Chapter 7

I followed the footboy to the fourth floor. He hadn’t used the servant’s stairs; instead, the boy had beckoned me to follow him through a new section of the estate I had never seen before and ushered me into a small-looking broom closet.

An oil lamp was lit, and I noticed a bare tiled floor and wooden walls instead of brooms and cleaning supplies.

He effortlessly slid close the door and pulled down a lever.

I had a weird sensation that gravity was pulling me toward the ground. However, I soon realized that it was because we were going up. I didn’t know this estate had elevators—they were relatively new and worked with a pulley system.

I waited patiently behind my guide. The boy had soft brown baby hair curling around his ears. He must not have been over ten years old. He was wearing a black vest with a white dress shirt tucked into navy blue pants with one white line following the outside seam of the leg.

I had so many questions I wanted answers to, but when I opened my mouth to ask them, the boy let go of the lever, slid open the door, and gestured me forward.

I had lost my chance.

I knew we were on the fourth floor when we passed the enormous carved wooden door. I had seen no other entries like it while working on different wings, which piqued my curiosity even more. Why was this one so special?

“This is the master’s bed chambers,” said the boy softly, pointing at a new door to his right.

I was confused. I thought that the big carved door was Alexander’s room. He came out of it early in the morning the last time I was here. I simply assumed that was his chambers. Faiths, now I was even more curious about that intriguing room. 

“This will be your room.”

We moved to the door next to Alexander’s room, and the footboy opened it. I lost sight of him for a couple of seconds before his small head popped outside of the door frame, gazing at me as if I was supposed to follow.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, and I quickened my pace to meet him.

I took several steps inside and stopped because it was dark.

I heard shuffling on the floor to my right, and slowly, the soft glow of an oil lamp lighted the chamber.

I gasped. This was nothing compared to my old room. It was huge!

“There must be a mistake,” I scoffed. “I’m the maid!”

The young boy seemed puzzled by my statement. I looked around, saw the bed, and pointed at it. “My room should be the size of that bed,” I said seriously.

“I’m sorry, miss, but this is the room they instructed me to bring you to. This will be your chamber while you work for Lord Alexander,” he pointed his small nose toward a door in the back of the room. “That’s the closet... for your clothes. You can sleep in there if it makes you feel better.” He smiled.

“Right.”

“Please don’t take offence, miss. I was trying to lighten the mood. You seemed very shaken.”

It was my turn to smile. “Can you blame me?”

“No. I had the same reaction you did when I was shown to my room here.”

He placed the sack containing my meagre possessions on the side table next to the bed and went to open the door to the left of the closet. “You can take your baths here,” he explained. “There’s everything you need in that area to wash up, including hot water, towels, soaps—everything. You also have a small bookshelf, so should you like specific books, I can get them for you.”

The boy pressed his lips together into a tight smile and walked past me to leave the room.

“Wait!” I held out my arm to stop him.

I had just noticed one more door on the right of the entrance, and I looked at the boy questioningly.

“That’s the door to the lord’s chambers,” he answered, casually lifting his shoulders. “The lord has also asked that you make yourself comfortable. He should stop by after he has finished work to give you a rundown of your chores while you will stay here—”

I lifted my hand to his face to stop him from finishing his sentence. None of this was protocol. Nothing of what that boy said made sense.

“Doesn’t the lord have a private housekeeper or a butler to let me know my chores?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I mean, who do I report to?”

“You report to Lord Alexander directly. Other than me, no one else works on this floor. Of course, the maids come occasionally, but now that you’re here, it’ll be just us.”

I nodded, but still confused. I had to let the information sink in a bit.

I heard the footboy close the door behind me, and I paced around my new surroundings. The last time I had a room this big was when my family was still alive when I was younger. Of course, it was much bigger than this one, but still…

I eyed the bed, and I wondered if it was as fluffy and soft as how it looked. I counted to three, ran up to the bed, and jumped, spreading myself like a bird and hitting the mattress, bouncing.

It was so comfortable. Heck, I was never leaving this bed.

I piled the covers over myself and stayed in my makeshift cocoon for quite some time, absolutely loving the warm feeling I was having. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept and I wasn’t a freezing block of ice. My previous rooms were utterly drafty. This would do nicely tonight. I almost wanted to go to bed right away.

I poked my head out of the duvet and threw it off once I remembered the boy saying something about hot water.

As soon as I entered the bathroom, I was struck by its spaciousness and the luxuriousness of its decor. The pale marbled tiles and the dark wooden furniture complemented each other perfectly, giving the room an opulent look. In the center of the room, there was a large clawfoot bathtub, beckoning me to take a soak.

However, I was surprised to see that there was no boiler in sight. Usually, I had to boil my water in a pot on a stove to take a warm bath, but here, everything seemed to be set up for me.

With a sense of trepidation, I tentatively opened the only faucet beside the tub and put my fingers through the running water. To my surprise, it was neither cold nor scalding, but just perfect.

With a sigh of relief, I blocked the bottom drain and started filling up the tub. As I stripped off my clothes, I noticed a couple of shelves on the back wall, displaying glass bottles filled with various substances. Some had a honey-like liquid inside, while others had dried herbs or flowers.

Curious, I moved over to the shelves and took a glass bottle in my hand. I opened one that had liquid in it and was immediately hit by a beautiful scent. I couldn’t quite place my finger on the exact smell, but it reminded me of blooming lilacs after a warm rain, with a hint of... eucalyptus, maybe?

Excited to try it out, I poured some of the liquid into the water and watched as it diffused into the tub.

I made sure my hair stayed out of the water while I positioned myself in the giant tub. I needed to keep it dry, or the dye would start fading.

I stopped the water when it reached above my breasts and stayed still while my skin absorbed all the water and oils it was desperately craving.

I ducked a little lower, so only my head was out of the water, and I hummed in delight.

I didn’t know if being stationed here was a mistake, but for now, I was enjoying it.

My hands travelled the length of my body, rubbing my arms, legs, and torso, trying to remove years’ worth of grime I could never eliminate while bathing in the little bucket I used to clean myself.

A soft sigh passed between my lips when one of my hands landed on my breast. I circled my nipple while inhaling the intoxicating smell that now soaked my skin and pinched the bud hard while exhaling deeply.

Thoughts of Alexander passed through my mind, and I unconsciously set my other hand between my legs, pressing between my lips until my fingers found what they were looking for.

A puzzling feeling was overcoming my senses. I needed some sort of release, and for a strange reason, Alexander was the only one I could picture giving me what I needed. I imagined him close to me, whispering something sweet in my ear. His hot breath stuck on my skin while his fingers trailed over my body, raising goosebumps everywhere.

My nipples hardened at that thought, even though the water was hot, and I kept pumping my fingers inside my channel, thinking of all the things I wanted to do to him—what he could do to me.

The pressure was building rapidly in my lower belly, and I felt my mouth quiver as blue sparks exploded behind my closed eyes. I knew the sparks wanted to come out of my body, but I held them inside. It wasn’t safe to let them out here.

I felt relieved when I came. Years of sexual tension I had kept bottled up were now free. I had never felt relaxed enough to even think about doing that. I sank further into the tub, basking in my sweet release and purred softly.

But it all came crashing down when I heard Alexander’s gruff voice. “Well, that was a sight to see.”