The teacup in Rayne’s hands was warm and the sensation was the only thing keeping her grounded in the current moment. Even in the midst of a meeting with a few notable parties. All her thoughts wanted to do were to go back to Hannah and pcing what that reaction was. Not being able to focus was quite possibly the only aspect of Rayne’s affection for Hannah that she didn’t like. Well, some parts of her liked it because it was something to think about other than work and it was nice to finally experience something she had only read in books up until this point. Maybe that wasn’t exactly true, so it might have been more accurate to say the first time she could acknowledge it for what it was.

  Luckily this meeting was full of people who she already closely worked with and trusted to keep up the conversations. It was rare for Rayne to be so silent during such a meeting but it did happen. Most that knew her well enough in the business sense thought it typically meant she had rge pns and ideas bouncing around in her head. Which was true most of the time. Sometimes though Rayne just wanted to be quiet and not put in all the effort, she wouldn’t tell people that.

  “The Arcina Guild says there’s to be good winds for most of the spring and summer ahead.”

  “Most is not all. As I recall there were talks of rge storms battering the lower coasts. We need to be careful because we estimate this year's yield will be rger with the recent expansions of the fields in Casiden. Wouldn’t want to lose out on that.”

  “No, but if we have expanded to a good degree then any loss would only put us back to what we were already making st year. Let’s not get greedy with our growth. Goddess only knows what happens to those who incur her anger with greed.”

  There was a scoff. “I think the Goddess cares little about greed. I would say she’s all for us taking what we need and growing as much as we can. The Empire has certainly done just that to great lengths in the past decade and there has been no retribution for it. We are the wealthiest nation above the Molten Seas.”

  “I wouldn’t be so certain of that,” Rayne said quietly, still looking down at her tea. Those words clearly made an impact on the men before her as they all waited for whatever she was about to say next. The only problem was that Rayne didn’t have a definitive answer as to her reasoning for such a statement. She did have an idea that stemmed from recent events and conversations but it was more just a thought and not something she would normally put stock into. Still, there was a familiar feeling deep down inside of her. It was almost like a desire for what will be, but not because that’s what she wanted but because it was what will be. “I am worried about the authenticity of wealth some hold, but I don’t think it’s something we as a company will have to worry about.”

  The looks given to her were not fully pleasant. Some were of doubt while some were of true worry. This wasn’t the direction the dy had wanted to take this, but the words had just flowed out of her. “While it has been pleasant that our market now includes those of rge wealth holding, that was not how this business started. We started as the tea of the working man. Providing high quality to all that want some regardless of wealth. I intend to stay that way regardless of what ones with more want.” Now the attention she was given grew more serious. “Storms don’t just equate to loss of product but also loss of life. When a ship goes down so do most of its crew and I will not be known as the company of willing sending sailors to their salty graves.

  “We can trust that weather will be pleasant as the Guild has said, but it is still a mostly, not an always. Heeding warnings of storms should take priority and I know we already have protocols in pce for stormy seasons, so it should be no different than that. Either way we stand to gain more than before from the mostly good seasons ahead, but let’s not encourage the wrath of our Goddess with greed. How much of a higher yield are we expecting exactly?”

  One of the gentlemen reached into his jacket before producing a small bck notebook. It didn’t take him long to find the right page. “We can expect at least a seven percent increase in certain spices but with a full potential of up to fifteen depending on how well the new fields take. Tea trees take longer to grow so no expected additional yield from the new fields for at least another two to three years.”

  It was always a little funny to Rayne that something like fifteen percent might not seem rge to the average person, but it truly could be in the business world. “I will not make any rash decisions on where that new profit will go, but I would prefer it not to be in our own pockets. I for one truly do not need any raise in pay over that of st year and I would hope all of you have managed your own wealth well enough to say the same. However there is always inftion in the market that, though we might not feel, our borers do, so I would like to help their pay so that it is less of a burden on them.”

  It was easy to see who agreed with her idea and who stood against it, but that was not a problem to solve today at this moment. The idea had been seeded and she needed to let it grow on them a little longer. Let them prepare to make arguments either way and give her time to make her own arguments strong enough that they couldn’t disagree.

  “Speaking of Casiden fields, I wanted to make sure you are all aware that Mr. Vestar will be visiting and staying with me during this year's social season. I want to make sure we are in the best of shape to keep our well standing retionship with his ventures going strong.”

  “The pretty man?”

