AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I, uh, have a file?” I squeak.
“Everybody has a file,” he says as he leans forward, resting his elbows against the table and his chin lightly over his clasped fingers. “And yours says that your IQ is above average, but not by any ridiculous amount. Do you know what this tells me?”
“You’re mean!” Asili’s voice rises from way across the room, followed by a loud clatter and the sound of smashing glass. “You’re mean and I hate you and your smell!”
“It tells me,” Tzelik continues, with barely a flick of his eyes towards his son, “that you are hard-working, dedicated, and goal-oriented. Coming from your background and getting yourself into a scholarship at MITL at just twenty years of age? Incredibly impressive. I have no reservations about your ability to adapt and excel at any given task.”
My belly flips a little at the compliment, at the simple, factual way he talks as if this is all an obvious truth. And at the way his eyes are suddenly looking at me as he speaks, seeing me instead of just…noticing that I’m there.
“Oh,” I manage to stutter out, caught in his intense blue gaze. “Thank you, sir, but—”
“Your Great Reverent Majesty?”
“Ah, Syeshin.” Tzelik leans back in his chair as I’m interrupted by the little hovering drone, which flares to life with a holographic screen projection of the green man from earlier today, standing in a dim, frilly living room. “Lovely, I see that you’re settling well with your mother.”
Syeshin makes a gesture halfway between a bow and a nod. “Her dementia is escalating. She is quite feral, your Great Eminence.”
“Lovely,” Tzelik says mildly, while the croaky sound of an old woman screaming from another room behind Syeshin says, “I don’t have dementia, I’m just sick of this life!”
There’s a sinking feeling in my stomach as I take in the seemingly dire situation of the man who’s job I’ve apparently just stolen, but before I can properly even contemplate it another crashing noise echoes out across the restaurant, and I see Asili plop himself down onto the floor and begin bawling.
“Syeshin,” Tzelik says, “I’ll be needing you to send all your contacts to Miss Martin immediately.”
“Of course, my Royal Lordship.”
“Wait, no, don’t—” I try to get my words out, to tell him to give the job back to this Syeshin, but I’m forced to duck suddenly as a wine glass goes sailing past my face.
“Let go of me! Let go of me! I don’t want to come with you anymore!” Asili wails as he’s dragged bodily across the room by his wrist, grabbing things from tables as he passes and hurling them in every direction.
“I believe you have her number from her university records, yes?”
“Yes, your Glorious Regalness.”
“Wait—” I try again.
“Syeshin, I trust that you can transfer these contacts to Miss Martin without further instructions.”
“You’re mean! You’re mean, Yekita, and you hate me! Let go!” Asili cries again.
“Mr. President, please, I—”
“Papa! Make her let go! She’s hurting me!”
“Miss Martin, since you work for me now, I’ll require that you—”
I slam both hands down on the table and stand up, leaning forward against my palms as Tzelik’s bright eyes finally dart back over to me. “Mr. President,” I say firmly. “Please, listen to me—I do not want to work for you.”
All the other noises are still clamoring away in the background, but there’s a sudden stillness between myself and Tzelik. He stares at me, his expressionless face hard to read, and with a quick flick of his fingers, he powers his tablet down.
“Miss Blyesh,” he asks the nanny quietly, “would you be so kind as to take my son into another room for five minutes?”
As Asili’s wails fade into the distance, Tzelik threads his fingers together over his lap. “Please, have a seat, Miss Martin.”
I rake my hands through my hair and remaining standing. “Sir—”
“Let me make myself clear,” he says, and the black of his sharp, pointed thumbnails tap together once. “I am not asking you to work for me. I am informing you that I have hired your services.”
“Then you’ll be paying me to stand around and do nothing!”
