Lucy ran her finger tips over the dark brown stained wood paneling. Gisele was farther along the corridor, leaning around a corner, giving her a thumbs up. Lucy groped around the wall, pushed against molding, and knocked on the stone beneath that. Lucy stomped her foot on the floor with a rising groan and retrieved her phone from her satchel. She pulled up the floorplan Jezebel had given her. Gisele gave her an exaggerated shrug with a furrowed brow, her mouth slightly open and her neck pushed forward. Lucy put her phone away and felt around again, it was supposed to be here. A piece of molding rotated downwards, sliding to the right, and a section of wall freed itself swinging freely on perfectly balanced hinges. A cold draft escaped. Lucy didn’t look inside before shutting the hidden door and securing it; she skipped over to Gisele with a wide grin; her bow nearly came undone in the process.

“I found it, I found it we can fucking go now,” she said.

“Took you long enough, are you going to be able to find this again tonight?” Gisele asked.

“Sure, yeah I think so. Stop worrying! I’ve got this, Lucy’s got this.”

“Uhuh, this a tonight thing?” Gisesle asked as they started off for the elevator.

“I don’t know actually, that’s a Jezebel thing okay. Weird that’s just sitting over there like that. Shit maybe she won’t even send me in there, like, maybe she doesn’t want me to. Sometimes she’s like that yeah? I’m kept in the dark on at least half of these things It's so dumb. Why even have me find this shit in the first place.”

“Oh, I uh, I guess you’re right. I’m in the dark all the time though, at least you get half.”

“Actually it’s probably better that you are, trust me, it’s like, I wish I knew about that stupid arm thing and that I didn’t get caught, shit. That doesn’t still hurt does it?”

Lucy retrieved her phone from her satchel; she’d switched it to silent before looking for the door. She thumbed through the notifications, a few from Fae and one from Jezebel. Lucy cracked a smile.

“Girlfriend send you something good?”

Gisele wore a toothy grin, eyes open wide and brows pointed down.

“Oh shut up, like you’re not wrong but, shut up. Boss too though. It’s not like I’m just completely wasting time okay?”

“Ah, another secret meeting I’m not invited to?”

Lucy thumbed through Jezebel’s message. She read as little of it as she could.

“Yep, great there goes both our evenings, yeah. See you at light’s out, hopefully?”

“Yeah I’m not waiting up,” Gisele laughed, “you’re right, those meetings suck.”

Lucy became lost in her phone screen as she exchanged flirty messages with Fae, but Lucy wasn’t smiling; she resented not being able to tell Fae about her current situation. Lucy didn’t mind keeping secrets from the others, but keeping things from Fae boiled her blood, even if it was for both their sakes. As far as Lucy knew, the other maids thought Lucy and Gisele were still being jointly punished over Lucy’s misadventure earlier that month. They wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Sometimes, when Jezebel didn’t have anything pressing for them to do, they would end up stuck with a task most often reserved for punishment. Lucy imagined that would just be every day if she hadn’t wound up accidentally being useful to Jezebel.

Lucy recalled when Jezebel examined her access logs. She looked more excited than surprised or angry, and it didn’t take long for her to work out that Lucy could see in the dark. Jezebel was ancient, she knew more than her fair share of demons, and Lucy got her confirmation that night; her ability was rare, but it wasn’t unheard of. That’s when Jezebel threatened to go to Foras about Lucy’s inexplicable door access and what she was doing with it. That was the first time Lucy had ever seen Jezebel laugh and she wished she could forget. It was disconcerting, it made her skin crawl, and it left no question that she was more a prisoner now than ever–a plaything on a leash.

It was a very long leash, which was its own form of punishment. After Jezebel finished enumerating the ways that Lucy was going to be doing her dirty work, she broke her bond with Gisele. Gisele wasn’t informed. Jezebel needed Lucy active after light’s out, unrestricted. Breaking their bond meant that Lucy could move about with relative impunity, and that Jezebel could cover down for almost anywhere she was discovered. Lucy should have been more free to check on Fae than she could have dreamed, but would be unable to do so without tipping her hand. It ate at her. When Fae would text her about when they could meet next, Lucy pretended once a week was pushing it.

