Victoria laid out her case in such a calm, measured, and amiable way Sophia almost caught herself agreeing with her. Certainly, when she framed the conversation the way she wanted, Lady Victoria came off as quite reasonable, even generous, but Sophia had yet to see her actually make any grand gestures. The woman owned a castle, for crying out loud. Surely it wouldn’t be a hardship for her to lose a few tourist dollars. Then again, a woman from umpteen generations of history ruling over common folks probably wouldn’t care about fleecing a few Hollywood producers either.

To be fair, Sophia didn’t feel any sort of sadness for the poor movie moguls’ dollars either. She did care a great deal about getting the shots she needed to make this movie a success, though, and some of her pivotal scenes were slated to be shot atop a high central tower with wide dramatic angles and sweeping cinematography.

“I can rework a couple scenes to reflect the use of a lower tower,” Talia offered as she made a few notes.

A little muscle in Sophia’s jaw twitched at the visual, but she bit her tongue waiting to see how the rest of the chips fell.

“Fine. Whatever.” Brian slouched back in his seat again, as if the minuscule amount of artistic integrity he’d mustered, and then surrendered, had exhausted him.

“Would it be possible,” Talia continued, “for us to make surface adaptations to places like the stables so long as they are in keeping with historical accuracy?”

Victoria tilted her head to the side as if considering the point. “I’m open to the idea. However, it would require considerable coordination to make sure your animals were cared for without damaging our facilities. We haven’t kept horses on the castle grounds since the Second World War, as we do our own riding near our Blackstone Abbey preserve.”

Sophia didn’t manage to completely suppress her eye roll. This woman had multiple horse-storing facilities and also, apparently, an abbey, but she balked about space on set?

“Perhaps we could check out those facilities?” Talia asked.

“A visit could be arranged, and filming near the abbey would certainly give you more freedom, as it doesn’t see as much tourism, but I need to stress every detail will have to be seen to with utmost care. Your staff will have to work closely with ours on that project.”

“Of course,” Talia agreed quickly.

“That’s actually a salient point in most situations,” Vic added. “I’m asking you to respect that this is our home. If one of my people asks you to desist from doing something or going somewhere, I need your word that you will.”

“I’m not taking orders from some pimply kid who wants me to stand behind a yellow rope,” Brian said with more force than he’d been able to muster earlier.