Red Heir - Lisa Henry Page 0,13

his victorious roar echoing out through the gloom. Loth saw a tiny flame flickering in the stack of firewood. Pie chirped and flew tiny victory laps around the fire. Ada clapped her hands, and even Calarian looked grudgingly impressed.

Loth slapped Grub on the back. “Ah, some good news at last! The wolves might eat us, but at least we won’t freeze to death.”

He hurried towards the fire.

Chapter Four

Calarian cooked surprisingly well for a vegetarian.

There’d been a brief standoff over who should do the duties, with Scott looking beseechingly at Ada, but she’d snapped, “Don’t try and make it my job. That long useless streak can do something instead of moping for a change.”

Calarian, the long useless streak in question, hadn’t dared object. He shuffled about scowling, but he did as asked, putting together a stew of some sort. Loth would have had seconds if there’d been any left. As it was, he watched as Dave shovelled the leftovers onto Grub’s plate. At least between the barely adequate servings and the exercise of riding all day, by the time they reached the capital he’d be in excellent shape for his career change. He’d probably be able to double his prices.

Of course, he’d have to ditch these idiots once he was within the walls of the city. The last thing he wanted was to get entangled in whatever political nonsense they were engaged in. If there really was some crazy rich nobleman out there who was bankrolling this entire enterprise—Scott’s Ser Factor—then Loth never wanted to meet him. No, it would be much better for everyone, especially Loth, if Prince Tarquin remained dead and buried. Loth didn’t have a great grasp on history, but he was fairly sure things never ended well for pretenders to the throne. Even the attractive ones.

Somewhere out in the darkness, a wolf howled. The hair on the back of Loth’s neck prickled, and he was thankful Pie had managed to light the fire after all.

After dinner, everyone began to spread their bedrolls around the fire. Loth saw the issue the second that Ada approached him with a bedroll clasped in her arms and an apologetic look on her face.

“We thought we’d only be rescuing one person,” she said, thrusting the bedroll at him.

Loth took it and exchanged a glance with Grub. The firelight really did bring out all the angles of his impressive scowl. His face was how Loth felt, but Loth was much better at hiding it.

“Well,” he said, “as the prince, I will of course take the bedroll and—”

Grub narrowed his eyes and then stalked towards the cart, presumably to throw himself down under it and sulk.

“Kidding!” Loth called. “Grub, I was kidding. We can share, you cranky little goblin. Get back here. I mean unless you’d rather sleep with the horses?”

“Maybe I would,” Grub shot back. “I’m sure even the geldings would put you to shame, Your Grace.”

“Oh, Grub,” Loth said. “Did you really just admit you were a horse fucker, just to make a joke about the size of my dick?”

Grub glowered. “It was worth it,” he said, but he didn’t sound sure.

“See?” Loth tsked and looked around the group. “He’s not even ashamed of it. Those poor horses.”

Grub stomped back over to him. “I fucking hate you,” he muttered.

“No, you don’t.” Loth beamed at him. “You adore me. I’m a delight.”

“I’ve met rats in cells that I like more than you.” Grub grabbed the bedroll and shook it out. “I’ve had ticks I liked more.”

“Did you catch those from the horses?”

For a moment Loth thought that Grub was going to breathe sparks like Pie, but suddenly he threw his hands up. The bedroll fell to the ground. Grub shook his head, his mouth twisting into something that Loth was surprised to discover was a smile.

Grub snorted. “I can’t win with you, can I?”

“You can’t,” Loth agreed. “Nobody wins against royalty. I’m glad you’ve realised.” He leaned in close. “Besides, geldings are missing their balls, and I still have mine. They’re quite impressive. Would you like to see?”

Grub let out a snort.

Loth crouched down and tugged the bedroll out. A moment later Grub joined him. His hands were pale in the darkness, fluttering like pale moths against the bedroll as they worked together to lay it out flat. Loth wondered if they were still shaking from the cold.

“You can take the side closest to the fire if you want,” he said airily.

Grub nodded and crawled into the bedroll. Loth crawled in after him.