Chapter Forty-four
Faelen’s POV
The sun blazed high in the sky, its heat beating down on me relentlessly as I tried to lift a bag of soil.
It was heavier than I’d expected, and I struggled to keep my grip.
Sweat trickled down my neck, soaking through the back of my uniform and making the fabric stick uncomfortably to my skin.
My arms trembled with the effort as I tried to maneuver the bag to the side of the flower bed.
The gardener, a stout man in his late fifties, stood nearby pruning the hedges, offering no help or even a glance my way.
The head maid’s orders had been clear… “help out in the garden”…but I knew what it really meant. Punishment.
A reminder that I wasn’t anything special. She hadn’t even looked me in the eye when she’d said it, her tone cold.
I could hear the sne
