Page 14 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She rolled her baby-blue eyes up to the ceiling—a rather unexpected gesture from a woman with horns and hooves and wearing an outfit that brought Alice in Wonderland to mind.

Alice in Wonderland…

I remembered the story. I knew what it was about. The images of the book’s illustrations and scenes from several movie adaptations came clear to my mind.

I held my breath. Did I get my memories back?

Ignoring Brebie, I searched my brain. When did I read the book? When did I watch the movies? How old was I? Who was with me?

And… I had nothing.

I knewofthe book and the adaptations, but not where I read or watched any of them. I couldn’t tell what I’d thought of the story. There was nothing in my mind about my personal experience with it.

“The pink glitter is called glacial saffron,” Brebie’s brisk voice rolled over my head. “Camytepowder is iridescent and turns blue and pink when mixed with water. I assure you there are no magical substances in your food. They’re too rare and expensive for me to randomly sprinkle them around.”

Her assurance meant little to me. I didn’t know this woman and had absolutely no reason to trust her. I put the spoon down on the tray.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

More people entered the room—three women. Each carried a yoke on her shoulders, with buckets of steaming water hanging from each end. They poured the water into the tub. None of the three had horns, but they were no ordinary women either. One had a pair of double wings on her back. They were translucent, with a hint of pearlescent gray. The other two had neither hooves nor feet. Instead, a thick, scaly tail undulated under their wide aprons. They used their tails to slither along the floor, gracefully maneuvering around the tub as they poured fragrant oils and sprinkled flower petals into the water.

“Fine, don’t eat,” Brebie conceded, seething at my refusal. “See how long you’ll last without food, the fragile little bird that you are.”

“I’m not a bird,” I protested. “Certainly not a little one.”

If it weren’t for Brebie’s hooves and horns, we’d be almost the same height. And I was definitely much wider than her, especially in the hips and chest.

She ignored my argument and went to check on my bath.

“It looks lovely,” she cooed. “Thank you, girls. Well, Sparrow, you may refuse the food all you want, but I can’t allow you to spend another minute in that filth.” She wrinkled her nose, tossing a disgusted look at my feet and clothes. “You need a bath.”

I gripped the sides of my sweater, pulling it closed over my chest.

“I’m not taking a bath with all of you here.”

“How else is a lady supposed to bathe?”

“I’m not a lady. I’ll wash myself.”

Brebie blew out an exasperated breath.

“It’s even harder than I thought it would be,” she muttered to herself. “You know what?” She glared at me. “I may actually consider begging Voron to force-feed you some glacial saffron. It’d make my job so much easier.” She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll send the maids out of the room, then turn away while you get undressed and climb into the tub. But I will have to wash your hair. It needs to be done properly.”

Her hard stare and a slight stomp of her hoof told me this was the only compromise she was willing to make.

The other three women never said a word. As pushy as Brebie was, she seemed talkative. Maybe she knew something about getting my memories back and finding my way back home? Maybe I could get her to answer my questions? Or even help me escape?

“Fine.” I got up from the bed and almost fell, tripping over the high heel of my sole surviving shoe.

“Oh, by all the gods of Nerifir,” Brebie grumped, grabbing my arm to steady me. “This really needs to go.”

Bending over, she yanked my shoe off my foot, then opened one side of the tall crystal window and tossed my muddy pump out.

“What are you doing?” I was too shocked to stop her in time. “That was the only shoe I had.”

“And that was exactly the problem, wasn’t it? Come on.” She waved at the tub. “Get in. No need to get upset. The king will get you more shoes than you can wear in your lifetime. But you need to be clean and smell nice for him to like you.”

I didn’t care for the king or his shoes, but it would be nice to wash the mud off.

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