Seven Kings to curse them all

The Servants Quarters

The servants in Whitestone were responsible for the castles day to day running. Without them the floors would be covered in dirt, the food unprepared, gardens feral and chamberpots festering.  

Aurelia Cobbles had been employed in the palace since she was twelve. First as a kitchen maid, scrubbing pots and cleaning up the entrails that the butchers left on the floor. The kitchens were always hot, their stone walls sweating even in the summer. They were on the furthest edge of Whitestone island, close to the Gatehouse and facing the city. Aurelia hated working in the kitchen, looking at all the food she could not eat and washing up after the mess that came back. The worst was when she would be washing plates and touch something sticky or congealed floating in the dirty water. All the work only to eat gruel for breakfast and fried kidney for dinner. But Aurelia was blessed with the rare ability to live as she knew she would the rest of her life and not dream of one day being whisked away from all her troubles. Instead, she befriended Mrs Phillips who ran the household management of Whitestone and soon she found herself working her way up to being a chamber maid. It was still hard work that left her fingers bloody from sewing and scrubbing dresses, but it paid her more than food and board. $8 a fortnight. An impressive salary for someone who had grown up in Tourmaline (the city that surrounded the castle) to a single mother and two other siblings. 

Aurelia filled the washing pot with the tap outside the kitchens and walked it back up the the servants washroom. The water was taken from the ocean and stifling cold despite the weather firmly emerging into spring. She cupped the water and scrubbed her face, armpits, arms and legs. The water would fall off her body and onto the stone floor, making it slippery as she tried to stand on one leg at a time to get the best clean. Finally she plunged her head in the bucket and began to run her fingers through her hair, desperate to get out all the weeks grime. She threw her head back out of breathe. Flora had been assigned to a new set of rooms. The princesses suite of rooms. And she knew she had to get it right, there was a $2 pay rise and a higher ranking at stake. Another couple of servants had come in to bathe as well. She checked the faded blurry communal mirror and borrowed one the girls combs to brush out her hair. 

Cecily had been shown her rooms as soon as she arrived back at the castle. Now that she was officially initiated and invited the court she was allowed to take up rooms in the castle. Being the princess in title, she would be staying the princesses suite on the top floor of the royal wing. The stairs to her room were endless and she could see why the King and Queen had theirs positioned on the second floor. But it was redeemed by the extravagance and beauty that waited for her. 

"Fleur I'm already exhausted." Cecily had complained on the final stretch of stairs. 

"Only a few more steps your highness." Aurelia assured her. 

"Don't complain Cecily, the Queen might hear you and think you were a spoilt brat." Fleur was bringing up the rear of the trio. 

A small landing ended their climb. They were at the top of the building, the ceiling beams had a closeness about them although still being high enough that they could not be touched. Skinny windows had let in light up the curved stairwells and a few small weeds seemed to be growing on the ledge of the top one on her level. Nobody had occupied these rooms for a while. 

"You have four rooms my lady" Aurelia opened the first door and revealed the private sitting room. She walked the girls through the rooms, showing them the ins and outs. 

The suite had four rooms with eastern facing windows that looked out towards the ocean and down over the private royal flower garden. The first room was the sitting room, a place where invited guests could come for her audience. All the rooms had mustard yellow wallpaper hand painted with floral designs and dark timber finishes. It had be done in the taste of a younger princess, one that had lived there before the Evanoffs. The sitting room had three elegant Tourmaline style lounges with high curved wooden backs and upholstered with cream fabric. They sat in a U shape with a small table in the middle to place drinks.