"Where are we going?"

"To our bedroom."

"We're not staying in the guest room anymore? I thought that you wanted to have complete ownership first."

"We are, for a little while longer. I just wanted to show it to you. As for having complete ownership, it was only because I didn't want to get attached to anything or find something and become sentimental. This room used to belong to my parents."

We walked up the large staircase, it was grand but it was a little run down. Hendrick had let this place go, it worried me that it would fall down and we wouldn't have any money to repair this place.

"How much is in the budget to repair this place?"

"Not a lot. We will have to go room by room and figure out what is important and what can wait. I haven't been in any of them yet, Hendrick stated that I was not permitted until my claim had been accepted."

We'd reached the end of the wide corridor, passing several closed doors on our path here. Pulling a key from his pocket, Alaric unlocked and opened the door. He turned to me with a wide smile and then leaned down. I yelped when he lifted me into his arms, my legs draped over one arm. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I frowned hard.

"Warning would be nice."

"There's no fun in that."

Stepping forward, Alaric turned and used his back to push open the doors. As he turned, I saw the smile drop from his face. The room was vast, decorated with a rich green brocade wallpaper and that's it. This large room was empty.

"Is it meant to be empty?"

"No."

Carefully Alaric put my feet on the ground and looked around. Alaric looked around, disheartened. Hearing footsteps, I turned and saw Silas and Nisha walking toward us, Ilsen a few steps behind.

"All the doors are locked." Silas grumped. "But I would imagine that they are exactly the same."

"It is, I'm afraid."

Everyone turned to Ilsen, he offered a sheepish smile.

"All unnecessary objects were removed as ordered by Hendrick. They were sold and the money," He shrugged uneasily.

"Where did Hendrick rest of a day?"

"A room on the first level. I have not been in it as yet but I can show it to you if you like."

"Very much so," Alaric grumped.

We followed Ilsen down the stairs and through the corridors. Next to the office where Ilsen had been creating many fake documents to get Alaric through tonight, there was a room.

"This is it. Did anyone search Hendrick's body before he was dumped?"

"I did," Silas said. "You'd be looking for keys. I kept them for my search tomorrow."

Silas held up the large ring with a lot of keys on it, Ilsen took it and searched through them.

"The one with the star scratched into it." He said, showing it to us. "It's the only one that is noticeably different from the others."

Turning, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, handing the keys back to Silas. Alaric stepped in, followed by Nisha and Silas. I walked in after them, standing at the threshold. Ilsen was beside me, glancing briefly, showing his own distaste.

The room was simple. One window, completely covered. Coffin to the side and desk and computer on the other side. Ilsen walked into the room, sitting down and turned on the computer. While the computer started up, Alaric opened the only drawer in the desk and looked in it. He pulled out a little black notebook, flicking through the pages.

"Does that mean anything to you?"

Ilsen looked at the open book that Alaric held out for him.

"I'd say that's the password and customer number for his bank account."

I frowned, watching what Ilsen did. Curious about what he'd find, I stepped closer. With a ta-da, Ilsen gained access to the bank account and then there was silence.

"I've never seen so many digits." I murmured.

Nisha huffed.

"Gee, I wonder where all our family's money went."

Ilsen opened up the account, it was endless transactions of money going into the account. Years and years of deposits, slowly accruing into something that was monstrously huge.

"Well, it's about to go back." Ilsen murmured as he stood. "Here, sit down and enter your bank details."

Alaric sat down, frowning as he looked up at Ilsen.

"Is this legal?"

"Hendrick had no children, he was an only child and his parents are dead. There is no one to give anything to, that is if it was legitimately his which it is not. This number here," Ilsen said, pointing to the screen. "It's the royal account. He was stealing it from the funds that were collected through the taxes."

"What about the drug money?"

Ilsen took hold of the mouse, moving back to the main page of the bank website. There were several accounts, he clicked on one and opened it.

"This has regular deposits from several different accounts. At least he's kept them separate."

He lifted upright, turning to face us.

"The issue that you will face is that when the other leaders find out he's dead is that they will want details. If you're undecided as to the minor things like this, they'll appoint someone to look after his affairs. They will investigate and after many months of searching, they will report their findings and recommendations. Given that the royal purse has been stolen from, it is extremely likely that this person will recommend that the money is returned but as for the rest of it, it is unclear what could happen. What you need to think about is this investigation could take a few days, it could take months. All that time without this money which is desperately needed."

Alaric was quiet as he thought about it, his gaze lifted to me and the frown lifted.

"Ilsen, do you agree that I am the rightful heir to the throne?" Alaric asked as he turned back to Ilsen.

"Yes, of course. We proved it."

"Great then as your leader, I appoint you as that someone who will look after Hendrick's affairs. The money that has been stolen from the royal account must be returned before we leave for the meeting."

Ilsen straightened with a diligent smile and a nod of acceptance.

"And the rest of the money is to be put into a new account, one that will be used to repair this city." Alaric took my hand as he turned to look at me, smiling softly. "My new wife would like to save the poor and unfortunate, one crack whore at a time."

