Blood Double (God Wars #1)(19)

Breanne? Flavio's voice floated into my mind.

Yes? I didn't expect it to work. Flavio and I were both surprised.

Adam asked me to tell you that he, Merrill and Kiarra have been called away on assignment. You'll be here for the next few days to attend Council meetings. Contact me through mindspeech if you need anything.

Thank you, Flavio. If you hadn't come, I think Gavin would have hit me.

If he touches you, I would not want to be him when Adam and Merrill learn of it. I must go, now. Hold your head up. For the moment, you are Queen. Flavio's mental voice left me, then. I sighed and set about removing the coronet and changing clothes.

Gavin was gone an hour later when I ventured outside the bathroom. More than thankful that he'd taken his anger elsewhere, I walked out of the Queen's suite and wandered toward the kitchen. I was hungry and dinner had passed long ago.

Their voices came to me minutes before I arrived in the kitchen. They were all chattering away about the five Council seats to be portioned out to the comesuli. I walked in to find Cheedas stirring something vigorously with a whisk. The conversation died among at least eight comesuli. I went to the cold keeper, pulled out a bottle of blood substitute and walked out again. Silence reigned for moments after as I made my way to the Queen's suite.

*

"Someday, I'll have to figure out how you get in here. You're too big to fit under the door." The friendly snake was back on my bed when I woke. I stroked his head while he blinked sleepily at me. "Come on, handsome, I have to get up and go face ugly vampires again." I pulled away from him carefully—he'd laid his head on my shoulder to sleep. He'd gotten into bed without waking me, too, and that was extremely unusual. I'd been tired, though, the night before, and facing another meeting only added to the weariness.

*

"Is there anything you have planned for today's meeting that isn't scheduled?" Gavin hissed as he grabbed my elbow.

"Probably not, but you and that herd of mates the Queen has should consider taking some of the Casino City tax money to fund the palace and pay her a salary. As of now, she's draining the gold reserves beneath the ice cap to pay for everything. I've looked at the expenses. If things continue as they are, even without taking inflation into consideration, that reserve will be drained in less than two hundred years. While that might not matter to most mortal politicians, it should matter to her, and to you and to the rest of her bunch."

"How would you know what matters to us?" he growled.

"You know, that's probably the most stupid thing you've ever said." I stared into his dark eyes. I knew what he cared about; he cared about Lissa—to distraction. He should be worried that her finances might be in disarray in two hundred years, or that she could be destitute before then. He blinked at me, stunned for a moment. Yes, I knew something about budgeting. For forty years, I'd had to account to someone for every penny spent, and little of that money had been spent on me.

*

During the Council meeting the following morning, Gavin had sent mindspeech to Flavio, who brought up the subject during more budget discussions. "It has been brought to my attention that the Queen's resources are being depleted, while she continues to pay for meetings here, and for the staff to take care of us and arrange tours and keep records," Flavio began. "We have not broached this subject for the past twenty-five years, but I see that it should be considered again. I suggest that an additional three percent be added to the taxes collected from Casino City and be handed to the Crown to cover expenses."

That set off another session of debates. "What do you think, my Queen?" A vampire, who was just as weary as I was with all the verbal pushing and shoving, asked.

"Three percent is too much. Half that would cover the expenses and leave a small amount for emergencies," I replied.

"Then I suggest two percent," Flavio said. "We need a rainy-day fund."

"Then one-and-a-half to support the Crown and half a percent for a rainy-day fund," I said. Shockingly enough, the measure was passed with only a small amount of discussion. Gavin stood by, his face unreadable to everyone except me.

"Congratulations, you just raised taxes in Casino City by two percent," Flavio grinned as we walked toward the Queen's suite.

"Twelve percent is a bargain," I grumbled. "We have the lowest business taxes in the Reth Alliance. I hope all those grumpy vampires realize that."

"Most of them do, but they still want to complain," Flavio grinned. He was the handsomest man I'd ever seen, and loved his mate Kyler very, very much. I was thinking about that when Grant appeared at our side in a blur.

"I already have the messages sent to all the businesses, telling them the new tax rate goes into effect next month," he said. "Heathe and I got it done in record time."

"Good," I nodded at Grant. "Thank you."

"At least we can stop draining Niff's accounts to pay for stuff," he said. He would know about that—he co-owned Niff's Ice Cream Shops with Heathe and the Queen.

"You can stop draining Niff's accounts to pay for stuff," I agreed, smiling at Grant. "I didn't tell them what else I wanted to do, either," I said.

"What's that?"

"To raise the price of the tour tickets. They haven't gone up since they started, and prices certainly haven't stayed still for what those tickets buy for the comesuli."