CHAPTER EIGHT: THE FIRST MORNING
1000 Words
A knock came just after dawn. Three quick taps, a pause, then two more.
Aria's eyes opened. The room was freezing. The hearth had died in the night and her breath misted in front of her face. She was still curled on top of the mattress, the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
"Ria?" Lina's voice, hushed but bright. "It's me, Open up."
Aria uncurled slowly. Her joints ached from the cold. She crossed the room, slid the rusted bolt back, and opened the door.
Lina stood in the corridor holding a cloth bundle. She was already dressed. "I brought bread, I Stole it from the kitchens. The head cook already hates me."
She stepped inside without waiting. Her eyes swept the room, bare walls, narrow bed, high slit of a window and her smile flickered.
"It's cozy."
"It's a cell with a bed," Aria said.
Lina handed her the bread. "Eat. We have a long day ahead." She sat on the edge of the mattress. "I've been asking around. The servants' quarters are cramped but warm. You should see the great hall. It's nothing like Silver Moon."
Aria took a bite. The bread was fresh, softer than anything she'd been given at home. She hated how much she needed it.
"Alpha Kael has already started Selene's integration ceremonies," Lina continued. "She'll be presented to the pack elders by the end of the week. She's been given quarters in the west wing.
"Of course she has."
Lina reached for her hand. "I'm sorry. I know this is hard."
Aria looked at Lina's fingers wrapped around hers and then at her face something about the way Lina's eyes flicked toward the door made Aria pull her hand back.
"I should get ready."
Lina stood smoothly. "Of course, I'll wait outside."
The east wing corridor was colder than her room. The torches had burned out overnight. As they passed the stairwell leading to the lower level, Aria slowed.
"How far down are they?" she asked.
Lina didn't look. "Don't think about it. Come on."
They descended toward the main hall. The cold eased and voices drifted toward them. The clatter of pots and the low rumble of warriors outside.
The passage opened into the great hall, and Aria stopped.
The hall was vast and severe. Black iron chandeliers hung from vaulted ceilings. Dark banners bore the Nightfang crest, a wolf's head in profile, jaws open.
And seated at the head of the nearest table was Selene.
She looked up as Aria entered. Her golden eyes glittered.
"There you are. I was starting to worry. I thought perhaps the cold had finished you off."
Aria said nothing.
Selene set down her cup and rose. She was dressed in deep green, her blonde hair pinned back with a silver clasp.
"Come. Sit. The food here is excellent far better than what we had at Silver Moon. Not that you would know. You never did eat with us, did you?"
"I wasn't invited," Aria said.
Selene's smile didn't waver. "No, you weren't." She glanced at Lina. "Lina, fetch us more bread. The kitchens are just through there."
Lina hesitated, then nodded and walked away. She didn't look back.
Selene waited until her footsteps faded. Then she turned to Aria, and the smile sharpened.
"You survived your first night. I'm almost impressed." She stepped closer. "This pack is mine, this fortress and Alpha all mine.You will stay in the east wing where you belong, I don’t want to see you close to the Alpha. And you will not forget what you are."
"And what am I?"
"Nothing. You're nothing. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be."
Lina returned with a basket of bread. Selene took it without looking at her. "I was just telling Aria how welcome she is here. Weren't I, Aria?"
Aria stared at Lina. At the way she wouldn't meet her eyes.
"I should go," Aria said. "I have duties to figure out."
Selene waved a hand. "The servants' overseer is in the yard, her name is Marta."
The servants' yard was a narrow strip of packed dirt between the kitchens and the outer wall. The cold here was sharper, funneled by the mountains.
Marta was broad-shouldered with grey-streaked hair and hands that looked like they had never been soft. She looked Aria up and down with a flat expression.
"You'll start in the laundry then the Bedding from the warriors' quarters, to the kitchen floors and then mending. You eat after the pack eats.
Understood?"
"Understood."
"The laundry is through there.
The work was harder than anything Aria had done in Silver Moon. The laundry water was cold and dirty, turning her fingers red within the first hour. The kitchen floors were slick with grease. The mending was endless.
No one spoke to her. The other servants moved around doing there works. They simply acted like she wasn't there.
.
By the time the light began to fade from the high windows, Aria's back ached and her hands were cracked and stinging. She found Marta in the kitchen, wiping down the long wooden table.
"I'm finished."
Marta didn't look up. "You start again at dawn. Don't be late." Aria nodded.
“ Wait.” Marta called. She reached beneath the counter and pulled out a small bundle wrapped in cloth.
"Here. This is your portion. Every servant gets one meal at the end of the day.“
Aria took the bundle. She climbed the narrow stairs to the east wing alone. The torches hadn't been lit. She felt her way along the cold wall, counting doors until she found her own.
Inside, the room was exactly as she'd left it.
She bolted the door. She sat on the edge of the mattress and unwrapped the cloth. A piece of bread, salted meat and cheese. She ate slowly, and gulped down water from her flask.
The moment her head touched the mattress, exhaustion pulled her under. She fell into her dreams.
- Writer
