At nineteen, Nina had been a servant in the castle for a full year that morning. Her mother had been worried she wasn't mature enough for the position, but at eighteen, she could accept jobs without her mother's approval, after three years of cleaning rooms at their family inn and pub. After dealing with drunk soldiers, she was more than ready to handle a few nobles, and maybe she'd find a handsome young lord who didn't mind her slightly too large nose.
She had the figure to make up for it at least, according to her mother. She couldn't wait to be out of her mother's house for good. Finally free from the nagging, the judgment, and the constant orders. She and a few of the other young maids in the castle had asked for permission to move into a room in the servants' wing, and they'd already started planning the move.
Nina had been saving for a new dress to wear in her free hours. The Head Maid had even said they might get to attend a ball, since it looked like the new Lady Ye was keen on them.
That put a skip in Nina's step. Life was looking up, and all she needed to do to finish her work for today was drop off these clean linens at the young Prince Soliel's room, and she could meet her friends for drinks.
The hallway was quiet, the guards gone. They must have been in the middle of changing shifts, but at least that meant fewer delays for Nina.
The door was open, and she was so excited to be at the end of her day that she walked in without waiting for an answer to her knock.
She made it several steps into the room before her mind finally registered what she was seeing. The bodies of the two guards regularly assigned to the hall were on the floor in pools of their own blood. A third guard was further in the room, his incomplete uniform shredded from multiple stab wounds.
Lord Vermeer, Lady Ye's assistant, was in the hands of two figures in black masks, choking on his own blood, and Prince Soliel's nanny was pinned under a third, eyes wild between bruises and cuts.
There were hands around her throat.
Nina froze; the linens fell to the floor.
"R- run." The nanny croaked, clawing at the hands around her throat.
One of the masked figures turned away from Lord Vermeer, whose struggles were getting weaker by the second, and turned that cold blank mask toward Nina.
A bolt of fear shot through her, jolting her into action. Her mind flew into fight or flight, and since she had no experience fighting, it went to flight.
She turned and lunged for the door, blood rushing in her ears, desperation in her pounding heart. Her fingernails dug into the wooden door frame as she plunged through and back into the hallway. Her adrenaline was high; she didn't feel when the wood tore out two of her fingernails, and she collided with the opposite wall.
She pushed off, catching a glimpse of the advancing black mask from the corner of her eye, fear fueling her as she took off down the hall.
She screamed. "Hel-"
The impact knocked the air from her lungs and stole her voice. She pitched forward, and for a moment, she thought she was still running just faster, but then she was falling, and she couldn't stop herself.
***
Mingzhe was exhausted by the time he returned to the Camelia in the early morning hours. The sun wasn't even up as he'd crossed the bridge after an exhausting night talking to his mother.
Lady Zhao had been supremely unimpressed when he'd told her about the kiss, and she hadn't bothered to hide that she was disappointed in him for taking so long to realize where things were going. In her words, "What else did you think the three of you were doing? Do you think all married couples are that close with another person? You were sharing a bed, for rock's sake."
Mingzhe's cheeks were still burning, but at least she'd been happy about it overall.
"Lady Ye is not pregnant yet, is she? Her lineage is strong; she should be able to bear you both strong children."
Mingzhe had been so horrified he couldn't speak, and she'd gone on and on about healthy children and the possibility that they'd inherit Lady Ye's magic before he was finally able to get out that Eirian didn't want or think that she could have children of her own.
His mother had turned pensive then. "I suppose that explains the boy." But she'd moved on quickly enough. She'd never been one prone to draw things out. "Well, your brother and sister can take care of the children then. Your relationship is valuable enough by itself."
"Thank you?" Although he wasn't sure what he was thanking her for, since the entire conversation had left him feeling vaguely gross and elated at the same time. His mother was practical, and a spy and the matriarch of a noble family; the fact that even a small part of her cared about his personal happiness was practically a miracle, and he was happy about that, but listening to her liken him to breeding stock was always…gross. He wasn't sure how women dealt with it.
Or why they didn't just murder everyone who talked like that.
The conversation had been exhausting, and he'd practically run out when she'd finally been satisfied; they'd discussed everything to her comfort. And she had supplied useful information for Eirian's investigation by way of a list of individuals with personal grudges against Mingzhe and the current living members of the Zhao family.
It was longer than he'd expected.
And a lot of them were kind of insulting in how stupid they were. One of Lady Yang's younger nieces believed he'd snubbed her at a luncheon. One of Lord Yin's sons believed Mingzhe had stolen a battlefield victory from him in the previous war when he hadn't even been on the field at the time. Lady Valient was holding a grudge over a missed dinner invitation, and Lord Wen's younger half-brother apparently believed he'd lost a romantic rivalry to Mingzhe, but Mingzhe didn't remember him or the woman listed.
The majority of the list was like that, though some were serious enough to be a real possibility. One of the Darrows believed the family had been shorted in a deal for supplies. One of the Moors believed Linlin had murdered a cousin, something his mother refused to comment on other than to smirk whenever it came up.
He wanted to track all of them down and demand to know if they really thought petty grudges were worth the four thousand lives lost in the ambush, but he knew better. He had to hand the list to Eirian and turn away as she handled it.
And she would handle it. That was the only thing that made handing it over to someone else palatable.
He tried to focus on the more positive happenings with Chenzhou and Eirian as soon as he saw her, as he made his way through the castle to her rooms.
He turned a corner and entered the hallway she shared with Brendan just in time to see a young maid fall to the floor, a sword protruding from her back.
~ tbc