Chapter 40
Forty
James
My date with Edwin had put me in a far better mood.
With his very capable help, we managed to get a plan in place to restore the warehouse.
I shifted all the employees I could over to different branches, as I refused to lay off anyone, and those I couldn’t shift about I asked to help with the rebuild.
Everyone was happy to dive in, fortunately, and their willing attitude saw the damage cleared out and removed in under a week’s time.
Astonishing, considering the scope of the project.
This event had been crushing in many respects, but it was also further proof that just because things happened in a certain way in the first life didn’t mean they’d play out exactly the same this time.
Everything I did shifted events. The knowledge gave me paranoia about the Demon King rising again and salence reemerging, but I could only plan for such disasters and do my best to negate them.
Edwin spent many a night with me, poring over my notebook, coming up with ideas to either offset damage or avoid it entirely, and I was ever so grateful he took this all seriously.
I’d be lost and spiraling without his support.
A few things had improved, however. Plupott, the mastermind behind the fire, was found guilty on all charges.
His title was stripped and passed to a cousin.
He was also declared bankrupt and all his assets seized, not only to repay what he’d stolen from Aurora but for the damage done to my warehouse.
His townhouse, once it sold, would cover the bulk of the rebuilding costs.
I dared to hope issues in the capital might die down, mostly due to the troublemakers disappearing.
Victor was gone. Gillespie had disappeared.
Marquess Gillespie had apparently had enough when all his son’s misdeeds came to light, and the family had quickly retired to their country estate, far away from society.
Just those two people missing made a massive difference in the atmosphere within the capital.
Today involved riding about and checking on progress.
We were still rebuilding from the Wrath, but all the destruction had been cleared away, leaving a mostly clean slate to rebuild upon.
My sewage systems in the capital were going along nicely.
The construction crews were almost finished with the commercial district and were due to switch to a different district next week.
I rode in a carriage with Edwin at my side, two knights riding behind us, looking over the progress made. The area smelled much nicer now. Granted, anything was an improvement.
“It really does look capable of handling a flood,” Edwin noted, peering over the side of the open carriage. “The grates are huge.”
“That’s the goal. In case a Wrath eclipses our new seawalls, I want the water to go elsewhere and not get stuck in the streets.”
“Well, I think these sewers will be a huge improvement. Prince Royce next?”
“Yes, I think so. I want to see how he’s faring.”
“We can check the progress on the seawalls while we head to the hospital.”
I slipped my hand into his, smiling when he wrapped his fingers around mine in turn.
Ever since he kissed me in the office, I’d ridden around on my own cloud of happiness.
I knew being so openly affectionate was something he’d likely be uncomfortable with, so to have him kiss me and continue to perform public displays of affection sent my heart straight over the moon.
He might not have said the words I love you, but my Edwin clearly cared deeply for me. Right now, I was more than content with our relationship.
His blue eyes cut my direction in a side-eye gleaming with amusement. “You’re over there thinking naughty thoughts, aren’t you?”
I raised our joined hands to kiss the back of his. “Only for you, darling.”
“You’re so incorrigible.”
“Thank you.”
“Of course you take it as a compliment.”
I grinned, completely unrepentant. If only he knew just how much people envied me for having a relationship with him.
Edwin huffed, more amused than exasperated, and looked past me. “Seawalls coming into sight now. My, they are done, aren’t they?”
According to the report three days ago, the workers planned to be done by this weekend, and from what I could see, their estimation was spot on.
I looked at the bulkier, much higher walls and sighed with relief.
After nearly dying because of a Wrath, I had a very vested interest in those walls being upright and sturdy.
All was well in my world. Even the last bit they had to do—basically adjusting the sidewalk and stairs to match up with the new walls—wouldn’t negatively impact us if another surprise Retazo’s Wrath hit.
“I’m quite content.” I sat back and made a mental note to send the construction crew a bonus. Jethro Bates had done an excellent job as foreman, and his crew had worked stupid hard, so I wanted to show my appreciation.
We traveled the short distance from the walls to the hospital.
