Dinner for the servants was always set out in the house kitchen, with the dining room reserved for the master and any potential guests. There were only eight, including A’nallia, so they could easily fit at the small prep table near the pantry. All eight women didn’t often eat together, usually grabbing food separately when they had time, depending on what was going on in the house. Today was different. Everyone crowded around the hardwood block, passing dishes and serving each other, chatting about the mundane events of the day. Their master had been away for more than a week now, so the house had been quieter and the tasks to complete were fewer.

The manor wasn’t large, so there wasn’t room for a large staff, but the small number still surprised A’nallia. To her, seated in a group like this, they felt more like a family than a house staff. She wondered if this was an exception or if she had been wrong about the demon lords this whole time. Since everything she knew had come from Imperium teachings, she couldn’t really be sure of anything.

When she had first arrived, she spent many moments crying to herself, unsure of her place or what to think of her situation. But with so few other women around and a strictly followed schedule, it didn’t take long to adjust. Even if she had yet to find her own worth within this new world.

Everyone else in the manor had their roles set. I’laira helped the master with his affairs and oversaw all of the servants while Maren ran the daily schedule of the house, making sure all jobs were done as expected. While I’liara acted as a mother figure, taking care of personal problems, Maren was more like a commander of troops, keeping everything and everyone in line.

O’rana and O’raena handled all gardening, as well as caring for the horses and helping with some of the cooking. When needed, they could also provide some basic healing magic, though much of this was supplemented by medicinal herbs and other types of remedies. A’nallia had tried to pull information about the master and his ailments from the twins, but even O’rana said very little. She had asked I’liara as well, but each time was told that if she wanted to know more, she should ask him directly. The old woman had clearly been with him a long time, but she respected his privacy and would give no personal information to anyone.

“Sari, I saw you washing the high windows today. The rag didn’t even fall once! Very impressive.”

O’rana leaned over the table and smiled wide, steamed greens stuck in her front teeth, staring across to where U’sari sat silently picking at the meat on her plate. Her comment received only an eye roll from its target, but A’ldissa smiled and pointed to her own perfectly white teeth.

“Perhaps, O’rana, you should pay more attention to yourself before finding ways to tease others.”

A’ldissa and U’sari took care of everything else inside the house, including direct service to the master. They served his meals and tea, warmed his bed, and anything else he needed or desired. Both women were certainly the oldest after I’liara and Maren, but they showed no signs of aging. O’rana had said that she once asked A’ldissa her age but the only response was a sinister grin and an eerie cackle. Of course, O’rana liked to exaggerate, so it could be difficult to tell truth from fiction. U’sari had simply shrugged, smiled, and replied that she was older than O’rana.

Mouth still wide open, O’rana used her tongue to pick the food away. When she couldn’t feel any more, her smile grew and she turned her head side to side so all could see.

“Congratulations,” A’ldissa mocked, scrunching her nose in disgust. “Next time, maybe you can also wash your face and hands before sitting at the table.”

“Funny. Of course I washed my hands, Dis. I helped prepare this meal.”

“Well, there goes my appetite. My chores are complete so I will turn in for the night.”

A’ldissa rose and nodded to Maren and I’liara before exiting the kitchen. In the outside world, she was not powerful, holding limited control over fire, but not able to create it. In this house, though, she was second only to the battle-hardened E’ferina, in both strength and ego. She was haughty, and frequently sarcastic and condescending. In the Tower, there was no shortage of witches with high opinions of themselves, so perhaps feeling superior now was compensation for a childhood spent feeling mediocre and unimportant. She also liked to boast that she was the master’s favorite, for whatever that was worth. A’nallia wasn’t a prideful person and couldn’t care less. If it helped heal a wounded ego, A’ldissa could brag about whatever she liked.

U’sari, with a quiet goodnight to the group, also left her half-eaten plate on the table and followed A’ldissa out. Unlike her friend, she was quiet and timid, and only possessed a basic grasp of spatial magic. Spatial magic was a rare and incredibly valuable magic – the ability to move things from one place to another without touch, sometimes through walls or even across great distances. U’sari, however, was one of the weakest witches A’nallia had ever met. She could barely move small objects and even then, she had little control. After spending many years in the Tower, her teachers trying to awaken a stronger power, they finally had to give up. A’nallia wasn’t sure why U’sari had been branded at all. She posed no danger to anyone and didn’t have enough magic to even bother suppressing it. Instead, she could have easily lived a human life. But rules were rules, laws were laws, and in the Imperium, they must be followed without question. So here she was, living as a demon’s house servant, instead of the normal life she could have had as a human.

Here they all were. Regardless of skill or history, they had all been rejected and ended up serving a demon master. Despite their differences, they had at least that in common.