Lucy nearly ran into her own door before she was aware of her surroundings again. She twirled as she jumped, rotating so she hit the bed back first. She was looking at her phone the whole way. The mattress squeaked as she landed. Lucy’s messages to Fae were getting more flirtatious, and they were making plentiful use of the remote control functions on her vibrator. They’d agreed it would be Lucy’s turn soon, her appetite was growing. Fae played it off as the succubus changes taking root, and was surprised to hear Lucy’s skin was still as pale as ever. Lucy provided proof with a selfie Fae demanded. Regardless of the reason, Lucy was feeling desperate. She’d been masturbating nightly for a week at this point, and she was getting risky with it.

It started safe enough, she was getting back to her dorm late at night when Gisele was sound asleep. However, for the last two days she’d do it while sneaking around after hours. Last night she used the large kitchen between her and Fae. Presently, just her brief flirting with Fae was making her wet. There was a time she’d consider that an inconvenience, but Lucy could only think about riding the tension out into the evening. The frustration was starting to become its own pleasurable experience, and Lucy enjoyed when Fae would complain about being too riled up after they talked.

“Aren’t you supposed to be seeing Jezebel?”

Lucy jumped, nearly dropping her phone on her lap.

“Y–yeah. I was just heading out.”

Lucy collected herself, telling Fae she had to go, and soon found herself in Jezebel’s office. Like so many briefings before it, there was little eye contact between them and nothing you could really call a conversation. Lucy wondered why this couldn’t have waited until the morning, when they normally met. Nothing seemed particularly urgent or special about this one. Jezebel would find somewhere that didn’t make sense on the blueprints, and Lucy would check it out. Sure, most of these trips were a bust, but she’d found a few interesting secret passages here and there. For the most part though, she’d find what appeared to be forgotten disused broom closets. Lucy thought maybe they’d been put there to get access to cleaning supplies without messing up the lines of a grand hall or lavishly decorated room with an extra door. Indeed, that’s where she’d found most of them. Finding something else didn’t warrant this in her mind, it could have been a text or email.

“Lucy, I'd like you to take a few days off,” Jezebel said. She didn’t regard Lucy or change her flat tone in the slightest.

“So like, you want me to just sit in my room for a few days–fantastic.”

“No, but don’t do anything that would let your partner know you’re not bonded. Don’t do anything untoward, you can handle that can’t you? And mind your tone.”

“Y–yeah I can handle that.”

“Oh, stay away from that place you just found, that’s not your concern.”

Jezebel excused her. Lucy nodded and left the office without a moment’s hesitation; she had been waiting for the reason she was being given such a generous break. It seemed clear to Lucy that Jezebel wanted to explore what she found on her own again, but Lucy still didn’t understand the urgency. Lucy wondered if she’d found whatever it was Jezebel was so desperate to locate.

“Back to regular ass maid service for me I guess,” Lucy muttered to herself.

Lucy didn’t go back to her room until lights out, and she was flirting with Fae any time that Fae was available. Gisele heaved a sigh when she saw Lucy come in. Her face brightened.

“For a minute there I thought you might have vanished on me again, long meeting?”

“No not really, I was just wandering around for a bit after, got a workout in, nothing to worry about, sorry I made you worry I didn’t mean to.”

“A workout? Did you get into trouble?”

“Am I really that easy to read? Shit. Well I mean, I guess I didn’t get so much in trouble as I don’t know what I’m going to be doing now. Oh, right, fuck, you don’t know. I haven’t told you. Stupid Lucy. We’ve got the next coup–yeah the rest of the week off actually.”

“Oh no again?”

“Oh, right. No. We can leave the room this time. Sorry.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Me either, I think we might be done with being Jezebel’s gophers. So~ looking forward to regular maid chores.”