Royce had decided he liked this hospital the best to work in, and if he wasn’t in the palace, I could find him here.
I took note of how the buildings in this area fared, in terms of reconstruction.
It had been almost precisely five weeks since the Wrath, and you could see the aftermath still.
About half the businesses were back open—basically the street vendors.
The larger apartment buildings were still completely under construction, but the smaller ones and the older houses seemed to have some life back.
Good, things were progressing well here too.
I barely got the carriage door open, my foot on the cobblestone, when I realized our quarry was not in the hospital but on the front steps. Off to the right, in fact, eating fried cinnamon twists out of a paper cup. Um?
“Royce?” I offered Edwin a hand down before heading in Royce’s direction. “Are you on a break?”
For that matter, Royce took breaks?
His head came up and he let out a discontented growl. “I am stuck. Usually sugar helps. Hello, Edwin.”
“Hello, Your Highness,” Edwin politely greeted in return.
I pointed at Royce’s cup. “How much have you eaten?”
“Three cups. I’ll get a stomachache before I get inspiration at the rate I’m going.” He sighed, dropped the bite back into the cup, and stared moodily at the pavement.
I did feel bad for him. I was the reason why he was pushing himself before he was truly ready to think of the answer. I wished I could back off, give him the space necessary to have natural inspiration, but I had a gut feeling we just didn’t have time.
“All right, walk me through it. Maybe talking out loud will help.”
“You, uh, have an understanding of medicine?”
“Barely any at all.” I sat and snitched one of the cinnamon sticks. “But that’s not the point. I think you need to slow it all down and get a different perspective. Telling me might help.”
Seeming to agree, Royce started talking. I barely kept up with any part of the explanation and didn’t think Edwin fared much better. He sat near my feet, a step down, and did some paperwork out of his ever-present portfolio.
Royce went on for a while, a good twenty minutes, then wound down with, “But it doesn’t matter how effective each thing is.
I can’t seem to get them to combine well enough to be applied.
They’re mixing like oil and water, which isn’t helpful when combining them into a medicinal form.
Plus, whatever I do to combine them seems to impact the effectiveness of each herb, which is counterproductive. ”
Now this I sort of understood. I also had a suggestion, based upon what I remembered the cure being.
I was trying to drip feed him information so it didn’t sound like I had the answers, because of course he didn’t know I had answers.
This seemed like the right time to feed him another piece of the puzzle.
“Then have you tried combining them with some kind of carrier oil? I mentioned thieves’ oil to you before, remember? ”
“Oh, yes, you did. That’s why I’m so frustrated, you see, as olum oil is your standard carrier oil, but it’s not working.”
“What about a different carrier oil?”
It was particularly funny when a very intelligent person sported a blank expression. Thoughts? Woo-hoo?
“A different carrier oil?”
Here was where my real hint came in. “For instance, the Afrils use Echult oil for their medicines. It’s literally in every medicine, used to bind the crushed herbs together.
It’s not magical at all, and the cold-pressed version mixes with basically anything.
I personally love the stuff. It’s part of my household line, as it also makes a great massage oil. ”
“Echult,” he murmured. You could see a light flickering to life in the widening of his eyes. “It’s known to be both antibacterial in property and yet with a neutral pH—gods.”
Without warning, Royce shoved the snack into my hands and then raced back inside.
Edwin and I watched him go and I cackled a bit. Well, hopefully my little nudge worked.
“You know what the cure is, don’t you?” Edwin asked.
“Eh, yes and no. He explained it to me in our past life, but I didn’t understand the explanation then or now. BUT! I remember Echult being involved because at the time I had the largest supply in the country, and Royce demanded all of it. He didn’t list Echult just then.”
“No, he didn’t.” Shaking his head, Edwin rose and offered me a hand up. “We’d be utterly ruined if not for your curiosity. It’s because you ask questions of everyone that you know more than you should.”
“Sadly, my memory isn’t as good as yours. You’d remember everything if he told it to you.”
“I highly doubt it. Besides, your memory is fine. You just keep overstuffing it with useless information, so it leaks sometimes.”
I laughed.