Sagan
The reviewing of surveillance video was going so well that I ordered the teams to go back further. The elders hadn’t given one shit about the cameras because they had their people in place watching them.
Yeah, they were all gone and I had the footage so… My win.
Dumbasses.
They should never have poked me, and I would have let them just them retire off as I ended the elder system with their dignity intact. Now I was determined to ruin them all since they wanted to do worse to me.
“That’s a heavy bill,” Myriam warned me after I’d ordered it.
“Do I need to worry?” I hedged.
“No, as long as I can keep the fights going, but I’m having some issues balancing it all.” She sighed. “But honestly doing the food bars and simplifying the menu will cut your food budget even more. Make it clear to slow the reviewing process to normal hours.”
I mentally cursed. “No wonder they looked so damn greedy. They were approving not just overtime, but double time. Yeah, end that. Now.”
She handled it while I was in another meeting, but then I wanted to enact my idea of how to have some income come in or at least change the narrative of my greed. I was walking towards her when Gavriil quickly moved in between us but kept a respectable distance.
And held up his hands to my guards in surrender.
“Hi, hello, Your Majesty,” he said quickly, glancing between my guards.
“Please, just give me like two minutes. I know you’re super busy and we shouldn’t approach you at meals and bother you and you’re always working—it’s exhausting and I can’t imagine how much caffeine you drink to keep going, but like two minutes. Please? I can walk with you.”
It was such a goofy, silly ramble that I simply blinked at him for a good thirty seconds after.
“Two minutes,” I agreed and made it clear that I would keep to that.
His eyes flashed shock—either that I would really make him spit it out in two minutes or his ploy worked. I wasn’t really sure.
“Please give me something to do,” he blurted, wincing at what he’d said.
“The castle’s great and your gym amazing.
Like staying here is so cool, but there’s only so much gym time and I’m not—I like staying busy.
And you’re busy, so I get it, but I’m just like bored.
I’ve been reading and catching up on shows, but normally I’m always working and like—I like.
“I like being productive and like doing things. So I know I’m not the biggest or smartest or have the best connections or am involved in things like Onyx or Joris, and I probably won’t be the one you pick, but for the love of the gods, at least let me do something.
I can be useful and I take orders well and that will make Duskridge and my family look good at least.
“But also be helpful. You’re all exhausted and—put me to work.
Your aides or whatever. I’m not up for like cleaning toilets but yeah, I don’t know, just give me something to help.
I have a few degrees, and I am good at business.
Not the best, but I’m not useless. I’m really not useless, I promise.
And I want to help. Not just because I’m bored. ”
He actually then glanced at his watch as if to check he hadn’t gone over his time, smiling at me and looking like a puppy hoping for a pat on the head. Or a treat for doing what he promised?
Either way… “Okay, join us and let’s see if you can help my people.”
“Really?” he asked, his eyes going wide, several others echoing him.
“That’s all we had to do was ambush you and ask?” Ezerial from Lunaria added as he glanced between us.
“The ambush was unnecessary, but from what I know, not one person has asked what they can do to help,” I replied as I glanced at him.
“The others took initiative or Onyx has special qualifications.” I focused back on Gavriil.
“A business background will help with what I’m wanting to do next and Myriam is buried. ”
“He did ask if he could help, but it wasn’t—we’re putting out fires, so it’s a bit hard to reassess and like assign jobs,” Myriam admitted before lowering her voice even if they would all hear it. “Or like knowing who to trust and won’t try to mess things up.”
Gavriil held up his hands in surrender. “No desire to mess things up, I promise. I’m just a nephew of the Alpha and picked because I’m the only single one of like age.
We’re smaller, and I just promised to behave and maybe do something worth a good sound bite because that’s what Uncle was more focused on as the queen wanted. ”
“Okay, then join us,” I said again, gesturing for my group to move along.
“Okay, yes, great, thank you, Your Majesty,” he agreed and tried to fall in step with me… Which made Myriam snicker and basically butt him out of the way.
She was never subtle and I loved it.
People were brimming with curiosity as we drove to the nearest home of an elder that was now mine. It was also where contractors were going over it all with one of Dray’s Betas. When he promised he’d handle it and get the public on board—he’d done it.
