“Good work, Father.” Aria said, waving.

  “I’ll be back late at night, so don’t wait up for me.” Ungern put his hat on his head and had Madame Doroteya help him put on his coat.

  “Can you at least tell me where you’re going?”

  “No, Aria.” He approached her while taking the cane that was hanging on the wall, “Tell me, since when do you care about what I do?” His gaze penetrated the girl’s soul as she confidently sat on the chair to tie her boots. “It’s work, girl, and I prefer you stay out of it. These are private matters.”

  “Okay, Father, I apologize.”

  “Ah, to hell with your apologies.”

  Aria gave a long bow as she watched her father leave the house to walk to the royal carriage. It was a carriage sent directly by the King for all the guests at one of his receptions. It had two purebred white horses and a large space inside to accommodate an entire family.

  It was raining that night, so Ungern had to choose between getting wet or making it to the carriage without falling over himself; he decided to rely on his cane to walk as fast as possible.

  Aria, meanwhile, returned to her room, where she looked out the window to make sure her father hadn’t fallen. Then she looked a little to the left, down the next street, where she could see a carriage parked outside the streetlights. It was the academy carriage, come to pick her up and take her to the reception.

  “Today is the day,” she said, throwing herself into bed. It was going to be a difficult and terribly long evening. She knew how long receptions could last, and she had been to so many in her life that she was sick of them. But until now she had never attended a reception as a huntress and, as in this case, as a spy.

  She was afraid, of course, but she had to do it for her companions.

  With her right hand she searched for something on the other side of the bed; she touched some plastic and could see some clothes inside the bag. Sonia had delivered them and until then she had kept them inside the closet. The maid's clothes would serve as a disguise to pretend to work as a maid inside the palace and, in the meantime, keep her eyes and ears open on the nobles and on this Boris, whoever he was. Plus, the King would have something to say about recent events that could be interesting for the hunters.

  “Let's hope everything goes well.” she said to herself as she stood up and changed her clothes. She also had a mask at her side, as the waiters at the Yahontov palace had to wear one because they were not worthy of being compared to the nobles. The waiters had to remain neutral, without personality and without a name; precisely for this reason dressing up as a maid had been the academy's choice.

  “And as a precaution…” she put some pillows under the sheets and turned off the light. If her father had returned before her, she would not have suspected anything. Madame Doroteya would also have fallen for the deception, because at night, usually, she was left alone and no one would have noticed anything.

  It was a perfect plan.

  Until she came out of her room, dressed as a maid and with a mask in her hand to find the housekeeper in front of her, cleaning the stairs.

  “What the hell are you doing dressed like this?” Madame Doroteya asked.

  “Doroteya… aren’t you sleeping?”

  “It looks like I’m sleeping? I’m cleaning and- what the hell are you doing dressed like this?”

  “It’s a long story… I have to do something.”

  “It’s because of your friends, right?”

  Aria made a sign not to speak or at least to lower her voice. The last thing she wanted that evening was for Sergey to find out that she had become a huntress.

  “I’m going somewhere… and yes, I’m going with my ‘friends’.”

  The girl started to go down the stairs but found herself in front of Madame Doroteya who, with her size, blocked her path.

  “Stop! You’ll tell me where you’re going or I won’t let you pass.”

  “Come on, Doroteya… I can’t, do you understand?”

  The housekeeper quickly turned into the pushy aunt who kept bombarding you with questions during the Christmas dinner.

  “When are you coming back? Why are you dressed as a maid? Do you promise me you’ll be safe?”

  The questions continued until they finally became one: “Don’t be late.”

  “Okay, Doroteya, I promise.”

  “Good.”

  It didn’t take long for them to leave the mansion behind and reach the carriage. Inside, they found Anton and Liza, and Sevastian was the coachman. He hadn’t brought an umbrella with him, so his clothes got wet.

  “Did you bring your mask?” Liza asked first as Aria sat down next to her.

  “It’s here with me.”

  “Light of my eyes, tell me where you want to go and I’ll take you. The ride is free,” the coachman began.

  “Shut up, Sev, we’re talking.” Liza scolded him.

  They started to make a wide circle around the block so as not to arouse suspicion and parked inside a park where the nightlife was led only by drug dealers and shady guys. But they were hunters and that would be the lesser evil of the evening.

