Destiny's Reign

"I have sinned." Sofie's words, spoken in a hoarse whisper, drew Mia out of her thoughts as she stared out of the window, watching the snowflakes swirl around outside.

"What did you say?" she asked, turning to face Sofie. Emma, sitting on the sofa beside Sofie, caught her eye and shrugged. The three young women had been working for Mistress for the past few months now, but it was still rare for them to talk about anything other than their tasks at hand.

"I have sinned," repeated Sofie, "and I need to make amends." Her eyes were wide and bloodshot and she kept glancing at Mia nervously.

"What do you mean?" asked Mia.

"Well...you know how we're not supposed to leave the Estate without permission?" Not waiting for an answer, Sofie continued quickly. "And how we're not supposed to take any gifts from guests? And how we can't..."

"Yes," interrupted Emma with a sigh, "we know all that. We've agreed to work here by signing those contracts." She turned to face Mia. "You remember? We signed them on our first day."

Mia nodded slowly. Her mouth felt dry and she reached for the glass of water that sat on a table nearby before taking a sip. Although it was only lunchtime, she had already finished both her responsibilities for that day and decided to take a break for some tea and reading before dinner. She had almost drifted off when one of them spoke up so loudly that it startled her awake again.

"We're forbidden from having relationships with guests," said Emma. "We can't date them or fall in love with them or even talk to them outside of work hours - that's what the contract says."

"What if they're married?" continued Sofie quietly. "Do they count as guests? Or are they family members? Do family members count as guests or are they family?" She paused and took a deep breath before continuing quickly. "Because I met someone! I met someone who's very nice and very handsome and he gave me this necklace..." She held out her hand towards Emma who looked down at it with disgust written across her face. It was nothing fancy - just a simple chain with a heart-shaped pendant attached to it made of cheap silver coloured metal that did nothing to match her expensive looking earrings and bracelet set that clinked together loudly as she moved her arms about agitatedly while speaking.

Mia's eyes narrowed as she examined the necklace more closely; there was something different about it - something peculiar about its design - but she couldn't quite figure it out yet. When Emma didn't respond after several seconds, Sofie continued talking animatedly about how wonderful he was and how much fun they had been having together when suddenly Mia's gaze snapped up from the necklace towards the window where she caught sight of something moving in the distance beyond the snowflakes swirling around outside: a dark figure walking through those white specks of snow without leaving any footprints behind him or disturbing their dance in any way. He appeared to glide through them without making any noise whatsoever even though he was clearly walking through thick snow and although he was shrouded in darkness, he seemed familiar somehow - like someone that should be known by all of them yet none of them had ever seen him before in their lives...