The woman next to me mutters, “Castle’s hiring.”
My heart kicks up speed.
Senan.
Last night, I dreamed of my mate glowing like a lantern, the ink on his skin creating the most mesmerizing shadows. He called my name over and over again, but the faceless crowd kept shoving me back until I fell into the portal. I would have drowned if I hadn’t woken up.
On the horizon, the factory’s tall smokestacks pump more darkness into the sky. There is probably a group of women already gathered at the gates, their faces haggard, shoulders stooped, and fingers stained.
More darkness waits inside that place. A day of misery for five pence.
But, if I can secure a job at the castle, perhaps I’ll be able to reconnect with my love. I should know better than to hope. What is the likelihood that I’ll actually run into Senan in a mammoth castle with so many towers? Still, there is no hope down here.
There is no guarantee I’ll even get a job, but I’ll never know if I don’t try.
I file in behind a short, silver-haired woman wearing a plain black dress.
“This is a bloody disgrace,” she grumbles, lifting to her toes so she can peer over the head of the young man in front of her. “You’d think those Scathian bastards would see how badly folks need work and provide a few decent jobs to us lowly Tuath.”Her gaze drops to my clenched fingers, and her scowl deepens. “Textile factory?”
I nod.
“Hate to say it, but there isn’t a hope of them hiring you if they see your hands. Have you experience working in a household?”
“Yes. I worked as a scullery maid.”In the human realm. “I’ve only been at the factory for a day. My…employer passed away, and I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” That sounds believable, doesn’t it?
The young woman’s hair sways when she nods. “Rotten luck, that. Happened to my friend Nancy. She’s working at the Black Hole now.”
The poor woman, to be driven to work in such a terrible, hopeless place.
We shuffle forward a handful of steps.
After the last few days I’ve had, I refuse to judge anyone for doing what they need to survive. I nod my chin at the line snaking toward the mountain beneath the castle. “Do you know how many people they need?”
“Not a clue. Doubt it’s this many, though.”
The longer we wait, the more people abandon the line, which bodes well for us. At least, I hope it does. When we stop next to a cart of fruit and veg, my stomach whines. “Does it pay well?” Stars, I’m hungry. If I had the coins to spare, I’d buy the loaf of bread sitting in the bakery window and eat the entire thing.
“My friend Jeston works there. Claims it’s the best job in the city—if you can get in. They offer room and board on top of fifty pence a day.”
Fifty pence is a bloody fortune. And they house and feed you? It sounds too good to be true.
The woman picks up a lemon from the cart and hands a coin from her pocket to the vendor. The tangy scent of citrus fillsthe air as she tears away the skin. “Here.” She holds the peeled lemon toward me.
Not sure what she expects me to do with a lemon. I love them in cheesecake, but on their own? No thank you.
“It’s for your fingers,” she explains, forcing the fruit into my hand. “Stick them into the flesh, and it should take that dye right off.”
At this point, I’ll try anything if it brings me one step closer to the castle. I press my fingers into the yellow flesh. The juice stings my blisters and cuts, but the pain is worth it when the dye comes off. I smile at the young woman. “Thank you.”
She grins back. “You’re welcome.” When she turns around, her smile vanishes. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” She braces her hands on her hips, cursing toward a man stepping out of the cobblers to speak to two others in line. “The bloody nerve. Seriously. Can you believe him?”
The man offers the others apples from the pack slung across his chest.
“Did you see that?” the young woman hisses, her gray-tinted skin flushing pink.
“He gave them apples?” I’d kill for an apple right now.
“Not the apple. The bastard is cutting the line. Hey!” She waves her arms over her head. All three men twist toward us. I want to shrink away, but there is nowhere to hide and no way I’m going to risk losing my place in this line.