“How are you?” he asked sternly. “Are you taking it easy?”
“Fine, fine,” she said brusquely.
He reached the reading room and began to pace, waiting for her to say why she had called.
But she was silent.
“Was there something you wanted, Slaite?” he asked. “Or did you just miss me?”
“Did the nanny arrive?” she asked tightly.
“She did,” he told her, choosing not to share that he had mixed her up with one of the new gardeners. And then nearly kissed her. “She’s settled in her rooms.”
“How is she?” Slaite asked without missing a beat. “What do you think?”
He frowned. There was no way he could say what he really thought, or that he couldn’t get her out of his mind.
“She’s fine,” he bit out.
“Fine?” Slaite asked suspiciously.
“She’s a nanny,” he said, not sure why he was suddenly feeling defensive. “She seems friendly enough, a little on the young side, maybe a little silly.”
It was what Slaite needed to hear, and probably exactly what he should be thinking if he wanted to keep his head in the right space.
“Better than the harlot before her,” Slaite remarked.
“Maybe she’ll be better than the last one,” he allowed. “But she’s going to have to meet a higher bar than that if I’m going to keep her on. The kids need structure and consistency. Now more than ever.”
“Let me come back today,” Slaite said, an edge of despair in her voice. “I’ll vet her again, this time in person. I can let her go if she’s not up to snuff.”
“I can fire nannies without your help,” he said lightly. “I’m handling some other staffing decisions while you’re away as well.”
“My Ruler,” she said, her voice breaking.
“You’ll always be my right-hand man,” he told her, sighing. “But I need you back at one hundred percent. And that means taking an actual break right now, not worrying about the palace and constantly calling in.”
She was silent.
“Can I count on you to relax and come back to me renewed?” he asked her gently.
“Yes, of course, My Ruler,” she said.
Her meek voice almost broke his heart, but he was right, and he knew it. No point humoring her. She needed the rest. She was literally jumping at shadows.
“Thanks, Madge,” he said gruffly. “See you later then.”
He swiped off his comms and sighed, running a hand through his hair as he looked out the rear window at the blue-green grounds of the palace.
Things were so much more complicated now. Back when he was on the campaign trail, no one had really expected him to win. That meant there had been room to experiment, to think outside the box.
Now that his new job was secured, he was ironically less free and more bound by customs than before.
The people of Ulfgard were diverse, but his Thyphian heritage still tended to be viewed as suspicious by almost all other beings. No one wanted their thoughts and emotions read. Even with his circlet on, Ba’sh found himself having to fight to earn the trust and loyalty of the people he would be relying on most.
But there was no point bemoaning fate. He was living the wildest dream of half the planet.
Which meant he had to get back to work.
Gathering himself, he strode back toward his study, knowing he could still knock out his whole schedule by dinnertime.
If he could just keep his mind off the girl…