A loud bang on the door snapped through the silence, yanking Jasmine from the fog of sleep. Her eyes flew open, breath caught sharp in her throat as her heart kicked against her ribs. It felt like she was dropped from the sky.
She groaned, a low, frustrated sound dragging past her lips as she flopped over, tugging the thin blanket with her. Her body ached in all the wrong ways. "What the hell—" she muttered her voice hoarse and sleep-heavy.
"Jasmine?"
Her name came sharp, clipped like a cold splash of water.
She squeezed her eyes shut. "Go away!" she shouted, words muffled by the pillow she'd mashed her face into.
"I wish I could," Andriana's voice replied through the wood, calm but annoyingly smug. "But if you don't get up now, you'll be rising to the steward's call and good luck with that."
That did it. Jasmine sat up fast her hair wild and sticking to one side of her cheek. She blinked against the faint gray light pouring through the shutters. 'Damn it morning already?'
"You really know how to destroy a perfectly good dream," she muttered her voice dry, it felt like she had been screaming the entire night. And the dream she had_? She totally forgotten about it. She dragged herself off the creaky cot she'd always slept in.
She reached for her blazer, half-hanging off the corner of the room's rickety chair. Cold bit at her bare arms the moment she peeled the covers off, and she slipped the coat over her nightdress, shivering as the stiff fabric settled on her shoulders. Everything about this place felt colder.
Stepping out, she squinted at the corridor's dim lantern-light, stretching her arms above her head with a loud yawn.
"You'd think with all the gold in this godsdamned place, they could afford to heat the servant halls," Jasmine muttered, rubbing her arms as she caught up to Andriana.
"Now tell me, why are we being summoned at whatever unholy hour this is?" Her voice dripped with sleep and irritation as she passed two other maids hustling toward the main hall, faces already fixed into that trained, empty expression.
"We were told we'd get time to rest," she went on, mostly to herself, "after working ourselves half-dead last night."
Andriana fell into step beside her, brushing back her loose braid. Jasmine noticed how she didn't seem as tired, like she hadn't just been startled awake by a door-slamming demon.
Andriana leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I heard something—don't know if it's true, but… they say the king's picking servants and maidens. To go to the other realm. Some sort of exchange."
Jasmine blinked, footsteps slowing. "Exchange?" Her stomach twisted. That word never meant anything good.
She didn't say it out loud, but her thoughts ran wild. Other realm? As in, crossing over? Why would a king need maids for that? And who the hell agreed to be exchanged without knowing why?
They entered the hall, everyone present were mostly humans, if you talk about the occuring foreigner who comes for sightseeing or something related to the human royal family.
Jasmine was five when she started working in the royal palace, she was raised by her grandmother who claimed her parents had died an unfortunate death by getting too involved in the rich people, so yeah typical humans not that she was complaining it was her norms.
But most especially this morning she felt like she was missing something, she had a bad dream and she couldn't remember what it was about, no body likes remembering a bad dream.
She fell in line with the rest of the maid, Adriana fell in with her.
They had their heads bowed as the king sat boredly on his throne and the queen who was doing the picking pointed to each individual.
"You over there, you with the the girl" she paused. You are too pale which family do you come from?" She asked one of the noble daughter who was specially finely dressed.
"Lord Henshaw" came her tiny reply, it made Jasmine wonder if that was what she sounded like normally.
"Henshaw? You look nothing like your father but anyway you are not going, step out of the line" the queen said in a way it made the girl step out crying.
Jasmine pressed her lips together anything she would do to be disqualified, it would be a miracle if she was chosen anyway, she had a ridiculous brown hair that was always flying about even after brushing, and her skin? Well let just say fare, of course she doesn't stand out.
"You" the queen scanned her over and pointed her out of the line, about to rejoice only for her to be stopped. "_wait" Jasmine turned slowly praying desperately it isn't what she was thinking.
"You are going"
Oh God no, going to those inhumane realm was asking for death, she liked normal and she isn't about to venter off to abnormalities.
The courtyard was loud.
Voices barked orders. Hooves clapped against stone. Wheels creaked, and somewhere, someone was crying quietly.
Jasmine stood in a small line of chosen ones, the word chosen curling in her gut like spoiled milk. She wasn't sure how she got here. Everything had blurred after the queen's finger landed on her. The room had spun. Her legs moved because someone shoved her forward, and now here she was barely breathing, watching as a large wooden carriage was being prepped for departure.
It didn't look magical. It looked… rough. Splintered, iron-bound, and guarded by knights in unfamiliar armor. The crest on their chests wasn't the royal family's. It looked older. A crescent thorn wrapped around a sun nothing human.
This isn't just an exchange. This is a handing over.
Her fingers twisted in her skirt as she stared at the carriage. It had no windows, just thick wooden slats and a locked door. Not even a goodbye or explanation from the royal family. Not a word. Just a wave of the queen's hand and now they were property to be packed and sent.
"Move," a guard growled.
She did.
Her legs worked on instinct. Mind screaming behind her eyes. Her throat ached from holding back everything she wanted to say. I don't want to go. This isn't right. I'm not special. Pick someone else—
Then she saw her.
"Andriana?" Jasmine blinked. Her voice cracked as she twisted around, stunned to see her friend a few paces behind in the same cursed line.
Andriana didn't answer at first. Her eyes were locked ahead, jaw clenched like she was biting through stone. But Jasmine could see it underneath the bravado. Her fingers trembled at her sides.
The carriage door groaned open. One by one, they were ushered inside. Jasmine stepped up, heart hammering in her ribs like it wanted out of her chest. The inside was darker than she expected. No straw, no seats, just wood and shadow. A few of the girls already sat in corners, pale-faced, clutching themselves like they'd freeze apart.
She hesitated.
One more step, and there was no undoing it. No waking up. No going back to scrubbing floors or hiding in storage rooms during feast days. No safe and boring normal.
Behind her, Andriana gave her a light shove. "Go. Before they decide to bind our legs."
Jasmine stepped in.
The door slammed behind them and darkness swallowed them. Only the rattle of the wheels and the faint light from slits in the wood told them they were still moving. Jasmine sat beside Andriana on the hard floor, knees pulled to her chest.
"So…" she mumbled after a while her voice raw. "You think we're gonna die?"
Adriana didn't speak at first. She just stared at the light bleeding through the cracks.
"Maybe," she said finally. "Or worse… maybe we don't."