While Beauty Slept
“It was an encounter that remains vivid in my memory to this day, for it was the first time I glimpsed the darkness that lurked beneath the pageantry of court. The first tiny step in my loss of innocence.I had spent the previous days trailing after Petra, tending to the rooms of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. There were a dozen or so of these women, distant relations and daughters of noble families who lived at the castle under the king’s protection. They were expected to serve as companions, but in the queen’s absence they devoted themselves mostly to flirting and gossip. Cautiously, I had begun taking on tasks alone: rising before dawn to sweep away the previous night’s ashes and light new fires, emptying chamber pots, filling basins with fresh water, retrieving breakfast trays from the kitchen and delivering them by the time each lady awakened. With the queen and her closest companions gone, the work was lighter than usual, yet I crumpled with exhaustion each night, worn out as much... by the strain of fitting in as by the actual work.MoreLess
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