I smiled, he was such a bastard. A beautiful bastard.

"We will repay his debt with the money he received when he dragged this city and her people into the gutter."

"As you wish."

I swear I don't think that I have seen a look of pride quite like the one on Silas's face. It was like he'd realized that his thoughts about not being the best teacher to these two weren't correct. That maybe he'd done better than he'd anticipated. He had, Alaric and Nisha weren't perfect but no one was. Perfect was boring.

He worried that he hadn't shown them what it was like for a couple to love each other but I'm sure that it happened to a lot of people. I guess Silas was preparing himself to be the scapegoat if tonight failed. It wouldn't fail, it was going to be fine.

Ilsen picked up the laptop, handing it to Silas. After taking the black book off the table, Ilsen followed him out of the room. I could hear their conversation in the next room, the walls were paper thin.

"Later lovebirds."

Alaric was still holding my hand when Nisha walked out of the room. He pulled me down to his lap, I draped my arms over his shoulders.

"You are too sweet."

"Yeah, I know."

"And so modest too."

He nodded playfully, a cheekiness in his face.

"It was the right thing to do, Emme. He's reveled in their misery and if this town is going to prosper then it needs to happen everywhere. We start at the bottom and work our way up. Help those who can't help themselves."

"You know that you won't be able to help everyone."

Reluctantly, Alaric nodded.

"It's better to try than do nothing at all."

"True."

Silence hit us for a moment, an underlying unease in the future was gripping our moods. If we weren't careful, it could lower the mood and create a monster inside of us that would drag us down.

"Beyond tonight and the next few weeks and months repairing this place and this city, what do you want?"

"Lots of fun under the sheets with you."

I huffed a soft laugh.

"Cute but not what I meant."

Alaric shrugged. I hoped to lift the mood because he always seemed to brighten when talking about the future. Even in just the question, I could see his mood lift.

"Not sure. We want to expand along this coastline, so I guess taking over the province to the south and to the north along the canyon. First, we prosper, then we consume. Sound good?"

I nodded, leaning in for a kiss.

"After tonight," I said as I stood upright.

"Yes. You need to get out of that pretty dress and into something much more decadent."

As he stood, Alaric took my hand. Together we walked to our temporary bedroom that might be not so temporary.

The time for leaving for the meeting was drawing closer. There would not be enough time for misbehavior, that would have to wait until we returned. Alaric closed the door and turned to me.

Sitting on the stool in the dressing room, I pulled the pins out of my hair and carefully removed the crown. I'd wanted to change before wandering through the house but Alaric was insistent that it had to be done at that moment. He wanted a fun moment and it turned into something that was momentarily annoying. In the long run, it proved to be for the best. If we'd gone into the meeting without knowing about the secret bank accounts, we might have had to wait for months for access to them.

With my hair free of pins and hanging loose, Alaric hummed with delight, pulling on the curls and watching them bounce back.

"Having fun?"

He nodded. The zip on my back began to lower, I looked at his amused gaze that lifted to the mirror.

"I thought we didn't have time to play."

"We don't. I'm going to tease you so that you want me so bad that you can't keep your eyes off me."

An effective way to make me stop glowering at him which apparently, I did a lot. Alaric made me turn on the seat to face him, shimmying the dress up to my hips in the process. The dress was lifted and tossed onto the nearby chair.

Kneeling in front of the stool, Alaric pulled me forward, tilting my hips up. His lips moved over my stomach, I gasped and smiled. He was moving lower and I was ready for a few minutes of amazing pleasure.

Reaching my groin, Alaric nuzzled the lacy apex, sliding his tongue over it. The wickedness was shining brightly on his face and when he stood, I realized how wicked he was.

"Seriously?" I snapped.

"I said that I was going to tease you so that you want me. Job done. In the meantime, I have a shower meeting to attend."

"Oh no you don't," I said tersely. "If I don't get relief then you don't either."

The bastard laughed, slamming the bathroom door in my face. My hands went to my hips as I narrowed my eyes at the door, lips pressed tight.

"You're looking at me like I'm an idiot again."

"How would you know that when the door is shut?"

The door opened, Alaric was down to his shorts. It did not help the situation at all.

"Because I know you. It's crazy, I know but it's true."

He walked out and pulled a shirt out of the drawer. It was like he was taking his time to get dressed, making the entire experience extremely difficult for me. Tease me, make me want him, keep me looking at him with heat in my eyes. Yes, he was very good at this.

"Get dressed Emme, you can't go to the meeting in your underwear."

"Well, I could."

"It would certainly get you noticed."

I pulled on the jeans that Nisha had picked. Straight and tight, black and without a single tear. They weren't my issue, I didn't care what the jeans looked like. It was the almost indecent top and the killer heels. Thankfully, I could wear a jacket and I wouldn't have to walk far.

The top wasn't that bad. I had to remove the bra, something that Alaric approved of for while we were here, out there I don't think he liked it too much. It was a corset top with lace overlay and if it weren't for the overlay, I think he would have had words with his sister. She clearly had a penchant for corsets and I was being subjected to her obsession.