  “Okay, let’s go over the plan. We’ll arrive with the carriage in front of the secondary entrance and you, Aria, will have to get off to join the other waiters. Remember: you will have to wait tables and do as the head waiter tells you. You are a new hire from a good family, so don’t worry about the accent and your hands.”

  “Thanks for reminding me.”

  “But don’t bow!” the huntress exclaimed, “You don’t have to bow. You are not a noble, you are a waitress.”

  “Okay.”

  “Keep your mask on at all times and, for no reason in the world, do not let yourself be discovered.”

  “I understand.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  The girl swallowed, every second that passed she was afraid that the plan would fall apart.

  “We’ll stay here in case anything happens. As soon as we hear screams or see guards moving, we’ll intervene.”

  “Don’t worry, Aria, I’ll protect you.” Sevastian said, nudging the horses to get them moving.

  “Try to stay close to your father,” Liza added, “because he’ll most likely contact B.K.”

  “Of course i will do.”

  “And watch the King’s speech, we need to figure out how he wants to proceed. The more we know in advance, the better we’ll be able to prepare.”

  “It will be done.”

  “So, good luck.” Anton said.

  “Good luck, Aria, do a good job.”

  The girl stepped out of the carriage once they reached the back gate of the mansion. She stepped into a puddle, and to make matters worse, the rain had carried debris and rocks into a muddy slush that soaked her boots.

  “My dress is dirty!”

  “You’re a maid, Aria, you don’t care about clothes.” a female voice said from inside the carriage as it sped off.

  “Okay, I can do this.”

  Two guards reached her position, holding muskets in their hands.

  “Hey, you! Hurry up, the others are already in!” one of them shouted, grabbing her and pushing her into the gate.

  Aria had never been treated like this, not by a stranger. Her father would have him arrested and killed, and that’s why she had never had a boyfriend and hadn’t even had her first kiss.

  “I’m a maid. I’m a maid.” she repeated to herself to calm herself; she hated being a maid.

  She entered through a small wooden door that led directly to the kitchens. The space was large and three rows of tables had been set up in the center. The cooks were dressed in gray tunics and had strange hats on their heads, like the ones Sergey used but even bigger and taller. The waiters, on the other hand, dressed like her, wore light clothes and, especially the women, that showed the flesh of their legs. There must have been about twenty people in total and, among them, also the head waiter.

  “Hey, you!” he exclaimed. He was a giant man and, unlike all the others, he was dressed in red-brown clothes. A yellow pin had been placed at the height of his heart.

  “You know you’re late, right? At least you’ve already changed. Now get the mud off your boots and go help the others. Prepare the dishes. The guests are hungry.”

  Aria did as she was told and went to the corner to get the mud off and throw it on the floor. She had noticed how the floor near the entrance was full of mud and water, so that gesture was not seen badly by the others.

  Then, she went near one of the tables and took a plate and then arranged some food on it. She watched her colleagues make sudden movements and tried to imitate them. The food had to be arranged according to good cooking logic, which the expert waiters knew but which were obscure to Aria's mind.

  Since she was born, Sergey had been the one to take care of the cooking and refresh the members of the Zotova household. Every now and then Madame Doroteya also loved preparing desserts and there were days when, returning from shopping, she filled the pantries with spices, food and more that were then used for her bizarre creations.

  As for Aria, the butler had never even let her touch a knife; Sergey was strict and jealous with his little corner of the world and hated it when someone interfered with his work. Sometimes he was caught by his father sleeping on the benches beside the pantry, but he didn’t say anything because real workers slept at the workplace.

  So, Aria never had the opportunity to learn and saw cooking as something for old people - may Sergey forgive her if he heard it - or boring.

  “First time?” asked the girl next to her.

  “What?”

  “I mean, first time working as a waitress?” her smile seemed sincere and all her teeth were visible to the Duchess.

  “How did you know that?”

  The girl took a plate and began to compose a sandwich by adding the ingredients.

  “Everyone knows that, to compose the Korotsk sandwich, you have to put the bread first, then the ham and only last the salami, do you know why?”

  Aria simply shook her head.

  “Because not everyone likes salami and there are those who might be allergic. Many times the plate is taken back and then the head waiter scolds us. To avoid this, we put the salami last, so it is at the beginning of the sandwich, and a nobleman who does not want to eat it can remove it himself… or we can remove it without disturbing the ham. Do you understand?”