“Yeah, can’t say I’m a fan,” Gisele wiggled her body, adjusting her position a few times in as many seconds, “what makes you think we’re going back to that?”

Lucy shrugged, “call it a hunch, probably all I can say about it anyway right? It is what it is.”

Lucy had every intention of falling asleep at a normal hour that night, but her thoughts weren’t cooperating and her mind wouldn’t shut up. She fought the urge to twist and turn. Lucy had grown accustomed to being still, even if she was uncomfortable, until Gisele was sound asleep. She didn’t know if it was just habit or real curiosity spurning her to stay awake, but she knew what she wanted to do about it. Like many other nights, she waited for Gisele to fall into the sounds of sleep Lucy had come to know very well. The peculiar way her breathing gave into a slight whistle, the rhythm of it. Gisele was a heavy tosser too, if she was simply trying to keep quiet she gave herself away. It was her restlessness. The moment she was actually asleep the tossing and turning began. Sometimes she’d mutter things under her breath, nonsensical things you could only say in a dream. Gisele had poor sleep lately, waking up groggy and cranky. Lucy couldn’t help but think she was responsible. Lucy slid out of her bed, it was time to go.

Lucy considered her route; she didn’t go this way often and she checked her phone frequently. Even in areas of the palace she was more familiar with, she tended to rely on her phone to the point that she still didn’t know her way around. As she got further along she started thinking more about Fae and why she was heading anywhere that wasn’t Fae’s bedroom. At least tonight there weren’t any tricky routes through the kitchen. Her target was on the first floor, which Lucy thought was laid out the most sensically. It was where guests would be received and entertained after all. There didn’t seem to be anything resembling night watch down here. That seemed to be reserved for staff heavy areas. Getting to the hidden door wasn’t an issue, but it took her several minutes of fumbling to find the latch again. Lucy held her breath as the door swung open.

No light came from beyond the door, which allayed her first worry. As she shut the disguised bit of wall behind her she held out hope there wasn’t anyone within earshot of it, and that there was another way in or out of this place. Lucy felt hungry cold air nipping her feet. There was a staircase going deeper into the palace. To her left she saw something that looked something like an old service elevator. It wasn’t using any of the electronics she was accustomed to seeing for access. There was a lock on the collapsible door to the elevator car, and Lucy recognized the keyhole as similar to the kind Fae had a key for. Lucy had found some passages before this one, but usually they were some sort of quick shortcut or had some sort of obvious practical use, something that you could understand just being forgotten about. Lucy took the staircase down as she lacked a key to try the elevator. She was trying to imagine what was directly above and below her, and cursed herself for relying on the phone map so much. As she descended the narrow, center-columned spiral staircase, the air became colder, hungrier, and it made her skin prickle all over. Condensation was freezing into thin flakes about her. Lucy stopped being able to think about anything other than how cold she was. Whatever kept the heating out of this place, it was the only reminder she’d ever had that she was in the 9th circle since being here. By the time the staircase ended, Lucy figured she was in the third level basement at minimum, but it was hard to tell. There were no clear flights on a staircase like this. Directly in front of Lucy stood a solid metal door, and this did have an electronic locking mechanism on it.

Lucy instinctively reached for her phone and presented it. The pad flashed the familiar green she’d become so used to seeing, but the following noise was new to her. The sounds of several chained relays being triggered, followed by an intensely deep thud that shook the stone floor beneath her, was different than anything she’d encountered so far. As the door swung open it became clear why. The wall was several feet thick, and so was the door. It narrowed in a trapezoidal shape, and she could see 4 bolts recessed into the jamb, each twice the thickness of her arm. A cloud of icy white air poured from the door from the moment it cracked open, and Lucy began losing feeling in her toes. A dull blue light came from beyond the threshold and as Lucy stepped across it she realized she was on bare ice. 

This was a mistake, this was a fucking mistake, shit, she thought.

