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They would be safe. Safer than I had ever been.
8
SHARA
Gina was waiting for me inside with Harvey, though everyone else had gone to their rooms.
“I won’t keep you long.” Her lips curved with a knowing quirk. “But I would like to give you a few quick updates.” At my nod, she continued. “Winston is working with the kitchen staff to ensure all the Bloods’ dietary needs are available. They’re converting one of the walk-ins to hold more fresh meat. Harvey will of course give you or your Blood a complete tour of the house when you’re ready. Frank is working with some local security companies to get a few human guards on staff too, and of course the rest of the staff are fully vetted. Many of them remember your mother and aunt, though of course a few new faces have been hired over the years. But I expected security would be your primary concern in such a large city.”
“I prefer to have eyes up high so we can see what’s coming,” Rik admitted. “With so many houses and people around, I don’t feel like it’s safe to send Blood up, even at night.”
“We used to have roof access,” Lew said. “Is that still possible?”
“Absolutely,” Harvey replied. “The door has remained locked all these years but as soon as we received word Your Majesty would be coming, we unlocked all access.”
“If you’d like, I can take a few of the winged Blood up and show them around,” Lew offered to Rik.
“That’d be great. Let’s start with Mehen, Vivian, and Tlacel.”
I reached out to touch Lew’s arm. “Thank you.”
Simple words—with so much meaning. Thank you for stepping back and allowing Rik to make the decisions without any friction, even in a house where Lew himself had been alpha for possibly centuries. For always being helpful without any aggression, willing to work with anyone. Even though he was more experienced and knew the layout of the house, he didn’t make any assumptions about what Rik needed or might do to keep me secure.
Lew snagged my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. “Always, Your Majesty.” Then he took the winged Blood toward the stairs.
“Charles Valois has been acting as our primary liaison with the Valois siblings,” Gina continued. “He’s been entirely forthcoming with contract details, reaching out to the remaining siblings to determine who may wish to stay aligned with House Isador. Which leads to my next question before he even asks. Would you consider hiring him as a consiliarius?”
I only thought for a second or two and shook my head. “I get it might have been a derogatory assignment to simply be the doorman during such a high-stakes gathering of queens at his house, but if he’d handled that job with more care, Rosalind would’ve known immediately which one of us was wearing the Mysteries. He brought us into the circle together, rather than one at a time. A simple mistake but it proved to be fatal for his queen and house. A man of his age and experience should’ve known better.”
Frowning, Gina nodded. “I agree. I have no complaints about his assistance, but there’s just something about him that sets my teeth on edge. We need the help, but he’s so ingratiating I find myself distrusting everything he says.”
“Then I’m even more confident in refusing him. We get what we need and send him on his way. The sooner the better.”
Relief eased across her face and she smiled. “I have more business to discuss, as always, but that’s the only pressing matter I wished to run by you. Good night, Your Majesty.”
“Do we need to be up and around at a specific time tomorrow?”
Shaking her head, she laughed. “They wait upon you, my queen. Everyone should be in town by midday tomorrow if you’d like to have them gathered for an evening presentation.”
“Do we need more than a few hours to prepare? I’m assuming they’ll come here to swear fealty to House Isador. As far as I’m concerned, we can sell the Valois house or give it to one of the new siblings. I don’t care about it.”
She rolled her eyes and covered her heart with her hand. “Your words wound me, my queen. If all the siblings were already in Paris, we could have them presented to you within the hour. Right, Harvey?”
He bowed at the waist. “We stand ready, Your Majesty. The ballroom can hold up to one-hundred guests comfortably, but we also have overflow capacity in the garden and salon. If you wish to have them all dine here as well, that might be more of a challenge, though we could accomplish a formal dinner as well.”
“Let’s plan to swear them in around five or six tomorrow. I may invite some of them to stay for dinner, just so I can get to know them better. How many can we comfortably seat at the table we used when I arrived?”
“The primary dining room can comfortably accommodate twenty-four dinner guests.”
The thought of having so many queens watching me eat gave me the heebie-jeebies, so I only laughed and shook my head. “I’m thinking three or four more queens at most, depending on what Carys says. I’d like to pick someone to hold the city for me when I’m not in attendance.”
He inclined his head again—but not before I saw the sheer glee sparkling in his eyes. He fucking loved hosting even a modest dinner party, let alone all the siblings. “Excellent, Your Majesty. Any requests for the menu? Or shall we discuss further tomorrow morning?”
“The only thing I don’t like is liver. Everything else, I leave to your judgment. Everything we had was delicious.”
“Understood, Your Majesty. Magnum, Winston, and I will consult with the chef and come up with a menu to amaze and astound.”
“Sounds good. Thank you, Harvey. I appreciate everyone taking on such sudden and massive responsibilities so quickly.”
