“I’m getting along fine, milady,” she said.
Amilia smiled, trying to set her at ease. “I didn’t mean to suggest you weren’t. I’m very pleased with you. I just know it can be hard sometimes when you start out in a new place. I want you to know that I can help if you’re having trouble.”
“Thank you,” she said, but Amilia heard the suspicion in her voice.
Having a noble offer to help with bullying peers was probably a shock to the girl. If it had been her, Amilia would have thought it a trap of some kind, a test perhaps to see if she would speak ill of others. If she admitted to problems, the noble might have her removed from the palace. Under no circumstances would Amilia have admitted anything to a noble, no matter how kindly the woman might have presented herself.
Amilia instantly felt foolish. There was a division between nobles and commoners, and for good or ill, she was now on the other side. The conditioning that separated the two was far too entrenched for her to wipe away. She decided to stop tormenting the poor girl and return to her work. Just then, however, the maid put down the scrub brush and stood.
“You’re Lady Amilia, is that right?”
“Yes,” she replied, surprised at the sudden forwardness.
“You’re the chief secretary to the empress?”
“How well informed you are. It’s good that you’re learning your way around. It took me quite some time to figure out—”
“How is she?”
Amilia hesitated. Interrupting was very inappropriate, and it was incredibly bold to inquire so bluntly about Her Eminence. Amilia was touched, however, by her concern for the welfare of Modina. Perhaps this girl was unaccustomed to interacting with the gentry. She was likely from some isolated village that had never seen a visiting noble. The unnerving way she held Amilia’s stare revealed she had no experience with proper social etiquette. Edith Mon would waste no time beating those lessons into her.
“She’s fine,” Amilia replied. Then, as a matter of habit, she added, “She was ill, and still is, but getting better every day.”
“I never see her,” the maid went on. “I’ve seen you, the chancellor, the regents, and the lord chamberlain, but I never see her in the halls or at the banquet table.”
“She guards her privacy. You have to understand that everyone wants time with the empress.”
“I guess she gets around using secret passages?”
“Secret passages?” Amilia chuckled at the imagination of this girl. “No, she doesn’t use secret passages.”
“But I heard this palace is very old and filled with hidden stairs and corridors that lead to all kinds of secret places. Is that true?”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Amilia replied. “What got this into your head?”
The maid immediately put a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. Her eyes dropped to the floor in submission. “Forgive me, milady. I didn’t mean to be so bold. I’ll get back to my work now.”
“That’s all right,” Amilia replied as the maid dunked her brush again. “What’s your name, dear?”
“Ella, milady,” the maid replied softly without pausing or looking up.
“Well, Ella, if you have problems or other questions, you have permission to speak to me.”
“Thank you, milady. That is very kind of you.”
Amilia returned to her own work and left the maid to hers. In a short time, the servant finished and gathered her things to leave.
“Goodbye, Ella,” Amilia offered.
The maid smiled at the mention of her name and nodded appreciatively. As she walked out, Amilia glanced at her hands, which gripped the bucket handle and the mop, and was surprised to see long fingernails on them. Ella noticed her glance, shifted her grip to cover her nails, and promptly left the chamber.
Amilia stared after her awhile, wondering how a working girl could manage to grow nails as nice as hers. She put the thought out of her mind and returned to her letters.
“You realize they’re going to get wise,” Amilia said after the seamstress had finished taking Modina’s measurements and left the chamber.
The chief secretary moved around the empress’s bedroom, straightening up. Modina sat beneath the narrow window, in the only patch of sunshine entering the room. This was where Amilia found her most often. She would sit there for hours, just staring outside, watching clouds and birds. It broke Amilia’s heart a little each time she saw her longing for a world barred to her.
The empress showed no response to Amilia’s comment. Her lucidity from the day before had vanished. The empress heard her, though. She was quite certain of that now.
“They aren’t stupid,” she went on as she fluffed a pillow. “After your speech and that incident with the clerk yesterday, I think it’s only a matter of time. You would have been wiser to stay in your room and let me handle it.”
“He wasn’t going to listen to you.” The empress spoke.