Chapter 11

11

Ella

As soon as the prince disappeared, the courtyard burst into a flurry of commotion. Soldiers slammed the gates shut, the groomsmen shuttled away the horses, and the chamberlain began barking orders to the new hires.

My legs nearly buckled, but Cara hurried forward and looped her arm around mine to steady me. "Fates, Ella, that was incredible. Did you see the way the prince looked at you? You've certainly caught his eye."

The prince.

The plan had been to be inconspicuous. To not draw attention. Instead, I'd drawn the eye of the most powerful immortal in the Bloodvale. One who might know that I'd attacked one of his kind.

"I think I might have just dug my own grave," I said darkly.

Cara squeezed my arm. "But you're not buried yet. And just think, we've got jobs in the castle!"

I took in the imposing structure that would be our new home. Stone buildings encompassed the courtyard on three sides, creating a U-shape around us. A staircase led up to an ornate entry at the northern end of the courtyard, while a pair of towering four-story residential wings flanked both sides.

But as massive as the buildings were, they were dwarfed by a single tower rising above all the others.

I had no doubt about who lived there. I shivered, and tearing my eyes away, I turned slowly to take in the rest of the space. There were barracks, stables, and a beautiful rose garden. My heart longed to explore it, but I was certain it wasn't for common servants like us. We were little more than animals in the eyes of the immortals.

It didn't matter.

As intimidating as the castle was, a job meant that I was one step closer to finding my sister. It meant that I'd be able to spy for the resistance and maybe even help bring an end to the immortals' cruel reign. It was probably impossible, perhaps even a dream that would end with me dangling from a rope, but it was hope—and that was rare enough in the Bloodvale.

The elation of being hired didn't last long, and my smile faded as I met Cara's eyes. "I'm sorry Teagan wasn't hired."

Her face fell. "Yeah. It's going to be a long year without him."

"Year?"

"I've heard they don't let the first-years leave—not without permission. But maybe I'll find a way to sneak out." She squeezed my arm more tightly. "At least you're here with me. That will make it easier."

I opened my mouth to respond but froze. The chamberlain stood high on the steps, glaring straight at me with a murderous expression.

The ramifications of what I'd done hit me like a brick, and my stomach dropped. The woman in charge of the castle's staff had rejected me, yet I'd found a way to go over her head in front of the entire court . They'd threatened to kill anyone who talked back, so what would she do to me for publicly embarrassing her?

I'd just made a very dangerous enemy, and if I were going to survive the day, I'd better smooth things over.

She started stalking down the stairs toward me, so I slipped out of Cara's arm. "Get going. I'm in trouble, and I don't want to take you down with me."

Before Cara could protest, I hurried over to my new employer and curtsied as low as I could. "I'm grateful for a second chance, Chamberlain."

"You impertinent wretch." The imperious woman dug her fingers into my arm and pulled me brusquely aside, her expression ice. "You will address me as ‘Lady Lorayna' or simply ‘your ladyship.'"

"I'm sorry, your ladyship."

"That was quite the performance you put on back there, but you don't fool me." Her lips twitched with displeasure. "While the prince may have taken pity on you, I will not. You'll work twice as hard as the other servants, and if you cross me, you'll find out just how cruel this place can be."

The corpse hanging from the wall left no doubt. I'd grown up hearing rumors about servants who'd been crippled or left traumatized from their work, but most seemed able to endure the bloodsuckers and earned a good wage for their labors.

I'd be one of those. I was a survivor.

I nodded. "I understand. I'll work harder than anyone here, your ladyship."

Narrowing her eyes at me like I was a silly child, she said, "It's a wonder what His Royal Highness saw in an ugly creature such as yourself, but what the prince desires, he gets." She held up a bronze token. "This is your pass into the castle. Always keep it on you, and don't lose it, because you won't get a replacement or a second chance to work here." She tossed the token like she would have flicked a coin into a wishing well.

I lurched forward and caught it before it bounced off the stone step. The metal was warm to the touch, and a small rune had been etched into the surface of one side—a series of concentric circles. I didn't recognize the symbol, but something about it felt familiar.

"You're to join the household staff." Her voice was as sharp as glass. "If I hear of you causing any other kind of disturbance, there will be hell to pay. Now get out of my sight."

She was a miserable woman, but I just had to put up with her for as long as it took to find Belle. Hopefully, I'd be buried in the kitchens or with the cleaning staff, as far from her as I could get.