  Rayne and Azaphan had only met two times in person over the years they had known each other, but in those two times they did spend a good while socializing. In Rayne’s personal opinion it was fair to consider Azaphan a pretty man, after all he was fairly pretty, just not in the direction he wanted. Compared to the average man he was decently feminine in appearance, but not overtly so in Rayne’s opinion, just enough that it was talked about. Though he hid his displeasure with his appearance well, even going so far as to use it to his own advantage (according to him, whatever that meant), Rayne could tell that there was some deep seated pain reted to it. She couldn’t help but sympathize with him considering what she had been through in her life.

  “He is quite attractive, but please do not go around calling him the pretty man. My family knows well enough to not test the patients of the people of Casiden, and I will not have our company testing it either.” Rayne didn’t like the strange looks she received at her words. They weren’t looks of disapproval strangely, but of surprise. One could even argue there was some discomfort in some of their looks. Why was that? She hadn’t said anything strange had she?

  After a few moments of awkward silence a member of the meeting asked, “Are we expecting to have more business with Mr. Vestar in the future?”

  “I have some ventures I would like to broach with the man, but it has been a good while since we have seen each other in person and I thought it would be nice to see a reliable business partner again.” There was no need to mention that she mostly asked him to come because he was the only person she knew with lip piercings. Now her mind was on Hannah again and what she would look like with those piercings. What would it be like to kiss her with them? Would Rayne be able to feel them against her lips? Would they be cold as metal normally is or would they be warm with the heat of Hannah’s body?

  It took a moment for Rayne to realize that the conversation around her hadn’t picked up after her words and was again greeted with strange looks. Some even sharing looks of mild discomfort between them. What was going on? There wasn’t a time that she could recall these men acting this way to her. At least not since she had proven herself a capable businesswoman. Were they doubting her ventures with Azaphan? “Regardless, I wanted you to be aware. I’m sure he will like to see some of our facilities so I would like to have some pns for that ahead of time.”

  Again there was a silence that was just a second too long to be comfortable. “We can have those pns sorted out soon enough. I’m sure some of our stores would be very happy to give him a tour.”

  “Wonderful.” Rayne looked over to the clock. The meeting had already gone on quite a while, and they were well past the important matters that needed to be discussed. It was really just pleasant talk at this point and she had other matters on her mind she wished to contempte. Such as Hannah’s reaction to her. “I am sorry to have kept you all this long,” Rayne said with a well trained gentle tone. “I am sure you all have other matters you wish to attend to.” The nguage of business and nobility was a strange one of being as polite as you could whilst still clearly insisting on what it was you wanted. In this case, Rayne was ready for this meeting to be over.

  All picked up on Rayne’s words, knowing well enough that pushing a meeting past its time with Rayne was not a good thought. Rayne was thankful for that, and even more thankful that these men knew her well enough to not have a problem with this behavior. In fact some looked rather relieved to be done with this. Of course Rayne gave them all gentle smiles and soft thank yous for coming as they all took their leave. As the st of them made their way out the door Rayne heard a very quiet, “Well, that’s a surprise. I didn’t think that—” The door quietly closed behind them, cutting off the rest of the sentence.

  Rayne stared at the closed door, her brows furrowing a little. There wasn’t much surprise to the matters they had just discussed, maybe except for Azaphan coming to visit. It wasn’t unusual for Rayne to host business guests every now and then though. It was rather unsettling that Rayne didn’t understand what had made all those men act that way. Maybe this was something other men would understand, so asking Hamish wasn’t a bad option.

  With a sigh, the dy rexed deeper into the seat and let go of all of that. There was some time to spare before anything else she had pnned for today, unless if now would be a good time to see Hannah about lessons. Hannah…

  It was a surprise that her fox’s tail could even wag that fast, let alone hard enough that her body started to shake. It was so unbelievably cute and Rayne so desperately wanted to see it again. So what had she done that caused it? Touching Hannah’s cheek was something she did quite often so it wasn’t that. Unless Hannah… No, Rayne shouldn’t get her hopes up like that. Was it talk of lessons? If so, wouldn't Hannah’s tail have wagged like that st night? Then what was it…

  “Good girl?” Rayne mused out loud to the empty room. She had never called Hannah that before and that was the only different thing Rayne could think of. Was it really just simply calling her a good girl? Did Hannah like praise that much? How often had her fox received praise since being taken? Most certainly not a lot with how her previous owners treated her and most likely not any when she was first taken.

