Chapter 6: Into the Inner Rooms

I returned safely.

Mrs. Reynolds even rewarded me with a bracelet. The metal was cool, almost too cold, as if it hadn’t been worn in years. It was a slender silver bangle, etched with a delicate pattern of vines. When I got back to my room, the maids crowded around me.

They all wanted to know what had happened, but before I could answer, they fell silent, glancing toward the door. You could feel the anxiety crackling in the air, like lightning before a storm.

"Miss Green."

The green-robed maid I’d seen earlier entered, her expression cold. She looked me over. "Allison, pack your things. From today on, you’ll move to the inner rooms to serve Mrs. Reynolds."

……

I didn’t have many belongings; a small duffel held everything I owned. My hands shook as I zipped it up, tucking a faded photo of my old life in the side pocket.

I followed Miss Green, quietly sizing her up. She walked with the confidence of someone twice her age. Her sneakers barely made a sound on the thick Persian carpets.

She looked only sixteen or seventeen, but seemed to be highly trusted by Mrs. Reynolds.

As I was thinking, she spoke: "Serving in the inner rooms is your good fortune. Know your place and stay within your bounds. That cook was too greedy—she swapped Mrs. Reynolds’ special food for a bit of cash. She deserved to lose her job."

"Before you, there was another maid. She’d only been here three days before she got close to the housekeeper from Mrs. Parker’s wing…"

I was startled.

Was she talking about Penny?

It was quiet all around; Miss Green’s voice was especially clear.

Her voice was young, but every word was sharp and forceful. Her accent was Southern—soft, but with a bite to it, like the edge of a knife.

It was hard to imagine someone so young could become Mrs. Reynolds’ confidante.

Miss Green glanced sideways at me.

"Allison, your cakes pleased Mrs. Reynolds. If you serve her with all your heart, she won’t treat you badly. But if you have any other intentions…"

Her tone turned cold.

I quickly said, "I wouldn’t dare. Thanks for the heads-up, Miss Green."

"It’s good you don’t dare," she said flatly. "The ones who get in trouble are those who are too bold…"

After moving into Mrs. Reynolds’ wing, although I wasn’t as close to her as Miss Green, I saw her much more often than before.

Mrs. Reynolds disliked rising early and avoided associating with the other women in the family, doing as she pleased. The rules of the house bent around her; everyone else moved in her orbit.

These days, she often asked me to make lemon pound cake for her.

Whenever she ate the cakes, she was especially quiet, her eyes lowered. I could never tell what she was thinking. Sometimes, I caught her glancing out the window at the full moon, a distant look on her face.

I became more and more convinced that she was not the cruel, ruthless woman everyone feared. She seemed to be hiding many secrets. Underneath her icy demeanor was a sadness so deep it could swallow the world.

The urge to get closer to her, to understand her, grew stronger and stronger within me. I found myself hoping, maybe foolishly, that I could reach the little girl I once held in my arms—even if she no longer remembered me.

So I was eager to win her trust.

The opportunity soon arrived.

And it was nothing like I expected.