"Thank you, your ladyship." I hurried off in the direction that Cara and the others had gone. They were already filing into the castle through a side door rather than the main entrance. I found a bit of string in my satchel and threaded it through a small hole in the token, then hung it around my neck like a pendant and tucked it into my bodice. I drew in a bracing breath, then climbed the stairs toward the servants' entrance.

As soon as I crossed the threshold, the air snapped, and I gasped as a thousand pins pricked my skin, like I'd just stepped into a hot bath after swimming in the cold creek. The token warmed against my chest, and I stopped in my tracks. What the hell?

"Is there a problem?" Lorayna glowered at me from the stairs.

"No, your ladyship, I just felt something…"

She pinched the bridge of her nose as if I'd just caused her an enormous inconvenience. "The gods are certainly testing me with you."

Funny. I felt the same.

Shaking her head, she turned and headed into the entrance hall, her heels clicking on the pale marble floor.

I hurried over to where Cara and the other new hires were listening to a butler dryly explain etiquette and what was expected of us.

Cara silently mouthed, Are you okay?

I nodded, then covertly checked on Pip. The butler was explaining that since we were lowborn humans and repugnant to the lords, we were forbidden to use the same doors as immortals or to be in the great hall, dining spaces, or public chambers unless we had express duties there. If we were caught out of position, we would be fined and potentially fired.

Some of the other new hires were attentive, but most were looking around nervously, their expressions drawn and faces pale. Each of us had been desperate for a job, but now reality had sunk in. We were in the lions' den, surrounded by immortals with no checks on their power and the right to feed on us whenever they wanted.

A pair of courtiers glanced our way as they swept through the entrance hall. Their gazes were intent. Hungry.

I swallowed and pressed myself back against the wall as I tried to get a sense of my surroundings. Black silk tapestries hung from the walls of the entrance, the midnight cloth embroidered with twisting silver vines and crimson roses. My gaze crept upward. The ceiling was impossibly high, and I suddenly felt very, very small.

"For your first year here, you are expected to be on call at all times," the butler continued. "You may collect your most necessary personal effects from home this evening, but otherwise, you are not allowed to leave the castle grounds without the express permission of your supervisor."

Cara's mouth tightened, and my spirits sank. If I were going to get any information to my stepmother, I would have to use her mangy old crow.

The butler turned and led us through a long feasting hall. The space buzzed with activity as servants moved around the long tables, polishing silverware and ornate vases, and folding brightly embroidered fabrics. The piney fragrance of wood polish brought me back to the manor. I used that same oil to clean the furniture, only this place was the glaring opposite of home.

Lorayna stalked through the room like a wolf, berating and cursing the servants at their work, but the sound of gurgling water drew my attention to a large fountain at the head of the chamber. It was carved in the form of a dense rose thicket—the royal emblem—with streams of water pouring from the blossoms and rushing down into a dark pit.

I stopped in my tracks as we passed by and stared. There was nothing holding the fountain up. It was floating over the pit, all on its own.

Impossible. I moved toward it, my curiosity burning.

"What are you doing?" the butler snapped, jolting me back to reality.

"How is the fountain…doing that ?"

The butler snorted. "Well, it certainly isn't physics. Where were you raised? A barnyard?"

"A manor house ."

"Well, this is no manor house. Now, get in line. You're not here to sightsee."

My thoughts spun as I rejoined the group. It had to be magic, but a part of me felt silly even considering the thought. Magic existed in fairytales and in the myths our grandparents told us as children when we sat around the fire, but what if there was a thread of truth in them?

What if magic hadn't been fully extinguished in the Uprising? What if the immortals had kept it all for themselves? I'd seen the Mistress of Ceremonies light the courtyard torches with a wave of her hand.

The butler ushered us down the hall and through another small door, and my jaw dropped as I emerged in an enormous ballroom. The excessive wealth and opulence on display screamed undeserved privilege and power. Glorious tapestries hung from the balconies that overlooked the polished marble dance floor, and the raised stage for the orchestra was ringed with ornate gilded railings. Enormous crystal chandeliers cast a warm glow over the vast space—only they weren't suspended from the ceiling by chains, but rather floated freely in midair.

Just like the fountain.

It was madness.

"This is the grand ballroom," the butler continued. "Many of you will be working here to make sure it is perfect for the Prince's Ball."

I barely heard his words as I craned my neck back. A vibrant mural spanned the high ceiling, and as my vision sharpened, heat spread through my veins, and my pulse quickened. Naked humans and immortals graced the ceiling in all manners of embrace. It was lewd and erotic and enthralling. Rather than recoiling in terror as the immortals fed from their blood, the humans were enthralled, lost to their carnal desires.

