The moment I recognized her voice, every trace of ease vanished from my body, and I immediately straightened myself as though someone had pulled an invisible string attached to my spine.
The person who had just called out was neither Madame Marsala nor any other maid I might have preferred to encounter.
It was Madame Avia.
"Madame Avia," Ariana and I greeted her at the same instant, our voices nearly overlapping as we immediately lowered our heads.
Even Ariana, who had appeared on the verge of shedding another stream of tears only moments before, seemed to forget her sorrow at once, her delicate expression becoming one of unease as she hurried to the side, and I followed suit.
Both of us stood with our hands properly arranged and our heads bowed in the manner expected of servants before their superiors.
"What do you girls think you are doing here?" Madame Avia demanded, her voice sharp enough to make my shoulders stiffen.
"The Head Lady is soon to make her appearance, and I will not have unnecessary disturbances or idle conversation spreading among the servants. There is much to be done, so get yourselves to work at once."
I felt nothing but gratitude that she had not chosen to question the conversation she had found us having.
If she had ordered me to fly at that very moment, I suspected I would have spread my arms and attempted the impossible without a second thought.
Anything was preferable to standing beneath her displeased gaze.
Ariana appeared even more saddened by the harshness of Madame Avia's tone, her eyes reddening further as she hurried to gather herself and move away.
I almost rolled my eyes at the sight, though I wisely kept my expression beneath my lowered head.
At least I was not in trouble.
For once, I had been given the blessing of being ignored, and I intended to treasure it for however long it lasted.
Unfortunately, the moment I began scrambling away, I realized that I had celebrated far too soon.
Oh, fate, must you truly be this spiteful?
I had barely taken a step when Madame Avia spoke again.
"You."
I stopped in the very act of moving, and my heart sank so quickly that I was almost certain it had fallen straight through my shoes.
I should have known better than to trust my fortune for even the briefest moment.
I did not need to turn around to know whom she meant.
Naturally. Who else could it have been? Who else could possess this extraordinary misfortune of mine?
I sighed inwardly, and turned around. At the same time I noticed Ariana had also stopped and looked back, perhaps believing the command had been meant for her.
We both faced Madame Avia at nearly the same moment, though there was little doubt left once I saw her eyes fixed directly upon me.
Ariana appeared to realize that Madame Avia had not been addressing her, and surely she ought to have been relieved.
Yet instead of displaying relief, she stared at me with an expression of disbelief, followed by an even deeper sadness.
I could not understand that girl at all.
Had I been spared from the attention of Madame Avia, I would have considered it a blessing from the heavens because there was no telling what sort of dreadful errand awaited me at the hands of that woman.
Why did the heavens and the earth seem to have such a personal grievance against me?
I had been reborn three times, died twice, survived punishments that would have sent anyone into an early grave, and yet somehow I was still being handed one misfortune after another as though my existence had become a competition to discover how much suffering a single servant could endure.
"I was not speaking to you, girl. Get going," Madame Avia said to Ariana without sparing her another glance.
Then her attention returned to me.
"You. Follow me to the main chamber. You shall work alongside the others for the special preparations, as the Dowager Duchess's birthday is drawing near. You will meet the rest of the girls there, and they shall instruct you in your duties. I want everything done properly. There must be no mistakes."
She turned slightly.
"Follow me."
I stared at her in disbelief. Of all the servants in this enormous mansion, why me?
Apparently the punishment had not ended with the hounds. Perhaps surviving those creatures had merely convinced the heavens that I was capable of enduring more.
Then again, the mention of the Dowager Duchess's birthday reminded me that the occasion was indeed approaching.
Though If memory serves me correctly, was it not still another week away?
Why, then, is everyone behaving as though the entire household had only a few hours to prepare?
It was merely a birthday celebration, not the arrival of a conquering army.
Nevertheless, it was not my place to question whatever madness the Westwond household wished to unleash.
"Yes, Madame Avia," I answered obediently, and began following after her.
Though I could not resist not casting one last sorrowful glance toward the beautiful Rosethorn Parterre.
So this was it.
Only moments ago, I had been enjoying the sweet fragrance of the flowers and thinking that perhaps tending this garden was the most fortunate assignment a servant could receive.
Now I was being taken away from it, so much for enjoying the privileges of the garden.
I watched Ariana walking in the opposite direction, her shoulders lowered and her whole figure carrying that same lonely, pitiful air.
I stared after her for a moment.
Heavens, as though I had the leisure to concern myself with her sorrow.
My own head was presently at risk.
I followed Madame Avia with the best behaviour I could possibly muster, keeping my back straight and my steps careful while making certain not to give her the smallest reason to turn around and discover another fault.
lest she discover another reason to separate my head from my shoulders.
The thought alone encouraged me to walk with such caution that I became painfully aware of every step I took.
We passed through several corridors and adjoining passages where servants immediately recoiled at the sight of Madame Avia and bowed deeply as she approached.
Yet the moment their eyes moved toward me, their expressions changed, first to surprise and then to something very close to pity, and I understood precisely why.
One reason was likely that they were astonished to see me still alive after being sent to feed the hounds.
The second reason was considerably more insulting.
They probably believed that I had survived the hounds only to deliver myself willingly into the hands of an even greater monster.
Madame Avia certainly had the expression of a woman who could frighten a corpse back into its grave.
I could hardly blame them for looking at me as though they were already mourning my unfortunate fate.
I could hardly blame them for thinking so.
Some of them even looked strangely pleased by my misfortune, as though my suffering had become an amusing little event to brighten their morning.
Curse them.
As we continued along the corridor, Madame Avia selected two more girls and ordered them to follow us as well.
Neither girl appeared pleased by the summons, though both obeyed without question, falling into step beside me with their heads lowered.
Apparently, madam Avia did not want any disorder in the preparations for a celebration that was still one entire week away, which made the situation even more suspicious in my mind. What were we supposed to believe at this point?
Who would be foolish enough to relax simply because we had been told it was merely preparation for a birthday celebration?
Certainly not me.
For all I knew, Madame Avia was taking us to the dungeon.
Perhaps she intended to lock the three of us inside a cell and keep us there until luncheon.
Perhaps she had a secret chamber where she stored servants who displeased her.
Perhaps she ate human flesh.
Or, worse still, perhaps she did not eat them at all and merely enjoyed sitting comfortably in her chamber while watching her victims cry and plead for mercy.
The possibilities were endless once my imagination began its work.
Of course, I knew these thoughts were ridiculous.
Probably.
Still, I had already learned that Westwond Mansion was a place where the strangest things could happen without warning, so I saw little reason to place complete faith in common sense.
The two girls walking beside me seemed to be having thoughts of their own, judging by the way they shivered whenever Madame Avia glanced in their direction.
The ordinary bustle of the mansion faded behind us, and the further we went, the more obvious it became where we were heading.
The Head Lady's private quarters.
I had been here multiple times before, so I was not unfamiliar with this part of the mansion. Unlike the ordinary servant passages and the corridors used by household staff, this entire section belonged to Her Grace's private domain.
Even the hallway itself was separate from the common routes of the estate, allowing the Head Lady to move about and attend to her private affairs without constantly meeting servants or crossing paths with the rest of the household.
In other words, this entire portion of the mansion belonged to her alone.
And, thankfully, it was definitely not the dungeon.