Page 42 of Blood of the Fairest

11

Verena

When another servant knocks on the door for the fifth time within the hour, I'm ready for it.

I'm already wearing a veil, wringing my hands, and pacing. I practice what to say as I walk to open the door.

"Hello, there. More food? Thanks, but I'm really not hungry. Instead, please have a bathtub with warm water brought up. If you bring soap and a towel with it, you'll be my new best friend," I recite.

I'm just assuming they actually have bathtubs here. Who knows what the hygiene of this fantasy world is like?

Opening the door, I'm not surprised to see another manservant. So far, I haven't seen a castle maid, and it's starting to bother me.

Do women only work in the kitchen or something? What's up with that?

He bows deeply, offering a covered plate. "Your Majesty, the chef has sent these fresh honeyed cakes for you to enjoy."

Damn. In theory, honeyed cakes sound amazing right about now.

But it doesn't matter. They won't help.

So far, castle servants have tried bringing a table full of breakfast foods, fresh-baked bread with tea, mulled wine with assorted fruits and vegetables, and a cup of warm chicken broth up to the queen's quarters.

When I sent breakfast back barely touched, it scared the castle chef. With Schultz gone, he must be terrified of getting the axe next, because he keeps sending food to the queen in the hopes she'll eat something.

The last manservant who brought the chicken broth said the chef is worried I might be sick, which must be why I have no appetite.

I laughed in that last guy's face. Borderline hysterically, like a crazy woman.

Because oh boy, do I have an appetite. Just not for food or drink.

At least, not a drink I can think about without getting nauseous all over again.

I'm jonesing. It's bad.

Hence why I desperately need the bath as a distraction.

"Why, hello, there," I begin. "More food? Thanks, but⁠—"

"Psst. Fairest," Eris calls from the mirror. "If you're so desperate to take a bath, you might try the queen's enchanted hot spring."

"Her what now?" I exclaim, sure that I misheard him.

Unfortunately, I forgot that most people can't see or hear him. That explains why the manservant is now shuffling uneasily, glancing behind him like he's wondering if he should get a doctor.

"M-my queen? I'm afraid I don't know what…"

I can think of no logical excuse for my outburst, so I just thank him, tell him to please take the cakes to everyone in the kitchen, and ask him not to let the chef send anything else up for a while. At this point, I'm pretty sure everyone else in the castle is having a royal feast with everything I've sent back.

Locking the double doors, I throw off the veil and stop in front of Eris, folding my arms.

"If you're just teasing and the queen doesn't actually have an enchanted hot spring, I'm going to call you some way worse names than Beetlejuice."

"This would be a pointless thing to lie about," Eris scoffs. He's examining me more than usual, just like he was before he disappeared without a word earlier. "It's through the blue door in her secret passage."

He might be pulling my leg. Who knows? Maybe he just thinks it will be funny when I walk through the blue door, and it turns out to be where the wannabe toilet room empties.

But I don't care. At the very least, this has reminded me that there are three doors I could be exploring in a creepy secret passage instead of pacing this room, trying not to think about blood.