chapter seven

"Good morning, madame. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was hoping to inquire if you were in need of any more servants on your staff?" Thea asked with her brightest, please hire me, smile.

The woman eyed Thea up and down. She was an older divine one, probably in her late seventies, with a touch of magic keeping her youthful glow hanging on by a short thread. Her wrinkles were honestly quite tasteful, and her eyes were already bright, as if her magic was fluttering with her thoughts. She was tall, with slender arms, a pointed nose, and one of those glares that made you feel like you'd done something wrong the moment you opened your mouth.

"I typically only take in recommendations from my housekeeper," the woman said as she tapped one of her ringed fingers against her chin. Thea tried not to ogle at the gaudy jewels. This woman may have been just as wealthy as Lord Malik, but her estate wasn't nearly as impressive.

Maybe she's a minimalist? I certainly wouldn't mind working for someone who's a bit more grounded.

"I see." Thea cranked up her smile. "While I'm not familiar with your housekeeper, I can assure you that I am bound to make a good impression on her. You won't find a harder worker in all of Olympia, my lady. I can clean, do laundry, cook, garden—"

"What talents do you possess?" the woman cut Thea off, pressing her lips together as she looked deeper into Thea's eyes.

"Pardon, my lady?"

" Talents ," she repeated. "What magical gifts can you offer my household? Are you a garden nymph? Divine one, perhaps?"

Drat...

"Uh, no, madame," Thea said with a dry swallow. "I'm afraid I don't possess magic, but I can assure you, I'm just as useful as any—"

"No magic?" the woman scoffed. "Be gone, dear. I have no use for needy mortals in my house. If you want a job, go back to Mortalia where your kind is more welcomed."

"But I—" She slammed the door in Thea's face, causing Thea to jolt as she stood alone on the front stoop. "But I can't..."

Thea left the stoop with a sigh, digging out a scrap of paper from her pocket to mark another name off of her shortening list. She only had three homes left on this street that might be wealthy enough to take on a random servant, but not wealthy enough to care about her origins.

She thought back to Lord Malik's estate, wondering for the hundredth time if she had made a mistake by letting the job go so easily. Her family didn't blame her one bit when she told them in detail about Ceyden's advances and his insistence on making her his bride. They were all happy for her to have moved on from such an uncomfortable work environment, but in truth, Thea could see the fear behind their eyes. None of them knew what would happen now.

Without Thea's paycheck, food was going to become even scarcer than it already was, and their father still had to discuss the details of their tax payments.

Which should have been today...

Thea winced as she remembered Father dusting off his best coat and hat for his trip to the courthouse today. She could only hope that Lord Malik would show mercy on their family for residing on his land. What would they do if he requested a large sum of money? Would he demand it be paid right away? Kick them off his property? Arrest Father?

She shuddered at the thought. While the judicial system in Olympia was strict, it wasn't cruel. Well, usually... There was the mysterious labyrinth to consider, though that was a punishment reserved only for the worst of the worst. Murderers, unrepenting thieves, power-hungry monsters, those were the types of men that were tossed into the labyrinth's walls, not kind older men who couldn't afford a proper home.

Still, I'm close to the courthouse. Perhaps I can stop by and offer Father some support.

Thea started down the streets of the capital, trying not to notice the smells of the street vendor's roasted pigs, ripe tomatoes, or yeasty loaves of bread. Her stomach roiled inside her, but she had gotten rather used to ignoring it's chattering. She kept to the sides of the road, as most servants did in the bigger parts of the city. Even though she wasn't currently employed, it just felt natural. The middle of the road was reserved for divine one's carriages or parading couples who were flaunting their expensive new outfits. Thea used to love watching the carriages roll through the city as a child, but now that she'd seen what that kind of wealth did to most divine ones, she only found it irritating.

As she neared the courthouse, the crowds grew denser, until they stopped moving entirely. People clustered around the courthouse grounds, trying to get closer, but not being rash enough to actually shove their way to the front .

What's going on?

Thea had no problem being rash. She pushed through the crowds, making her way to the front of the onlookers without even a lick of guilt. When she made it to the front, she could finally understand what everyone was gawking over. There was an arrest happening. Half of the court guards were huddled around a hunched-over man, while the rest were busy keeping the crowd at bay so they didn't interfere. Thea couldn't see the entire scene from her position. She weaseled between another couple until she got a different view, then nearly felt her eyes bug out of her head as she recognized one of the men on the courthouse steps.

Lord Malik.

"Put him in chains!" the lord commanded as he shook a vial of black liquid toward the apprehended man. "No mortal attempts to poison me and gets to walk away from it!"

Poison? A mortal?

One of the guards took the vial from the lord and popped the cork off the top. He sniffed the contents, and his entire face twisted up from the putrid smell. "It certainly smells like poison," the guard confirmed as he passed it to the other guards to inspect.

"He was spotted trying to pour it into my cup!" Lord Malik shouted, his head completely red from the neck up. "All because he didn't want to pay his taxes!"

"Please, my lord..." A voice begged from behind the wall of guards, and Thea's heart thudded so hard in her chest that she nearly fell forward. "I would never dare to harm you."

"F-Father?" Thea squeaked just as the guards shifted so she could see her father's broken expression and pleading eyes.

"Then explain the venom you just tried to slip me?" Lord Malik growled.

"I have never even seen that vial until now, my lord," Father said, his crinkled eyes crushing Thea from the inside out. "I swear, I came only to settle my debts with you."

"Settle them indeed." Lord Malik stormed toward him, but the guard stepped in front of him before he could lay a hand on Father. "You thought ending my life would rid you of your dues! Well, I'm afraid your debts have just increased, tenfold ."

"Father!" Thea called out into the chaos, her voice exploding out of her before she could control it. She raced forward, pushing past the guard to meet Lord Malik eye to eye. "My lord, please! This must be some sort of mistake. My father would never hurt a soul. You must have him confused with someone else! Where would he even get such a poison? "

The guard flanked Thea, preparing to drag her away from the scene before she could become anymore involved.

"You..." Lord Malik narrowed his eyes on Thea, then held up his palm to stop the guard from dragging her off just yet. "I know you. You're that maid who recently left my service. How convenient that you left my household just days before your father attempted to kill me."

"What? No!" Thea said.

"Theabelle! Go home, don't get involved with this!" Father shouted from behind her, his voice knocking on her like the pounding on an iron door. She couldn't just leave him. Not when none of this could possibly be his fault.

"You heard your father," Lord Malik said in an oily tone that slid down Thea's spine. "Leave, before I decide to let the guard arrest you, too."

"But he's innocent!" Thea cried. "What proof do you even have that it was him? Did anyone even see him with the poison?"

"Of course," Lord Malik scoffed, as if insulted that he would have ever made such a claim against her father without any evidence. "He was seen uncorking the poison beside my cup."

What? But that doesn't make any sense. Father would never try to poison Lord Malik.

"By whom? "

Lord Malik motioned for a man to step out from the crowd, and Thea didn't even have to look to recognize the chilling aura of the man she had last abandoned in his manor. Ceyden stepped forward, a sly, but nasty smile pulling the edges of his lips as he feigned a sympathetic sigh.

"My own son," Lord Malik said. "Ceyden witnessed the entire thing."