Page 133 of The Sun King's Noon

“Children?” Haldric boomed, hands on hips. “I’ll have you know, son, this is a matter of grave military and royal importance.” He jabbed a thumb at Dain. “Our Lord Commander, here, has spent the last week making sly remarks about my fortitude.”

Dain snorted, flexing an arm. “They weren’t sly, you sluggard. I said it to your face.”

“You see?” Haldric scoffed, moving into a ready stance. “A king must defend his honour, my boy.”

“That so?” Dain’s beard bristled. “Step aside, lad. Even a king must be reminded that he can be landed on his arse.”

“I’ll flatten you, Dain.”

“Try it.”

“Gladly.”

They glared at each other and broke out into matching grins.

Richard threw his hands up in disbelief. “Enough. The two of you are of sixty-two and sixty-three years. If you crack a hip, even Lady Selwyn would struggle to fix it.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Now, get dressed before I inform Mother?—”

The rest of his words were drowned in loud jeers. Corwin and Elara booed, and Briony stomped her feet.

“But I want to see who wins!” she yelled, pulling at Richard’s elbow. “And Corwin wagered—” She paused, glanced through the archway they’d come from, and shrieked. “It’s Mother! Mother and Lady Selwyn are coming!”

The transformation happened in an instant. Haldric lunged for his crumpled clothes, and Elara rushed to settle the crown on their father’s head. Dain, meanwhile, wrestled his own tunic over his head, while Kaelen watched him with such mortification that Richard could not contain his laugh. Kaelen’s eyes flicked to him, the sun pendant flashing at his throat, and Richard’s heart jolted once more.

“Good morn, gentlemen.” Aralynn swept in through the arch of roses. “Did I mishear the report, or were two old fools planning on tomfoolery in the garden?”

Selwyn stood at her side, clad in her healer’s uniform and bearing the thin lips of a woman with no patience left.

Haldric smiled, inching backwards in Dain’s direction. “My queen and my Chief Healer. What a delight.”

Aralynn’s eyes narrowed. “What is going on here?”

“Training.” Dain swung an arm around Haldric’s shoulders. “We were—um—running Corwin and Kaelen here through some forms?—”

He trailed off as Selwyn levelled him a flat stare.

Haldric gamely tried to recover. “Aye, Dain’s right. Corwin’s hook is getting lazy.”

Richard had had enough. “Father and Dain were going to fistfight.”

The two men shot him betrayed looks. Briony gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.

“Oh, Brother,” she said gravely. “You are a snitch.”

Richard ruffled her hair. “I should rather be a snitch than a widow’s son.”

The smile Aralynn gave Haldric was acrid. “Fistfight, is it? Before the children?”

Haldric ran a hand through his golden mane. “They are hardly children anymore, my love—” He swallowed hard as Aralynn’s nostrils flared. “I mean, if you will allow me to explain?—”

“Oh, yes, do continue,” Aralynn said, her voice dangerously soft. “I am eager to hear what explanation exists for two old men to pummel each other before breakfast.”

“Explanation?” Selwyn laughed. “You expect too much of them.” Her laugh shifted into a glare, and Haldric and Dainstepped back in unison. “Fools, the both of them. Knock-kneed, lice-brained cretins.”

“We must not judge too quickly, Selwyn dear.” Aralynn swept her plait over a shoulder. “Their brains have clearly been addled by worms and age.”

“Now, really, my ladies,” Haldric huffed. “Perhaps we may all recall that I am king?”

Richard winced. That had been the wrong thing to say.