With the hour late, the estate was more quiet than usual. All the other humans and overseers were hard at work by now, their midday meal and respite complete. This only served to heighten the alarms of worry blaring in my head.

Mary could not be with Aveline. She was not in the nursery. She had not shown up for lunch. I imagined horrible scenarios. What if she had fallen somewhere and been too injured to move? What if Everett had finally noticed her more recent growth spirt and targeted her as he had once targetted me! That thought brought a sick feeling to my stomach even as I tried to console myself.

Mary was not just some ordinary human. She was Dulane's little prize, adored by his daughter, loved by all, sibla and human alike. No one would dare touch a hair on her head. It was unlikely she could just disappear. If she was "missing" it was likely that my Master knew of her whereabouts. That she was not lost but had been called away to answer his command. Perhaps to satisfy his desire for one of her songs or her company.

I wondered if it was possible he missed his own daughter and merely wished for a young human pet to accompany him for the day. I knew he had taken to enjoying Mary's presence while she played with Aivaline. Of course, the fears of motherly instinct would not abate. I had to see for myself that she was safe. Dulane was the only one who could authorize a search for her if she was truly lost. That left only one choice. I would have to confront my Master.

I felt my body trembling with fear involuntarily as I drew closer to the house. I knew what I had done. I knew the consequences I would face. Perhaps that was why Dulane might have taken Mary. To force me to his presence. To make me grovel for forgiveness. I was wholly prepared to do so. There was nothing I wouldn't sacrifice for my daughter.

I only hoped he would not be so cruel as to make her watch my punishment. Flashes of own mother in chains danced in my mind. Of Everett's cruel whip forcing her to the death caravan. The image still haunted my nightmares. Mary was innocent and did not deserve to be marred by such horror.

Entering the servent's door I walked decidedly away from the kitchen, where I knew I was missed, and went straight to the stairs. I had to reach my Master's office before any might see me and question why I was not where I should be. The consequences would be bad enough when I reached my intended destination.

As I walked I became more and more certain Dulane had engineered this physiological torture. Perhaps he intended to break my daughter as well by forcing her to bear witness to my suffering.

I remembered the days of pain I'd face when Lexia left. Of Everett's "training". Would he be waiting too? Dulane had granted mercy back then. He would have none this time. He would give Everett leave to do whatever he wanted....Still, I did not dare slow my steps. I rushed towards my doom, willing to face whatever lay ahead as long as I might first confirm my daughter was safe.

Reaching the top of the stairs I headed to my Master's study, hoping I would find him quickly and not have to continue my precarious search. Wandering where one was not meant to be was a deadly offense for a human. Of course, so was approaching our Master without his command. So many misteps for which a human might loose their lives.

I had just reached the door, my heart thudding in my chest as I prepared to knock when I heard the deep voice behind me.

"What are you doing here, Alice?"

The shadow of Dulane's figure looming froze me in place. Like a terrified rodent, caught the gaze of a cat, knowing the end is inevitable, I turned to face my demise.

"Well?" he demanded when I did not answer. I stared at his expression, trying desperatley to interpret it. Never before had it been this crucial that I might do so, but his true mind was just as unreadable as ever. Still, I could not remain silent.

Thoughts raced through my mind one after another. Should I fall to my knees and grovel? Pretend as if the previous day's transgrssions had not occured? In the end, the fear most pressing emerged from my lips.

"Please forgive me, Master," I said, lowering my head in contrition. "I come to you on a matter of urgancy and could not wait for permission or summons. Mary is missing. She did not come to meet me at midday as she was meant to and no one seems to have seen her. I hoped that you might know what has befallen her."

Dulane did not answer at first and I raised my head ever so slighty to look at his face. The tall sibla man towered over me, his power never more clear than it was in that moment. There was not an ounce of surprise in his expression, no reaction to my words. He knew where she was, just as I'd thought, but he wasn't willing to give me any relife. Not yet.

Dulane stepped forward and I instinctivley moved aside as he went to his office door and opened it.

"Come, slave," he said.

I did not dare refuse. He knew where Mary was and was toying with me. It was the only explaination. The man's demeenor was entierly calm as he sat at his desk.

"Your daughter is not missing," he said.