That’s when she noticed the figures next to her. Lucy hopped away with a start, and choked back a squeal. This figure was still, and encased in ice. It was a woman, a demoness, naked and frozen, as was the look of terror on her face. Lucy realized there were more of them; they were everywhere, all demonesses and all undressed, just like her.

“Holy shit these are maids, these are all fucking maids, what the fuck.”

Just as Lucy was thinking of leaving her eyes caught something else. Lucy took a step towards another figure trapped in ice. She noticed her foot had a hard time peeling off the floor, she’d been standing still too long. The figure before her wasn’t completely encased, but the only things not covered were her fingertips, the very end of her tail, and the bottom half of the face–though they were all frosted. These were all features she recognized.

“Morgen? Oh fuck, shit who did this to you!?”

Lucy nearly fell backwards when Morgen’s mouth started to move. Lucy wasn’t expecting a reply from Morgen’s frozen body. She was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. There wasn’t enough movement to read her lips either. Lucy’s curiosity fled her body, and she in turn fled the room. She realized she couldn’t feel her feet and looked down at herself. She hadn’t noticed the frost embracing her body. She shut the massive steel door behind her on her way out. Lucy tried to flee up the stairs, but from the first step her numb legs caused her to trip and stumble. She landed on a step corner knee first. She winced with a yelp. Lucy wished she had skipped her workout, her legs were tired before she got here. She knew she’d be bruised by morning.

Lucy was regretting leaving her room, a sleepless night would have been preferable to this. Her pounding heart felt like it was trying to escape her chest. Lucy drug herself up the next couple steps with her arms–at least she could feel them. Fear carried her up the next flight, but she was losing feeling in her thighs now. Lucy struggled to bring herself up to a crawl. Her heavy breath fogged in front of her and although the parts of herself she could feel were frigid, she’d never known her lungs to be more on fire than they were right now. Her ribs were stung by a piercing pain when she had to inhale, she was cramping up. She became still on the staircase and struggled to breathe. Her head raced with thoughts of being caught, of being shoved back into that awful room, freezing next to Morgen. She waited for the cramping to subside and resumed her long journey upwards. Eventually she pulled herself up the last flight of stairs, and to the small room just beyond the hidden door. Lucy could hardly feel her arms now, but was hopeful that would start getting better soon.

Lucy looked up at the hidden door from her position on all fours. If she left the room now, chilled as it was, there’d be no way for her to leave quietly, or run should she need to. Lucy put her back to the door, the farthest she could get away from the source of cold air to wait out her numbness. She reached into her satchel and pulled out her phone. She opened her messages and stared at her conversation with Fae.

“If I get caught…”

Lucy started to tap out a long message, but deleted it. Lucy was too tired and cold to make a complete sentence. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as tightly as she could. She elected to record a voice message instead. Her breathing was still quickened and she wouldn’t be catching it any time soon. A chime let her know it was time to speak.

“I love you.”

Lucy figured if she had regrets, she could have them in the morning. As she tried to catch her breath and as feeling slowly began to return to her limbs, Lucy could only think about how she and Fae came to be lovers. Lucy dreaded the reply. Lucy didn’t doubt that something was there, she didn’t doubt that Fae had strong feelings for her, but she was unsure Fae was ready to hear those specific words, much less return them. Lucy felt sick to her stomach. As far as she knew, Morgen had vanished without a trace, without a word to anyone. Lucy wasn’t going to let that happen to her. A whirring noise caught her ear. The service elevator began to rise. Lucy scrambled to her feet and bolted out the door. She tripped on her way out and fell to the floor with a thud, the door swung round and smacked the wall. The noise was loud enough that she counted three echoes. If there was a single soul on the first floor, they heard it. Lucy clambered across the floor, slamming the door shut with her shoulder before rising to her feet. She sprinted away with no regard to the direction. Her feet were now awake enough to sting. Lucy heard doors opening nearby, doors that led to her location.

