Page 101 of Demon Bound

He seemed not to know what to say. “Am I doing it incorrectly?”

“No. You do it very well.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“I hate to interrupt,” came a voice.

Madira had appeared in the doorway behind them. He handed her a burlap sack that was nearly empty. There were a few shriveled apples inside.

“Breakfast,” he said. “There was also a bag of flour, a sack of sprouting potatoes, and some kind of pickled vegetables in jars.”

“Asparagus and carrots,” she supplied.

“Ugh.”

“The cook and the rest of the staff must have left after Azreth and I first escaped. I can’t blame them. I suppose the kitchen has been unattended for a while.”

“Well, it’s tended right now. Jai is cooking.”

“Really? She doesn’t have to do that.”

“She was excited to get to use a real kitchen for once. Don’t ruin her fun.”

“Staff?” Azreth repeated, frowning. Raiya could read his mind. He didn’t like the idea of living with strangers.

“Just a few. There was the groundskeeper and the cook, who was also a housekeeper. I think we can do without the guards.”

He made a face.

“Surely you didn’t think Nirlan was cooking and cleaning for himself,” she said, amused by the thought. “We’ll need to try to get them to come back. This place won’t take care of itself.” She frowned, thinking of the bookkeeping Nirlan used to do. He didn’t do actual work often, but she recalled him spending long hours muttering irritably to himself over stacks of papers on his desk whenever the time for tax collection came. There were things lords needed to do that he’d never bothered to explain to her. If she was going to inherit his title and his possessions, she would have to learn what those things were. The thought made her grimace. She had always been better with words than numbers.

She looked over the edge of the balcony into the bailey. Adamus was below, carrying the corpse of a guard out of the castle. Azreth had healed his injuries, and he was looking nearly recovered from the previous night. The Paladin had lined up the dead neatly along the outer castle wall. Raiya would need to make arrangements to notify their relatives of their deaths.

“Adamus,” she called. “I wonder if I could ask another favor of you.”

He rested his hands on his hips and stretched his back. “I’m at your service, as always, lady.”

Azreth made a soft, almost imperceptible sound of annoyance deep in his chest, which Raiya ignored.

“I remember you saying that you know about law and accounting.”

“A little, yes.”

“With my husband gone, I will need some help learning my duties and getting our books straight. Would you be willing to stay and help me?”

Adamus looked surprised. He tilted his head at her and Azreth as he thought about it. “What are you paying?”

She blushed a little. “I’m not sure what amount would be appropriate for such work. You’d have to educate me about that, too.”

“I’d be happy to stay a while and help you set things in order. You can count on me.”

Azreth made another, slightly louder, sound of annoyance. “The castle is going to become a zoo at this rate.”

Raiya looked up at him. “How do you know what a zoo is? Do they have them in the hells?”

“No. Jai told me it’s a place in the capital of Ardani where they keep all kinds of animals.”

“Ah. I imagine you’d like to see a place like that.”