Page 14 of The Sun King's Noon

“Those witches were unused to combat and seemed reluctant to harm me. I held the advantage.” Richard shrugged. “Besides, this is not my first kill. I returned to the castle covered in worse all those years ago when I rescued Corwin and Kaelen.”

There had been ten Velari then, all intent on ransoming a seven-year-old Corwin to get more children’s blood. Addiction must have addled them because Haldric never negotiated with those who took his own. The king had instead sent Dain and his finest knights to retrieve the two boys. Richard had left on his own under the cover of night. It took him two days to track the Velari to a cave. He found them looming over Kaelen,who shielded Corwin behind him. At seventeen, Richard had slaughtered them all.

“How can I forget?” Selwyn’s voice quietened. “Out of my mind with grief I’d been, thinking our boys forever gone. When you walked down that hallway with them in tow, my legs lost their strength.” She chuckled. “Then, a month later, my brat decided to propose to his crown prince.”

Richard groaned. Would that he’d allowed the Velari their fill of the boy before he ambushed.

“Pray, do not talk to me of your son, Lady Selwyn.” He huffed. “Kaelen refused to take the dagger.”

“The dagger?”

“The one Princess Seola gifted me.” Richard pointed at it, peeking out from under his clothes. “Its worth is beyond measure. I tried to gift it to him at the podium, and he refused.”

“Is this, by chance, related to you tearing him down yesterday?”

Richard scowled. “I did not tear him down. I corrected him.”

Selwyn’s hum was sceptical.

“I had to. He had overstepped.” Richard’s scowl deepened. “In any case, that was why I was giving him the dagger.”

“To apologise?”

“I am king. I do not apologise,” Richard snapped, then moderated his tone as the towel tugged his hair sharply. “I thought it might make him feel better.”

Selwyn laughed. Richard glanced over his shoulder to see her clutching her midriff and tipping her head back.

“My lady?”

“Boy, you are just like your father,” she chortled. “Why, I recall the time Aralynn mentioned wanting the snowdrop gems from Frostheim, and Haldric vanished for two months before returning with a necklace. Hobbling on his crutches, he was. Grinning like the sun itself.”

“I know this story. Mother slapped him.”

“Because the fool thought it a grand gesture, but for her, he’d disappeared and returned with a broken leg.” Selwyn gave him an exasperated look. “You are much like him.”

Richard blinked. “I do not understand.”

She tutted. “Well, I shan’t be giving you any answers. You’ve a smart mind. You might try using it.”

The door slammed. A hulking figure swaggered in, boots muddied, a travel tunic clinging to his broad frame and thick biceps. Auburn hair threaded with grey, and a beard tied with a leather strap.

Sir Joffrey.

The man guffawed. “Well, Your Majesty. I see you’ve painted the yard red.”

Richard’s shoulders loosened. Joffrey had served as his father’s Crownsguard, only retiring from the service recently upon his fiftieth birthday. There were few as brave, and fewer who held the soldiers’ respect.

Selwyn slung the towel around Richard’s neck to hide the tattoo. “It’s not even been an hour, Sir Knight, for you to make light of such deaths.”

Joffrey grinned. “Come now, my lady. The whole Seven Realms know touching the Sun King’s little ones means death. Those bastards were well warned.”

Selwyn sniffed. “Regardless, mind your words.”

Joffrey pulled a face as she marched past him towards the back cupboards. Richard smiled. Selwyn’s dislike of Joffrey was well known in the castle. Too brutish, she often complained. Too crude. And far too hard on her son, who’d been Joffrey’s page, then squire till he was knighted.

As Selwyn busied herself with the cupboards, half-hidden by their doors, Joffrey crossed to Richard. He knelt, fist thudding to his chest.

“Your Majesty.”