  Well, there was only one way to test this, and that was to praise Hannah again. Rayne could go on all day with praises for Hannah, but she knew doing that would be a little too on the nose. Also jumping into a lot of praises might overwhelm her poor fox, so small and slow was probably the best way to go about this. There was probably also something to be said about making sure Hannah felt that the praise was deserved.

  Without Rayne wishing to, her mind traveled to other scenarios of calling Hannah a good girl. There was a heat that rose inside of her as she tried to push away those kinds of thoughts, but she wasn’t strong enough. Rayne bit her lip as she imagined bending Hannah over the desk in the library, telling her fox to keep quiet as Rayne slipped a hand between Hannah’s legs. In her mind she could feel Hannah quiver under her touch, desperately trying to hold in the moans of pleasure as Rayne’s fingers worked diligently to bring her to that glorious peak. Rayne imagined using her free hand to cover the fox’s mouth to make sure no sound truly escaped as she clenched over and over again around Rayne’s fingers. Then when the fox had calmed down, Rayne imagined Hannah falling to her knees in front of Rayne, looking up at her. The dy ran a hand through Hannah’s orange hard till she gently pinched at the base of Hannah’s ear in the way she knew Hannah liked. “You’re such a good girl, Hannah. Why don’t you show Mistress how much of a good girl you are?” Just as Rayne imagined Hannah reaching for Rayne’s pants there was a knock at the door.

  It took a moment for the dy to come back to the real world and process that there was someone at the door. “Yes?” Rayne responded, making sure the teacup and saucer were sitting in her p to cover anything that might be unsightly. The door opened to reveal Eda and Rayne gave a gentle sigh in relief. “Eda.”

  “My dy,” Eda said gently. The older woman was long past the point of curtsying for anyone anymore. “I hope the meeting went well.”

  Now Rayne’s thoughts were back on those strange few moments at the end of the meeting. “As well as one could hope. A little confusing at the end and I’m still not sure what it meant. Maybe it was just a man thing I don’t understand.”

  “Men can be confusing. I wanted to come and inform you about when your lessons with Hannah will be.”

  A gentle heat blossomed in Rayne’s face at the mention of Hannah so soon after the thoughts she was just having. “Oh, wonderful. When would they be?”

  “After your next meeting. I didn’t know how many days a week you would like lessons, so I started out three days a week. One day off and then one day on, with the weekend as a two day gap.” The way Eda looked at Rayne after she finished definitely made the dy feel like Eda was just waiting for Rayne to insist on more days. After a second of debate Rayne went to say something but had Eda beat her. “It will be at three in the afternoon. None of the other lessons Hannah has is at that time, so if you desire more days the same time is open.”

  “She has two other lessons so far, right?” Rayne asked, avoiding what both Eda and Rayne knew she wanted to say.

  “Three actually. Lord Hamish has scheduled some time with her for some Treysian poetry, as well as potentially more if a reading he is pnning goes well.”

  A smile grew across Rayne’s face. Hamish had mentioned that before, but there was part of Rayne that felt like he had just said that to help prove to Kaden that Hannah was a person worth learning from. What was more was that he was thinking of even more lessons, and that really made Rayne happy. How happy had that made Hannah? How fast was Hannah’s tail wagging when all of that was set up? There was a strange thought that crossed Rayne’s mind of hoping it wasn’t as fast as when she called Hannah a good girl.

  That was maybe not the nicest of things to think and Rayne pushed that thought away. Were there any others that would be willing to get lessons from Hannah? The thought of seeing if Margret wanted any crossed her mind, but Rayne wasn’t fully sure of how Margret would feel about Hannah’s position in the first pce. Even if Margret was accepting of such an idea, her father most certainly would not be. Not that he had to ever be informed if such lessons took pce. Then if the staff saw that most of the family were all getting lessons from Hannah, maybe they would be more inclined to have lessons as well.

  “Why don’t we stick with the three days for now and see how my first lesson goes. If it’s anything like learning Treysian I am worried my mind wouldn’t be able to take more than that.” Treysian lessons were the worst lessons Rayne had, though maybe that was due to the teacher and not Rayne’s perception of learning another nguage.

  “I am sure you will be able to push through more when you would like to.”

  Rayne didn’t miss Eda saying when and not if. It put a gentle heat in the dy’s face. “I’m sure Hannah would be prepared for lessons everyday.”

  That put a smile on Eda’s face. “I am sure she would be.”

  Trinidia