//Author Note: I would strongly urge you to read Rotten Æther | Scribble Hub alongside this story. Shared world and setting, with crossovers coming!//

 

Warm waters run over my cold dead skin, washing away the spittle and blood that remains from the failed assassination of my uncle.

The man is dead, the goal was achieved, but not by me and not by my workings. If I’d orchestrated my aunt’s arrival and schemed to have her do the deed I could have some pride in the act, it would feel a natural outcome. I’ve done as much before in the house of the murderous nobles, but I did no such thing here.

“How are you feeling?” Belle asks, relaxing in the bath with me. It’s a spacious little room, modelled after the public hot springs favoured by the northern tribes.

“I’m well,” I reply trying not to look at her.

“So… can you tell me what happened?” My aunt, Sonia, asks.

“What do you wish to know?”

“What brought about that situation? Why was he trying to kill you?” Sonia asks, her tense expression softening as she reflects on the situation. She scrubs at her own hands yet again, but there’s not a droplet of blood remaining. I would smell it if there was even a hint of it still clinging to her.

“I was there to kill him,” I say, shocking her enough to stay her hands from their scrubbing. “I underestimated him, and he gained the upper hand.”

“Upper hand?” Sonia asks. “There was nothing left of your face, I thought you were dead already when I stepped into the room. Now… is your friend training as a healer? A priestess of Prestia?”

“The healing was my own magic,” I say.

Expecting her doubt, I run a nail down my wrist, it takes more force than I was expecting to break my freezing flesh open. I must press my nail down hard to break my skin and when I do, it cracks like a sheet of ice.

No blood seeps out from the injury.

I show her the wound and heal it with the fear inspired by the sight of it. Fear for me, not of me.

“Why were you wanting to kill him… that’s obvious, isn’t it?” She asks, sinking into the warm waters, a sad smile rising on her lips. “You don’t want to be used.”

“I will not marry my cousin,” I say slowly and firmly to warn her off the idea. “I would rather have died by uncle’s hand, or be exiled from the kingdom, than to be forced to live such a life.”

“I… I understand,” Sonia whispers, reaching for the scrubber but holding back and letting out a long, ragged breath. I’m sure she’s suffered far worse at uncle’s hand than I, but it’s hard to find sympathy for one who was ready to abandon me in a similar situation.

“Thank you for saving me,” I say, relaxing back into the bath and watching crystals form in the water as my frost magic builds a bulwark of ice around me. Belle, apparently noticing the fortifications, washes me in warm water, dissolving the icy formations.

I turn to her in aggravation, but the sight of her naked as she is… It’s not appropriate to feel such things, I shouldn’t feel such things. I’ve never lusted for another person before, let alone a young woman sharing a bath with me, but it seems that my body has developed some unnecessary desires regardless of my own will or want.

“I should have acted sooner,” Sonia says. “It’s just… what happens now?”

“We ensure that a favourable reeve oversees the investigation and sweeps the matter under the table. Then we reinforce our position in the estate, gather Knights to our cause, and remind the corrupted nobles of their responsibilities.” I say, meeting her eyes. “My marriage with Belle still stands to defend me against the worst of them, those who would try to use the same method as uncle to seize the title of Count, but we’ll need to see that Belle is properly defended in case they think to use violence against her.”

The two look surprised, while Therina, at the side smiles in confidence. She’s always been my greatest supporter, but I still don’t trust myself to live up to her expectations.

“We also need to see that the slaves are freed from their chains, there are enchantments involved as I understand it. Then we must start to redevelop our corner of the kingdom into what it should have been from the start.”

Neither seems to know what to say to my proposal and both remain silent in the face of it. I just hope that when they are done considering my words that they’ll be willing to continue working alongside me.

I can hear from here the whispers of the servants as they spread rumours of murder and curses. They’ll need to be dealt with properly, kicked from the house with what little they have and replaced with a somewhat more decent set of servants. Should I seek servants with experience dealing in noble matters, or is this a chance to find some who are more attuned to the reality that the commoners must face in this world?

I cannot rebuild the walls of ignorance that kept me insulated from reality, no matter how much more comfortable it would make me. As a matter of fact, I ought to go much further still.

This place, these white stones, and the warm water, it’s all built by the efforts of people who have never experienced the luxuries that it can offer. I still believe in what I was taught, that the luxuries of a noble life are necessary to keep a good, clear mind. A man who works on his feet needs a soft chair less than a man who works at a desk.

The work of a noble mind cannot bear the consequences of distraction, as it would cost the kingdom much more than a distracted farmer or smith.

It still makes sense to me, but then why should the baths remain unused for the rest of the time that they’re not in use by a noble?

The argument is still sound, but it cannot defend our current lifestyle. The same is true with the slaves.

If we were to chain and collar a person who is too dangerous to be allowed freedom, and then carefully train and raise them until they are capable of being responsible for themselves, such a thing would be admirable. Yet, that is not what has happened here.

“Therina,” I call for her and she jumps at the chance to serve, listening closely for my request. “Could you bring Piper here to join us?”

“Piper?” Sonia asks.

“My lady,” Therina bows her head in understanding, removing herself from the room with the sort of dignity that outshines every other in this estate apart from myself.

Belle and Sonia both pelter me with questions, distracted enough to forget about the corpse currently stinking up the rooms of the upper household. Perhaps this is good for them, but I do hope that they don’t respond too unkindly to Piper’s presence.