Lucy ran in the other direction, away from the noises, but she realized that was taking her back towards that awful place, back to where the elevator was surely fetching someone. The noise of the doors was between her and the stairwell. Lucy looked left and right trying to get her bearings. She wasn’t on the first floor very much, and didn’t know many hiding places to wait this out. Suddenly she took off to her left, there was a place she remembered she could go. The second floor was familiar to her, and she knew the restrooms shared plumbing, there should be one near here, just beneath the one on the second floor. Lucy found it in short order and ducked inside, trying her best to keep the door from making any noise. Lucy passed a few urinals on her way to the furthest stall and shut herself inside as quietly as she could. 

Great, she thought to herself, I found the fucking men’s room.

Lucy noticed the lights had popped on. She forgot they were motion activated. The light seeping out under the door would be obvious to anyone. She knew this wasn’t going to work. A dark restroom might not be searched but a brightly lit one? They’d comb every stall. Lucy darted back out of the restroom, at least she’d already be moving if someone saw her. If she just waited there they’d have her cornered for sure. She looked right as soon as she could, no one there, not yet, but she could hear them coming. She turned to the left. There was a dead end in just a few yards.She was already feeling sick to her stomach from texting Fae, now she thought she might vomit. Lucy turned around, opened the bathroom door, and then slammed it shut as hard as she could. She went down the hall and shrank into the furthest corner as small as she could. She was shivering.

Two figures rounded the corner into the corridor; one was a servant, the other a maid. That struck Lucy as odd on its own, she had always been told that contact between maids and servants was to be kept to a strict minimum. The maid was clearly from the night watch. She had a lantern that flickered with a dull orange light.

“What the fuck was that?” she said to the servant.

“I believe that escapes us both at the moment, hence being down here.”

Yeah, that guy was definitely taught by Foras, Lucy thought.

“Some fellows with proper flashlights should be here soon,” he continued.

“Don’t think we’ll have to wait,” the maid pointed towards the restroom, “light’s on.”

“Right, you stay here, there’s a chance they could bolt from the door. Be ready to stop them should it come to that.”

The servant continued into the restroom, and a narrow beam of light entered the hall as he opened the door. Lucy had hoped they’d go in together, but the maid simply stood there with her lantern watching the door. Lucy rose to her feet slowly. They hurt even worse now, but she had to do her best to ignore it. Lucy weighed her options, she recognized this maid, she was in Lucy’s dorm. She worked the late shift and Lucy would only see her when sneaking out of the dorm. If she was seen this demoness would probably recognize her, but being in Lucy’s dorm meant she also answered to Jezebel directly, that was something in her favor.

“Who would even be out this late? Boy are they in trouble,” the maid looked at the men’s room placard, “typical.”

Lucy considered she’d have to make a break, seen or not; at least the servant wouldn’t see her. The maid fidgeted and looked around idly as she waited. Lucy approached the edge of the light cautiously. The maid looked behind herself, seemingly out of boredom. Lucy couldn’t believe her luck, she snuck around to the maid’s backside and waited for her to turn back around. Lucy held her breath. Sure enough, the maid turned, and in the direction Lucy needed her to. Lucy followed the maids movements as she pivoted back, and quietly walked away. After she rounded the corner she broke into a run, straight for the stairwell. She had gotten away.

Lucy fell down in her bed when she finally made it back, and that’s when it hit her. The pain seemed to come from deep inside, and from her feet the worst. The sensation was new to her, just like the sensation of heat in the boiler room. Extreme temperatures weren’t supposed to bother her, it wasn't supposed to bother any demon. It was hot in the boiler room, she remembered the sweat glistening off the task master's body, and on Fae. Lucy remembered the looks of confusion they shared with each other. Now the cold was doing something strange to her. She’d heard this talked about before, in rare asides of other conversations over the years. Frostbite? She thought that’s what it was called. She vaguely knew the cold in the ninth circle could get to her, but Lucy never thought she’d find out first hand. Lucy made a decision, and she left to wake up Jezebel, consequences be damned.