  “I think so.”

  “Don’t worry,” continued the girl who went back to composing the plates, “do as I do and it will be fine. By the way, my name is Katerina.”

  “Aria.”

  She saw that the girl didn’t bow or reach out, so she didn’t do anything either, remembering Liza’s words. It took another ten minutes or so to finish, and by the time the last slice of bread was placed, there were hundreds of plates on the tables.

  “Come on!” the head waiter shouted, “Now go serve! You, you, and the new girl too! Move or there will be trouble!”

  Aria found herself holding a plate that Katerina handed her, and after Katerina nodded, she followed the other two waiters.

  Making the sandwiches wasn’t too difficult, considering she was wearing a mask and her vision was limited. Walking and being careful not to bump into any valuable furniture or the nobles, that was a difficult task. She stood as close as she could to the waiter in front of her and, once they reached the hall, she could see about fifty round tables that were livening up the evening. All the nobles of the Korotsk council were in that hall and, turning her gaze to the left, she could see a long rectangular table, a little apart from the others, where the King and his son were sitting, plus other nobles and trusted advisors.

  The nobles were impatient; some of them were banging their cutlery against the table and others were whistling at the waitresses as they passed by. Aria stopped at one of the tables and placed her plate in front of some nobles.

  “Hey, doll,” said the nobleman, grabbing her leg. The girl almost fell and had to hold on to the chair, doing a funny pirouette.

  “Do you want to play with me?” asked the nobleman, keeping his hand firmly on her leg and spearing the meat with his fork.

  Without saying a word, Aria tried to compose herself and attempted to slip out of the nobleman's grip, kicking and scratching if necessary.

  “The little doll is pawing the ground.” the noble laughed, then let her go.

  Aria returned to the room holding back tears, never in her life had she been humiliated so much, not even with the vampire or with Anton’s harsh teachings. The mission, however, was too important to be ruined. And her greatest fear was to be discovered, because she would not be able to find excuses in front of her father.

  She then placed herself next to Katerina, who sensed that something had gone wrong but did not say a word, simply handing her two more plates.

  She returned to the room, this time taking a few seconds to think about where to go. She then headed to a table near the window where she had recognized her father who was dining with two other nobles. She handed them the plates and strained her ears to listen to their conversations. But neither her father nor the other nobles said a word, simply thanking them and eating their rations.

  “Maybe they don’t talk if I stand too close…” she said to herself, and while she was thinking, Katerina came closer.

  “Come on, we have to deliver the next dishes: pea soup and minestrone.”

  “I don’t envy them.”

  After all, she had been too used to it, because Sergey, despite being harsh with her in the culinary field, was also an exceptional cook.

  Time flew by quickly and the guests got to the second course. Aria lost count of how many dishes she delivered and had to be careful several times not to let anyone put their hands on her, especially avoiding the nobleman from before who seemed to be having a great time with her.

  A ten-minute break was then declared before dessert. The nobles began to get up and, between those who went to greet the King and exchange a few words and those who went outside to smoke, the room soon emptied. The waiters and cooks also went outside to smoke and the last time Katerina was seen by Aria was on the stairs leading to the second floor accompanied by one of the King's advisors.

  “What to do?”

  The turning point came when she noticed that her father was going towards the garden of the East wing, where no one had set foot before.

  “What is he going there for? Maybe he's meeting with this B.K.?”

  She didn't think twice and, using the excuse of going to the bathroom, actually sneaked through the corridors of the palace until she reached a living room that gave directly onto the small garden. It was small, with a few flowers and a larch in the middle, whose branches touched the walls of the palace.

  However, crouching behind the windows of the living room was certainly not a good idea. Anyone who entered would have seen her and, even if she managed to escape, the mask would have deceived her.

  Then, she noticed that one of the small rooms next to her was nothing more than a closet with buckets, brooms and rakes; the perfect place to hide.

  Her father was in the garden, alone, smoking a cigar. He was sitting on a bench and watching the moon while humming a tune. He remained like that for several minutes until he got up and, looking to the left, approached something. Aria couldn't see well and had to open the window to at least hear a sound.

  She was lucky, though, because immediately after that her father reappeared from the darkness and stood near the bench, without sitting down.

  From the shadows came out a nobleman she had never seen before, dressed in upper-class clothes and whose eyes were red as blood.

  "You're late," her father began.