LIRO || completed

• 4.1 •

Liro felt nothing as she stared at the Captain, her glare as murderous as the one he threw back at her. "I thought I was permitted to choose my new station."

"You waited too long." He shrugged, pulling out a scroll and writing something intelligible on it in black ink. "The Queen is growing anxious. She wants to assure you aren't a threat to her kingdom."

"She wants to make sure I'm no threat to her," Liro corrected. "She wants me watched. Every second of every night and every day." She cast him a crooked smile. "Do you intend to give up on sleep, Captain?"

"On the contrary." He snapped his fingers, urging her in front of him. "Lead the way."

This time, there were no crowds of people waiting for her in the streets. Tucked away, sleeping, or already pushing their way to work. It was no great thing to regard a woman with her name cleared. 

The gates of the castle opened with a great wail, baring the empty hallways. No one to greet her, or spit in her face and call her a murderer. It was refreshing, yet she longed for the attention that she had been given before.

"Am I to see Her Majesty now?" Liro inquired.

The Captain looked as if she had asked to drink tea with the King as well. "Speak with her? Whatever impression have I given you?"

"So she isn't placing me in a position?" This trip was proving more disappointing upon every turn.

"I'm the one doing that," he snapped. "Follow me. You'll be meeting with the Head Maid. She'll show you your uniform and the room you'll be sharing."

Liro pressed her lips together. She wasn't to be doing anything useful; no, she was waiting upon the elite in the kingdom. Changing their bedsheets and bathwater. It was unnerving, and made her want to clench her fingers together so tight they bled. She refused to listen to the voice in the back of her head that demanded she be given something else to do.

Something that did not ruin her pride and what she could do to them all if given the power.

The Head Maid was a plump girl, with rosy cheeks and hair like a sunless sky tied back carefully. She took one look at Liro and decided there was hope for her. Perhaps she didn't stand slouched enough to be unnoticeable, and her features too fine for such work, but it was nothing that the woman wasn't convinced she couldn't fix.

"You'll take her?" the Captain asked. "Olenna, are you listening to me?"

The maid stopped her intrusive search of Liro's outer being. "What? Oh, yes, I'll take her. And if the gods are good, she'll be here long after I leave."

The three of them stood in heartbreaking silence.

"Off with you, Captain!" Olenna shooed him away, flicking both her wrists furiously. "And don't come back unless you've got someone else useful to me."

Once he left, Olenna returned her gaze to Liro. "Have you ever served before?"

Liro found her voice. "No."

"Run a bath for a nobleman?"

"No."

"Well then, I suppose there's very little you need to know other than that, and we need you now, so there isn't any chance to put you through training. Don't make any movements or speech unless invited. If they tell you to do something, you'd best get it done quickly. Ask if they prefer scents in their water, and apply them as instructed." Olenna pushed wiry glasses down on her nose. "And for goodness sakes, don't leave unless they want you to. Maids just can't walk out whenever they please." She rested a hand on her round hip. "Am I clear?"

Liro swallowed. "Rather."

"On with you. Find a uniform and run upstairs. Lord Hexley will be arriving soon, and you're to tend to him. You're a miracle sent from above, you know, adding to our numbers. Otherwise another girl would have to double up, but you're just perfect." She barely looked up from her scroll. "Name? I'll need to inform the Queen."

"Liro, ma'am."

Olenna wrinkled her face. "Strange." It was a few seconds before Liro was urged on with a, "Hurry!"

Liro found her uniform - the only spare - in a tiny room, and changed quickly, stuffing her other clothing in the place where she'd found it. She would come back for it later, if Olenna was allowing.

The great carriage was just rolling up to the front gates as Liro joined the welcoming line, adjusting her hair - which had been neatly tied back in a slinky braid - and fixing her apron. If there was one thing that Olenna valued, it was tidiness.

Lord Hexley exited his carriage, an army of bags to be unloaded behind him. He pressed a quick kiss to the Queen's cheek and one of the same to a ring of the Kings. 

"I must change before dinner, yet I've work to be done before then. Might I take my leave so we may discuss the matter at hand, Your Majesty's?" Hexley preened.

"Of course, Lord Hexley, it might be for the best," the Queen assured him. "Make your way." The Lord left, and she turned to the line of servants. "Whomever is tending to Lord Hexley may hurry, so as to be waiting for him once he arrives."

Liro walked forwards as calmly as she could, following the sound of Hexley's footsteps before bolting ahead, making a sharp turn and coming around the other way at a slight sprint. She wa grateful that Olenna had told her the way moments before she left. The door was barely open and her breath barely caught when Hexley walked in the door.

His eyes scanned everything else in the room before landing on her.

"You're to attend to me?" His voice was gravelly and unpleasant. Much like his appearance.

"I am, my Lord."

"Run a bath, then, and see that all my trunks are placed in the adjoining room." He threw his coat on a nearby chair and began studying every possible detail of the room.

"Do you prefer scents in the water, my Lord?"

"Water is fine, so long as it's hot enough to scorch the devil himself." He was not pleased with her usage of time.

Liro hurried, running the bath water until steam filled the room. If he'd wanted it any hotter he would have to harm himself. 

"Your bath is ready, my Lord," Liro murmured, entering the main room once more.

"Ah," he said, standing up straight. "That will be all. I'll need you in perhaps an hour or so."

She exited without another word.

Back downstairs, the maids were fluttering about, waiting for her to press gossip into her ears and have it delivered upon theirs in turn. Words were flying about a rapid speed, though they all had one thing in common.

Lord Hexley was not a good man. He was the vilest creature living in the castle.

It was so easy for Liro to slip inside after an hour, and when he bid her to pull the drain, she sliced the letter opener across his throat.

And then she began to scream, hoping and praying that he'd been worth it, to feel his blood on her hands.

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