Archie
I called Thea into my study the following afternoon, a decision I'd been considering for weeks now, ever since the conversation in the kitchen when she'd given her blessing so emotionally that it had lingered with me long after the moment passed.
She stood in the doorway with her usual composed posture when I gestured for her to sit, though something in her expression looked slightly wary, like she wasn't entirely certain what the summons meant.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," I said, sliding a folder across the desk toward her. "Your compensation. I've had the accounting department review the standard rates for household staff in your position, and frankly, I think you've been undervalued for years, well before I ever took over managing the estate directly."
She open
