Page 171 of Sky’s Edge

They both looked at me and openly gawked.

“I mean, strictly speaking, if I’m queen, I’ll be the boss. But I’m not strict. You two have been doing your jobs for some time. I can only assume you do them well. We’ll only have an issue if you don’t. But from what I’ve seen so far, you don’t do them well. You do them very well.”

Color stained Barret’s cheeks, so much so, it gave me the impression she’d never been complimented on her work.

Not in thirty-two years.

It wouldn’t do at this juncture for me to get angry, so I tamped it down.

“I believe…we were under the impression…” Camaryn stammered. He cleared his throat and tried again. “It was our understanding you considered the castle overstaffed.”

Since he faced it head on—and good on him that he did—I had to make a decision.

So I did.

“We all know I’ve never had the run of a castle,” I said.

They didn’t confirm they knew, but they knew.

“As such, this is part of what I’ll be relying on you to do. I would hope, if we’re overstaffed, you’d report that to me. And if you need my assistance in sorting it out, I’ll make myself available to you. That said, although I mentioned it to King Tanyn, he had absolutely no issue with the staffing of the castle.”

Then again, he’d never had the running of one either.

I didn’t voice that part.

“I believe…I think…” Now it was Barret who was stammering, but she didn’t continue.

I just regarded her over the rim of my coffee cup and smiled to urge her to go on.

“The…your, um…predecessor could have very…strained patience and could be quite…abrasive with staff so we…” She looked helplessly at Camaryn.

He caught her look, turned to me, and I noted he’d shaken off his shock and was now taking my measure.

He then stated, “Queen Tatra was abusive to the staff. Because of this, it was like sending beings into battle. Those who were injured hung back, and those who were fresh went in. Barret would prefer to organize duties in a much different way, rather than everyone being on call to take turns to face what might befall them. However, we used to go through servants like water. We’d hire. They’d quit. A never-ending cycle that was a waste of Barret’s and my time. So we did what we could to alleviate that.”

“We still lost staff at an alarming rate,” Barret added.

I was doing that breathe in ten seconds, hold ten seconds, breathe out ten seconds thing while they spoke so I didn’t lose my mind when I did.

“And why didn’t you two leave?”

“Someone had to keep the place running until the real king could take his throne,” Barret replied.

Good answer.

And an interesting one, because if she’d been there that long, most of her tenure was under King Riland, who was born to wear the crown.

I filed that away as I studied her closely and hoped her answer was also an honest one, but obviously I didn’t know her well enough to make that call.

“And you?” I asked Camaryn.

“The pay is exceptional,” he said, and I knew that was an honest answer. “For me. The rest of the staff are not paid well. Another reason they left quickly.”

“And why are you paid well and the others aren’t, do you think?” I inquired.

“I bypassed Queen Tatra and requested a raise from King Arnaud,” he answered.

“That’s how a lot got done around here,” Barret mumbled.