Page 17 of Firebird
“Thank you for helping me with my shoes,” I told him kindly, hiding the anxiety I felt for him.
Another sweet smile then he finished the last strap.
“Come with me,” he said excitedly. “You must meet Kara.”
We went down the hallway only a few feet before we stepped into a long kitchen with a row of windows open to a stable yard. A large pen of chickens clucked outside. But my attention was on the short, stout woman with dark hair rolling dough onto her work table.
“Stefanos,” she snapped. “Get the milk or there’ll be no breakfast for you.”
He rolled his eyes but then hurried out the door leading to the stable yard, disappearing somewhere to the left beyond the windows. When I turned to the woman, she was still kneading the dough but her hard gaze was on me.
“You’re not Celtic.” Her voice sounded accusing.
I shook my head. “Dacian.”
“Dominus brought you from the Celtic battlefields, Ruskus said.”
“That’s correct.” I straightened under her scrutiny, realizing this was an interrogation. “My people were killed. The Celts took me in.”
She continued to knead, glancing my way with sharp, dark looks. “I’m Kara. I run the kitchen.”
I remained quiet under her accusing look, then nodded. If she thought I was after her job, she was mistaken. I was hoping to go as unnoticed as possible. It would make it easier for me to escape.
She slapped the dough down and dusted her hands on her apron. “I understand you’re to attend the master. But when you’re not, you can help me. There’s always work to be done.”
And yet, last night, Julian had told me he had plenty of slaves to do all of his household chores.
“How many are there serving this house?”
“There are four of us. Five now.” She gestured toward the window. “Ivo keeps to the stables and yard most of the time. His room is in the stables.” She arched a brow at me. “Though he doesn’t speak, he can hear well enough. So don’t think to sneak off that way. It would do you no good. You’d never get far.”
I don’t know how Kara could tell I was already planning my escape. I forced my features into blankness. “I had no intentions.”
She humphed while I peered through the window at the gargantuan man feeding the chickens. He had short dark hair and clucked to the chickens while they paraded around him.
So five of us. That seemed like a small staff of servants for a house this size.
At that moment, Ruskus entered the kitchen. He shared a look with Kara, then walked toward me, his limp not as prominent this morning. He reminded me of a man back home in Dacia who had a similar lame foot. His limp always worsened as the day went on.
“You need to put this on, girl.” He lifted a chain similar to what I’d just seen on Stefanos.
I quickly noticed they both wore their own collars as well.
Ruskus stopped, seeming uncomfortable and frowning as he turned to Kara. “You’d better help her.”
I remained still, staring at them while Kara went and took the chain from him. “Well, come here. Stop gawping.”
It wasn’t as if I had a choice. My fate was sealed, and yet that reckless part of me wanted to scream in defiance. I didn’t, of course. I gritted my teeth and clamped my mouth shut tight as I walked over to Kara.
“You’ll have to take whatever that other thing is off.”
That was when I found my voice. “No.”
Kara frowned at me. “It’ll chafe your neck, the two rubbing against each other.”
“This one is leather. It’ll be fine.”
I didn’t pull the necklace from inside my tunic. I always kept it hidden. It was a miracle it hadn’t been snatched from my neck after having it so long.
