Page 16 of Chosen (The Registry #2)

I stare down at the steward’s bloodied face. He has passed out either from the pain or the shock. Though he carries superious blood, he is no fighter. I pull myself away from him and stand.

“Johra, take him to the infirmary and once he’s given treatment, see that he’s held in his quarters for questioning.

Johra lifts the unconscious steward and exits my office, leaving me and Braeden, and the two homo sapien maids who are now cowering in the corner. The one with muddy brown hair has pissed herself as demonstrated by the puddle of urine pooled at her feet.

And the chef, a superious who had been recommended for one of the elite households from out west. His head was down not daring to make eye contact.

“What is happening here?” Braeden asks. “Why did you attack Lawreynce?”

“Attack…” I repeat that word slowly. “Perhaps you should be asking why he thought he could disrespect me to my face.”

“Fine, if that was the case, you could have come to me. I would have handled it. We both know your temper can get the better of you. The sign of a good leader is to know when to control yourself, cousin.” The words though spoken gently is a cutting reminder of my shortcomings.

But I’m then reminded of the condition Jamie had been living in this past week in my absence.

“Come to you for what, Braeden? If the disrespect is directed toward me, I am the one responsible for handling the repercussions.”

Braeden nods. “Of course. But word spreads if you understand my meaning.”

“If your only reason for coming to my office is to criticize my conduct then perhaps we can save this conversation for a later time.”

Braeden’s eyes widen. “Must we have this conversation in front of the servants?” He shoots a look in the direction of the three others in the room.

“Need I remind you that you’re the one who inserted yourself into this situation?”

“Clearly I needed to, judging by the state of our steward.”

I raise a brow. Our ? It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him that every servant under this roof fell under my rule but I held back and reminded myself that he has been by my side from the beginning.

I take a deep calming breath before I reply.

“I left instructions to be followed before I was called away on my emergency trip and they weren’t followed. In fact, it seems that the ones in charge of my breeders care had gone out of their way to make her stay uncomfortable.”

Braeden frowns. “Make her uncomfortable? I don’t understand. Has she not been given the accommodations suited for someone in her position. I understand there had been a slight mix up with her rooms but after that, as far as I know she’s been taken care of by her maids.”

While I was away for the week, Braeden was in charge of the fortress. He’d given me no indication that he was aware of the situation with Jamie.”

“What mix up?”

He hesitates and waves his hand dismissively.

“I think Lawreynce might have mentioned it in passing, when we spoke about a minor issue. Don’t ask me what it was about, I was busy all week in your absence.

I made sure everything ran smoothly in your stead.

If there’s an issue with the servants, I can handle it from here.

There’s several documents that need your attention pertaining to your visits around the sector this past week. ”

“That won’t be necessary. I will handle this matter myself.”

“Sector Leaders usually leave minor details such as these to their subordinates,” Braeden counters.

“I will be the one to decide what details I will handle.”

His turns a deep shade of red but quickly recovers and straightens his shoulders. “Of course. You are the Sector Leader. May I at least remain here while you question these staff members?”

“Why? Do you think I need a guardian?” I retort, more than a little perturbed by his implications.

He shakes his head. “Of course not. But as your back up, wouldn’t it help if I’m aware of any issues around the fortress. That way, I’d be ready to step in in case there are any more issues.”

That made sense and it would have been unreasonable of me to deny him the request over a mild disagreement. “Fine.”

I finally return my attention to the three remaining servants. “Chef, do you care to explain the slop that was served to my breeder.”

He falls to his knees and clasps his hand in supplication. “I was only following orders, My Lord. Please have mercy!”

“Who ordered you to give my breeder inedible food?”

He raises his head, and looks at me and then looks to Braeden before looking back at me. “Ugh, the steward. He said that I could feed her the leftovers off the Enforcer’s plates.”

He shoots another look in Braeden’s direction. Maybe he thinks my second-in-command will save him but I disabuse him of that notion immediately.

“Chancellor Braeden can’t save you now. Look at me. I want my face to be the last one you see.”

I raise my clawed hand and he yells out, “But Chancellor Braeden?—”

Braeden beats me to him, inserting a dagger in the chef’s head before the other man can get his words out. The chef’s lifeless body falls to the ground.

I’d forgotten about that dagger Braeden keeps on his hip because he doesn’t have the ability to shift like I do. I’ve only seen him use his weapon a few times, but every time he has it’s been with deadly precision.

“Begging for mercy like a coward,” Braeden says with disgust and spits on the chef’s corpse.

“Unless the two of you wish to share the same fate, you will tell the Sector Leader who gave you the order to abuse the breeder, serve her tainted food?”

The dark-haired one called Sahra, according her to file speaks. “It was the steward. It was all him. We were simply following orders. Please have mercy on us, Chancellor Braeden. We promise this will never happen again.”

Braeden raises his dagger, but I stay his hand. “There are punishments far worse than death. Have them reassigned to the pits. I want them out of the fortress within the hour.”

Braeden looks at the cowering maids who cling to each other in tears.

Unable to stand the sight of them, I head out the door but stop when my cousin calls out to me.

“Should I have new maids assigned to your breeder?”

“From here on out, I will oversee the assignments around here.” I reply without turning around.

“But—”

I turn on my heel and shoot him a glare.

Whatever he was going to say dies on his tongue.

“Make sure this body has been removed by the time I return.”

I walked away without doing any actual killing myself but I’m left with a nagging sensation in the back of my head.

Something isn’t right.