After all, with no wages of their own, they could barely feed themselves.
Edric's voice cracked with fury:
"Is money all you people care about?!"
Someone pointed at the moonstone pendant hanging from his belt:
"That gold-inlaid moonstone alone could cover every last one of our back wages! What right do you have to lecture us?!"
"Pay us! Yeah! Pay us what we're owed!"
The crowd surged forward. Edric's face went white.
"These ungrateful wretches! That bastard Ashton must have spoiled them rotten!"
"Rush him! Strip the clothes off his back and sell them for what we're owed!"
"Go!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
Edric staggered as hands grabbed at him from every direction, barely keeping his footing. The cloying sweetness of his scent soured with panic, jasmine oil turning acrid.
"Decree from the Supreme Alpha!"
A column of pack soldiers marched through the gates, hauling chest after chest of royal tribute into the territory grounds.
It turned out that Supreme Alpha Wolfram Cindervane had visited the Crown Alpha's territory recently and taken a great liking to Edric's renovations.
These were his rewards.
Edric sank to his knees, trembling:
"I humbly thank the Supreme Alpha for this gracious bounty!"
The workers who had been seconds from rioting dropped to their knees as well, faces drained of color.
None of them had expected this.
The Supreme Alpha himself was backing Edric.
Edric reached into one of the chests and pulled out a gold ingot at random.
He tossed it at their feet:
"Take it. That's enough to cover several moon cycles of your wages.
"And if you don't get back to work and end up disrupting the territory's operations, don't be surprised when your heads roll!"
They had their money.
And the Supreme Alpha had made his position clear.
Everyone scrambled to bow their thanks and scattered.
Edric surveyed the chests of royal tribute filling the courtyard.
A cold smile spread across his face:
"Just as I thought. My approach was right all along.
"If that bastard Ashton hadn't thrown so much money at these ungrateful wretches before, they'd never have developed such an insatiable greed."
His handmaid kneaded his shoulders. "The Supreme Alpha himself admires your integrity, my lord.
"The Duskborne bloodline has always been a house of moon-singers. That Ashton is a disgrace to the family name!"
Edric's smile turned sharper: