The kitchens smelled of boiled fat and broken dreams.
My knees hit the wet stone hard enough to hurt, and I didn’t even flinch. Pain was just a background noise now.
I plunged the brush into scalding water and started scrubbing, my hands screaming, the lye biting into the fresh blisters in my hands.
This was worse than in the Sun Clan. At least there, I’d been invisible. Here, every omega and cook watched me with eyes that wanted me dead. I was the daughter of their king’s murderer. I was the girl who’d nearly destroyed their Alpha with a magic I don’t even understand.
“Faster, you filthy imbecile!”
A wet rag hit the back of my head, and dirty water dripped down my neck. I didn’t look up. Looking up only invited more.
Six hours in, my hands were bleeding through blisters. I’d been
