Having a Prince in your house is like having a tiger in your living room. You can't ignore it, and if you move too fast, it might eat you.
"Since I am staying," Kaelen announced the next morning, draped over my father's favorite velvet armchair like he owned the province, "I've decided to assist with the estate's recovery. You've done a… passable job with the books, Elara. But the people are still hungry."
I nearly dropped my pen. "Assist? Your Highness, you are a General. A warrior. Surely you have better things to do than help me calculate the yield-per-acre of turnips."
"I am also the man who holds the warrant for your arrest," he reminded me with a sharp, toothy grin. "Consider this a probationary period. I want to see where the rest of the Lexen money went. The five million you 'found' was just the interest, wasn't it?"
He's too smart. It's actually annoying.
"I haven't a clue what you mean," I lied, my voice smooth as silk. "But if you wish to be useful, the southern irrigation canals are clogged with silt. It's quite muddy. Very un-princely work."
"Perfect," he said, standing up. "We leave in ten minutes. And Elara? Wear something you don't mind getting dirty."
The southern canals were a disaster—partly because of neglect, and partly because I had been using the maintenance funds to buy gold bullion.
As we stood on the muddy bank, Kaelen stripped off his heavy formal jacket, revealing a white linen shirt that strained against his shoulders. I caught myself staring for three seconds too long.
Focus, Elara. He's the enemy. He's the guy who cuts heads off.
"The villagers say the water stopped flowing a month ago," Kaelen said, looking down into the muck. "If the crops fail, the Crown loses tax revenue. And if the Crown loses revenue, I get grumpy."
"I'll get a shovel," I sighed.
But as I stepped toward the mud, my foot hit something hard. Something that didn't feel like a rock.
Clink.
My heart stopped. I recognized that sound. It was the sound of a heavy, metal-reinforced crate.
Oh no. I remembered now. My father hadn't just used offshore accounts. He was a paranoid man. He had buried "Emergency Chests" all over the property. And according to my mental map, Chest #4 was buried... right here.
"What was that?" Kaelen asked, his golden eyes narrowing. He stepped into the mud, his expensive boots sinking instantly.
"A... turtle!" I yelled. "A very rare, metallic-shelled Lexen Turtle! They're endangered! We shouldn't disturb it!"
Kaelen didn't listen. He reached into the silt and hauled upward. With a wet squelch, a small, iron-bound chest rose from the mud. It wasn't huge, but it was heavy.
"That's a very strange-looking turtle, Elara," Kaelen said, wiping the mud off the lock.
"It's... a time capsule!" I tried, my brain firing at maximum capacity. "A Lexen tradition! We bury our... deep regrets... in the mud!"
Kaelen pulled a dagger from his belt and snapped the rusted lock in one motion. He flipped the lid open.
Inside weren't "regrets." It was filled to the brim with uncut rubies. Thousands of them, glowing like dragon's blood in the afternoon sun.
The silence that followed was deafening. Even the birds in the trees seemed to stop chirping to see how I'd get out of this one.
Kaelen picked up a ruby the size of a pigeon's egg. He held it up to the light, then looked at me. "Your mother's gambling stash again?"
I looked at the rubies. I looked at the Prince. I looked at the exit to the estate.
"Actually," I said, my voice trembling only slightly. "That's the Lexen... Emergency Cabbage Fund? In case of a very specific, ruby-based famine?"
Kaelen stepped out of the mud, dripping wet, and walked right into my personal space. He held the ruby against my cheek. The stone was cold, but his breath was hot.
"Elara," he whispered, his voice dangerously low. "Every time I dig a hole in this province, I find a fortune. Are you a Villainess, or are you just a walking, talking treasury?"
"I'm a woman who values financial security," I squeaked.
"Good," Kaelen said, tucking the ruby into his own pocket. "Because I've decided. You aren't going to the guillotine. That would be a waste of talent."
I felt a surge of relief—until he finished his sentence.
"You're going to come back to the Capital with me. You're going to be the new Imperial Treasurer. And if you try to embezzle even a single copper... I'll marry you just so I can legally seize all your assets."
My jaw hit the mud.
Wait. Was that a threat? Or a proposal? Or a hostile corporate takeover?
"I... I have to decline!" I shouted as he started walking back to the manor. "I'm retiring! I have an island to buy!"
"Pack your bags, Elara," Kaelen called back without looking. "We leave in a week. And bring the rubies. We have a lot of 'cabbages' to buy for the Empire."
I stood in the mud, staring at his retreating back. I came here to escape death, and now I was being kidnapped to run the national budget for a man who looked at me like I was his favorite golden coin.
"This," I muttered, kicking a clump of mud, "was not in the spreadsheet."