Nelia led me through the kitchen, which was so hot and steamy, I was instantly grateful to Vicer that my position had nothing to do with cooking. By the time we walked past the roaring fire—and the cook who was screaming at a maid—I was sweating in my cloak.
We exited the kitchen into a long corridor. “These are the servant hallways.” Nelia nodded at varying doors, which must have opened to more corridors. “They allow us to travel through the castle without disturbing the nobility.”
Because reminding the nobility that there were people catering to their every whim would be the height of bad manners.
Nelia seemed to be waiting for a response, so I gave her a nod.
“Tell me you’re not another empty-headed, slow-moving fool,” she growled, striding down the hall.
I trotted after her. “No, not at all,” I protested. “Merely taking everything in.”
“Move faster.” At the next intersection, she turned left and led me up a flight of stairs. Glancing down at the paper in her hand, she nodded. “We have an empty bed in the third room to our right.”
Opening the door, she gestured to the bed farthest from the fire. “That’s yours. Put your things away and follow me.”
I counted eleven other beds.
Sleeping in a room with that many women would make sneaking around this place even more challenging.
“Dress, and meet me in the corridor. I’ll return for you.”
I nodded, and she just rolled her eyes at me, stalking away. A few minutes later, I was wearing a maroon woolen dress that fell to my ankles. The dress had a row of tiny gold buttons down the front—even the maids had to wear the king’s colors.
With nowhere else to store my satchel, I shoved it beneath the bed, meeting Nelia in the hallway once more.
Where were the dungeons?
That question played in my mind over and over. Obviously, they were below us. But who kept the keys? Where was the entrance? How well was it guarded? Was Asinia still alive?
“In here,” Nelia said, opening another door. The room was large, shelved, and stuffed full of cleaning supplies.
“You will be in charge of cleaning the floors,” she said. “We have a woman who uses her magic on each floor once a day, but so many people walk through this castle that many of them are filthy again by lunch.”
My pulse stuttered, and I fought to keep the eagerness off my face. It was easy to see why Vicer had worked to get me this position. I would have a legitimate reason to be in different areas of the castle. Lingering in those areas as I learned everything I needed to know.
“You’ll get started now,” Nelia said. “You can mop the servant hallways until I’m satisfied that you’re a good worker.”
“Thank you,” I said when she handed me the bucket.
Within a few minutes, I was swiping water over the floor outside the servant bedrooms. I got to work, replaying every turn I’d taken, every door I’d seen so far.
“Hello,” a voice said.
I turned to find a woman standing in front of me. Her skin was flawless, her blue eyes large and curious, and she was wearing a dress that matched mine, several blankets piled in her arms.
“I’m Auria,” she said. “I heard we had someone new and thought you might need some extra blankets. I was given that bed farthest from the fire when I first got here, and it was freezing. I work in the laundry,” she explained.
“I’m…Setella. Thank you, that’s truly kind.”
She beamed at me. “You’re welcome. Where are you from?”
“Mistrun.”
“I have a cousin from Mistrun,” she started, and I prepared myself for my lies to crack. Footsteps sounded down the hall, and I turned, grateful for the interruption.
A woman was stalking down the hall, her face almost as red as her hair. She was incredibly beautiful, with sharp cheekbones, plush lips, and slightly uptilted eyes. But it was the color of her eyes that was truly remarkable—a blue so deep, it reminded me of the first and only time I’d seen the ocean.
The woman was wearing a dark blue dress which perfectly matched her eyes, with intricate beading emphasizing the hourglass shape of her figure. She looked like a noble, yet she was in the servants’ quarters.
She strode over my newly cleaned floors without sparing us a single glance. I raised my eyebrow at Auria.
“Who is that?” I mouthed.
Auria waited until the woman turned a corner and sighed. “Your clean floors. She could have taken another route.”
“Never mind that. She looks like she should be dining with the nobility.”
“That’s because she is the nobility. She’s one of the queen’s ladies.”
My face must have looked as confused as I felt, because Auria smiled. “Madinia works directly with the queen. Providing her with entertainment, walking with her, going to all the lovely balls and dinners,” she sighed.
“And…she has quarters here?”
“The ladies’ quarters are the floor above us. They’re still technically within the servants’ quarters, but they’re much, much nicer. I had to clean them once, and you would’ve thought they were royalty.”
“That sounds like a great position.”
She nodded, her eyes wide. “They get to go almost anywhere. They can leave the castle when they have an afternoon free—as long as the queen approves, of course. Not all of them are nobility either. And two of them are having trysts with the king’s guards.” She flushed. “I shouldn’t gossip. My friends say it’s my worst quality.”
As far as I was concerned, it was her best. “Nonsense, you’re merely telling me how the castle works. I just arrived today.” I hunched my shoulders a little. “It’s…different here.”
“It is.” Sympathy creased her face. “I better get back to the laundry, but I’ll come get you when it’s time for dinner.”
“I’d like that.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Once I’d cleaned the floors to Nelia’s satisfaction, Auria came and found me. She was friendly with one of the cooks, and we sat in front of the fire, shoes off, aching feet close to the warmth of the flames.
I’d met some of the maids as they came and went, finishing their work and readying themselves for dinner. Most of them had been kind, although they seemed to keep to themselves. A woman named Yirus had winced when she’d learned which bed I had, then offered to show me the quickest routes around the castle.
Auria would have made an excellent spy herself. Over a bowl of thick stew and fresh bread, she chatted relentlessly about the castle, the king, the queen, the queen’s ladies, the king’s guards—she found one of them exceptionally good-looking—and I attempted to memorize all of it.
“I’m sorry,” she laughed. “I’ve done it again. My mother always said I talked like it was a competition.”
“It’s fine. Truly. I can be a little…shy.”