Page 25 of I Ran Away to Evil
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The office was large, with two alcoves off to either side, like aVmade up of three honeycombs. Keith’s desk was in the central area, with two bookshelves and floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light. It was clear of clutter, with three neat stacks of paper on one side, and an ink station on the other. Every once in a while, one of his people would pop in and place more paper in one of the three stacks.
The alcove left of his desk was filled with records from the last ten years, divided into file shelves labeled Complete, Incomplete, and Missing Information. Each was internally sorted by region, time, and then by the office that had submitted them. It was a simple and straightforward system, and very like King Keith.
The right alcove had three smaller desks with no less than five assistants who came and went while handling any of the kingdom’s affairs that didn’t require the king’s direct attention.
The three stacks of paper were in order of Requires Review, Requires Response, and Requires Immediate Action. I sat behind the desk, going through the Requires Review pile. Keith also sat behind the desk, going through the Immediate Action pile. We were practically sitting beside each other!
We were, in fact, sitting beside each other. And had been for two hours. I’d made it through almost all of my stack when a clock above the entry to the office let out a beautiful light strain of harp music.
The two lizardkin and one human stood up to leave. They passed a cat beastkin and an imp walking through the entry. The two newcomers took over the empty chairs and got to work.
King Keith pushed back from his desk and stretched, then cracked his neck and stood up. When I didn’t immediately follow suit, he looked at me questioningly. “Well, come on.”
“I just need to finish this. There are only a few more numbers to cross-reference.”
“Hm.” Keith gave me a look. He leaned over my shoulder to see the two points I hadn’t completed, then pulled a red pin out of seemingly thin air and tacked it down where I was working. “Now you know where you were. Let’s go.”
Was it my imagination, or did King Keith just sniff? Was I annoying him because I couldn’t complete the roster in time? I didn’t even know there was a time limit!
“Alright.” I jumped up quickly, and my chair missed King Keith’s shin by a hair. He stared hard at the chair and then back up at me.
Keith had really nice eyes. He had really nice everything; long straight black hair that he sometimes fiddled with, and midnight-blue eyes that I could get lost in. Every time he ran a hand through his hair, my eyes were drawn to the small horn on the right side of his head. His nose was a bit awkward; it was a smidge small, and the ridge started just under his eyes. I liked it.
I coughed and backed away quickly. “Sorry. So, ah, what are we doing?”
“We are on afternoon tea.”
“Tea?”
“Afternoon tea,” he corrected, then he hesitated and asked, “Youdoknow what afternoon tea is, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. It’s when the ladies of the court meet for socializing … over … tea?” The look on his face made me think I didn’t know what afternoon tea was at all.
“Everyone in my castle,” Keith stated, “works on a strict schedule, which includes a break every two hours. There are tea and snacks in the lounge, with time for a quick nap or a turn around the garden.” He paused. “Though it’s recommended not to enter the garden if you don’t have [Resist Poison].”
“Why?”
“Because the garden is filled with poisonous plants.”
“No, why do we have to take a break every two hours? Doesn’t that interrupt work? Why not work until the work is done?” I had never taken a snack break in Drendil. I did have a thirty-minute luncheon in my office or at the traininggrounds mess hall. And I did get to go to the queen’s afternoon tea a few times. But that hardly counted as a break from work.
King Keith looked at me like I had two heads, but quickly composed himself. “Because I said so.”
There wasn’t much to argue with when the Dark Lord said so.
I followed Keith into the castle commons and spotted the other aides wandering into a side room. They stood around a table with sandwiches and a water jug filled with cranberries, sliced oranges and lemons and cucumber.
King Keith kept walking. I didn’t know if I was supposed to join the others or follow him, but I didn’t have to ask. As I slowed down, Keith faced me and said, “Your break time is yours. I like to walk in the garden.” He pushed up his glasses. “Have you seen the garden yet?”
“I haven’t.” I didn’t even know there was a garden before today.
“Would you—” He cleared his throat. “Would you like to see the garden now? I could point out anything that would kill you.”
That sounded awfully romantic. Had the Dark Lord just asked me to go on a walkabout?
I hurried to say, “I’d love to!”
