Page 145 of Born of Blood and Ash

I smiled.

“I find that hard to believe when you appear half-asleep,”Rhain stated. “And rather uncomfortably.”

“I’m not half-asleep, and it’s perfectly comfortable,” Igrumbled, pushing up with an obnoxiously loud sigh. I then sat like an adult inthe chair. “Happy?”

“Thrilled,” he deadpanned.

My eyes narrowed on the god. We had vastly different ideasabout what was important.

When Saion said that Rhain wanted to see me, my mindimmediately went to the worst-case scenario: that he wanted to talk about how Ihad convinced Kolis to free him, even though that seemed unlikely. As it turnedout, he’d wanted to go over the day-to-day functions of the palace.

Adjusting the bound parchment in his lap, Rhain leaned back.“Since you weren’t half-asleep, you should be able to tell me what I’ve said.”

“You were talking about…” What had he been talking about?“You were saying something about…cleaning.”

One eyebrow rose.

“Is that wrong?”

“Technically? No.”

I smirked.

“But you’re only in the general vicinity of what I wastalking about,” he said, tapping the slender quill against the parchment. “Iknow you weren’t listening. I called your name three times before you heardme.”

I clamped my mouth shut, only grazing the inside of my lipswith my fangs this time.

“I was speaking about how there really hasn’t been anyhousehold management.”

I nodded. I had heard him say something like that.

“No actual schedule for any of the staff, be it for cookingor cleaning,” he continued. “In other Courts, it typically falls tothe Chosen to organize such things.” He stopped and frowned. “Or it used to.But it has been Aios and…was Ector,” he said, and myheart twisted sharply, “who handled it in the past.”

“I haven’t seen any staff here besides Pax and Baines,” Isaid, referencing the stable hand. “And I think I’ve only ever seen one of thecooks once. Valrie.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “That’s my point. Nyktoshas never really focused on those areas.”

It wasn’t for lack of caring. Instead, it was due to theexact opposite. Ash hadn’t wanted staff in his house at all since Kolis couldtarget them.

“I think it’s time we establish household management.”

My brows lifted. “And you thought I’d be the person to talkto about it?”

“I know a Queen doesn’t oversee such—”

“It has nothing to do with being a Queen and everything todo with me having no household experience,” I said. “I wasn’t exactly raised tobe a lady of the house.”

Rhain pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t suggestingthat you personally oversee such things. And if you had been listening, youwould know that.”

“Oh,” I murmured, starting to sink into my chair as Reaver’sgrin went up a notch.

“I said we’d hire someone to do it,” he said. “And since youdon’t know the people here, and we will likely be busy in the coming weeks, Iwas also going to suggest we ask Aios to assist withthat.”

“You think she’ll want to do that?”

“I wouldn’t have suggested her if I didn’t,” he replied.

“Then it’s fine with me.”

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