there was some Dug in his eyes, but it was no big surprise that a baby looked like his father and not something to coo about like a brain-damaged hen. On the other hand, in her rare moments when she wasn’t obsessing about her army and she had enough energy left after the long day not to be cynical, it did please her that little Dug looked like big Dug. It was fitting that the line of the man who had died to save them all might be continued. But the cooers and gushers implied that this baby had replaced Dug. That was wrong. Very wrong. Dug Sealskinner had been the love of her life and nobody would ever replace him.
“Run a finger across his mouth and he’ll smile,” said Keelin Orton, who was standing and watching her. Her tone was brisk. She was brisk about everything, but she clearly adored the little boy. She didn’t wince when he was sick on her, and wiped the weird green shit from his little pink arse as if she were mopping spilled water.
The queen had been surprised when Keelin had turned up on the day of Dug’s birth and asked to wet-nurse the child. She hadn’t seen Keelin since the day she’d killed her lover, King Zadar, and shortly before she’d broken the girl’s jaw with a stool when escaping Barton. However, if Keelin wasn’t going to hold that that against her, then Lowa didn’t need to remember that Keelin had been sleeping with the man who’d murdered her sister and tried to kill her.
Moreover, Keelin seemed to have grown from a pouting sex chattel into a sensible young woman, and her breasts were even bigger now that they were making milk. Dug would get enough sustenance, and Lowa was pretty sure there was no truth in the jokes that any baby nursed by Keelin would become a wide-mouthed adult. Discreet enquiries revealed that Keelin’s own daughter had died shortly before little Dug had been born and that the child’s father had been killed fighting the Eroo, so Lowa was glad to give the girl a baby to mother and something to distract her from her grief.
The queen brushed the tip of her finger along tiny lips. The baby flapped a hand weakly and his little face puckered into a smile. Lowa was surprised to find her smile twitching to life, the first time for a good while. The boy wasn’t entirely unappealing. She ran a finger along his cheek. So smooth. It was amazing, she thought, that she had Dug and somehow combined to produce this beautiful little bugger.
“He likes it as well when you—”
Lowa held up a hand to interrupt her. “I’m sorry, Keelin. I have to go.” Lowa held him out to his nanny.
“Oh, stay a moment longer, Lowa. Dug loves seeing his mum and—”
“Keelin. If his mum doesn’t get the army organised, he’ll have no eyes to see anything with because the Romans will gouge them out. And I hate to think what they’ll do to you. I am sorry, but I must go.”
“All right.”
“And it’s Queen Lowa.”
“Sorry, Queen Lowa,” Keelin muttered as she bounded from the hut.
Chapter 10
T hey’d been there for three days, attached to a thick chain running through iron ankle bracelets, and she was bored bored bored. Atlas and Walfdan were kindly enough, although patronising, but Chamanca clearly thought that Spring was no more than a foolish little girl and a hindrance, despite the fact that they’d all be prisoners of the Romans if it wasn’t for her and it wasn’t her fault at all that they were now prisoners of the Germans. The Iberian barely listened while she spoke, and never asked her opinion as she made plans with Atlas and Walfdan. Dug had always treated Spring as an equal but it had taken a while before Lowa had, so she guessed it was the same deal again. What was it Dug had told her – “People judge you by what you do, not by what you say you’re going to do’? Unless you say you’re going to make love to a pig or something like that, she thought, then they’ll judge you, but he did have a point. She hadn’t done much yet – talking them
“Run a finger across his mouth and he’ll smile,” said Keelin Orton, who was standing and watching her. Her tone was brisk. She was brisk about everything, but she clearly adored the little boy. She didn’t wince when he was sick on her, and wiped the weird green shit from his little pink arse as if she were mopping spilled water.
The queen had been surprised when Keelin had turned up on the day of Dug’s birth and asked to wet-nurse the child. She hadn’t seen Keelin since the day she’d killed her lover, King Zadar, and shortly before she’d broken the girl’s jaw with a stool when escaping Barton. However, if Keelin wasn’t going to hold that that against her, then Lowa didn’t need to remember that Keelin had been sleeping with the man who’d murdered her sister and tried to kill her.
Moreover, Keelin seemed to have grown from a pouting sex chattel into a sensible young woman, and her breasts were even bigger now that they were making milk. Dug would get enough sustenance, and Lowa was pretty sure there was no truth in the jokes that any baby nursed by Keelin would become a wide-mouthed adult. Discreet enquiries revealed that Keelin’s own daughter had died shortly before little Dug had been born and that the child’s father had been killed fighting the Eroo, so Lowa was glad to give the girl a baby to mother and something to distract her from her grief.
The queen brushed the tip of her finger along tiny lips. The baby flapped a hand weakly and his little face puckered into a smile. Lowa was surprised to find her smile twitching to life, the first time for a good while. The boy wasn’t entirely unappealing. She ran a finger along his cheek. So smooth. It was amazing, she thought, that she had Dug and somehow combined to produce this beautiful little bugger.
“He likes it as well when you—”
Lowa held up a hand to interrupt her. “I’m sorry, Keelin. I have to go.” Lowa held him out to his nanny.
“Oh, stay a moment longer, Lowa. Dug loves seeing his mum and—”
“Keelin. If his mum doesn’t get the army organised, he’ll have no eyes to see anything with because the Romans will gouge them out. And I hate to think what they’ll do to you. I am sorry, but I must go.”
“All right.”
“And it’s Queen Lowa.”
“Sorry, Queen Lowa,” Keelin muttered as she bounded from the hut.
Chapter 10
T hey’d been there for three days, attached to a thick chain running through iron ankle bracelets, and she was bored bored bored. Atlas and Walfdan were kindly enough, although patronising, but Chamanca clearly thought that Spring was no more than a foolish little girl and a hindrance, despite the fact that they’d all be prisoners of the Romans if it wasn’t for her and it wasn’t her fault at all that they were now prisoners of the Germans. The Iberian barely listened while she spoke, and never asked her opinion as she made plans with Atlas and Walfdan. Dug had always treated Spring as an equal but it had taken a while before Lowa had, so she guessed it was the same deal again. What was it Dug had told her – “People judge you by what you do, not by what you say you’re going to do’? Unless you say you’re going to make love to a pig or something like that, she thought, then they’ll judge you, but he did have a point. She hadn’t done much yet – talking them
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