The door handle shuddered and the door creaked open. I took a step back, brandishing my knife once again. Bella appeared in the doorway. I supposed she must have heard the struggle in the corridor as we passed by my room. Her jaw dropped as she took in the scene.
“Miss Rose!” She bustled into the room and locked the door behind her. “What have you done?”
“What does it look like?” I snapped.
“You killed them.” She gaped at the corpses. “Oh, no, no, no. You did a very bad thing, Miss Rose. A very bad thing. If Master finds out about this…” Her voice trailed off as she approached the nearest body and dragged it into the center of the room. She did the same with the other two corpses. Her hands were shaking as she approached a cupboard fixed high up on the wall in the far corner of the room and pulled down what looked like a machete. She approached the corpses again, knelt down on the ground next to them and, to my surprise, began hacking through their limbs.
“We have to hide them. If Master finds out you did this, we’ll both be in big trouble.”
I wasn’t sure what Bella planned to do with these huge pieces, but brandishing my own knife, I began to help her as best as I could. We must have worked for almost an hour until the bodies were chopped up into small pieces. Small enough for Bella. We were both coated with blood by the end of it.
Bella walked over to a corner of the room and lifted up the lid to a bin. Except, as I approached, I realized that it wasn’t a bin. It was fixed into the floor, and it was some kind of chute.
Bella walked back over to the bodies and, filling the cauldron with them, dragged it over to the chute and emptied it into it. She repeated the process until all the pieces were gone and all that was left was a bloody pool on the floor.
She walked over to the sink and grabbed a pile of cloths, dabbing down the blood and rinsing the cloths in the sink until the floor was completely clean. Then she cleaned the pot, the knives, dried them, and replaced them.
Once she was finished, she stared at me.
I pointed to the waste chute.
“Won’t someone see those bits and pieces if they go through the waste?”
She shook her head. “That goes down to the compost heap at the base of the mountain. Someone goes down there once a year to make sure things are in order. They’ll be rotted before then.”
She grabbed my arm and brought me over to the sink. She washed her hands and face, and then pushed me against it.
“You need to clean yourself.”
I did my best to wash off as much blood as I could, though there wasn’t much I could do about the stains on my clothes.
She heaved a frustrated sigh. We were both still covered in blood. We needed a shower. Spotting the keychain attached to my waist, she ripped it from me, then caught my hand again and dragged me to the door. Opening it, she peered through the crack.
She lurched forward so suddenly I almost lost my footing. “Hurry,” she hissed. “We need to get back before anybody sees us.”
I ended up climbing onto her back so we could be faster. Thankfully, we reached the room without bumping into anybody. We hurried into the room and Bella locked the door behind us. I went straight into the bathroom. It was huge—tall and wide enough to hold at least four full-sized ogres. The shower was so high up it could also hold an ogre. I stripped and got in the shower, pulling the curtains around me. I soaped myself down and cleaned my hair thoroughly, from the roots to the tips. When I was finished, I pulled the curtain aside and reached for a towel. Wrapping it around me, I stepped out. My bloody clothes were nowhere in sight. Bella sat waiting for me on a bench, still wearing her own bloody clothes.
“You need to have a wash now,” I said, looking at her pointedly. She nodded and walked into the shower. I left her alone and walked into the bedroom to find some clean clothes.
I wasn’t sure what she’d done with my dirty clothes—disposed of them safely somewhere, I hoped.
I walked over to the cupboard and opened it. I couldn’t find anything comfortable—like pants and a shirt—so I had to settle for a silk dress. It was the loosest thing I could find.
I slipped it over my head and walked over to the bed, sinking down on it and staring at the wall.
Now that the rush was over, I was suddenly aware of the ache in my muscles. My wrist hurt—I was sure that I’d strained a muscle. I lay my head back down on the pillow and closed my eyes, breathing steadily as I listened to the sound of running water, Bella showering next door.
The bathroom door clicked open after five minutes and she walked out, wearing a crisp white smock. She had the keychain in her hands, which she proceeded to tuck into her bra again. She shot me a glare and waved a finger at me.
“You shouldn’t steal, Miss Rose. I already told you what happened to my daughter. It will land you in trouble. You don’t know these parts.”
To my surprise, she walked over to me and pulled me to my feet. “You wanted to go for a walk? Then come, I’ll take you for a short walk.”
I had to admit I’d lost my appetite for a walk now. My limbs were groaning and I felt I needed at least a few hours’ sleep before venturing out again. But I didn’t think it wise to wait. Bella might change her mind by the time morning came, for all I knew. Besides, I was curious as to where she might take me. I nodded and stood up.
“It’s best that we go at night when fewer people are about because, like I said, Master wouldn’t approve of me taking you for walks about the castle.”
She unlocked the door and led me outside.
