Chapter 4

Elvanya's Pov

I walked out of the High Hall without looking back. I just needed to get far away from the King, he was a cold beast, and I didn’t want to be near him anymore.

The doors opened again, and I saw him walk past someone without saying a word. He left the room quietly, and I stared at the closed doors. Then I heard a cough behind me. I turned quickly and saw Cordelia, the head servant. Her face was angry, and her eyes looked tiny and sharp. She came straight to me and stood way too close.

“You idiot,” she whispered, her voice shaking with anger.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Do not speak,” she hissed. “Never speak unless a beast talks to you first. Who told you to speak? Was it the King? Did he ask for your opinion?”

I shut my mouth tight and nodded.

“Do you understand what just happened?”

I shook my head slowly because I honestly didn’t know what I had done wrong. The King told me to go, so I left.

“You were alone with the King for over an hour.” She looked me up and down. “No human has survived that in years. He bought you, he’s testing you. This is a game to him.” She paused. “You think you’re special because he didn’t kill you immediately.”

“No,” I whispered.

“Silence! I told you silence. I ask the questions, you listen. You said you were cleaning and brought him wine, did you look at him?”

I watched my words carefully. “He told me to look into his eyes.”

Her hand shot up fast, stopping just in front of my face. I flinched and closed my eyes for a second.

“You’re lucky. You might be the luckiest or the unluckiest girl in this palace. The rule is simple, the first rule. Never, ever look the beasts in the eye. Their eyes are magic, they have power. You only do that if you want to die faster. Do you get how dangerous those silver eyes are?”

“Yes,” I said.

“You’re on trial here. Every minute is a test, one small mistake and you’re dead. The beast won’t even remember your name. You’ll be wiped off the floor.”

I stood still, understanding for the first time. i am on trial, one mistake and I'm dead.

“You’re assigned to the King’s private wing, that’s the fastest route to death. These beasts are the strongest, the most dangerous. They don’t care about humans, they don’t think we’re real people. You are nothing to him, remember that every time you breathe.”

She went on without stopping. She told me every rule for the King’s private wing: never speak unless spoken to, never look up, always walk quietly, always use the back stairs, never look at the huge silver statues in the main hall, never look at the King’s sister Lira, and never look at Beta Thorne. The Beta was worse than the King sometimes and hated humans a lot.

Cordelia talked fast, like she was trying to fit everything into my head at once. I just stood there, trying to remember as much as I could.

“I won’t leave you alone for a week. You will shadow Senna. She’s survived here for two years, that’s a miracle. If you learn from her, maybe you’ll last a few months. A few months is a long time here.”

Cordelia grabbed my shoulder hard, her fingers squeezing tightly. She led me out of the High Hall, down a long cold corridor with black stone walls. I kept my eyes on the floor and watched my feet move. I heard the echo of our steps.

We stopped at a heavy wooden door. Cordelia knocked. A soft human voice said, “Come in.” We went inside.

It was a large laundry room, warm and smelling like soap and steam. A few women were working. One looked up at us, short with dark hair pulled back tight and a tired face. This was Senna.

“Senna, this is Elvanya. She’s new and stupid, she was alone with the King far too long. She’s on trial for one week and will shadow you. She does exactly what you do, no speaking, no stopping, no mistakes. If she fails, you report it. If you don’t, I’ll punish both of you.”

Senna looked at me quietly. Her eyes were flat and empty, like she was just too tired.

“I understand, Cordelia,” Senna said softly.

Cordelia glanced at me one last time. “Don’t fail me. Don’t make me come back here, you’ll regret it if I do.” Then she left, and the door shut loudly behind her.

I stood there holding the cleaning supplies from the Hall. Senna quietly took the bucket and rags from me and put them on a high shelf.

“Follow me,” she said softly.

I followed as she left the laundry room and walked back into the cold corridor. She moved slowly with her head down, eyes fixed on the floor. I followed exactly, matching her steps, left, right, left, right.

“The King’s main chambers are through the next wing,” Senna said without looking up. “We clean them only during council. Never when he’s sleeping or here. We watch the light, if it’s silver, we run. If it’s human, we clean quickly.”

I nodded but didn’t speak, trying to remember everything.

“You have to know the halls well. This wing is for the strongest beasts, the Alpha King, the Beta Thorne, and the Gamma Jaxian. You never look at them. If they pass by, you drop everything and stand still. Don’t even breathe loud.”

We rounded a corner, and the corridor got darker and colder. The silence felt heavy and thick.

“We have three jobs today,” Senna said. “Dust the east corridor statues, change linens in the Beta’s guest room, and bring clean water to the High Priest Eldric’s library.”

I memorized the list, dust statues, change linens, bring water.

We stopped at a heavy door the color of dried blood. Senna pointed to a small hook next to it, where a silver light hung dark and unlit. She nodded.

“This is the Beta’s guest room. The King doesn’t use it, but the Beta does. He often has a human there. You clean everything without looking directly at it. You never touch the bedsheets with your hands, you use metal tongs and always burn the sheets afterward.”

A chill ran through me as I nodded quietly. I watched Senna take the tongs from her belt.

She opened the door carefully, and we went inside. The room was large but dark. Senna stripped the bed quickly and placed the sheets into a thick canvas bag. We cleaned fast, silently, without a word.

When we left, we closed the door behind us and walked down the long corridor. Senna moved like a shadow, and I tried to match her quiet steps.

We passed a set of huge black doors with no carvings. They looked even heavier than the King’s Hall doors. Senna quickened her pace as we passed.

“What’s in there?” I whispered softly. I needed to know.

Senna stopped immediately, turning toward me with wide, terrified eyes.

“Never ask that,” she hissed.

I nodded fast. “Sorry, Senna.”

“The King’s private chambers are in the other direction. This wing is the North Wing, where the assassins train, humans entirely owned by the King, broken and made loyal. You never come here alone. Never.”

We started walking again. I kept my head down, my heart pounding in my chest. Assassin training,humans turned into weapons. It felt horrifying.

We turned a corner where the walls were rougher, the stones uneven. After ten steps, Senna stopped again.

“Do you hear that?” she whispered low.

I stood very still and listened. Normally the palace was silent, but here there was a low, rough sound, almost animal-like.

It was a growl.

It came from behind a simple wooden door on our right. The door looked plain and solid.

The growling wasn’t loud but steady. It sounded like pain or anger.

Senna pulled me back a little, and we pressed against the opposite wall, holding our breath while we listened.

The growling stopped. Then a sick wet noise, and a heavy thud on the floor, followed by silence again.

Senna grabbed my arm hard. Her nails dug into my skin. “We move now, fast and quiet.”

We walked past the door. I looked down at the bottom and saw the floor under the door was dark and wet, a dark red spreading slowly.

It was blood.

Fresh blood creeping across the stone floor. It looked thick and almost black in the dim light. I couldn’t look away and watched the red spread wider as we moved.

Senna pulled me harder. We walked faster but didn’t run, quiet footsteps echoing as we left the door behind.

I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, breathing shallow and trying not to make any sound.

We rounded another corner, farther from the black door and the blood.

“We forget that,” Senna said, her voice shaky. “We forget everything we just saw. You never saw that door, never heard that sound, never saw that color spreading on the floor.”

I nodded hard. I couldn't afford to tell anyone about what I just saw.