“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.”
She smiled, and I reached for my wine. “Uh, earlier you said not all of the queen’s ladies were nobility?”
Auria nodded, using her bread to mop up the last of her stew. “Yes, while most of them are, the queen has always been a little…eccentric. I think sometimes she grows bored with court life. Caraceli was once the girl in charge of lighting her fire each night and keeping it burning. They became close, and when she was old enough, the queen offered her the position. And Katina was born in one of the northern villages. Close to the mountains.” Auria gave a mock shiver. “The queen was traveling, and Katina was at the market, selling her father’s wares. They began talking, and before anyone realized what had happened, Katina had been plucked from her village and was living here.”