Chapter 5

Carefully, like a gazelle peeking out from the brush, I peered around the corner of the hall. Seeing that the way was clear, I edged out a foot.

“Stop doing that.”

I jumped at the voice, despite already knowing that Lena was just ahead of me.

“But what if someone sees me?” I whined.

“People seeing you is the entire point of the disguise. Now come on.”

I bit my lip nervously but did as she asked, hurrying into the hall after her. She stopped in front of a small closet, opening the door to the dark little room. I hopped from foot to foot, continually glancing each way as I stood waiting for her. From within, she pulled out a large feather duster and handed it over to me. Her hand brushed against my arm and I fought off another blush, still uncertain why my skin felt so strange.

“Do I really gotta do this?”

She stared down at me, ignoring the nervous wreck I was sure that I looked.

“Yes. You’re a maid. Maids clean. You can start here in the hall, and then we’ll move to the sitting room.”

I huffed but didn’t argue. In concept, the plan seemed pretty good. Yet now that we were actually doing it, I couldn’t help but feel that perhaps it was insane instead. Which was saying something considering the schemes I’d come up with in the past. But for some reason, Lena seemed to think it was a good idea. Dust around the sitting room, wait for the sorceress to leave her room, and then go in to “clean” it. It was a terrible but brilliant plan, I had to admit. Just simple yet ridiculous enough to possibly work. I hated it, no matter how cute I thought I looked in the mirror. The simple fact was that I was utterly uncomfortable being out dressed like this.

“You didn’t have a problem dressing up in cute outfits when you were younger,” Lena commented as I continued to stare around the hall.

I huffed. “It’s different when you’re younger.”

Lena didn’t respond as I began to dust the few tables that sat in the hall, holding vases and things that I was very careful not to knock over. As I lightly brushed the duster over surfaces, I wondered if this was how people actually dusted things. I felt more like I was just flailing a stick around than cleaning. Was I doing it right? Glancing over to Lena, she seemed to have no comment on my technique, so I continued with a shrug.

“You never came by to show me your wedding dress a couple of days ago,” I said.

She made a complicated face. “My fiance showed up.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, he said he’d felt desperate to see me again and had rushed over.” Her face twisted into a scowl.

That certainly seemed like something Silas would say. The way he spoke to Lena was quite different from how he talked with others, I’d noticed. It all felt distinctly fake, a strange attempt at ingenuine flattery to try and win over her feelings. I had the distinct impression that that would all change once they were properly married. The mask would drop, and Silas’s true colors would come back out. He’d always been a jerk to me growing up, one of the reasons I’d never really felt close to the rest of the guys. Instead, I’d kept to myself, my own little world of adventures in fiction.

I glanced over to Lena once more. It didn’t help my impression of him any more when he got engaged with Lena. Their parents set it up, but I wondered if he’d had a say. I’d crushed hard on Lena growing up. She was the only true friend I’d had. If only she’d liked me back. But she’d made it clear that she wasn’t interested early on. She just said it didn’t feel right somehow, that she was waiting on the right person. And now it was too late. Too late for both of us.

I sighed. At least we’d always been close friends. Hopefully, we’d stay that way. The worry that this curse could drive us apart popped into mind. Would she still like me if my body continued to change? If I became a monster?

A sentinel came around the corner in our direction, and my stomach dropped. I bumped into a large vase, nearly knocking it over, before grabbing it. Had we been found out somehow, I wondered? He glanced toward Lena as he walked forward, but made no comment to us. It was with some relief that he stopped at the sorceress’s door, giving a firm knock and effectively ignoring us.

When the door opened, the sentinel gave a bow. “Milady, the girls have arrived, as requested.”

I froze up, staring at the door as the sentinel moved out of the way, completely forgetting my cleaning task.

A moment later, she stepped out, an embodiment of darkness making her way into the light of the hall. My eyes weren’t sure what to focus on as I looked at her. Her long dark hair flowed around the two large black horns that curved up out of her forehead. A few white scales speckled her outer cheeks and a few other visible parts of her skin, contrasting with her dark skin like shining white stars in the pitch-black night sky. However, what was most strange to me was just how young she was. I’d expected someone older, a proper adult in their forties. Instead, she seemed to be around our age. Even so, there was no doubt in how powerful she appeared. Her confident red eyes scanned the room, seeming to glance over everyone.

As she continued out into the hall, I couldn’t help but be enraptured by her robes as they flowed around her, creating a misty shadow. It was difficult to tell where the clothing ended and the shadows began. When I looked back up to her eyes, I found them staring back at me, and my own eyes widened. I took a step back and then froze, nearly sighing in relief when she looked away toward Lena instead.

