Chapter 13
My household needed correction.
Again.
I was beginning to dislike how often betrayal revealed architectural flaws in my life.
Althea had been able to move Elowen through my service entrance without anyone notifying me.
Why?
Because I had given my fiancée broad guest privileges.
Reasonable.
Then staff learned not to question private requests.
Less reasonable.
I changed the rule.
Any guest staying in a private room overnight or transported through restricted service access required independent registration with the house steward.
Not surveillance.
Accountability.
More importantly, employees could not be used as leverage through threats of dismissal without direct review.
If someone said:
Gareth will fire you.
The employee now had a clear path to verify.
My old captain complained:
“People should know whether an order sounds like you.”
“No.”
That was romantic nonsense.
People are not mind readers.
Systems should not depend on guessing my personality correctly.
Direct verification.
Simple.
Then I asked Sabella what she needed.
Not what role.
What protection.
She thought.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“If somebody says you’ll fire me because of something my family did, I want to hear it from you.”
Fair.
“Done.”
Then she smiled faintly.
“Preferably before my mother disappears for six months.”
I almost laughed.
May you like
Good.
Humor is sometimes scar tissue learning to bend.
