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