RAYA

“What the hell is that?” I coaxed, hardly trusting myself to breathe as I exchanged wide-eyed looks with the slack-jawed handmaiden.

It had stopped almost as soon as it started, the shrill noise of a woman’s scream that felt like it was coming from outside our doors. 

My hands shook as they shot out to grip the cowl of the girl’s maiden smock, forcing her back into a squat as she rose to go.

“No! Judith, it might be dangerous! We don't know what’s out there!” I whispered harshly, searching the twin black pools of her eyes that seemed to lack emotion. I would have thought the lady quite...