Page 5 of Moon Claimed

I needed rid of Mum’s debtyesterday.

In two months, I’d accumulated nearly four thousand dollars in interest. The debt was getting beyond what the house sale could cover. Another month would screw me.

“Good news,” he said. “There’s an offer. Young family. One child and another on the way. Looking for a house with a bit of a yard.”

If they bought the house, they could be flying pigs for all I cared.

“Offer is three ninety-nine.”

My heart sank. “That’s less than I expected.”

“Remember that’s the initial offer,” Roy rushed to say.

I needed 416,000 to cover conveyance fees, the commission Roy would take, and the new interest. “I can go down by four thousand. That’s it.”

A brief pause. “They have some wiggle room, but probably not that much.”

I got paid an allowance for leading theNi Tiaki. The money pulled from the trust that contained Deception Valley land and this manor. The allowance was better than my saxophone gig atThe Dens, and I no longer had any living costs. I could pay off a thousand dollars in the next month. If I sold short of the debt amount, I’d still have a fight against interest, but it would only be calculated on a few thousand as opposed to hundreds.

I could win that fight.

I leaned back in the office chair. “If they’re willing to pay a higher deposit and can authorise release of that deposit to me immediately, I can meet them at 412,000.”

“I’ll take that back to them.” His grim tone told me what the answer would be.

Dammit.“If they’re willing to meet me there, I’ll throw the house furnishings in too.”

Storage was a cost I didn’t need, and I just wanted everything to do with Queen’s Way gone. The new owners would be doing me a favour.

Surprise coloured his voice. “Could you send a list of the contents?”

Could I squeeze that between three hours of meetings, study, overseeing Sandstone, Iron, and the council of this valley, managing disputes between stewards, and the endless documents requiring my attention?

Herc had once asked Rhona and me how we’d juggle such a load. I’d given a beautiful answer. A textbook answer.

What an idiot.

This had to take priority. I was drowning in problems. “Give me until the end of the day and you’ll have it.”

Rhona entered without knocking as I slid my phone away.

“Done with study?” she asked.

It was midday so I had to be. And I’d done approximately none. The situation grated sorely at my straight-A pride, but I couldn’t do much about that. Only a pass was realistic. “All done. Are you alright?”

She blew out a breath, taking the seat opposite mine. “I’ve thought more about the last two weeks. There were signs I should have picked up on.”

I tensed.Sascha killed your father because of me.“Like what?”

Rhona licked her lips. “I think Dad tried to tell me the truth a few times—about you. He was acting weird, you know?”

I refrained from wiping the beading perspiration from my brow. Working undercover inThe Denshad taught me subtlety at least.

“There’s something I need to come clean on,” she spoke to her hands. “When you first arrived here, Dad said that we needed to do everything we could to ensure you stayed.”

I blinked. “What?”

Rhona met my eyes briefly. “He told me to introduce you to people our age. I was meant to show you our community without being too pushy. He said you didn’t have much money, so I asked you to drive my friends around to eat into what you did have. Dad said you’d be a great addition to the team, and he’d never done that before. I figured it was because you were a Thana. But it was wrong.”