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ran the recording over and over again, enlarging views of the traps. He wasn’t familiar with the type used and was amazed all twenty men had been trapped and captured. He would have expected that as the first few went down, the others would become more wary. They didn’t though; the traps had been designed in such a way the intruders passed through a gauntlet of sorts and then were picked off one at a time from the rear. It was ingenious. Thors must have used Nephilim tactics and Ben planned to talk to him about them.
    As he finished viewing the scene for the last time, his servant, GrumIo, came in with his breakfast.
    “The kitchens are running quite smoothly this morning, Your Majesty. It seems the secretary to the treasurer is quite a good cook. Since the head clerk in procurement was willing to watch over both of their boys fishing today, he’s agreed to take charge of all of today’s meals.”
    “Has the absence of all the female servants put too much of a strain on the male servants, GrumIo?” the king asked.
    “Well, Majesty, I won’t say it’s been easy, especially not at first. We’ve had to learn new skills. Of course, not having as many hands, some work has had to be put aside. Still and all, we’re doing much better learning the women’s jobs than I would think the women are doing learning ours,” he said, picking up dirty clothes and removing the sheets from the bed as the king sat and ate.
    “What do you mean, about the women learning men’s jobs?” the king asked.
    “Well, it stands to reason. We don’t stand around all day. If there really are few men on the Duchess’s estate, then the women would have to be doing the jobs the males usually do. I would expect they’re having a harder time. They don’t have as much education and those long skirts would hinder them with any of the heavier tasks we do.”
    Firmly on Queen Malpha’s side and feeling as if he’d dribbled enough information in his king’s ear, he gathered up the laundry and left.
    Ben finished his breakfast and was glad that, as king, he could still get it delivered to his rooms. Most of the palace staff had to eat in shifts in one of the banquet rooms. They didn’t have enough staff to have hot meals delivered all over the palace.
    By that night, gossip had spread enough that many of the men were made aware of the aborted attack and the arrest of Duke LucenTio’s remaining supporters. Many of Ben’s courtiers were asking him to command the women to come home. He told them he’d think on it and give them his answer the next day. He paced back and forth in Malpha’s lounge, trying to figure out a way to encourage the women to come home.
    After two hours, he hadn’t come up with any ideas. He turned to Malpha’s DRD to see if he could find something there. He remembered Malpha saying Grace had sent her some stories that helped her understand the relationship between a husband and wife much better and had alleviated her fears. He looked for and found those stories. He had grown used to using the nano-patches now and he loaded all the stories onto the patches before heading to his bed. He made a vow he would have his Queen back by the end of the week.

Chapter Eight
     
    Ben was in his cleansing chamber, showering and trying to think of an idea, when the plot to one of the books swept through his memory. Brilliant! Jumping into the drying chamber, he rushed through the remainder of his morning routine. He rang GrumIo and informed him he wanted everyone to have breakfast together in the main banquet hall. After the food was laid out buffet style, he wanted everyone there so he could address them as a group, including all the servants.
    Ben was too keyed up to eat, so he waited until most of the people had served themselves and were sitting and eating. Then he jumped on top of a table to speak to them.
    “Thank you all for coming. I spoke to Queen Malpha last night and I believe our females need some encouragement to come