She knocked on the door loudly, quickly, showing no manners or grace, and the pangs of fear and regret coursed through her. The door swung open quickly, and Jezebel loomed and said nothing. Jezebel’s silence made Lucy’s lip quiver and she didn’t resist being pulled inside. The door slammed behind her.

“Explain yourself, immediately!” Jezebel demanded.

Lucy reached for a phrase that she thought would give Jezebel the most pause.

“I–I found Morgen.”

The lights came on, Jezebel’s eyes were wide and her lips made a straight line. She snatched Lucy’s satchel away from her, dug for her phone and ran back to her desk.

“You have frostbite Lucy, you’ll need looking after. You were on the frozen lake weren’t you?” 

Jezebel found a paper clip and frantically popped Lucy’s SIM out. Lucy stayed silent and anxiously awaited Jezebel’s next response. Lucy wished she’d just be yelled at already; seeing Jezebel visibly worried like this filled her with dread.

“Is that what that was?”

“It is incomprehensible what you don’t know about this place. Describe it to me.”

Lucy explained the bare ice floors, the trapped maids, the strange sensation of cold and nearly losing her ability to move.

“Yes, that was it. Lucy, keep your phone on you, but this SIM stays with me. I’m returning you to normal maid duty the moment you are well. Under no circumstances do you use your phone or try to badge anywhere, do you understand? Rely on your partner, and never sneak out again. Do you understand, am I clear?”

Lucy only nodded.

“Swear it.”

“I–I swear it Jezebel.”

Lucy wanted to refuse, but Jezebel sounded alarmed and genuine to her. Refusing Jezebel wasn’t typically a smart move anyway. Whatever her reasoning, she got the feeling Jezebel was trying to protect her.

“I’ve got to wake the nurses, stay here.”

Lucy felt a stinging sensation from her cheek. Her ears felt like they were filled with mud, slowly draining, allowing sound to gradually fill in. Lucy opened her eyes, and the nurse stopped slapping her face. The next thing she noticed was the warmth, then the weight of water on her body. The blob of blurry white coalesced into a view of the ceiling. She was in the wash hall. She looked around hurriedly and tried to sit up just as quickly, but the nurses held her down.

“Slow movements only,” the nurse exhaled sharply through her nose, “relax.”

“The nurses and I are your only company Lucy,” Jezebel said.

“What happened?” Lucy asked.

Jezebel crossed her arms over her chest. Her head was level, her eyes focused on something beyond the far wall. She shifted her weight from one heel to the other.

“I’m afraid you came down with a bit of hypothermia, not to mention the frostbite in your lower extremities. Focus on recovery for now.”

Jezebel turned her head down to look Lucy directly in the eyes. Her brows and ears rose, and her voice lowered.

“It would be disappointing if I weren’t able to conduct a full inquiry of the evening’s events, would it Ms. Pyre?”

Lucy’s words passed slowly over her lips, “yes ma’am.”

Jezebel’s arms uncrossed, falling to rest on her hips. The nurses gently moved Lucy’s legs, and they had to separate each of her pinky toes from the adjoining digit. They both stood after a moment.

“What she needs now is time Ma’am. Are we dismissed?”

“Return in a half an hour, you are dismissed.”

Jezebel’s eyes tracked the nurses until they left the wash hall and she heard the electronic locks engage.

“Well haven’t you gotten yourself into a mess Ms. Pyre. We have a few things to discuss, woman to woman, and I’d like to keep you talking. The nurses say letting you fall asleep could be trouble.”

Lucy nodded, her chin touching the warm surface of the bath water.

“Well let’s drop the formalities.”

Jezebel produced a thin long pipe and affixed a cigarette to it, which seemed to light on its own. Lucy didn’t even know she smoked. Jezebel took a long drag and the smoke she exhaled took the form of a full moon partially covered by clouds, luminance and all. The left corner of Jezebel’s lip flicked upward for a moment that could be missed if you blinked.

