The following week Bianca got busy with the stores in the palace. Tymir had taken her for inspection and she saw that the grain supply was only going down. Obviously she couldn't expect people to pay taxes so soon. The crop wouldn't just grow within a week of marriage.

"The people of Aztec have always been catered by the palace during Samobian. So we need to make arrangements," said Tymir. He smirked behind her back for trying to poke her nose in palace works. The girl had just come a week back and was thinking that she could manage such a large festival. Samobian was being celebrated after over a thousand years and he wouldn't let her ruin his plans. He wanted to feast everyone.

​​

"Yes, we need to make solid arrangements," said Bianca, as she crossed to the second store.

Tymir grimaced. The way she was telling as if she knew what to do. He wasn't liking the fact that an eighteen year girl would take reins over the work that he was supposed to look after. "In my opinion, Your Highness, you must let me look after it. I can manage it pretty well!" he suggested impatiently. He wanted her gone as soon as possible.

"Of course Tymir, you can manage it well, but I wanted to inspect and look at the true condition of our stock. I don't want people of Aztec to complain later on. At the same time I see that we are very low on grains. At the rate it is going on," she pointed at the sacks, "we will soon be out of stock. Then what is going to happen once Samobian is over?"

"Your Highness, even after the festival, we will be having food grains!" he said with exasperation. There would be at least one month's supply in the palace for us. After that taxes will start pouring in. People will start paying and our stocks will increase again!" He pinched the bridge of his nose. This girl was absolutely an idiot.

Bianca turned to look at him. "Do you mean to say that crops in Aztec grow magically?"

He jerked his head back and there was a look of shock in his eyes. "No! What I mean is that the king is going to levy heavy taxes on the people and we will restore it back."

"And how do you know that the king is going to do that?"

"Well, I will be submitting him a report about the stock of the grains by the end of the festival and according to that he will take action."

"Ah!" Bianca was utterly shocked that Brantley was so heavily dependent on his staff. But this was normal. How would he go around accounting his palace stores? He had other duties than this. Also in that case, Tymir was an important person in this chain. So it became all the more important for her to review the stores. "Take me to every store that is present in the palace. Get a paper and pen for me to account for it. I will be noting down everything. Once it is done, you will be sitting with me along with the head cook to discuss the food we would be serving to the people who would come here for the festival."

Tymir balked. "Your Highness, this is my work. You should leave it to me. I can take care of it. Why don't you go and order some exotic jewelry for yourself? That would suit your position more." What he meant was that Bianca was stooping low and doing something, which suited the servants.

Frown lines appeared on her forehead. "As a hostess of the festivities and mistress of the palace, I think it is my responsibility to take note of all that is there in the stores of the palace. So please take me," she said adamantly much to Tymir's discomfiture.

Silence spread between them.

He gritted his teeth and waved his hand to the next store. "Be my guest," he said and narrowed his eyes. He was going to give the girl a good punishment for meddling in his affairs.

It took an entire day for her to review all the stores and by the end of it, she was ready with all her notes. When she came back to her bedchamber by evening, she was extremely tired. She took a bath, wore her nightgown and then went back to calculating the stock. And according to her calculations—

"And what is my girl doing?" asked Brantley, kissing the top of the crown of her head. He had just come back after assessing the southern part of his kingdom.

Bianca was sitting with her legs up on the table where she was writing her notes. She chewed the pencil's wood and said, "We are pretty low on stocks, Brantley. In my opinion, having Samobian at this time is going to throw us all several years back. If we give feast to the people, who I assume are going to arrive in thousands, we are going to finish with our grains very soon. This means that you would tax them heavily in the coming months. We haven't gone more than a week in spring and obviously the crop doesn't get ready so fast. How in the hell are we going to manage it?" She would have asked Uncle Caleb, but that would have been just too much. He had already sent a large number of grain sacks for her marriage and saved them. Asking again would be pretty embarrassing.

He sighed and walked to sit on the bed. She turned to look at him. "It is an issue I had thought about the minute Arnik informed me. I have sent a message to Lazarus to help us. With the message I have invited him over for Samobian."

Bianca's eyes flew wide open. "The vampire?" Her mother had often mentioned about Lazarus and his bride Emma, but she had never met him. Mother had said that he had come to see her and Darius when they were young kids, which Bianca never remembered.

"Yes, the vampire!" rasped Brantley. "He is an ally."

Bianca shifted uneasily in her chair. "Umm… what about his food?" she asked hesitantly.

He stared at her and a moment later said, "As far as I know Lazarus brings his food with him. Remember, I told you about blood vassals?"

She nodded curiously.

"They travel with him religiously wherever he goes."

"Oh my God!" Bianca said in a breathy voice. She blinked her eyes as her heartbeat increased. "In that c— case—" she stuttered, "we have to find a room for him where there is no sunlight?"

"Yes," said Brantley and tilted his head. He beckoned her with his finger. She kept her pen and notepad on the table and walked to him. He pulled her in his lap and kissed her on her lips. Appearing relaxed, he said, "Are you afraid?"

"No," she shook her head. "I am just… intrigued."

He chuckled. "That's natural."

"But I have a proposition to combat this situation on our own."

"Tell me about it," he replied, pinching her chin and stroking her bottom lip with his thumb. "And then I will tell you what to do."

---

Bianca clenched her fists around her dress and her knuckles cracked as she looked at the main worktable of the kitchen. After a lot of planning she had asked the cook to prepare samples of every dish that was on the menu list. Tymir was standing right there, grimacing and fuming.