“I have made my decision,” Alessandria turned to face the thief. “I hereby decree you are found guilty, but I will not charge you. You are to give back the coin and the food,”
The other woman nodded with thanks.
The thief fell to her knees with tears swelling up in her eyes.
“And I will write to the Head of the School Board and get your son a place at a good school. My family will pay for it. Providing you do not commit more crimes and your son becomes a doctor in the future for the people of my land,”
“Um, Miss. Of course, of course. Thank you!”
“Dismissed,” Alessandria waved them away.
All three women bowed and ran away.
Alessandria stretched her arms and felt the warm wood of the wooden throne as she heard heavy footsteps walking towards her.
As soon as she saw the blue and fiery armour, she knew it was Nemesio. Her complex memories returned to her mind as she remembered how the former Inquisitor got her brother kidnapped and tortured and tried to destroy her family. Yet he was trying to make amends, so she was putting up with him.
Although, she hated to admit looking at him in his tight armour was semi-pleasing. She shook the thoughts away as he stopped in front of her.
“Impressive judgement. Both people got what they wanted,”
“I try and that woman did the wrong thing for the right reasons,”
Nemesio smiled and nodded.
“Are you ready?” Nemesio asked.
Alessandria paused before saying: “Of course, we have this Queen thing again,”
“Yes. We are meant to be protecting the Queen,”
Alessandria stood up from her throne and they both started to walk towards the door.
“I know. I know. It’s been three weeks since she’s hired us and we still don’t know who’s trying to kill her,”
“One of my contacts said something might change today,”
“Well, Nemesio. Time to save a Queen,”
CHAPTER 2
Placing my large cream mug filled with almost black bitter coffee down on the desk, I signed another military contract and added it to the ever growing pile.
I do love having a clear desk as I admired the smooth oak wood of the desk with its lumps and bumps and the gold running in between random splits in the wood. Even the wooden draws and legs were covered in gold.
Of course, this was overkill but I wasn't going to deny the Queen when she gave me an office in the heart of the castle. Although, I have to admit the cold stone walls with no other furniture was boring. Perhaps I'll grab Harrison later and go shopping with him for some cabinets and decorations.
Personally, I don't see the big deal about having a big perfect homely office but my assistant was moaning earlier. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I prefer autistic people. None of us care about these little things as much.
Shaking my head at the thought of going shopping with all those people and the noise, I spun my dulled blade in my left hand and took another slip of my coffee. Letting my tongue enjoy the bitter chocolatey notes of the coffee.
Placing the mug back down, I breathed in coffee scents that filled the office and I made a note to thank Harrison for buying me this coffee. He said earlier that it was expensive since it came from far away. I told him that wasn't logical but he agreed and said that's what boyfriends are meant to do for one another. Not sure if I agree but I appreciated the gesture.
Returning to the task at hand, I looked at the last military contract on my desk and I opened it. Feeling the cold paper and its rough edges.
Although, as I read it, I got more and more confused. It was something about the Head of the Military requesting over a thousand men, two thousand swords and enough rations to last them a year.
My eyebrows rose. As the person who dealt with all the contracts for the family business I know this wasn't abnormal for the Military to order such large quantities from us. Since we control the Military trade in the country but I didn't understand why he would only pay a thousand coins to us. Especially, when all this would cost four times that to produce, not including the rations.