She leveled a sharp look at him. “Maybe it’s time you did. Don’t look at me, anyway. I scheduled a call with Bibi to try and get a handle on why your wife’s former head of the assassin guild might suddenly murder you.” Saying that, she got up, opened the door, and sauntered out, which seemed to send the signal that he was available.
Damn it all.
An Eldritch male he recognized as a soldier stepped in as Sky left, executed a deep bow, and remained standing until Raff waved an impatient hand at the seat opposite. “I don’t suppose I can stop you from telling me what you want.”
“First, I should introduce myself. I’m Commander Olwyn. We met briefly at the wedding, but…well.”
Yeah, best not to linger on that memory, Raff thought. He also figured he could be forgiven not remembering names when the event turned into such a horror show.
Olwyn went on, “The princess left instructions that all our forces answer to you in her absence, so I’ll be taking my orders from you, sir.”
“And what would those be?”
“Sir?”
“What orders do you imagine I have?”
“I’m not paid to imagine things, sir, but I’ve got a list of issues in hand that demand your immediate attention.”
What the hell.
It was the height of poor judgment to leave him in charge of a demesne that he barely understood. Hell, he didn’t even know the patrol assignments in Daruvar, and this pasty Eldritch fool had a roster of fires he was supposed to put out? His first impulse was to scramble, just as he had when he was a pup and the teachers produced a complex assignment that made his head hurt. He imagined how sweet the woods would smell and how good it would feel to run, the wind blowing through his fur—
But the stakes were much higher now. Thalia’s people would suffer if he refused to take up the slack in her absence, and for whatever reason, she’d trusted him to keep the home fires burning. Raff didn’t let himself think about anything else; she was coming back, and he’d absolutely have a chance to make things right when she did. If Raff went to the woods, it would only be to gather intel from Titus’s people, and after he dealt with Commander Olwyn’s emergencies.
“I’m listening,” he said, finally quashing the urge to flee.
“First, let’s talk about Daruvar. We need to vary our patrol routes, and then we should talk about drone deployment…”
At first, the questions weren’t too bad, but then the commander started asking stuff about places Raff had never even been. “Let’s discuss options for increasing protection on our settlements. The threat level has risen, and we’ve skirmished with soldiers from Houses Gilbraith and—”
“Hold up, has this escalated to a full-out civil war?”
Commander Olwyn wore a grave look. “We’re at the cusp, sir. If not now, soon, and if we don’t have measures in place, civilian casualties could be catastrophic.”
“You’re telling me that the rest of the houses…” Except for Gilbraith, Raff was blanking on the other names. “Wouldn’t hesitate to strike at Thalia like hyenas, nipping away at her, until they take her down?”
“If that’s possible,” Olwyn said, “if she can’t hold what’s hers, then she’s not fit to rule.”
“Fuck. And you call us animals,” he muttered.
“I don’t,” Olwyn said.
“Fine, come on. Let’s map it out.”
He spent a full two hours discussing strategy, while well-aware that he wasn’t Korin’s equal when it came to planning and tactics, but Olwyn nodded with satisfaction once he saw what Raff had in mind. “That should mitigate our lack of walls, though we’ll need to dig the mines up once we settle things with House Gilbraith.”
“You don’t doubt the princess? Even though she’s gone off without telling you shit about her schemes and left you with me?”
Olwyn shook his head. “I wasn’t even a soldier originally, sir. I started with her from the very beginning, when I worked in the kitchens at Riverwind. She asked me to enlist and to train, to prepare myself for the struggle to come, because she needed loyal men.”
“And you did all of that, rose through the ranks, just because she asked?”
The other man raised a brow. “Aren’t you doing all of this, just because she asked? Besides, it’s rather special that she did. How often does a princess take note of someone from the kitchen? I wasn’t all that attached to the pot-scrubbing anyway, if you must know the truth.”
Raff laughed. “I guess not. If we’re done for now, send the next petitioner in.”
“Understood. Thanks for your time.”
It was nothing short of miraculous what Thalia had accomplished; under house arrest, she’d built a loyal retinue who would fight for her to the last. He could do no less.
A plump woman came in next, her pale hair twisted up in a complicated do, but he could tell by her somber attire that she must be staff. Maybe it wasn’t fair, but since they all had pasty skin, fair hair, and light eyes, it was damned hard for Raff to tell most of these Eldritch apart. The fact that they didn’t show age in the Animari way only made his life more complicated, and shit was already tough enough.
“How can I help you?” he said in what he hoped was a pleasant tone.
“Well, I’m Madam Isoline, the chatelaine, a fancy way of saying housekeeper, I suppose. I keep Daruvar running, keep the fortress relatively clean and the soldiers fed.”
“Gotcha. And…?”
“Funds are running low, sir. We need to tighten our belts, or the princess must sell something to keep the fortress going as it has been, but with tensions as they are right now, finding a buyer for jewelry or property could be…challenging.”
“Right, which leaves us cutting expenses. What are my options?”
He wouldn’t ask his wolves to come to their aid again. Soldiers were one thing, and the need was dire at the time, but no way in hell would he let Animari civilians deliver provisions in
