Chapter 52

  Present Day

  The Lord and Lady could have a bath brought to their chamber, but the same privilege did not extend to a slave, and so Tillie left the boys and Sterling in Greshyn’s care and took a change of clothing through the hallways to where the bathing rooms were located behind the kitchens and laundry room.

  The chamber had a central fireplace, upon which water was constantly boiling within a large cauldron, causing the room to mist with the steam. Four muscular lads ferried water from the well to feed the cauldron, whilst six young women, their thin gowns clinging to their skin due to sweat, the mist, and bath water, tended the bathers, topping up water, helping to wash hair and scrub backs, and more if the price was right.