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“A hundred?” he said. “I don’t pay my mine managers a hundred a week.”
“I’m not a mine chief,” I said flatly.
“Fifty is good payment,” he said. “It’s already above average.”
This was going to be a tougher sell than I thought. Normally, I would have accepted fifty but these were not ordinary circumstances.
“Tell me why I should give you so much more than the last governess,” he said, leaning back in his large leather chair. “I’m intrigued.”
“I’ll give you three reasons,” I said. “One, Cleb likes me, unlike his previous governesses. Two, I’m three times as good at my job than any other governess you can find, so paying me twice the amount is really quite a bargain.”
He waited.
“And?” he said.
“And what?” I said.
“You said you would give me three reasons.”
“I gave you three.”
“You gave me two. Cleb likes you—”
“I’m glad you agree.”
“—and you’re better than the other governesses. Maybe math isn’t one of your strong suits.”
I ground my teeth at his cheap shop. Damn, he looked good even with that smarmy look on his face.
“And three, you get stimulating conversation with someone closer to your age,” I said.
“Governess Puem-Gleb gave me stimulating conversation.”
I rolled my eyes.
“About history,” I said.
Despite himself, Traes couldn’t help but smile. Then he turned serious. Businessman time.
“I’ll give you seventy-five credits a week,” he said. “But I want you to come through for Cleb. He needs to start studying and learning otherwise he’ll fall behind his peers.”
“I think a hundred would give me extra incentive,” I said.
He smiled at me and my legs turned to jelly. I was glad I was sitting down or I might have fallen flat on my face.
“Oh, I think we both know you’re not motivated by money, Bianca,” he said.
Dammit. He had my number.
“Fine. Seventy-five. But I don’t want you to question my teaching methods. I’ll have to undo his bad habits before I can build good ones.”
Traes cocked his head to one side.
“The other governesses always used textbooks,” he said.
“They probably won’t work well with Cleb,” I said.
“Then how will I know if he’s improving or not?” he said.