“My lady,” Therina returns, Piper right behind her. The sodden rags that she wears look so much more terrible in such a fine setting as this. She looks wide-eyed at the lot of us, but she doesn’t back down or even flinch away.

“Why did you call me here?” Piper asks, focusing on me. Her eyes are as sharp as ever, and I’m quite sure that she’s ready to criticize me the moment I say something stupid.

“I apologise for not properly phrasing my invitation,” I say, realizing my mistake. “I wanted to invite you here to share a bath with us. Since my uncle is now dead, I want to change how things work here within the estate, and you should be a part of that discussion.”

“Do you have all your important discussions in the bath?”

“It’s better here where you can’t smell the corpse spreading its odours through the house,” I say. “Therina, if you could get Henry to go out and find Reeve Lewark for me, that would be a good first step to getting this cleaned up.”

“Yes, my lady.” She dips her head again, leaving with proper haste. I should also find a way to reward her for all that she’s done for me.

Piper takes in the scene for one moment longer before stripping off her rags. There are more scars on her body than I thought from seeing her before, and it’s clear that she hasn’t eaten full meals for a long time. The sight pains my heart, leaving me emotionally confounded.

She pulls aside a bucket and stool to start scrubbing herself clean but it’s going to be a long task. The filth has stained her skin over the countless years that she’s been serving and working here.

“Let me help,” I say. Stepping up out of the bath and pulling over a stool. I hesitate for a moment before letting the frost die to the warmth of the room. Soaking my hands in the warm water gets them back to a decent temperature, but it feels wrong to allow the frost to dissipate from my flesh.

“I can clean myself,” Piper complains but doesn’t resist me any further than that.

“It’s only your back,” I say. “I always have Therina or another servant help me clean as well, I know how to do it.”

Though some wicked part of my mind is thinking unclean thoughts, I stay my hands and act the part of a proper attendant. Even with fine soaps and a good scrubbing stone, it takes some real effort to clean the dirt off her, and I know that it’ll be just as difficult to clean her hair.

Belle and Sonia aren’t saying anything, but they aren’t even trying to hide their curiosity. If they don’t ask anything, I won’t know what to say. Instead, I try to explain how I can.

“I was taught that slaves are savage creatures held in check by their chains. That we are teaching them to be proper and kind.

“It was a lie.

“Piper isn’t some savage monster, none of them are,” I say. “The way we have been treating them is improper, dishonourable, and a complete contradiction to what nobles are meant to stand for.”

Belle nods, my explanation working well for her, though Sonia takes a little while longer to consider it.

“You’re lowering yourself to a servant’s work, and cleaning her back because you think what was done to her was wrong?” She asks me. “To show that you’re different, and you think different?”

What is she going on about?

“I’m not ‘lowering’ myself to a servant’s work. All work is important. The servants save us from wasting time on some tasks, but I’m starting to think that it alienates us from the people us nobles are meant to serve.” I think hard on my own ignorance, working to unknot it bit by bit.

“I’m cleaning her back because I want to help her, not to make up for my father’s wrongdoings.”

“More like you want to touch me up,” Piper grumbles quietly. If I still had blood in my veins, I’m sure that would have painted my cheeks bright red.

“I’m… I’m not a bother, am I?” I ask, pulling away from her.

“It’s fine,” Piper grumbles turning back to me. “I’m not going to get all prissy just because you scrubbed my back a little.”

“Then I’ll move onto your hair,” I say, reaching for the soap.

“No,” Piper says firmly, lifting her hands and catching me before I can do anything. “That’s… my ears.”

I look at her head, the hair that’s been combed over the holes that are left of her cat-like ears. Parts of her were severed when father wanted to get rid of the evidence, and now she looks nearly human, but she’s not.

It’s legal to have human slaves, but illegal for us to keep any of the norkit captive. All because of a treaty signed to end the war.

After she carefully cleans her hair, she joins us in the bath. The conversation lightens as Sonia tries to find something to discuss with the slave girl, but it’s Belle who takes me most by surprise.

“So, you’ve been a slave since you were a little kid?” Belle asks, leaning in close to the girl.

“I lived in a border village with my family, or that’s what mom used to say,” Piper says. “Then some soldiers came from the human lands and took us away. I was maybe two years old, so I can’t remember it much, but mom used to talk about it a lot.”

“You weren’t freed in the war?”

“I didn’t know there was a war,” she grumbles, practically spitting out the words. “I mean, now that I think of it. How would a bunch of tribes even fight against something like this?”

“A bunch of tribes?” Belle asks, even Sonia is taken aback by the statement.

“It’s a proper kingdom,” Belle explains. “Your army is even bigger than ours.”

“They’re not my army,” Piper spits. “I wouldn’t be here if they were my army. I don’t even know if my old tribe even exists, let alone whether they’d take me in…”

“What I mean is, the northern people aren’t just a bunch of tribes anymore,” Belle presses on.

“They’re not?” I ask. “I was taught that they were largely a bunch of savage tribes that gathered together to build a terrible army. I never really thought of them as a proper kingdom.”

“Well, they are,” Belle says looking at me like I’m an idiot. “They have more lands and more people than our own kingdom, and if we have to go to war again…”

“The treaty will hold,” Sonia says firmly.

“Will it?” Belle asks, looking right at Piper. “We’ve broken the treaty against the slavery of their people, and you think they’ll just let it slide?”

An awkward silence falls over the bath, broken only as Therina comes back to announce the arrival of Reeve Lewark.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

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