After glances at the both of us, she looked back to the sentinel, who stood patiently by.

“Go fetch them for me, would you? I’ll be in the sitting room.”

With a pause and a nod, the sentinel left back down the hall, and I realized that it likely wasn’t us they were talking about. It was a massive relief that was unfortunately cut short as she looked our way once again. This was the difficult part. We had to convince her to let us clean her room, ideally while she was out of it. Thankfully, Lena took the initiative.

“Lady Camilla, it’s good to see you again,” she said with a calm and natural smile.

-- -- -- -- --

Camilla sat on her bed, legs crossed as she calmly meditated. Darkness swirled around her, the only movement within the still room. Much of her limited time so far in this small desolate town had been spent like this, a relaxing reprieve from the machinations she was used to. She took in another deep breath, feeling the swirl of magic within her as it slowly condensed. It was something she’d gladly sit and do for days if she were able. If only that could be.

A knock reached her door, disturbing her meditative state. She felt a stab of annoyance combined with an ounce of fear that she quickly suppressed. The visit was expected, unlike most of the times someone came knocking, usually with more and more things for her to do. She had nothing to fear. Camilla had been continually worried the other shoe would inevitably drop after the break-in and theft of her room. She knew the sentinels suspected foul play on her part despite not having outright voiced it, and she’d been somewhat on edge since the incident the previous day.

Getting up, she took one last deep breath. Through her will, the darkened shadows encased her naked body like long flowing robes, and she approached the door. The sentinel bowed as Camilla opened it.

“Milady, the girls have arrived, as requested.”

Camilla nodded back, and the man moved out of the path of the door, though his hand never left the small sword at his side. She stepped out, scanning the hall and finding no prospective servants waiting for her. Instead, stood two others. One was somewhat familiar to her, the daughter of the Reeve of Sunridge. She was a fiery-haired girl that Camilla couldn’t recall the name of. Truly, the only thing she knew of her was that she was an only child, something that had struck her as peculiar when she’d arrived two days prior. Perhaps the Reeve and his wife didn’t get along enough for children. It mattered little to Camilla, either way. The other girl, who stood by the Reeve’s daughter, was a simple maid.

For the briefest moment, Camilla worried that some trick was at play, and fear tugged at her heart once again. It only took a quick glance back to the sentinel for her to realize that these two weren’t here with him, judging by the look on his face. The shadow-clad sorceress mentally relaxed once more, as she put things together. The sentinel had likely arrived intending to bring her to wherever her prospective servants were waiting, most likely out near the entrance to the mansion. She doubted that her being brought to them rather than the other way around was a coincidence. It was simply another flex of power on the part of the sentinels, a reminder of who was in control here. Meanwhile, the two girls had arrived separately, likely just before or after him. Most likely, the Reeve’s daughter wanted something from her, which was curious.

Camilla wondered idly what the maid had to do with it. She caught the girl staring at her shadowy robes with a somewhat dazed and fearful expression. As the maid’s eyes moved up to meet her own, the maid flinched, paling considerably. It was the typical reaction of people meeting a so-called “sorceress,” particularly from the peasantry. It was why Camilla had little hopes in finding a good servant here. She needed more than someone who could simply clean a room. What she needed was someone that would willingly assist her with her cultivation. Briefly, her eyes couldn’t help but drift back to the fiery-haired girl, noting the confident way she held herself as she eyed the curves of her hips and chest. If only she could have someone like her…

Turning back to the sentinel, a way to easily annoy the man came to mind. “Go fetch them for me, would you? I’ll be waiting in the sitting room.”

The man’s face became disgruntled for a mere moment before his eyes flicked over to the two girls seemingly waiting to speak with Camilla. He clearly resented the request and had no desire to acquiesce. The cursed witch needed to remember her place, after all. Still, there was an image of order still to be upheld. Both of them knew that he didn’t want to have this argument here in front of the Reeve’s daughter, while Camilla was perfectly happy making a scene. The Empire enjoyed its facade of control and order, no matter how fragile it truly was.

The sentinel nodded his consent and turned to leave. Camilla couldn’t help the small hint of a smile across her lips at the small victory. Then she turned back to the redhead and her maid.

“Lady Camilla, it’s good to see you again.”

The horned shadowy woman gave her a nod, though her focus went once more to the maid. It was then that she realized something about the girl kept drawing her attention. She stared a little longer, curious as to what it could be. She could feel it; there was something intriguing about the girl.