Instead of leading me toward the end of the corridor, she stopped outside a door to our left. It led into a dark, circular room with a winding staircase in one corner, leading to the upper and lower floors. We began descending it and stopped five levels below in another small dark room. She left the staircase and opened the door. It led into an enormous hall. The ceiling was perhaps a hundred feet high, and rich drapes hung from the walls down to the marble floors. There was a long table with about fifty high-backed chairs around it directly in the center of the hall, and at either end of the table were chairs of particular luxury. One looked like it was plated with silver, the other gold. The rest of the hall was empty, save for the decorations on the walls. It reminded me of some kind of fairytale court, of the castles of old.
“The royal court,” Bella muttered.
Royal was certainly the word I would have used to describe it.
I could have remained admiring that room for another hour, but Bella tugged on me and we continued. The corridor we exited into was wider this time, less like a corridor than a wide passageway. More red drapery lined the walls. Bella stopped outside another large oak door. She pushed it open to reveal a kitchen. “This backs onto the royal hall. It’s where all the royals’ meals are prepared.” She led me further into the room. I stared at all the sharp cutlery, butcher’s knives, and various other instruments that looked specifically designed for hacking into meat, and massive boiling pots, even larger than the one I’d seen in the kitchen on one of the floors above.
“So, ogres… they eat humans.”
Bella bit her lower lip, then nodded.
“And I’m to be fattened because I will also be eaten?” I continued.
I could have sworn that tears glistened in Bella’s eyes. She looked down at the floor and nodded.
“That’s why you’ve been ordered to feed me so well. And this place is the realm of the ogres.”
I recalled the books I’d seen in the kitchen upstairs. They seemed to have human butchery down to a science, the way humans had animals, I supposed. We were no different than animals here.
Bella caught my hand again and led me out of the kitchen. My mind was buzzing as we continued walking.
“Bella,” I croaked. “You need to help me escape.” I stopped walking, tugging on her to stop too.
She looked at me with sad eyes. “I can’t do that, Miss Rose.”
“Why not? You just helped me cover up three murders.
Why can’t you just let me go?”
“It’s not possible. We would both be caught before we ever reached the gate.”
I took in every detail I could as we walked for the next ten minutes, every passageway, every door, trying to get any clue as to how to escape. A good ten minutes had passed before she stopped outside another door.
“After this room, we head back, okay?”
I nodded, my mouth drying out.
She removed her chain of keys and opened up the door. I stepped inside. There was a double bed in the corner of the room with such a thin mattress it might as well have not been there. There were two grubby pillows and a patchwork blanket. The floors were made of stone, and there were no windows. The only light came from a couple of lanterns fixed to the walls.
I looked at Bella, raising an eyebrow. “This is your room?”
She nodded. “Mine and my husband’s.”
“You married again?”
She shook her head violently, staring at me as though I was insane. Then she led me over to the edge of the bed and pointed upward.
I felt like screaming and vomiting at the same time. I gasped, clasping a hand over my mouth. Strung to the high ceiling of her four-poster bed with thick rope was the corpse of a male ogre.
“My husband,” Bella muttered.
“What the—” I couldn’t keep myself from swearing.
The body was pale, its eerie eyes bulging wide open and staring downward. It was naked but for a loin cloth wrapped around the waist. It was the most vile sight I’d ever seen in my life, but I was surprised that there was no odor coming from it. I could only assume it had undergone some drastic preservative treatment to keep it from rotting.
“It’s what all of us widows do here.” She shrugged, looking up at the corpse of the atrocity that was her husband as though the scene was the most normal in the world. “Our husbands stay with us after death.”
I breathed out sharply, looking down at the floor. I felt like I needed to scrub my eyeballs with sandpaper. I wasn’t sure that the sight I’d just laid eyes on would ever leave me. “You mean you sleep beneath this corpse every night?”
She nodded, looking surprised at my reaction. “Of course.”
“For how long?”
She frowned, wrinkling her nose. “What do you mean how long? It’s forever.”
“My God. It wasn’t like you even loved him. He was a vile bastard. Can’t you just take it down?”
Again, she looked at me as though I was the mad one for such a suggestion.
“He is my husband. I can’t put him aside. It’s the law.”
I walked toward the door, leaning my arm against it, still fighting the urge to puke. When I turned around to see Bella still standing in the same position, her eyes cast upward as she gazed calmly upon the corpse, all I could think was:
We need to get you out of this place, Bella. You don’t belong here either.
Chapter 9: Rose
I awoke the following morning to the smell of cooking. Rubbing my eyes, I walked into the kitchen to see Bella hovering over a pot. Stew again, by the looks of it. She looked down at me as I stood next to her. I glared up at her.
“You said I reminded you of your daughter… albeit less handsome. You don’t want me ending up dead too, do you?”
She turned around, conflict twisting her features. She shook her big head.
“Then why are you fattening me up? Why aren’t you doing anything to help me escape?”
She heaved a sigh. “I told you, Miss Rose. There’s nothing I can do. My job is just to look after you, feed you and protect you until Master is ready for you to move into his quarters.”
Move into his quarters. This was news to me. As much as I no longer allowed myself to be the victim, the thought sent chills running down my spine.
“Oh,” she grunted. “I’m telling you too much. You must promise me not to tell him what I’ve told you.”
