Page 46 of Queen Takes King
That fucking smile wrecked me. I wanted to die because I’d fucked up. It was my fault. I deserved to be banished forever. But fucking hell I wanted to bury my face against her and breathe her scent and make her smile like that every minute of everyday.
“It’s our pleasure, Shara. Truly. And that leads to the next question. Which of your staff would you like to employ in EurekaSprings?”
“You mean ask them to move with us?” Gina nodded. “Anyone who wants togo.”
“Well everyone will want to go. It’s an honor to live and work closely with the queen. I don’t think you quite realize how many people are on yourstaff.”
“I’ve heard you mention Marissa and Angela. Winston. Frank and his staff. Whoelse?”
“Marissa and Angela are my personal assistants. Talbott Agency is an international firm with offices in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Rome, Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico City, New York, and Kansas City of all places. Plus smaller satellite offices and staff throughout the world. Basically we have someone in every city where there’s a queen. Some are known to that consiliarius and some…” She shrugged with a smug curve on her lips. “Let’s just say Talbott Agency is very very good at hiding when we want to be in plain sight. All together, we employ well over five hundred staffworldwide.”
“You have five hundred people working foryou?”
“No. They work for you. They report to me, some directly, some indirectly. Goddess, we probably have over two hundred CPAs and another hundred lawyers keeping the property and investments straight. That number doesn’t include the people who worked for the last Isador queen most of their lives and retired. If you add them in…” She thought a moment, tapping the table. “You’ve probably got close to fifteen hundred people,then.”
Shara thumped back against her chair. “Wow. I had no idea. I thought you ran a small office here in KansasCity.”
“I do. That’s the beauty of hiding in plain sight. When I call another consiliarius, like Bianca Zaniyah, I don’t tell them GinaTalbott.”
“You tell them GinaIsador.”
“Of course. Talbott is merely a name we created when…” A blank look flickered over her face and she blinked. “I’m sorry, I forgot what I was saying. Where wasI?”
I felt Shara’s sadness in the bond. She hated that no one could talk about her mother. Even us. I know she’d told me her mother’s name… But I couldn’t remember it. “We were talking about who was going to move to Eureka Springs withme.”
“Oh. Yes.” Gina paused, twiddling with her napkin. “I would love to move with you and serve as closely as possible, but if you’d rather have some distance, that’s perfectly acceptable. There’s nothing I can’t handle for you with a phone call, and if I need to fly to you, it’ll only take a fewhours.”
Shara reached over and squeezed Gina’s hand. “I’d love you to come, unless you have familyhere.”
“No,” she replied softly. “I have no children. I’ll be the last Talbott who serves as yourconsiliarius.”
“You’re young yet. Maybe you’ll fall in love with someone in EurekaSprings.”
Gina snorted and started gathering up the blueprints. “I’m flattered, Shara, honestly. But I’m much older than youthink.”
Shara stood to help. “You can’t be that old. You look at most thirty, thirtyfive.”
“Oh honey. That ship sailed nearly twenty yearsago.”
We Blood stood too. Rik’s forehead had a deep slash and I knew what he was thinking.My queen doesn’t clean or tidy up something as insignificant aspapers.
But the women were talking and laughing, certainly notworking.
“Marissa has already fallen in love with the town, so she’s a definite. Winston, of course. And he’ll need to hire a few staff to care for the grounds, prepare the meals, and clean inside. Probably five people. We’ll hire from within, offer a few select associates that he’s worked with before the chance to move. What do you think of Frank? Has his security team done a good job foryou?”
Shara shrugged. “So far. I mean we haven’t really gone anywhere lately. But I guess the poor guy has had to dispose of two bodies.” She cringed. “Ugh. I can’t believe I said that out loud. He’s definitely proven his loyalty. If he’d like to provide a security detail in Eureka Springs, I think that will be fine. Rik, anyobjections?”
He inclined his head. “Not at all, my queen. I agree that he’s been loyal and quick thinking when we’ve needed him. He’s not Blood, but he’ll do well enough as ahuman.”
“Very good. I’ll let everyone know. I’ll call Bianca tomorrow morning. Scratch that. Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. I’ll call them the day after Christmas. That works better for your scheduleanyway.”
“Wait, tomorrow’s Christmas Eve? Really? We don’t have any presents or a tree orlights…”
Rik met my gaze and he didn’t need to make the order. “We’ll decorate for Christmas first thing tomorrow, myqueen.”
“And take you shopping again,” I added. “You’ll want some things for the newhouse.”
“And presents for each ofyou.”
