Every woman-servant had a series of tasks that changed day-to-day depending on need, but they did have a few dedicated ones, things just for them alone. Iris’ last task of the day was to prepare the milk before bed. She’d been instructed over and over to warm the milk, add vanilla, and then add a heaping tablespoon of the white powder in the sugar container. It was sugar, for sure, but what Iris now knew was that it was mixed with some kind of sleeping pill all crushed up – and she’d been stirring it into her Garden sisters’ drinks. Theirs and her own.
Iris had never liked sugar, never liked sweet stuff, not even as a kid. She’d added the sugar to her own milk every night because she’d been told to, until the one night that she just didn’t. To this exact second that she lay in her bed wai
