billion book
Chapter 30
Chapter 30
Lucianne took a step forward and look dead in Whitlaw’s eye as she said, “I know why a minister should exist. But I cannot fathom why you and Alfred Cummings exist, Minister Whitlaw. You both don’t even know the packs which need help in rogue attacks. You both couldn’t even tell me why we had to pay a ‘to-be-confirmed’ amount for Lycan warriors to help in a rogue attack. And, I distinctly remember that it was you Pierre Whitlaw, who told me to give up being a Gamma because I was asking too many questions.”
Pierre’s face was turning white but Lucianne didn’t waver. “You want to talk about procedure? It was your procedures that made packs resort to borrowing funds from each other to support their pack members. It is because of procedures that relief applications almost never reach the final stage for monies to be disbursed. And you want to speak about permission?” Lucianne scoffed, “I didn’t see you complaining about a lack of permission when we fought off the rogues in the Jewel Pack, or any of the battles we fought before that. Why are you complaining about a lack of permission to resolve a sparring dispute? Is your job scope only here, on this training ground?”
He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He was already shaking. Lucianne’s face burned into his eyes as she said, (This novel will be daily updtaed at www.noveljar.com)“Be grateful that we are doing your job while you hold your position, Whitlaw. Otherwise, give up being a Minister because you’ve been answering too few questions.” 4
‘I-I apologize, my Queen. Excuse me.” Whitlaw said and scurried away and Alfred followed suit.
Lucianne finally took in the scene around her. Everyone had stopped fighting to watch the incident. They were all looking at her. Some smiled while others resisted laughing at the retreating ministers. Lucianne took a breath to calm down. She then clapped her hands once before yelling out, “Alright, everyone. Show‘s over. Get back to training.”
She expected only retreating figures and turned-away heads after she said that. To her surprise, there were slight bows and muffled voices uttering, “Yes, my Queen.” And everyone returned to their respective mats to continue training.
Xandar was looking at her in pure awe and admiration. “You’re just…amazing.”
She smirked. “Flattery is not going to get you out of training, dearest. Go on now, my King.”
He pecked a kiss on her lips before he said in a husky voice, “I want to talk to you later about what you just told Whitlaw. But for now, I must obey my Queen’s command.” He pecked another kiss on her forehead before joining his cousin.
Christian didn’t even wait to get back on their mat before he mind-linked,(This novel will be daily updtaed at www.noveljar.com) ‘Xandar, what was the Queen talking about? What ‘to-be-confirmed’ amount for Lycan warriors? And wasn’t close to 80% of the relief applications approved last year?‘
‘I am as shocked as you are to hear what she said. We need to talk to her about this at lunch. For once, we’ll not take any pack members. It’s time we spoke to Lucy. She may know more than we do about what’s really going on within our own ministries.’
‘Cuz…I’m very embarrassed to not know this.’
‘Yeah, me too. I feel like I’ve let them down somehow, the wolves that is.’ Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
Well, it’s definitely worse for you. I’m only second to you, after all.’ 1
‘I am so going to kick your ass for that!
‘Bring it on, cuz!
***
At lunch, Lucianne was speaking to Sir Weaver and Lord Yarrington, both of whom she and Toby had given pointers to at training earlier. They were interested in hearing about how werewolves were faring in environmental issues and education.
Lucianne happily introduced Sir Weaver to pack members who had been having a water supply shortage for years. Weaver, although a Lycan, had a less daunting presence than Xandar. He was welcoming and attentive, allowing the werewolves to speak freely as they raised their concerns. So Lucianne only had to stay with them for the first few minutes.
She then got a few other wolves who always had strong opinions about changing the education system to Lord Yarrington. He looked more stern in his demeanor so Lucianne was not confident to leave the wolves alone with him. But as the minutes went by, she noticed that the wolves who were speaking to him were quite comfortable in the way they spoke. Perhaps all those bottled-up dissatisfactions are finally being released.
A hand from behind pressed gently on Lucianne’s abdomen, and she gasped in surprise as the sparks confirmed that the person behind her was Xandar. “My King.” The Lycan minister and the wolves bowed. Xandar bowed back and they stood when he did. He looked at Lucianne and asked softly, (This novel will be daily updtaed at www.noveljar.com)“Can I borrow you for the rest of lunch hour?”
“Uh..” she looked at the wolves and asked, “Will you all be alright without me here?” One of them said, “Yes, of course, Lucy! Thank you for telling us about this!” Lucianne smiled graciously and said, “Oh, don’t thank me, Benedict. Lord Yarrington himself wanted to know. The credit is his to take. Thank you, minister.”
Lord Yarrington smiled graciously and said, “It is an honour to serve alongside you, my Queen.” 2
She turned back to Xandar, who led her to the buffet table. They got their food and sat with Christian. Christian smiled but it was clear that he had something on his mind. Lucianne noticed that they were
mind-linking with their eyes glazing over so she didn’t interrupt them. They all ate in silence. Even after the cousins were done, they were still mind-linking each
other. This went on until Lucianne herself finished her food and started sipping on her water.
‘So, Lucy.” Xandar began.
“Mm. Yes?” She asked after swallowing the water in her mouth.
Xandar asked, “When you told Whitlaw about a ‘to-be-confirmed amount for Lycan warriors’, w-what did you mean?”
She looked at the two cousins who were both looking very serious as they waited for her answer. She then casually explained, “What do you mean what do I mean? It’s exactly that. I didn’t know why the amount packs had to pay for Lycan warriors to help in rogue attacks were a to-be-quantified amount. I still don’t know, to be honest. Among ourselves, we werewolves just decided to rely on our own warriors and allies who do it for free. I asked Whitlaw about it after Cummings shooed me away. Whitlaw told me that the ministry had full discretion to quantify the charges. I asked what the factors in the calculation were. Was it the number of hours of the attack, or the number of hours they were in the pack itself, (This novel will be daily updtaed at www.noveljar.com)or whether there would be different rates depending on the level of skill of the Lycans they were sending, um…he just said I was a typical woman who overthought everything and shooed me off after that too. Juan was there. He almost lost his temper so I had to pull him away.”
Lucianne chuckled at the last part but the cousins looked at each other uneasily before Christian prompted, “My Queen, you also mentioned most of the relief applications never make it to the stage of fund disbursement?”
After taking another sip from her cup and swallowing it hastily, she said, “Oh, that. Well…” she chuckled again but she looked at the confused cousins and she was thinking about her next best move, “Give me
a minute. I need to make this as cordial as possible.”
“No, Lucy. Don’t water down anything. We don’t care how badly it hurts.” Xandar insisted.
“Are you sure?” Lucianne asked with uncertainty. Xandar looked at her encouragingly, and Christian offered a small smile and uttered, “Go on, my Queen, please.” Lucianne then said, “This is going to hurt pretty badly.”