Whispers of the Bone Altar

Kaia's POV

They made me scrub floors that reeked of old iron and vinegar, until my knuckles bled and my palms were raw. The servants—pale, hollow-eyed women and men who moved like ghosts—watched me with a mixture of scorn and pity. They dressed me in plain rough wool and braided my white hair into a tight rope that tugged at my scalp. My hands shook the first time the basin slipped from my fin