“I won’t tell him. But you do realize that you’re taking part in my murder? Because I doubt Master would have as much interest in eating me if I was skinny. You’re preparing me for him.”
She averted her eyes back to the stew, and assumed a stoic expression. “I’m just doing my job. I don’t have a choice.”
I picked up a saucepan and slammed it down against the kitchen counter in frustration. Perhaps she was right that there was no way to get me out of here without being seen, but this wasn’t the answer I needed to hear.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
I ran back into the main room and stopped at the window, staring out once again at the bleak surroundings—the sharp mountains, the overcast sky.
“So what’s the plan then? How much longer until your Master will come for me?” When she hesitated, I said, “Just tell me. I already promised you that I won’t tell him you’ve told me anything.”
She still seemed wary, but I supposed she felt like talking to me was the least she could do for me.
“He gave me three days to start plumping you up, and he will check your progress on the third evening.”
“And if I refuse to eat?”
She looked at me with sad eyes. “He will come anyway. If you take too long to fatten up, he may still take you into his quarters and force-feed you there himself. Your last days will be better spent with me, Miss Rose.” She shuddered. “Trust me, you want to spend as little time with Master as possible.”
Last days. I hated the resignation in her voice, as though there was no part of her that had any flicker of hope that I might survive.
She poured out a bowl of stew and walked out of the kitchen, setting it down on my dressing table. “Eat,” she said.
No way am I fattening myself up for that monster. I’d rather starve to death first.
I shook my head. “If Anselm wants me to eat, you can tell him he’ll have to feed me himself.”
She looked at me reluctantly. I walked up to her and gripped the hem of her smock, staring her right in the eye. “Go on. Tell him I’m waiting here.”
She shook her head. “No, Miss Rose—”
“Go now.”
She stared at me disbelievingly, but stopped resisting. She removed her apron and hung it up on a hook on the wall, then extinguished the fire beneath the stew.
I didn’t take my eyes off her until she’d plodded across the floor and exited, locking the door behind her. As soon as she was out of sight, I hurried to the kitchen. I picked up the two sharpest knives I could find from the drawer and, after replacing their sheaths, fastened them beneath my dress to my inner thighs with two silk scarves I found in the closet. Then I sat on the bed, staring at the door.
I wasn’t going to wait here like a sitting duck for him to come to me. I was going to start calling the shots about my fate. Even if it did mean inviting an early death to my door.
Chapter 10: Rose
I was both relieved and frightened when the door finally opened an hour later. I held my breath as Anselm stepped into the room after Bella.
He wore a long dark cloak over his lean shoulders, and his hair was slicked back. His face was clean-shaven, revealing his sharp jawline, and his brown skin smelt of a faint musk. If I didn’t abhor him so much, I would have almost described him as handsome.
His orange eyes settled on me.
“Arabella tells me that you wanted to see me.”
I stood up as he closed the distance between us and stopped a foot away from me. I hovered my hand over the knife beneath my dress. I flinched as he slid his hands around my waist and placed a kiss on my neck. It was all I could do to stop myself from spitting in his face as he drew away, but I had to be careful. For now, if I was to have any chance of taking my revenge on this monster, I had to play a longer game.
“Yes,” I said, focusing on keeping my voice steady.
His eyes roamed my body. He turned on Bella. “How many meals per day has she been eating?”
“Three,” she lied.
“Increas
e it to four, and feed her more fats.” He turned back to me. “You’re privileged, girl. Not everyone who stays here receives the treatment you’re getting.”
I forced a smile. “I appreciate it,” I said, fixing my eyes on his. “But I was hoping that I might persuade you that I’m better off alive than a meal on your plate.”
He cocked his head to one side.
I cast a glance at Bella and nodded toward the door. “Leave,” I ordered her.
She looked at me as though I’d gone mad. She remained standing, waiting for Anselm’s reaction. When he nodded toward the door, she exited.
Curiosity sparked in the man’s eyes.
I stood up on the bed and, reaching for his hands, replaced them on my waist. “You said I’m a princess, did you not?”
A smile curved the corners of his lips, though it looked more like a sneer than a smile. “Indeed you are.”
“And you are a prince.”
He nodded.
“Then”—I leaned closer to his ear, dropping my voice to a whisper—“wouldn’t it make sense if we remained together?”
Smirking, he pushed me back on the bed. “I’m not sure you could earn your keep. Whatever it was you offered me would have to be very, very good to forgo the taste of your tender flesh.”
I shivered as he leaned over me, his eyes locked on mine. He lowered his head and pressed his face against the crook of my neck, taking a deep breath as he breathed in my scent.
His body was almost flat against mine now. As discreetly as I could, I raised a knee so that he wouldn’t flatten me completely and I moved one hand down toward my right thigh. With the other hand, I gripped his collar and pulled him closer.
“Perhaps you underestimate me,” I said softly.
“I rarely underestimate people.”
Parting my dress, I slipped the knife from its sheath and brought it slamming upward. He choked, his eyes growing wide as he stared at me, dumbstruck.