Page 40 of Retrograde

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.Butit 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 needjobsto 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 awhile. 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,andhe thought it would be better to go round robin on times so which elder it belonged to wasn’t the focus.