"Then you know where she is!" A mix of imaptience and relife filled me, too strong to stop my words though I should have held my toung. Mary was indeed taken by Dulane himself. Not lost, not suffering in some hole, crying out for help. Nothing else mattered.

"In the larder, you will find your answer," my Master replied.

My brow wrinkeled in confusion. Mary had not returned to the kitchen at lunch as she ought have, I'd just told him that. Had the girl merely been delayed? And Dulane's words were strange. How might he know that she was working in the larder? Rin did not share her her work in detail with our Master. He had little interest in our domestic world as long as his meals were prepared to his likeing and his home was kept imaculate.

"Why should she be there?" I asked, trying to make sense of it. No one had gave any indication that she might be late to her kitchen assignment earlier. And where had she been when I'd gone looking for her? Why had I not encountered her on the way to the nursary or on the way back to the house. Could we have simply missed one anther by chance? But Dulane did not answer my question.

"I have had a discint craving for veal," he said casually, reading through a document on his desk and not even bothering to look at me. "Go and prepare it for my dinner. You are already late to your task and I do not intend to be kept waiting."

Questions still clouded my mind, but his comand was clear. I was to return to the kitchen and my work. Perhpas he was chosing to forgive my transgressions. It seemed too good to be true. He had punished far less in the past.

"Master," I said, "I hope you can forgive me for."

"My dinner," he said, cutting me off sharply before I might speak any further words of appology or graditude for his mercy. " My patience is wearing thin, Alice. I suggest you do not test it further."

I lowered my head and hurried out the door anxious to go meet my daughter.
———
By the time I got to the kitchen, I assumed everyone would be hard at work with dinner preperations but was suprised to find only a skeleton crew.

"You're late."

The harsh rebuke of Madam cut through the sounds of chopping veggitables the other girls were preparing. They all truned to stare at me and I felt an uncomfortable prickling sensation travel the length of my skin. Were they angry with me for shirking my responisbilities?

"Forgive me, Madam," I answered quickly, ignoring the strange glares and grabbing my apron from its hook. I was suprsied to see Mary's still hanging beside it. Dulane had implied she was already in the kitchen, but I saw no sign of her.

"Your Master has asked that you, specifically, prepare his meal," Madam said as I tied the apron around my waist. "The meat is in the larder."

Another shiver ran through me at the comment. Was that the cruel punishment I would be made to face? I had not yet forced Mary to confront the realities of dealing with human flesh, but if veal was on the menu, perhpas Dulane was intending to drive home our true place in light of my transgressions. I went to the larder, hoping that Mary was not too traumatized. But when I walked through the door of the room, I did not find my daughter. Aside from the stores of food the room was entierly empty.

My eyes scanned the space, half expecting to discover the child hidden behind a bag of flour or potatoes, weeping. She'd always had a tender heart and I hoped I could offer her some comfort. More than my own mother had done for me so long ago when I'd first faced the horrible task. But there was no sign of movement. It was then I noticed the two new carcasses hung along side the other meat. One was that of a feshly slaughtered pig. The other was human.

The small body had been scladed, same as the swine, cut from pelvis to sternum to remove the entrails and hung from the ceiling by meat hooks strung through bound ankels. My eyes traveled down to where the head remained attached to a limp neck by the sinews that had not been fully severed. The skull was devoid of hair like the rest of the carcuss but the small pixie nose and round grey eyes stared back in an unfocused expression within the lifeless waxen mask. Recognition filled me even as my mind fought to reject the image. The all too familiar face. The one so much like my own.

A scream rang out through the air, the horrible sound reverberating in the small space of the larder, penetrating my eardrums and throbbing in my skull. It was not until I felt the strain in my throat that I realized the cry was my own, mouth open, letting loose an unbridled wail. Pain beyound grief. Too impossible. Too horrible to be real. My daughter. My precious child. My Mary. Dead!

I tried to back away from the body but tripped on a crack along the ground, losing my footing and falling hard to the stone floor. Those clouded eyes were following me, accusing me. I'd done this. I'd killed my own daughter. I wanted to crawl towards the door but could not force my eyes to unlock with Mary's blank stare, the pale skin, the clouded eyes... I felt the room spinning, my cries becoming weak, my body trembling. Panicked gasps of air that would not reach my lungs. And then, the world went black.