Two of the maids exchanged glances, clearly not entirely certain about the idea.
“I dinnae?—”
“It’s how we’ve always done it,” the other cut in, covering for her friend. “When there are guests staying in the Keep, we bring them their breakfast in their chambers.”
“Well, now I’m here,” Isla replied, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “We’ll do it as I request, you understand? Now, bring that food to the Great Hall. I’ll be waiting. Tell the other maids to do the same thing.”
The girl parted her lips to protest, but before she could, Isla took off down the corridor once more, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips. She knew she was being entirely unreasonable—and rude for the matter—but that was the point, that was theplan. This place was clearly run as a tight ship, something that Camron no doubt took great pride in, and if she could go about unpicking that, then she would successfully get under his skin.
Soon, the tired guests were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, but there was no sign of Camron, much to her chagrin. She picked at her eggs as she glanced around, waiting for him to arrive, but she had no such luck.
Damn!She had to do something else, something to prove to him that she was not fooling around now that she had been gifted this power…
She wandered throughout the Keep, doing her best to locate any way she could to disrupt the usual flow of things. Guests were hurried out to their carriages after they had barely finished their plates, and the maids cleared away the tables as she followed them to the kitchen. Ignoring the glares of the other kitchen staff, she strode straight to the pantry and clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth when she saw the state of it.
“Now, this willnae do,” she exclaimed, sticking her head out and gesturing for the nearest woman to come and join her.
An older woman with a tight gray plait made her way to join her, dusting the flour off her hands.
“What willnae do, my lady?” she replied through gritted teeth.
Isla almost felt a little guilty for how she was acting, never having been one to act so cruelly towards the staff, but she reminded herself that it was all for the greater good. As soon as she had done enough, she would be out of here, and at least she would make sure that none of them grew attached to her in the process.
“The bread should be on this side,” she announced, gesturing vaguely to where the breakfast items had been stacked. “And the eggs on a lower shelf. What if they were to fall? They would all shatter.”
“Aye, but my lady, if they’re low down, we’re more likely to bump into them as we?—”
“Then ye should be more careful,” she replied, shrugging as she cut the woman off.
She could practically hear her grinding her teeth in annoyance, but she knew better than to say anything. The old woman bit her tongue and made her way back into the kitchen to attend to her wishes while Isla set out to the rest of the Keep to see what other chaos she could cause.
If her husband was not here to see it directly, she supposed, at least she could make such a bother of herself that it would filter back down to him in turn.
And make a nuisance of herself she did.
She made her way back to the Great Hall, where she insisted that all the tables be turned around so that they would better catch the light in the morning. Back in her chambers, she ordered that her clothes should be reordered from most to least fashionable, entirely by her own definition. She asked for the covers to be turned down once more, and then she found it was time for lunch.
Grinning, she swept back towards the Great Hall, a smile nearly splitting her face in two at the hard work she had done today. If this wasn’t enough to get him to start doubting his choice of wife, then she didn’t know what would.
It seemed as though she had disrupted the flow of the Keep enough that hardly anyone wanted to take lunch with her, which entirely suited her. A handful of remaining guests sat around the various seats, their heads lowered, as though they dared not look at her lest they be caught up in her reign of terror.
She made her way to the head of the table and went to take the seat that she had been in last night, before Camron had insisted that she return to her chambers. But, just as she was about to sit down, a thought crossed her mind. What would havebeen a better way to make her point than to take his seat instead of hers?
It was a wicked thought, and no doubt one that would shatter what illusions he had been clinging to that she might play by his rules. Tucking her skirts under her, she sat down on his chair, admiring the carvings of snakes and dragons that ran along the arms and spat fiery venom down towards the floor. Drumming her fingers on the wood, she stared at the stone archway that served as the door, waiting for him to arrive, hardly able to contain her excitement to see the look on his face.
And when he finally stalked in, it did not disappoint. His face was set into a stony glower, the news of everything she had done clearly already having filtered its way down to him. And, when he saw that she was sitting in his chair, he froze on the spot. Not taking his eyes off her, he growled a command to everyone else in the room.
“Everyone out,” he snarled.
Nobody moved. Nobody seemed to dare to.
“Leave us!”
The guests sprang to their feet and hurried for the door, but she stayed seated, twisting slightly so she could face him as he made his way towards her. The anger on his face was evident, and she felt a twist in her stomach, wondering if, for a moment, she had gone too far.
But she could not let such doubts bother her, not yet. She had hardly gotten started. And she would not let this man convince her that she had done wrong when, as far as she was concerned, she had only done what she could to manage her household a little more effectively.
“What are ye doing in my seat?” he asked her, though he hardly phrased it as a question.
