Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen
“Don’t get any ideas,” Missus said as she stopped in front of a pair of impeccably carved wooden doors. Her dark eyes were sharp enough to cut through metal. “I’m aware of where you came from, Isla. Eloise will be watching you like a hawk. If you give us any reason to think you might be up to something, I’ll have you stripped and whipped until we hit bone. Understood?”
Isla had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. “What on earth could I possibly do?”
Missus laughed through her nose. She looked back at Eloise. “You have two hours.”
With one final nod, the matron walked away to return to the rest of her duties.
Eloise let out a long breath. “Alright, well, this is Prince Sylvan’s quarters,” Eloise said, pushing open the doors.
Isla hesitated. She looked down the long hallway and stifled a shiver as Eloise walked ahead.
“There’s his office, library, smoking parlor, private kitchen, sunroom, two guest bedrooms each with their own bathroom, and, of course, his bedroom…” Eloise said, pushing open the last door on the hallway.
Isla was hit with the scent of stale air with an undercurrent of allspice, citrus and the damp soil of a forest: his scent, concentrated into a single encased room. For once, she didn’t feel the need to hide her reaction to his scent, as he was not there to analyze each of her microexpressions. She started to salivate until Eloise yanked a white sheet off one of the couches in the reading nook and a plume of dust clogged her nostrils.
“He won’t be here for long. We’ll probably only have to do this once and then cover it all back up when he leaves. We’ll need to pull off all the sheets. We can start piles out in the hall. Everything needs to be dusted. All the fabric needs to be laundered or cleaned. Everything needs to be wiped down. He’s very particular about his scents, so we can only use the cleaner in the closet beside the sunroom, okay? Normally we have a couple of days to do this, but I don’t think anyone expected him to rush home so quickly. Since we only have two hours, we’ll need to rush. The first hour will be all about getting everything cleaned. The second hour will be about getting it put back together and presentable.”
Isla nodded as she started to undo the curtains surrounding his bed. The scent of allspice and citrus was stronger there. Due to the headiness of his scent, she wondered if his linens had even been laundered since the last time he was here. Isla dragged off the heavy red comforter and the velvet sheets. She tried to keep from moaning as the soft material caressed the skin exposed by her ratty dress. She carried the sheets out the door, trying to be discreet as she inhaled the scent through her nostrils like she’d discovered some rare flower in the deepest parts of a rainforest. Isla reluctantly dropped them on the floor atop the pile of clothes Eloise had already started.
Eloise hummed to herself as the girls went from one room to the next, stripping linens. She was shown the cleaning closet and sniffed the Prince’s preferred cleaner, noting how it smelled like salty sea air and driftwood. It seemed the moment the last sheet hit the ground, the laundry team showed up to cart off the linens, while Isla went about dusting every room and Eloise worked on the bathrooms.
Next was cleaning the windows, sweeping, mopping. Before they could catch their breath, the new linens were brought in and, despite her wishing to stay as far away from the Mate Killer’s bed sheets as possible, Eloise was too busy in the guest rooms and Isla was forced to make the bed alone. Every time her skin brushed the sheets, or she was forced to lean across the bed to smooth out the creases, she imagined her scent being rubbed into the smooth material. The last thing to do was close up the bed again, and Isla watched as Eloise essentially sealed Isla’s scent for the Mate Killer to inhale later on. His Royal Highness would think she did it on purpose. Perhaps she should have spit on the pillow he’d lay his head.
“Alright,” Eloise said with a sigh, her hair plastered to her head with sweat. “Dinner time. Come on.”
The two girls walked out of his apartments, sealing the doors and giving a nod to the two guards who were now stationed there.
“You don’t talk much,” Eloise noted as they walked down the various hallways toward the kitchen.
“I didn’t think I was allowed to,” Isla admitted.
Eloise laughed. “You can’t speak when around the royal family and their men but if it’s just us, you can talk as much as you want.”
“That’s good to know,” Isla said.