Well, which was great but also made Ayao’s warning echo in my mind. This wasn’t even the location that Dray wanted to use when he was in town to stick it to that particular elder… So why was his Beta handling this?
Because I didn’t have anyone and it wasn’t something that should be left alone. But it wasn’t something Dray’s Beta should be handling.
And I saw from the look Myriam shot me that we were on the same page. We needed more people and help fast.
I greeted everyone but then focused on the Beta. “The candidates have made it clear they all want to get involved and have a chance to contribute as Joris and Onyx have, bring good press to their areas.” I swallowed my reaction when someone snorted.
Right, everything Onyx was doing got completely drowned out by Kole’s bullshit. Fair, but I wasn’t wrong and I continued.
“You’ve got a lot going on, and one Alpha’s Beta shouldn’t be managing this for me. I didn’t even know you were,” I kept my voice even, but the warning in my eyes made the Beta react. “I believe at least one of the candidates has to have some sort of background to be of use.”
Gavriil cleared his throat and waited until I looked at him.
“Cosmo. Architecture or—I saw it on one of the shows going over our bios.” He shrugged when I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s kind of like a train wreck I can’t not watch.
I’ve never been on TV before and now I’m all over it and ranked mostly last as… ”
Oh, ouch.
“Sorry, I really haven’t been—I find it all distasteful,” I told him but then looked back at the Beta. “Good. Then I’ll talk to him and we can work things out so Aursenbelle can have a chance to shine instead of Dray’s people being distracted from where their focus should be.”
The Beta dipped his head to me. “Whatever you think is best, Your Majesty. I had the time and was willing to help.”
“It’s appreciated, but your time is valuable, so we’ll get others to jump in.” I gestured to Gavriil to make my point before moving along.
“Glad to be of help,” Gavriil said quietly under his breath so only Myriam and I could hear him.
I didn’t acknowledge it though like there was a problem. It was better to leave it alone. I kept moving until we were in the large sitting room.
“Okay, I can’t take this anymore, and you’re nervous, which makes me on edge,” Myriam muttered. “Are you getting a healer soon?”
“Yes, my friend is coming tomorrow,” Belinda said as she joined us, smirking when I blinked at her. “I heard you were up to something and I like being up to things.”
I swallowed a snicker and gestured to the art on the walls before what was on the mantle. “All of this is worth money and it’s all mine now.”
“You want to sell all their shit? Oh, that’s awesome,” Myriam purred. “Yeah, that’s—”
“I want to do a very large auction,” I corrected. “For charity. Namely, to help the budget of where the elders cut funding to programs. Their constant whittling down of what Thovudin needed and blaming—I want to use their greed and belongings to fix it.”
I gave a half shrug when all the mouths around me fell open. It seemed fitting to me.
“Okay, so seventy percent of the proceeds?” Myriam asked, recovering first. “You’ll have to pay people to do all of this, boxing up and shipping—delivery or whatever. You should not eat those costs.”
Belinda seemed to catch onto something and nodded.
“I think most charities do sixty percent so there’s enough cushion.
They say all proceeds, but—sixty percent is enough when you can hire people in the capital who need jobs to help with this.
You’ll need appraisals and to know how much this is all worth. ”
“Exactly,” I agreed and then looked to Gavriil. “Will this keep you busy?”
He slowly blinked at me and then burst out laughing. “Yes, yes, it will keep me busy for a while. Can I even recruit some help or—I bet someone has an appraiser or—”
“Handle it,” I cut in, smirking. “Just check in with Myriam as my aide and we can talk whatever ideas you have. This is what I want done. Figure it out and get us a plan.”
Amusement danced in his eyes. “I like a challenge.”
I wasn’t shocked when a few people snorted, clearly hearing what else he might be referring to.
But he was useful. By dinner, he had a step-by-step plan including having talked to Toni about how to announce it.
Gavriil had spoken to Cosmo who was more than game to have a project too.
He asked for Rigel from Selka to work with him on it because his education would be useful and he was good at coordinating projects and teams.
I reviewed it as I ate, impressed he thought forming a separate non-profit was the way to go and hiring that way. It didn’t all need to be done tomorrow, and he thought it would be better to go round robin on times so which elder it belonged to wasn’t the focus.
“You could donate some of your mother’s dresses this way like we do,” Treena said as she read over my shoulder. “It’s smart. Where are you starting?”