My gaze gravitated to a strong male with dark hair at the center of the ceiling. He held a woman who leaned back in what I could only imagine was ecstasy, her right breast exposed, two crimson marks on her lower neck. Red tinged the male's fangs, and his stormy eyes seemed to follow me as I wheeled around.

I swallowed hard. There was only one immortal who had eyes like that…

"Watch where you're careening," a man snapped.

Jumping, I cleared my throat and rubbed my aching neck. "Excuse me."

He carried an armful of the new blue linens Lorayna had requested, and a coy grin tugged on his lips as his eyes darted to the ceiling. "It's fine, just don't get any ideas. Things can go from good to bad very quickly."

Did he think I was fantasizing about the bloody orgy?

My cheeks burned as he walked away.

I hurried to catch up with the group, shivering as I imagined the raven-haired immortal's gaze following me. Keep your eyes on the ground, Ella.

Columns flanked the sides of the long ballroom, enclosing two dimly lit galleries. Their back walls were painted like the forest, while the murals above them depicted idyllic scenes of life in the countryside. My gaze followed the elaborate composition toward the far end of the ballroom, where two curving staircases framed a royal dais. The imagery became more and more disturbing, and by the time it reached the dais, it depicted abject carnage. Blood. Bodies. Destruction.

A cold chill snaked over me. It was a depiction of the Uprising and the wholesale slaughter of my people.

"A bit dark for an entertaining hall," Cara whispered, her voice pinched.

Dark didn't cut it. It was sickening. Perverse.

The painted scenes of the woods along the flanking corridors suddenly felt just as stifling as the real ones that surrounded this valley and kept us trapped.

"I bet the royals keep it to remind us of what happens when we step out of line," she continued quietly.

The prince and his murderous bloodline deserved to be staked and burned for the atrocities they'd committed against humans over the centuries. I wished I could do something, anything , to put an end to it all—their reign and the horrors we continued to endure.

My fists clenched, and I bitterly glanced back at the orgies on the other end of the ceiling. "So, if this is the Uprising, what are those supposed to symbolize? I don't remember any orgies in the history books."

"You must've been looking in the wrong books," a deep voice said from above.

The prince's blond henchman stood on the balcony, an expression of amusement—and something darker—on his face. "Think of the murals as incentivization."

Refusing to be intimidated, I narrowed my eyes up at him. "Incentivization for what , exactly?"

As if the bastard was shocked that I could speak, his eyes rounded for a split second. "To be a good little girl, of course."

Anger burned under my skin. I hadn't been a girl for quite some time.

He gestured to the bloody images of slaughter at the back of the hall. " That is what will happen if you're naughty." Then, keeping his cold eyes on me, he inclined his head slightly toward the painting of the orgy. "And that is what could happen if you behave."

"I prefer my men to have heartbeats, so I'll pass."

A slow grin curled his lips, showing the tips of his fangs, and though he was gorgeous by human standards, all I felt was violence toward him.

"And who are these men?" he asked. "Because the color on your cheeks suggests your virtue is still intact."

My neck heated. "My virtue is none of your business." I turned to Cara. "Let's go."

"Watch yourself, Ella DuPonte," the lord said, his voice suddenly tinged with threat.

I froze. He remembered my name from last night.

"DuPonte." He accentuated my stepmother's maiden name. "It's curious, because I couldn't find your name in last year's land taxes. Or the year before, or in any of the last few decades."

Dread coiled around my chest. Why the hell were they looking into me? Because I'd stabbed an immortal? It had to be. And worse, the name I'd given them could lead back to my stepmother, even though she didn't use it anymore.

Trying to keep my voice and heartbeat steady, I glanced over my shoulder and shrugged. "Maybe you're looking in the wrong record books."

"I doubt that very much." He gloated. "We like to keep a close tally of the cattle."

My fists tightened, but Cara took my arm and pulled me back toward the group of newly hired house staff.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, cursing my luck. If I was going to be any value to the resistance, I needed to be inconspicuous. But so far, I'd drawn the attention of the prince and his blond lapdog, not to mention the ire of the chamberlain and the butler.

Hell, I'd pulled the stunt with the stallion in front of the entire court. I drew in a steadying breath. Maybe it would be okay. No spy would be so foolish as to make a grand entrance like I had, so perhaps they wouldn't suspect me.

Or perhaps they'll never stop watching.