Inayah woke to sharp nudging against her side, seconds later the blanket was yanked from her form. A gust of cold frigid air shuddered across her and she began to scramble back in a hazy alarm when something hard landed across her left cheek.
Her face snaps to the side upon impact. All sleep vaporized at that moment as stinging pain took its place.
“Get your indolent ass up, girl.” Mathilde’s venomous voice echoed from somewhere in the room. Inayah blinked in a daze, her ear ringing tunelessly. Her hand rises to touch at the throb on her left cheek, then hesitates halfway when something jerks at her ankle sharply.
“Sleeping in like you own the damn place,” the lady mutters furiously to herself. She wears her maid uniform beneath a winter jacket and hat pulled down to her ears. “The fire
