Page 15 of Lore of the Wilds

She glanced around the room again, grimacing. It was the only bin. She looked back at him, and unease shot through her. The male was looking right at her, his eyes burning with fury.

Lore jumped, knocking over her cider. The sweet liquid shot across the table, and she sprang to her feet with a curse at the same moment a youngling wearing the garb of a scullery maid hurried over with a cloth.

Lore reached out to grab the cloth from the child. “Oh, thank you—let me—”

The child stumbled back with a squeak, a look of horror on her face when she realized who, or rather what, exactly was reaching for the rag.

“Oh, it’s okay. I’ll clean this up,” said the youngling, whose voice came out in a squeak. She seemed genuinely frightened of Lore, who had spent her entire life in terror of the young maid’s kind.

“Joji, come away from there at once!” Another servant ordered the child away from Lore.

Lore stepped backward, away from the mess dripping onto the floor and the youngling. Twisting her hands, she looked around at all the fae. Everyone had ceased their conversations. Some had stood up, glowering at Lore.

She hadn’t meant to scare the child or to make a mess.

“Disgusting human, what is she doing here with—?”

“It’s wrong, she shouldn’t be permitted—”

“Think of the children, her kind is known to be violent and rash, what if she hurts—”

“Who allowed it out—”

The voices came from every corner of the room, the castle staff no longer concealing their conversations. Suddenly, she wanted to be home so badly. Her eyes burned with unshed tears.

“Thank you. I’m so sorry,” she said to the room, shame burning through her as she clumsily snatched up her bowl and now-empty cup, glancing back to the waste bin. The guard was nowhere to be seen. Thank all the stars in the dark sea. Lore dropped off the soiled dishes and looked around for Elra, but the maidservant was nowhere in sight. She’d left her.

Wasn’t she supposed to take her from here to her quarters?

A feeling of dread washed over Lore. She had absolutely no clue where her quarters were. Here she was, trying to stay under the radar, eat her food, do her job, and yet it was clear to her now that she would need to thicken her skin to get through this ordeal. Easier said than done.

Because really, all she wanted to do was scream.

Lore clenched her fists, trying to ground herself with the sharp pain of her nails biting into her palms, but it didn’t work. She could feel the stares burning into her like hot coals. Her chest tightened, constricting. She was beginning to panic, and the burning threat of tears increased.

She wouldn’t cry here.

She would rather sleep in the library than stay in the dining hall another second.

Lore turned and stumbled out of the hall, trying to retrace her steps. She turned down a hallway that looked familiar. The servants’ corridors were dark and unadorned, but she was sure she remembered the turns that Elra had taken while leading her to the dining hall.

Or should she have gone the other way at the last fork?

Her breaths were shallow, erratic. A choked laugh escaped her—she was definitely lost. The strangled sound bounced around the red stone walls of the hallway.

She kept walking, trying to ignore her panic by counting the torches, though they did little to illuminate the space, leaving the rust-colored hallway mostly in menacing shadows.

Fae eyes just probably didn’t need as much light as her human eyes did. That was why it was so dark... and creepy.

Right?

Lore shuffled along, trailing her hand along the cool, rough stone of the castle walls.

Finally, she saw a young-looking maidservant carrying a bundle of sheets in her arms. Lore opened her mouth to call out, but, before she could, the girl disappeared through a door.

Desperate, she tried the door, then raised a hand to knock when it didn’t budge. Her hand froze. Hadn’t the steward said he would be furious if she disturbed anyone staying in the castle?

She dropped her hand and continued down the twisting hallways. There was nobody to ask for help and she was surely going to be eaten by some monster if she continued to wander through this creeping darkness. Thistle and Sage, how she wished she was home.

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