Chapter 27 #2
I snorted. “As if you’d have blindly signed the bill.”
“So you’re saying I shouldn’t buy you something as thanks?”
My eyes narrowed on his face. He looked entirely too innocent. Alarms went off in the back of my head. Whatever his offer, it wasn’t just a gift of thanks. “Your Highness, are you trying to bribe me?”
“I can’t?”
What was I supposed to do about this utterly shameless prince?
Still, with Marquess Marrable no longer here, his mask dropped, and I could see his exhaustion. He was clearly not sleeping well, still, and I had it under good authority he’d taken a potion last night. What could I do to make him sleep, short of tucking him in myself every night?
I’d have to think on this later and see if I couldn’t come up with something.
I cleared my throat and pointedly changed the topic.
“Still, I judge your integration into court politics to be successful. People are openly coming to you for help, after all. Even if some of them are also trying to take advantage.”
Prince James simply shrugged before sipping his tea. “Success is like siege warfare—a battle of attrition.”
Phila popped out of the office and announced, “Your Highness, Countess Doughtry wishes for an audience.”
“Oh, do show her in.”
Countess Doughtry nearly rushed through the patio doors, clutching her fan in both hands with a stranglehold grip.
I’d known her for years and had never seen her in anything but an impeccable state, but today it looked as if she’d been up all night in worry.
She wore a black cotton dress one would normally wear about the house, not to court, with no jewelry upon her person and her brown hair in a simple, unrelieved twist at the back of her head.
Prince James immediately stood and offered her a hand. “Countess Doughtry, you look very distressed.”
“Your Highness, thank you for seeing me.” She gave a quick curtsey. “I’m…I’m in a state, and I don’t know where else to go for help.”
“Please, sit, tell me what this is about.”
I poured a fresh cup of tea and handed it to her. She took a single sip—and then drained the full cup in a single toss. Was she that thirsty? Had she not even paused to drink something?
Oh dear, this didn’t bode well at all.
“Your Highness, I’m sure you’re well up to your neck in all the repairs after the Wrath hit, but I must beg of you to add one more. Before the Retazo’s Wrath, my people were packing up the first harvest from my orchards—forgive me, do you know we have orchards?”
“I do. Cherry trees, I believe?” Prince James nodded encouragingly. “It’s a beautiful sight in early spring. I toured through it once as a child. I believe a good portion of cherry and citrus fruits come from your orchards.”
A flicker of relief and then the distress came back full bore.
“Yes, so it does. We were in the process of harvesting the first harvest, as I said, when the Wrath hit. The waves made a tidewrack on the main roads we use to reach the orchards. Right now, our people can’t get in there.
We’ve tried to resolve the problem on our own, but some of the felled trees are three hundred years old or more—they’re massive.
It’ll take a good month to clear them all, and in that time, all the fruit already picked will rot where it sits, as well as the unpicked harvest. Your Highness, I cannot emphasize enough how disastrous this will be. ”
I sucked in a breath and let it out again in a low whistle.
She wasn’t here just for her own gain; the ripple effect of a failed harvest would be gnarly.
The Doughtrys had a standing contract with the navy, supplying them with necessary fruit for voyages, specifically to avoid scurvy.
This would absolutely impact our navy if they didn’t get their supply of fruit, and not in a good way.
Another problem was the effect it would have on the economy as a whole.
Their orchards supplied an insane amount of fruit to the country, and many small businesses—grocers, bakers, jam makers—needed what the Doughtrys supplied.
In a time when food was already in danger because of the waves impacting roads and crops, we couldn’t afford this loss.
“My dear lady, thank you for coming to me.” Prince James sucked in a breath, and I could see the wheels spinning in his mind. “Edwin, what force can we send?”
Hmm... Almost everyone was already deployed to help out in different areas. The army was all over the place, the navy cleaning out the shoreline, Prince Victor’s knights were deployed, as were Prince James’s own knights…we were operating on a skeletal crew. Who else was left?
Oh!
“Your Highness, what about the debtor’s crew?”
Prince James snapped his fingers, a smile blossoming. “The very thing. Countess Doughtry, are you familiar with the debtor’s crew?”
“I…I’m sorry, I am not.”
“It’s an unconventional force, you could say.
Anyone who has been thrown into prison for debts, fraud, or theft can work their sentence down by doing voluntary labor.
It does require a royal signature, which I’m happy to provide.
Generally speaking, if you put out the call for help, you could have a hundred people on your doorstep within a day.
Or, well, I should say at the worksite where you need them.
You don’t need skilled labor, after all, just people who can saw through tree trunks and help move the debris to clear the roads. ”
She brightened, some of the anxious tension coiled within her relaxing. “Yes, that’s very true. Do you truly think you can get them to me quickly?”
“We can get the ball rolling now, in fact. Edwin, do you have a form on hand?”
I gave him a droll look.
He chuckled. “Forgive me, what a stupid question.”
“I’ll forgive you this time.” Shaking my head, I skirted around his chair and went inside the office to the file cabinet.
Prince James continued to speak as I moved.
“I can grant a pardon to anyone with a lesser crime—such as a debtor—or a partial pardon to those guilty of a more significant crime, offering them a lesser sentence. This is a rather standard thing, really, so it shouldn’t take long to organize, and you’ll likely receive help in fits and spurts as multiple groups come in.
I will make the pardons on the condition the roads are cleared within a week.
That should motivate everyone involved. It’ll be like ants on a cupcake. ”
And with that much manpower, no matter how clumsy, the roads should be cleared shortly. I thought everyone won in this circumstance. If only Marquess Marrable had come in with this attitude—of needing help, of being sincere—he might well have walked away with a victory like Countess Doughtry would.
Well, no skin off my nose, either way. I was just chuffed I had a smart boss. Beat having a bad boss, no lie.