Page 46 of A Fae in Finance
It was a win: four fewer lessons to plan out per week.
I couldn’t help it—I looked at Gaheris again. He’d returned his focus to the portal, which was no longer oozing tentacle-vines but had turned pitch-black.
“If you are fired from your job at Tartarus, you have failed in your agreement.” I whipped my head around to where the Gray Knight was pointing to the next line.
So much for my cortisol levels: The Gray Knight was going to give me anxiety with or without touching me. “I can assure you if I am fired I’ll feel like a failure,” I said. “But I don’t have control over that.”
“Is that the Princeling’s concern?” She leaned back in her chair, eyes on Lene and Doctor Kitten.
“It wouldn’t be a terribly fair term if there were something like layoffs happening, right?” My insides whirled around my abdominal cavity like frozen bananas in a blender. I probably would have puked if I had anything left.
She inclined her head, thoughtfully, and my panic started to ease. Without an actual commerce or work system, she’d likely never thought about the possibility of not having a role in society or being able to provide for herself. At least the Gray Knight was realizing what she didn’t know.
“We can amend the term to state that you cannot take any action which you reasonably should have known would lead to your termination. So you must continue to attend work and turn in deliverables.”
I sighed. I hadn’t beenactivelyplanning to give up on my job in order to get out of this ridiculous situation, but I didn’t relish the thought of losing the option.
The Gray Knight examined her slender hand. “And, for the last terms”—she nodded at the collective few about me finding a way out of Faerie—“we may consider any quests under three days’ length.”
“Um—” I twisted the gold ring around my index finger. I tried to channel my mom, who’d given me the ring when I graduated high school. “There shouldn’t be any quests.”
“Knowledge is earned, not given. You, of all the humans I have met, are most likely to understand the value of knowledge earned,” she said, and if the Gray Knight were capable of coquetry, she would have fluttered those thick lashes at me. But the Gray Knight merely stared at me with those fathoms-deep eyes, with the unshakable expectation that I would see the justice in this.
I groaned. “Fine,” I said, making the edit.
“Then your ten years begin today.” She stayed in her chair, looking at my computer screen. “I will provide you with more information on your human classes tomorrow. Turn to your other work.”
I tabbed back over to the Excel model, a bit too dazed to process what I’d just agreed to but still relieved to have some sort of plan in place.
“The next note is to update the inflation assumption,” I said. “You said you didn’t want to use our curves at two percent, and instead wanted… this.” I gestured to the screen, where a series of numbers from 1.3% to 7.6% were arranged in an incomprehensible nonpattern.
“The Crone says there will be continued inflation for the next ten months,” the Gray Knight said, sanguine.
“O-okay,” I said. “Um, did she guess that or can she actually see the future? Because that might be uh, insider trading?” I frowned. Magical fortune telling was definitely not listed in the definition of “insider trading.”
“That is notinsider trading,” the Gray Knight said. “Did you not study for your licensing exam, lady?”
“Of course I studied,” I said, thrown violently back into the feeling of being scolded by my dad before a chemistry test.
“I suppose you cannot help it if you have only human retention,” she said, completely disregarding the point that using concrete knowledge of the future was probably unethical.
I stared at my knees under the gray cotton dress. “I don’t think that addresses the issue,” I said, twisting my fingers into the fabric at my thighs.
She put her hand on my shoulder. I froze. “A careful advisor is a boon indeed,” she said. “And I have spoken often with the Princeling about how fortunate we are to have you advising us.”
Her hand was so strong. She squeezed the top of my arm.
“Thank you,” I said. “I appreciate the compliment.”
“Let us move on to the next item, then.” She jerked her chin at the screen.
A minor explosion suddenly went off behind us, causing the Gray Knight and me to jump out of our seats.
“I will fix that,” Gaheris called, breathless. He was shoulder-deep in a self-contained stretch of water, like he’d somehow brought a 3D projector into my bedroom to display a patch of ocean. There was half of a fish next to him, the other half presumably swimming happily through the Atlantic.
“How did you…” I started, but trailed off, not sure what the question would even be.
“Coordinates,” he moaned, his feet kicking as he treaded water. “I mixed up coordinates. Latitude, longitude—why did you humans pick two words that sounded the same?” He flapped his hands for emphasis, causing water droplets to splash up into his hair, which remained aflame.
