss how kind he seemed to be toward the mortals here.
How could he possibly be the son of such a bloodthirsty tyrant?
The male who rounded up mortals and shoved them into a small section of the continent unless they were deemed useful?
That openly supported the king of Fellendral, who had purged the continent some years ago of all mortals?
“Happy Birthday, Naci. Would you like to take a walk with me?”
The tumble turned into a full-on somersault in my chest as thoughts of Caedryn vanished. I looked over at Nella, questioning. She wore a sly, I-told-you-so smile and kept walking back toward the laundry room, leaving the prince and me alone.
How had he known it was my birthday?
I was finding it hard to care…the prince had just asked me to walk with him.
And of course I wanted to. So I said yes.