Tessara - Cobalt
Grania’s hand trembled as she swept the mosaic floor. Two more slaves were gone this morning. She did not want to be next. She stopped sweeping to pick up scattered pieces of torn vellum strewn on the study floor.
The master had been moody and sullen for weeks, yelling over small matters or brooding in his study. Fortune had turned against him. She did not know why or how, but she learned to stay out of his way.
When she had first come to the large town house, there had been over thirty slaves, and now there were only ten. At first, she hadn’t noticed but then one morning she spotted the housemaster take a boy from the kitchen and lead him out the side door. The boy never returned. And over weeks, others left to never return.
She placed the pieces of torn vellum in a b
