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Casja
THERE WAS A QUICK KNOCKat the door, and before I could straighten in bed, it opened wide.
A young girl stood at the doorway, squinting her eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. Light came from behind her, all I could see was her as a shadow. My curtains were drawn, and I was lying on the bed, motionless. It took her a while to see me.
“My lady!” She shrieked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you would be in.”
“It’s all right,” I replied with a croaked voice. I sat up on my bed and forced a smile on my lips. “Did you bring more logs for the fire?”
“Yes, indeed, my lady,” she replied, bowing her head slightly and cocking it to the side as if to show me the basket full of logs she was carrying. “I also wanted to tidy up your room. I can come back later.”
“No, no,” I replied. “I’m not planning on leaving my room today, and I’m running out of logs. So please, do whatever you came here to do and pretend I’m not here.”
The girl’s lips curled with a smile. I did not blame her. It was customary for ladies to pretend maids did not exist, not the other way around.
“Go on,” I said to ease her.
She nodded and entered the room. She was a petite blonde that looked at most sixteen years old. She couldn’t have been working as a maid for too long, but she still carried the heavy basket as though it contained only cotton as she paced across the room and crouched next to the hearth to stack the logs.
I wanted to lay on my bed again and stare at the ceiling like I’d been doing, but it felt rude. So instead, I got up and pulled the curtains to let the sun in. The circling dust in the air embarrassed me as the girl kept stacking the logs. She barely made a sound as she did, which told me she was very good at her job despite her young age.
I did not know if that was a good thing.
“What is your name?” I asked.
Her hand stopped moving for a second. Then, she dropped the log she was holding and turned to me.
“Bejde, my lady,” she replied.
I nodded. She quickly went back to her work. I sat on the bed and watched her silently until she had a neat pile of logs stacked next to the hearth, ready to be tossed in.
“Would you like me to make a fire?” She asked. “They say it will be cold tonight.”
“Isn’t it always?” I asked jokingly.
“It will be colder and colder as winter settles,” she replied quickly. “It is coldest before spring. You might not be able to ride for a while longer. It’s even worse in spring. Summer will be best for riding. I assume you haven’t been in Qam during the summer?”
“I have not,” I replied slowly. Something she had said seemed odd. “Why do you think I like to ride?”
Her covered her mouth and made a sound.
“I apologize, my lady. I thought...” she said, her voice shaking. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”
The rumor about the stableboy and the lady, which Seren had been excited to gossip about to Liltra, came back to me. My pulse raced. Was it me that the maids gossiped about? It made little sense since I hadn’t ridden a horse since we came to Qam, but rumors in palaces did not need a sound base to exist. I knew that from experience.
“Please,” I said to Bejde. “Did you hear something?”
“No, my lady,” she replied. “I assumed you like to ride because... I mean, it’s not that I’m complaining. It is my job. But I just noticed it and connected the dots...”
“Bejde!” I raised my voice and immediately regretted it as the girl cowered before me. When I spoke again, my voice was calmer. “Tell me.”
“There was dirt,” she shrunk as though she expected me to strike her. “On the floor, I mean. A while back... There were prints on the floor that were... They were too large for a lady so small as you. I assumed you wore your riding boats and carried the mud to your room that way. Please, my lady. I’m new. I know I’m not supposed to mention these things and...”
“I’m not going to scold you for it,” I said, shaking my hand at her to make her endless apologies cease. I was relieved that her assumption was not based on a rumor. Instead, she had an eye for detail and probably was an overthinker. Perhaps, in another life, she could have been an investigator of sorts. “You cleaned the room?”
“I did, my lady,” she replied. “When I saw the mud you tracked, I went to my tasker, and she gave me the tools I needed to take care of such a big mess.”
She covered her mouth. “I’m sorry.”
