The warrior appeared in the kitchen doorway while Aria was on her hands and knees, grey water soaking through her skirt.
"Alpha Kael wants to see you he’s in study in, please follow me."
Her hands stilled. A drop slid from her fingertip. "Why?"
"I deliver orders only, I don't explain them."
In the corridor, a servant girl named Mira pressed herself against the wall to let him pass. She was young, fifteen, or maybe sixteen, with nervous hands. She waited until his footsteps faded before she moved again.
The west wing swallowed Aria whole. Tall windows, Polished floors. Tapestries in deep red and black. The air smelled of wood smoke and leather.
Two servants passed her. One whispered to the other. Aria kept her eyes forward.
The warrior stopped at a heavy door carved with the Nightfan
