Archer watched as Olivia jumped, spinning around before smiling when she saw it was him. The older woman bowed, her neat bun of snow-white hair glinting in the light, "My Lord, I thought you were sleeping on the balcony."
He admired her gorgeous pink eyes, which gleamed with intelligence. Her presence exuded a comforting, maternal energy that Archer found irresistible.
"I was, but a sea monster beside the ship roared and woke me up," he said. "Damn thing annoyed me, so I killed it. We'll have it for dinner."
Olivia laughed; a sound made some flutter inside. "Only you would do something like that, My Lord. But I'll be busy for the next couple of weeks. We've got too many recruits and not enough instructors or barracks to house them all.''
She looked toward the shipyard where they were assembling a Flagship and continued, ''Once the builders finish more ships, we can assign the new sailors to them and field many fleets that the kingdom can support."
