Red Heir - Lisa Henry Page 0,69

I remember that sometimes they’d let the children go into the village, to the kitchen at the tavern. Not the one on the main road, the other one. They’d give us toffee apples.” When he squinted through nearly closed eyelids, Doom was tapping a finger thoughtfully against his chin. So just for good measure, Loth added, “And of course, there’s the secret passage in the pantry.”

Doom froze, and Loth might even have pulled it off, if Scott hadn’t chosen that moment to say, “You bean the bassage that Grub showed ub?”

“Who’s Grub?” Lord Doom demanded, advancing on Loth.

“He’d a pedant who wad in the sabe cell. He’d got red hair ad well, so we redcued hib too,” Scott explained, before frowning. “But hid nabe id Cue now, I thidk?”

Doom’s face creased and his lips moved as he worked through what Scott had said. When he’d finally deciphered it, he asked, “So where is he, this other redhead?”

“A peasant, as the idiot said,” Loth interjected quickly. “A nobody, a grubby little urchin with a bad attitude and a taste for horseflesh, which was what landed him in my cell.”

“He... was arrested for eating horses?”

“Not eating, no.” Loth watched a faint expression of disgust flicker across Doom’s face and congratulated himself on a successful diversion.

Of course, it turned out to be a waste of time, because just then the door opened and Quinn pushed inside, declaring loudly, “For the last damned time, I’ve never fucked a horse!” And then he stood next to Loth, tilted his chin defiantly, and said, “Hello, Uncle.”

For a moment, nobody moved. Then Doom surveyed them both, eyes narrowing. His hand moved to his belt, and for the first time Loth noticed the knife there and his heart sank.

“One of you is lying.”

“Quite possibly,” Loth said. “Perhaps I’m the prince and the time I spent starving and freezing has dimmed my natural beauty, and this is an interloper that we’ve brought along to confuse you. Or maybe I’m the liar, and this is the prince.” Doom started to approach, and Loth held up a finger. “But—think carefully—have you considered that maybe we’re both lying?”

Lord Doom paused. “How can you both be lying?”

Loth smirked, warming to his subject. “Think about it. Maybe we’re both a diversion. Imagine if the real prince is tucked up safely, somewhere far away, waiting til you least expect it to emerge and claim the throne.”

“There’d adother pridce?”

“Shut up, Scott,” Loth said, as Doom scowled at the pair of them.

“I could just kill you both,” he said finally. “Make sure.”

“Ah, but then you’d never know where the real prince is. You wouldn’t be sure at all.”

Somehow though, from the murderous gleam in Lord Doom’s eyes, Loth didn’t think that he was the sort of guy who was going to lose any sleep over it. He reached out and grabbed Quinn’s sleeve, ready to pull him back.

At that moment Ada strode into the room with the rest of them in tow, stomping up to Lord Doom. “Pardon me, but we’d like to get paid. We’ve delivered the redhead as agreed—we’ve delivered two, so we should really charge extra, but I’ll waive it in exchange for cash. Pay up.”

Doom’s jaw dropped. “I am a little busy right now! First with the vomiting, and now all of this!”

Ada put her hands on her hips. “Pay up, M’lord. Unless you want us to leave and take them both with us?”

She glared at Lord Doom, who did his best to stare her down, but Loth could have told him that getting between a dwarf and their promised payment was always going to be a losing battle—it was a matter of honour, after all.

“I’d pay her if I were you, M’lord,” Ser Greylord, who’d slipped into the room behind the rest of them, muttered. “She has an axe.”

Doom threw his hands in the air. “Fine!” He nodded at Ser Greylord. “I don’t suppose you have any gold on you?”

“Actually, I do.” Greylord detached a bulging purse from his belt and presented it to Ada with a slight bow. “Consider your contract complete, ma’am.”

Ada beamed at him. Then she turned on her heel and barked out, “Right. The old contract is settled, and the new job’s started! You all know what to do. Except you.” She pointed at Scott. “You can stay out of the way.”

And then the dwarf, the orc, and the elf stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder in front of Quinn and Loth, forming a human—no, an other-than-human—shield.

Lord