“You went behind my back and you’re going to tell me why. You can risk not being forthcoming, or lying, but if you do I might just turn you over to Foras myself.”

“Turn me over?”

Jezebel took another drag and sighed.

“You first, explain it.”

“I wanted to see what you were looking for, like, I thought you were going to send me to the boiler room again or worse when you caught me out that one time. But you didn’t and like, I wanted to know.”

“Yes you’ve seemed to suddenly find your initiative after starting that love affair with Fae. You’ve taken a lot of risks for your midnight rendezvous with her.”

Lucy winced.

“I can’t imagine you thought that was some sort of secret, particularly from me. You know, Morgen once told me she heard Fae quite earnestly expressing a desire to break out of here before her term was up, she wouldn’t have happened to rope you into that would she?”

“I–yeah, we were gonna, fuck!”

“Calm down Lucy I’m not talking to you as your headmistress right now, I thought I mentioned that. You need to relax. Besides, it seems like you two fucked quite regularly.”

Lucy heard Jezebel giggle and wondered just how cold she had gotten, and whether or not she was hearing things.

“I–yeah we did.”

“Well you won’t be doing that now will you,” Jezebel exhaled some more smoke, though it seemed she was done doing tricks, “Morgen managed to copy Foras’ SIM, she must have put it in your phone for some reason. Foras is the one who put Morgen on ice.”

“There were a lot of maids in there, it wasn’t just Morgen.”

“Yeah he’s a bit of a collector, there’s nothing I can do really, the big man doesn’t exactly care about the fate of a few maids so long as things run smoothly here. I’d have to barter something and to be frank, you all make easy prey for him.”

“Oh fuck, I was gonna, we were gonna. Oh no. What the fuck.”

“You were gonna what?”

“Fae and I we uh, well the plan was to kinda, you know seduce Foras and maybe–Fae’s a succubus and apparently since we um, yeah so apparently I’m one now too? So we were gonna try and well–”

“You were gonna fuck him to enthrall him and get dismissed early.”

“Yeah, wait! Has someone tried that before? It’s like you expected me to say that or you’ve heard it before.”

“Pffft, yeah it was me. I tried that. He’s a lousy fuck by the way. Doesn’t work on him though. Shame, he owns a lot of fun things. He would have made a valuable asset to me.”

Jezebel cracked a wide toothy smile.

“God I’m such a fuckin’ idiot.”

“Yeah you always have been. Don’t take it too hard, most of you are. Look I knew Morgen had probably ended up there. I can’t just go waltzing in to get her either. Foras is in charge of that place. There’s a reason I keep him and his servants out of mine, he’d have no issues just collecting whoever he wanted otherwise. What I’m looking for is something of his I can steal to trade for her back. She was one of the best.

I’m going to need cooperation from you, that’s why we’re talking like this. I’d be willing to scratch your back if you scratch mine. I can dismiss a maid any time I wish, I just don’t have a reason to and I have my pride. It’s clear we need to be on the same page going forward. You’re particularly gifted at not getting caught. When you don’t do something colossally stupid that is. I think I can stop you from doing that if you think we’re on the same team.

After today I think Foras is going to be searching his own SIMs records and he’s going to figure out the same things I did when I checked your logs. He can’t outright march in here and grab you over it, but you’d be at risk with your phone tracking you everywhere.”

“Okay so like, what do I do? I mean, yes, absolutely yes if that’s the deal, if I get what I want if you get what you want, yes I’ll do whatever. I’ll do what-fucking-ever. But what am I gonna do without my fucking phone? Didn’t you say I’d be on regular maid duty for now?”

“For now, while I figure out how to get over that access hurdle. I need your eyes Lucy, it’s not even remotely fair to the night watch that you can just see in the dark. It could be another hundred years before I get another one.

Anyway, I think we’re out of time. Knowing you’re in is enough for now. We’ll talk later. Formally.”