#theclockworkheir

Malon grimaced as she raked out the stalls, her eyes continuously flicking over to the pair of guards that stood at the entrance to the stables. Their presence irritated the stable girl, whom was still all nerves since her goings-on with the felon named Jasdaë. What was worse is that they really gave no excuse for being there, just “orders”. She grumbled under her breath something vague about where they could stow their orders and heaved a bucket of water into the stall, chucking it viciously to splash the muck.

There was no way to tell if anyone had overheard her conversation with Jasdaë, something that she hadn’t thought hard on until she’d left the dungeons with several pairs of eyes on her. She’d tried to convince herself that they were merely observing her disheveled and blushed appearance. Jasdaë had offered—

The bucket fell from her hands causing Malon to swear under her breath as she dove to scoop it up again, her face flushed a bright red.