Enid slammed the dormitory door, then took off her bonnet in a huff and let her dark, curly hair fall before she started pacing.

“Tell me what happened? Nobody really knows what happened, but Thalia from Laundry saw you run from the direction of his office.” Enid looked up from her pillow, which she was squeezing the softness from.

She felt like she was on autopilot the day after she was scolded by the Duke.

Right now, she was back in the servant quarters, which was quiet now. Most of the other staff members clean after supper and are prepared to clean the linens. Well, everything except for her and Myra.

“I…slapped him.”

“Who?”

“The…the duke.”

Myra drops the brush she was using to untangle her hair and looks back cover to Enid with wide eyes.

“You slapped the goddamn Serpent of Rhadros?!”

“I know!”

Enid buried her face in her hands, muffling a scream that came out as a groan from the back of her throat. Her nightgown was thin, frayed at the hem, and patched with thread. It clung to her soft, knobby legs as she sat on the edge of her cot, knees pulled up. Her hair was loose, rather than tucked under her bonnet. Her curls were frizzled and wild, her cheeks rosy against her dark umber skin.

She had let her emotions get the best of her, and she’s going to get her head chopped off. Dying once on a flight to Vienna, dying the second time because she decided to bitch slap a duke. She’d be lucky if she got off with being fired and expelled from the territory.

Myra paused for a second, and Enid watched in confusion as her expression slowly turned to delight.

“I’ve lived in this estate for sixteen years,” she said, “and not once, not once, has anyone told that man off. And you, the kitchen mouse, you not only told him he was a bad father, but you also slapped him across the face like you’re not afraid to die.”

Enid let out a strangled noise. “Myra, please. I’m going to die. At least I hope not. I’m going to be fired—or flogged. Maybe he’ll find a mage to turn me into a newt.”

The blonde grinned. “If you get into a newy, I’ll keep you in the laundry room and feed you scraps. I’ll even bring the young master—maybe he’ll keep you as a pet.”

“I’m serious!”

“So am I.”

Enid wanted to retort something when there was a knock.

Both women froze. Servants didn’t get visitors this late. Not unless soemone was sick or someone did something…disrespectful.

Enid was so sure that it was knights preparing to throw her into the prison underneath the estate.

“I think the Duke is going to kill me.”

Myra perked up from her cot and asked, “Oh? Can I have your bonnets then?”

Enid threw her pillow at her.

“What? You’re not gonna be using them anyway.” Myra muttered.

The knocking persisted, now firmer.

“Go on, answer it,” Myra said, her hand gesturing to the door. “They’re here for you.”

Enid glared at her before she slowly padded her way across the wooden flooring and opened the door.

Behind it, she’s met with a tall man—not the towering type of man like the duke—but someone who looked like she was cut from the same noble cloth. He was handsome like a Rhadros, in a polished, wicked way. His coat was open at the collar, his sleeves slightly rolled, his expression fleeting between amused and exhausted.

“Are you Enid?”

She blinked. “…it depends on who asks.”

“The Duke asked.”

Enid gulped. “…Yes.”

“Oh, thank Gods. I thought I was about to traumatize a stranger.”

She gives him a wary, puzzled look when he holds up a folded, sealed piece of parchment.

“From the Duke.”

Enid stared at it. Then at him, then back at it. She had expected to be dragged off to all certain, so getting a note struck her as odd.

“You’re not a footman.”

He gave her a mock bow. “Georgios Rhadros. You may have seen me before. Aide to the Duke, also his younger cousin. And apparently, now an errand boy.”

“And why are you delivering a note to me?”

He laughs. “The message is… specific.”

Myra’s head popped in behind Enid’s shoulder. “Specific how?”

Enid frowned and swatted her way before turning back to Georgios. “Anyways, thank you.”

He nodded his head and said, “Great. I’ll be going now. I’ve done my part.”

He turned, then paused.

“By the way,” he added, glancing over his shoulder, eye flickering to the nightgown she was wearing. It was only for half a second, but Enid felt…off.

“Anyways, he said not to delay. Best to get moving after you read it.”

“…what do you mean?”

Georgios smiled faintly. “You’ll understand once you read it. Goodnight, ladies.”

Then, as quickly as he showed up at their dormitory door, he was gone, striding down the hallway.

Enid stared after them before slowly shutting the door. Her hands that held the note were shaking. She steps until she’s back at her cot, where Myra is waiting.

“Well?” she asked, “Open it.”

“Or, I could ignore it, and it will go away somehow.”

“You know it won’t. Now on with it.”

Enid slowly opened the envelope as she sat back on her bed. And read the note. Then she read it a few more times before she went completely still.

“Oh my Gods.”

She must have read it wrong. Surely, he didn’t mean—

Myra, of course, seeing the reaction, wanted to know it and snatched the note from her hand while Enid sat in an almost catatonic state. Then the other girl read, paused, snorted—then burst into a full, hollering laugh.

“Come to my chambers. Naked,” she read out loud, choking back some of the laughter. “My, I didn’t think the duke was both a war hero and an advocate for cock-first supremacy!”

“Myra!”

“No, no, you don’t understand. This is gold. You slapped the Duke of Rhadros and broke him! No signature, no introduction! Just the emperor’s warhound wanting to bed a kitchen girl!”

Enid took the note back from her and dropped her face into her hands once more. 

“I’m not going.”

“Oh, Enid, you have to.”

The brunette shakes her head quickly.

“He’s going to humiliate me for telling him how to treat his son. What the hell was I thinking anyway?”

Myra shrugged. “You’ve always had a sense of justice, and you can probably carry ten loads of laundry by yourself. You can be fierce if you’re caught up in those emotions, Enid. That being said, aren’t you curious?”