149: War

Kai’s POV

“All set?” I asked as I emerged from a shed where I’d been watching Levi order the guards to load a carriage.

“Yes, Alpha,” he called out just before a guard mounted the horse attached to the carriage.

“Make sure not even a dime is left uncollected, and defaulters for the last payments should pay double this time around,” I reminded him like he hadn't gone on tax collection trips a thousand times.

I just preferred to be thorough, and that's why I always sent Levi on those trips. He was through, calculative and I trusted him with my finances as well as my life.

“Yes, sir,” Levi responded as he climbed into the carriage.

I watched it ride out of the palace gates until it’d disappeared into the woods. I realized then that since Levi would be gone for at least two days passing through the towns under my protection to collect taxes, the rest of the administrative work rested solely on my shoulders since, you know...

Leila was dead.

But she deserved to die, especially since she wa