Viola’s eyebrow rose. “Excuse me?” “Let’s just pay the guards.” Nalus mimicked her voice. “And then we pay everyone a fair wage. And open trade, and squash any who oppose us. In short, we are going to make the world a better place, and everyone is going to accept it…because!” He pointed his finger at her. “You have done some great things. Stopped a coup, and flushed out the true traitors from the innocent bystanders. […]

“So after talking with the guard, I just found out that some of them even have to work farming jobs to supplement their income!” Viola dug into her dessert with vigor. After taking a bite, she looked at Nalus incredulously. “I mean, if we are supposed to have guards, they should at least have enough money to make guarding our lives their top priority, right?” Nalus shrugged. “Vlad may have agreed, but there were never […]

Sienna waited for Smyth to explain. But he returned to the fire. And let his anger wash out in waves. Sienna walked over, and stood next to him. Roland Smyth’s rages were legendary. Where other nobles cajoled the previous Konstantin lord, Smyth had held his own fiefdom. He meted out justice and taxation as he saw fit, in an iron fist that now reminded his daughter of the countess. Had trained his own guards, placed […]

Sienna stood outside the door of her father’s study. Her hand rested on the wood paneling, trying to trust herself to knock. The Koskov children were all abed. Sophie took much longer than the boys. She had questions for the older girl. Questions about boys, and clothes, and the finer aspects of arranging an orchestral accompaniment to an address of the court. Sienna had answers to two of those, but the chance to talk was […]

The man wore a hood to disguise his features, not that Canterwright couldn’t tell who it was. The fine clothes, the rings on his fingers. The fact that the new man looked like he wanted to burn the place down and put up a salon. “Yoric,” Canterwright muttered. “What are you doing here?” “Watching,” the noble growled. “Not that there was much to watch.” Canterwright looked around, and nodded. He leaned back, and slipped out […]