She tilted her head. “Did I not make it easy enough? Stick out your other hand.”
I stumbled back. Before I could express my defiance, a knock sounded on the door.
“Lady Narcissa? You are summoned to the Queen’s Garden to accompany Lady Hortensia and Her Grace for breakfast.”
Narcissa shooed Karen away and grabbed my wrist.
“Very well,” she said to the door. She dragged me around the corner to a fireplace, her strength surprising, and shoved my head into the ashes. My forehead banged against the grate. The charred wood chips digging into my face. I jerked back, eyes burning and mouth full of cinder. I was overtaken with the desire to shout again, and this time box Narcissa in the nose at the same time.
“Enjoy,” she said with a smirk. With that, she glided off to the door.
I sat, nursing the bruise on my head, when Karen placed herself before me.
“Lady Narcissa says you are to listen to me when she is absent,” she said. I suspected that her haughty expression was a rare occurrence, but only because she didn’t have many people she could use it around.
I nodded stiffly.
She pinched my chin and smeared more of the ash onto my face.
“What are you doing?” I said, twisting out of her grasp.
Karen snickered. “Lady Narcissa says you are not to be recognizable.”
I stared. “You know I’m a debutante,” I said, touching my cheek. My fingers came off dirty.
The maid raised an eyebrow. “Yes. But I know you’re nothing more than a merchant’s daughter. You’re hardly worth anything.”
“Is that so?” I said. “Then what are you worth?”
“Insolent girl!” Karen struck me across the face.
I glared, cheek stinging, as the maid wiped her hand off on my dress.
“The chamber pot needs scrubbing. Take it outside and come back for your next assignment. Supplies are in the servant’s hall.”
I found Narcissa’s unnecessarily luxurious chamber pot already empty, but it did not make the smell any less offensive. There was nothing pleasant about my experience as I navigated the palace. I was told by a guard that scullery maids were not allowed to roam the main halls. Apparently, there was a separate web of hallways for servants who did the unpleasant work. The way the guard wrinkled his nose at me clearly meant he thought I was one of them.
He was not entirely wrong.
I wandered the narrower, darker halls for a considerable amount of time before I finally found an exit. Madam Josephine had not shown me the way back, so it took several hours to find the servants hall, raid the closet for a pail and brush, and scrub Narcissa’s chamber pot outside where several other maids were doing the same task. Many of them were stouter and older than I was and went in with gusto with their sleeves rolled up to their elbows.
I wanted desperately to use my magic as I scrubbed the inside of the porcelain with the rough brush. The handle needed a good sanding.
By the time I had worked off the stains, my hands were covered in splinters and the older maids had long gone inside after snickering at me. My back ached and my feet were numb. The hand on which Narcissa had carved her initials was throbbing. The other was bleeding from the splinters. I could not recall another time I was in such a condition.
Narcissa was nowhere to been seen when I came back with the cleaned chamber pot. I was glad of it, but Karen’s pinched face was not much better.
“What took you so long?” she demanded as I entered.
“Cleaning the chamber pot like you ordered.”
The maid snatched the porcelain pot from me with a glare. “You must have been taking breaks. It’s been three hours.”
“I merely got lost.”
She sneered. “Lady Narcissa will not be happy to hear that you’ve been lazing away. You will not have a lunch break today.”
My stomach clenched. I had no appetite after my odious task, but I knew I would be suffering later.
