Chapter 3: Sena - Fated to the Night King

Glory sat in the only chair I had and closed her eyes. We'd both been granted leave to shower and change our clothes, which was a blessing because I wouldn't have been able to breathe if the stench had made it into my home. There's some stink you can never erase once it's there.

The books we'd salvaged were in stacks on the floor. Organized as much as we could. A few children's books were on the bottom, their vibrant prints something I knew would make our little ones smile.

"This was a good haul." Glory traced the line of printing on the coarse paper. Nothing fancy, these books. But they were luxuries to us. And tools.

So many of the Stricken couldn't read. We weren't included in the schooling offered to those who could shift, consigned to serve and do as we were told.

Nothing more. And absolutely nothing less.

Glory had been quietly changing that, and I enabled her as much as I could. We had an end goal we worked toward together, in the shadows, and until we could get there, we would prepare those who relied on us as much as we were able.

Before I was hit with the Silver Sickness, before the pain of it made me delirious, I had loved books. The stories told. The worlds existing on the page and in my mind.

My mother's voice as she read to me each night, imprinting images of lives outside my own.

Those were times I couldn't afford to return to.

The salvaged books were sorted, distributed amongst our own, and Glory led quiet lessons in her quarters when she could. It wasn't forbidden, necessarily. Frowned upon, yes.

There was no point in educating the Stricken, after all. We were never going to be more than what we already were.

An idea I didn't agree with.

"Danil will like this one." Glory held out a picture book, and I took it carefully. The cover looked battered, as if it would flake away into dust if mishandled, but when I opened it, the scenes instead were beautiful. Bright colors marked out the rolling hills, shady trees and blue streams. Animals of all kinds filled the pages. And Danil loved animals in a way that bordered on obsession.

"I'll pass it along," I said, giving her a small smile and tip of my chin. Thanks wasn't something we expressed often. The expectation that we should be grateful for our station meant we said it all too often to those who believed we were beneath them. But we still showed it to one another in our own way. Keeping it unsaid when we could, felt like a small victory.

She pushed herself to her feet, moving slowly and I could tell her body pained her. I offered her my hand, and it was a measure of how much she hurt that she took my gesture of support without a dismissive wave.

"You're a good girl, Sena. Kind to your people." She leaned her weight against the wall, giving me a long look, and then pressed something into my palm. "Keep your head up among them when they Call."

My stomach twisted. Her comment wasn't hurtful or judgmental. Goddess knew, all of us were expected to answer when anything was requested of us. It just seemed the Call came for me more often than not lately.

"Get some sleep, old woman," I said and opened the door for her. "I've got work that needs doing."

She hummed under her breath, and I watched her walk away, down the dark corridors of this place we all called home. Earthen floors, dirt walls. Above us, our betters had shining wood planks and doors that shut without requiring force. Smokeless lanterns lit their halls and rooms, soft light to guide them through even though their night vision was superior to ours. A division that showed us our true worth.

It didn't bear thinking on, so I picked up the books, loaded them in a fabric bag Glory had made for me from scraps, and carried on with the night. There was always work that could be done. I examined the object she'd passed to me. A knife, small and easily concealed. It wasn't silver, but it was sharp. It would do.

Best to be getting to it.