Free The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) by Duncan Lay Page A

hourglass,” Gallagher predicted.
    Fallon shuddered at the thought of seeing Aidan again, of sitting opposite him; he was flooded with the awful temptation to kill the bastard. Despite his promise to his son he did not honestly know if he could stop himself attacking the King.
    “Don’t do anything stupid. It will only be Aidan there. Swane is somewhere else. Kill Aidan and Swane will hunt us all down,” Gallagher warned.
    Fallon’s mind cleared. It was both or neither. “Aye. I will just talk. But I’ll find a way to go back into Aidan’s rooms when he is in the throne room, surrounded by people.”
    “Why do you want to get yourself killed?” Brendan asked.
    “If I am not going to kill him straight away then I’ll get something for the Duchess to use. Let’s see if the nobles can be trusted. If not, I always have a knife.”
    *
    Kerrin sat on the bed with Caley, looking at the dog seriously.
    “I think it is going to come down to you and me, Caley,” he told her.
    The dog tilted her head and chuffed a little in her throat.
    “I couldn’t save Mam and now Dad keeps going off. If we are to get her back, I think we will have to do it.”
    He didn’t like the idea and he could tell Caley wasn’t happy about it either. But it was taking too long to get his mother, and now Dad had said he might have to leave it to Grandpa Padraig. Well, that was not a plan. He had to be ready.
    “We’ll do the push-ups first and then try throwing knives,” he told Caley. “When the time comes, we might have to save Dad before we can save Mam.”

CHAPTER 8
    Fallon sat brooding outside the King’s rooms, having handed his weapons to the guards at the door. A pair of the King’s guards had escorted him there and now all he held was the scroll. But how could he speak to Aidan and pretend nothing had happened? A vision of Bridgit came to him, of how he had disguised his anger when they had fought, because the more she thought he was angry, the longer it took to make up.
    “The King is ready for you,” a guards officer told him.
    He stood, composing his face as he did so, then recognized the man. “Quinn. You are a busy fellow.”
    “That’s right,” Quinn said, his face betraying a sudden fear Fallon was going to say something about the Duchess.
    Fallon said nothing more, just opened the door and stepped into the King’s rooms. He forced the memories away of the last time they had been in there, thinking they had won and all that remained was for Swane to be executed for his crimes.
    He did not know what to expect, because no one ever did with King Aidan. But, as he shut the door behind him, it was to see the King sitting back in a comfortable armchair, a second, somewhat less comfortable chair drawn up opposite. A pair of burly guards stood behind the empty chair, their purpose obvious.
    “Take a seat, Fallon; let us talk,” Aidan invited.
    He felt a huge surge of fury just looking at the King but managed to force a smile onto his face and keep his voice even as he bowed. “Thank you, sire,” he said, sitting down and making his fists unclench, sensing the two guards relax as he did so.
    “Fallon, you led an inspired defense when you were trapped at the Guildhouse. Surrounded, outnumbered, you used your head and your men to win,” Aidan said, talking as if he were speaking about one of his favored hurling games, rather than a grim battle that had seen the cobbles awash with blood and guts.
    Fallon merely nodded, not trusting himself to talk about that day.
    “So I want to know, if the Kottermanis came here and attacked us, how would you defeat them?”
    Fallon had to fight particularly hard to keep the surprise from his face. “Do you think the Kottermanis will attack us, sire?” he asked.
    “Who knows?” Aidan waved a hand. “But I want to know what you would do if they did.”
    Fallon took a deep breath. There was a dangerous game going on. King Aidan might be unpredictable and evil but there was always