"I\'ll show you the dining area," Lewis said, who\'d been quiet all during the time he\'d watched her cook, and entered the kitchen to pick up the plate. He also took cutlery and a napkin from a couple of drawers and then led the way to a room across the corridor, where a line of long narrow windows lined one wall, displaying the backlands of the estate. Two very large hounds were sitting at the window on the other side, panting, their hot breath clouding the glass. Behind them was a pretty backdrop of flowering trees and flat grasses. As Lewis set the place at the head of the table for Dagger to sit, he made a shooing gesture to the dogs who both bounded away without a bark. "They must\'ve heard the pots and pans clanging," he said with a smile, then he told Mia to wait while he fetched Dagger.
Both Lord Dagger and Ridley entered the room next, with Dagger taking his place at the meal and Ridley joining her side. Lewis pulled out a couple of chairs further down the table that could sit twelve, and then stood behind the master of the house, in the corner nearest him in case he was called.
"Looks good," Dagger announced as he sat. "Smells good too," he added once the aroma reached his nose. Picking up his fork and knife, he tasted a large portion of each piece of food she\'d made, eating in silence and watching her as he chewed. Ridley shifted in his seat, silently cursing rich furniture that felt as uncomfortable as it looked. "This is a good meal," Dagger said at the end after patting his lips with his napkin. "I will hire you under trial of a week. You will receive seven coppers each week until your employment ends." Ridley wasn\'t so happy about Mia getting so much money so quickly. A normal job would\'ve earned her four. He\'d counted on Dagger being thrifty. "Normally my servants live in the manor with me, but since you\'re married," he drawled, not believing they were, "you will begin your day at seven in the morning and end it at five of the clock. In between one and three in the afternoon you may choose to go home, or entertain yourself here. You will have full responsibility of the kitchen, in all preparation of meals and also keeping it clean. If the kitchen falls into disarray or is disorganised once you leave it, you will answer for it. You may ask Lewis to help you at times, but that would rely on his generosity if he should deign to help, for he is a butler, not a scullery maid. Lewis will serve the meals, you will only prepare them, and Lewis is also responsible for taste-testing before a meal, so he might find it in himself to watch you as you cook. That is, until, we all get to know you better."
Ridley blinked. Dagger sure wasn\'t the trusting kind, to think that Mia was a potential assassin to poison him. Still, such a thing was very possible, for he was sure a rich man had enemies, and certainly one as powerful as the Lord who had guards that responded to his orders when he wasn\'t even in the militia.
