Red Heir - Lisa Henry Page 0,61
Quinn. “The Swamp of Death?”
“I’m sorry?” Quinn mumbled.
“Swamp of Death,” she repeated under her breath.
“To be fair,” Loth said, “It’s less Death and more Swamp of One Slightly Murderous Anarchist Elf, but that wouldn’t sound as impressive.”
Calarian gave a dreamy sigh. “You mean one very handsome and virile anarchist elf.”
“Oh, here we go,” Ada muttered, “And while I’m eating, too.”
“Anyway!” Loth said far too brightly. “We escaped the swamp. And other than one or two hiccups along the way…”
“Bandits, soldiers, assassins, getting lost in the woods, deadly gas, jumping out of second story windows,” Ada listed before Loth glared her into submission.
“One or two hiccups,” Loth continued, “we made it safely, and that’s the main thing.”
“Give me strength,” his mum sighed. She turned to Quinn, her whole demeanour softening. “Are you sure you’ve had enough to eat, sweetheart? I’m sure I have some cake somewhere.”
“I’d like cake,” Loth said eagerly. His dad made the best cakes.
“Not for you, Your Grace. I would be way too embarrassed to serve it to a man of your noble blood. Why, the flour was hardly milled at all! This is only fit for commoners, and of course my precious baby boy.” Mum scruffed a hand through Quinn’s hair, and the little shit had the cheek to poke his tongue out at Loth when nobody was looking. Still, he’d lost that startled deer look he'd been wearing since they arrived, so Loth supposed that was almost worth missing out on his dad’s cake for.
After everyone had finished their cake (except for Loth, because his mother really was the worst), Mum clapped her hands together. “Right. We need to find somewhere for you all to sleep.”
“As the leader,” Scott started.
“You’ll be watching the horses and guarding the gate, excellent,” Mum said, silently daring him to disagree. “There’s a blanket out in the stables. It’s almost clean.”
She nodded at Dave, Ada and Calarian. “There are two spare rooms upstairs. You can work out who shares with whom.”
“Can Pie stay near the fire?” Dave asked. “He likes it.”
Pie chirruped his agreement and licked Dave's ear.
“Of course he can. Quinn will be in his old bedroom.” Mum’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Loth. “I’m not sure where we should put you, Your Grace. You might have to sleep in a chair, but with your royal breeding you’d probably like that. It’ll be good for your posture.”
Loth was about to object because giving his bed away was taking it a step too far, but Quinn beat him to it.
“He can share with me, Mum,” he said quietly. “We’ve shared for most of the trip. We’re... friends.”
Calarian let out a snort, and Loth kicked him under the table.
Surprise flashed across Mum’s face for a split second. “Friends,” she said finally, giving Loth a raised eyebrow. “Is that what you’re calling it, Your Grace? Because I'd hate to think my son was taking advantage of you—or the other way around.”
Loth wasn’t even sure which one of them she was talking to, truth be told, but he knew she’d tell him what she thought soon enough. In great detail. Whether he wanted to hear it or not.
“Nobody’s taking advantage of anyone, I assure you,” he said, and he almost believed it for a second, right before he remembered that they were only here because he’d put his hand up and claimed to be the prince, without giving a damn about Quinn’s protests. To be fair, he’d thought they were both lying.
Still, it had worked out for the best, right, having two of them? Loth had saved Quinn’s life in the Swamp of Death. And fine, if he hadn’t been there, one of the others probably would have, but that had to count for something, right? And Quinn had saved all of their lives in the hunting lodge, and they’d fought the bandits side by side, so surely Loth wasn’t quite the opportunistic bastard he had been at the start. Was he?
Mum watched his face carefully for a moment and then sighed. “Off to bed with the lot of you, and I’ll come and tuck you all in in ten minutes,” she said to a sea of disbelieving faces.
Dave grinned happily. “That’ll be nice, Mrs. Mum. Nobody’s tucked me in since I was an orcling.”
“Well then, tonight’s your lucky night.” Mum gave Dave’s arm an absent pat, and everyone stood and followed Dad as he showed them where the wash basin was and where their rooms were. Scott was jostled out the back