Page 70 of The Omega Slave

He spied Moxie talking to one of her older lads and, taking Tsaria by the hand, headed over there. He ignored the wide-eyed stares from the children and the shopkeepers that the emir himself was here. He waited while Tsaria hugged the woman, then Tsaria turned. “Highness,” Tsaria said formally, at which Kamir sent him a look that spoke of retribution later. “May I present Lady Maxella Legia Armonvellion, from the Duchy of Carlisle.”

Kamir stared in shock. He’d heard the story. Everyone had. The Duchy of Carlisle straddled land across Cadmeera and Rajpur and the titles were from Cadmeera. He also knew that at fifteen summers Lady Maxella had run from an arranged marriage to a man thirty summers her senior who had purportedly beaten his first wife to death. But her father wanted a land deal, so he had been willing to sacrifice his only daughter to get it.

“Please call me Moxie,” she said quietly.

Kamir took her hands and Moxie allowed it, a slight shimmer in her eyes. “I need help.”

Her eyebrow rose. “I think you and your dragon have things well in hand.”

He did smile then. “I need a child welfare magistrate. I need someone to undertake the mammoth task of getting all these children off the streets. I have plenty of coin to pay for it, but I need someone of your unique experience to make it happen and supervise it. I use the term magistrate because it enables you to have certain powers, since you might have to fight others whomay disagree.” He looked at Tsaria and caught his approving gaze.

He turned back to Moxie and saw the shock on her face that she struggled to hide. “Please,” he added quietly.

Moxie met his gaze and then answered, “I would be honored, mycaliph.”

And somehow that title felt good when spoken by her.

In all, they tallied seventy-nine children, and that wasn’t all of them. There were many that didn’t trust him, and he didn’t blame them. This wasn’t something that could be fixed overnight.

Mansala came with the carriages and barely rushed out a respectful greeting to Kamir before he took Tam in his arms and kissed him soundly while many of the children whooped and teased them.

The last carriage left without him, but they were sending another. Kamir had simply instructed the palace to find them accommodations, baths, and food. Apparently Cookie was still here and when she heard, she marched into his kitchens like an avenging angel, and by the time the children arrived at the palace they all had a good meal waiting.

The second problem was their medical facilities. Ramakesh, the head healer, refused to give aid to the children and walked out before Kamir could fire him. His two junior assistants had no such biases, but their skills were basic, so Kamir sent a begging letter via a bird to Attiker.

Attiker arrived at the end of the next day along with Laronne and a full medical team ready to help, but more importantly to train a team in Rajpur.

Laronne spent a lot of time with Mouse, who didn’t even have a birth name. Mouse decided he wanted to be called Axel after a market-trader he’d once met who’d shown him the entranceto the sewers. Axel had been three at the time, but Eastside had been the only family he had ever had.

“Highness, the problem is if he’d had the correct care—”Laronne realized what he was saying and closed his mouth.

“What can we do now?” Kamir asked, ignoring Laronne’s mistake.

“It will take three procedures to right his foot, and many weeks with it strapped. The boy will spend a lot of time in here.” Laronne waved his hand to indicate the medical center.

“Does he have to stay here?” Tsaria asked quietly.

Laronne shook his head. “No, he just needs to be somewhere with good supervision.”

Tsaria glanced back with a pleading look at Kamir, and he smiled back. The amount of time Mansala spent in his room in Kamir’s suite decreased every day, and Kamir knew they could get it set up as a convalescence area for Axel. Jael visited him all the time and would love him to be there with him.

In less than two days and with Kamir’s authority, Moxie had bedded all the children down in an empty wing of the palace, and was deep in talks to convert some empty warehouses in the trade district into orphanages.

Kamir hadn’t even seen a bed yet, but he was so happy he could cry.

Chapter thirty

Ten days later

Tsaria lit the candles around their suite and dimmed some of the sconces. The last ten days had been insane, and while he knew why, it was time he accepted his life. He needed to talk to Kamir, and he was dreading it.

Kamir looked worse than he had before they’d dispatched Elainore and rescued the children, because he was now skipping meals as he was so busy. But today, the first rush of responsibilities should be over. The sand people had been allocated an area to settle in, complete with access to clean water, and they were slowly moving there.

Moxie was moving the children into their new home. Kamir had tutors sent for some and was subtly convincing the shopkeepers and tradesman to look for new apprentices amongst them. Not only did the palace undertake to pay half their wages for the first year, but those tradesmen that kept apprentices after that would be prioritized for all projectsneeded for the crown, which of course included all the palace buildings, road projects, stables, transport, food, weapons, clothing. The list was endless.

Tsaria had to admit there was a huge feeling of hope sweeping through Rajpur that they hadn’t had before.

Jael and Axel were both asleep. With the number of times Tsaria had caught Jael snuggled up with his chosen brother, they had stopped trying to separate them into their own beds. Jael had become fiercely protective of Axel and Axel was finally letting his guard down. Even Laronne had said love was the best medicine, and Jael undertook to make sure Axel did his prescribed leg exercises religiously. They also shared the same tutor for reading and writing.

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