Heart [ON HOLD]

Chapter 2: The Maid

But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose.
- Anne Brontë

"Cora! Cora, get up. Come on. Get up or Mrs. Galloway will have your hide."

The black haired girl stirred and groaned.

"Wha-,"

"Sleeping on the job again! Why I even bother with you anymore-,"

The continued raving hurt Cora's ears and she grimaced. She rubbed sleep away from her eyes and forced her eyelids halfway open.

"I...I don't..."

"You know very well what you did. You fell asleep, you lazy girl. Again! This is the fourth time this month. It's ridiculous and-,"

The woman kept up her rant and Cora made herself to sit up and tried to stretch her stiff limbs. Her eyes were starting to register shapes now, and she worked her jaw, tasting wet cotton. Now she could see the people in front of her. One was in her late forties, but hadn't aged well. Her face had been lined by stress, lines that became even more prominent when her brown hair was coming out of its bun and she was yelling in someone's face. The other person was a girl of about sixteen, maybe seventeen, not that anyone was counting. She had the decency to look concerned, with her hazelnut hair pulled back by a washed out, red handkerchief.

"But Mrs. Galloway, I didn't," Cora managed, still waking up. "I didn't mean to. It just...happened."

"Yes, just like the time you 'just happened' to fall asleep feeding the horses. And when-,"

"But it's true!" Cora said, awake now. "It wasn't my fault. I don't know what hap-,"

"Don't interrupt me, Cora, please. Listen, I can't have you falling asleep again. Especially not if you're attending to the Queen directly. Falling asleep as the Queen's Runner was a terrible offence. You were supposed to be scaring up game for the hunters, not picking daisies. It's no wonder she left you in the woods-,"

"What?"

Mrs. Galloway's glare was unnerving and Cora felt herself shiver before the words were even out of the woman's mouth.

"She left you in the woods, Cora."

Mrs. Galloway looked about, then lowered her voice to a hiss.

"Do you think I wanted that thing in my kitchen, Cora?"

The other girl shuddered and touched a hand to the red handkerchief in her hair and Mrs. Gallway touched the crimson sash at her hip.

"I...don't understand."

"The Wolf, Cora," whispered the other girl, hazel eyes round and nervous. "The Wolf brought you back."

Cora froze, ice water dripping down her spine.

"The..."

The other two nodded.

Cora looked around for something red to touch, but couldn't find anything.

"He came in with you. You were so limp in his arms that we thought he'd killed you at first. But then he told us what happened. Then he set you on the flour sacks and left."

Cora looked down and saw the reason her body ached. She'd spent the night on the heaped sacks of flour in the kitchen. There was a faint white powder dusting her clothes and arms and staining her hair. Behind the two women in front of her, the rest of the kitchen was bustling with its staff rushing about, finishing off breakfast dishes, and already preparing for lunch.

"You mean, I owe the Wolf?"

Neither of them said anything.

"What do I do?" Cora asked, the words grating in a hoarse whisper.