“So, what species are you?” Eloise asked, making Isla stumble a bit.
“Uh, that seems like a weird question to ask.”
“Is it?” Eloise looked down, her brow crinkled in confusion. “I think it tells a lot about who someone is.”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Like me, I’m a white witch. My medium is through the earth,” Eloise explained, holding her hands up as if the dirt caked under her nails was some kind of tell.
“There weren’t many witches where I grew up.”
“Did you meet Lilith or Delilah?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“They’re nice. You can talk to them. They are on our side. Lilith was one of us at one point.”
“Really? What changed?”
Eloise shrugged. “They needed a new healer and Prince Sylvan recommended her. She used to be his maid many years ago.”
“Oh, I see,” Isla said, wrinkling her nose, the dots easy enough to connect.
“It’s not like that.”
“Sure.”
Eloise sighed. “Prince Sylvan isn’t all bad.”
“He destroyed my kingdom and killed my mo…” Isla cleared her throat. “My queen.”
“Yeah… hard to argue with that. But look,” Eloise stopped Isla with a hand on her arm. “Prince Sylvan keeps to himself. He’s hardly ever here. He won’t barely look at you, let alone touch you but…” Eloise looked around herself. “You’re beautiful.” Isla sat back in surprise. “Don’t be all bashful. You look a bit rough around the edges at the moment, but after a bath and a quick wash of your hair, you’ll be a knockout. While you might not need to worry about Prince Sylvan, the other men in the castle… There are rules we have…”
“Yeah, don’t look at anyone, don’t speak to anyone…”
“No, I mean rules for us girls. The main one? Do not ever allow yourself to be alone with another male, slave or otherwise. You are at the bottom of the pecking order here. If someone decides they want you… there’s nothing stopping them. Keep your head down but keep your eyes on a swivel. Especially around Prince Tristan.” Eloise tangled her fingers together. “If he decides he wants you… he’ll have you.”
“Okay, stay away from the future king,” Isla noted to herself.
“Alright, I didn’t mean to be all scary. Let’s get some food.”
The two girls walked into the chaos that was the kitchen.
“Woah,” Isla breathed, dodging a boiling hot metal cauldron as it was carried across the floor. “This is… a lot.”
“Yeah, it’s always pretty busy, but this seems excessive. Maybe it’s Prince Sylvan being home? Let’s just get a bowl and go, ‘kay?” Eloise suggested, taking Isla’s hand and leading her as best she could around the madness. Beside the cauldron of porridge dedicated to the work staff, Eloise nudged a servant dressed in even rattier clothing than Isla. “Hey, Nita, what is going on?”
Nita looked over her shoulder, then nodded her head toward the corner of the kitchen. “Poor Cassandra,” Nita said. “Accidentally dropped a guard’s food at his feet.”
Isla looked over to the corner where she witnessed the eight-year-old girl from earlier. Her head was dropped down, her mouth moved in an endless chant of apology while a guard screamed down at her. Isla noticed the food still on the guard’s boot. Then she watched, almost in slow motion, as the guard lifted a ladle over his head and brought it down on the girl’s outstretched arm. There was a sickening crack. Everyone in the kitchen stilled. The only sound was the high-pitched scream of the young girl.
Before she even knew her feet had moved, Isla was walking toward the scene. She vaguely felt Eloise grabbing at her dress sleeve. She recognized the sound of her own name being called beneath the ringing in her ears. But none of it stopped her from making what she would soon learn to be a fatal mistake. Isla grabbed the cauldron of porridge that had nearly knocked into her from a confused servant, walked toward the guard, and as he turned to question what she was about, she upturned it over his head.
The room exploded into chaos. His screams reverberated around the walls. The young girl, Cassandra, stared up at her with wide eyes. Isla gave her a wink before Eloise managed to grab her by the arm.
“Let’s go,” Eloise whispered. “We need to get you out of here. The servants will vouch for you, but it’s important we don’t linger so he can identify you. Come on!”