Legends of Ash and Dust by Cowan Kate

Author:Cowan, Kate
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

By the end of the first week after waking, I woke to a parade of chambermaids being led into my room. They wrapped me in a silk robe and ushered me into the next room, where a deep, pot-shaped bathtub awaited. They were led by a woman called Vai, my personal ladies’ maid. She was older than me, short and plump, with olive skin and dark hair greying at the temples. I gave the train of women behind her a curious look—were they staying? I’d never bathed with someone else in the room. One of them held out her hand to take the silk robe away from me.

With a glare and a pained sigh, I ground my teeth and warily removed it. Shoulders tense, I tried ignoring the small gasps and polite aversions of the maids’ eyes as they noticed the scars on my back, but it was no use. I shook my head and stepped into the water, letting it burn into my skin.

“Be kind,” I heard Vai say quietly to the girls, clearly in some kind of position of authority. “She’s been through more than you know.”

Vai left to find me something to wear, and the women set to work. They soaped my hair, scrubbed my skin, and worked the dirt out of my fingernails. One tried scrubbing away my tattoo until I shot her a dirty look and snatched my hand away. All the while, they talked about me in Dothorian as if I did not understand:

“I heard she lived unattended with men all her life.”

“She’s built like an ox. What man would look at her?”

“Do you think she’s like an animal? She’s filthy.”

“Look at her back.”

“I heard she uses black magic. How else did she survive the poison?”

“She’s clearly a liar. The Shae, taking in a woman? Even my little brother wouldn’t believe that.”

“Your bother has little imagination, I’m afraid,” I snapped in Dothorian, shooting the final girl a glare. The women went still, shocked into silence. After that, they never spoke a word.

When they finally left me, I sat on the edge of my bed, looking down at my red-scrubbed hands. The women had buffed my nails and scrubbed away the callouses with pumas stones, leaving my hands raw and pink. All that work conditioning my hands, strengthening my skin… Gone. Another remnant of the Shae, gone.

As I examined my hands, my fingers began to shake. I was still weak, my whole body exhausted from the bathing.

“How are we feeling?”

Vai came bustling into my room, wheeling a cart full of folded clothing. She was a kind woman, gently washing my skin from bed before I was strong enough to walk, feeding me soup and soft noodles so I could regain my strength. The other maids I’d met had been as brutal and uncaring as the women from the bath.

“Sore,” I muttered.

“No, m’Lady. After those horrendous maids. How are you feeling?”

I sighed, running a hand down my face. “Why do they assume I’m a liar?”

“Nobody believes

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