‘Sounds terrible,’ said Merrick. ‘But I reckon I’ve got you beat.’ He sat back, with a smug look on his face. ‘I hadn’t seen my father for about eighteen years — since he upped and offed — then he turns up out of the blue. Not only does he act like nothing’s happened in between, like he’s just been out for an afternoon stroll, but he also has the good graces to point out to me just how disappointed he is with how I’ve been living my life. It’s not like he just abandoned me and my mother — he has to condemn me for how badly I’ve done since then.’
The barman looked at him as though assessing his words. ‘Is that it?’
‘Yes,’ Merrick replied. ‘What else do you want?’
‘So you’ve never had to clean his shit up off the floor?’
They looked at each other for several moments before they burst out laughing.
‘You’ve got me there,’ Merrick said, fishing in his purse for the coins. ‘Here.’ He slid the ten coppers across the bar. ‘Hire yourself a maid.’
They both laughed long and hard.
‘Here’s to fathers,’ said the barman finally, raising his cup.
‘To fathers,’ said Merrick. ‘May they not burden us for much bloody longer.’
They clinked their goblets then drained them.
Merrick placed his cup back down on the bar, expecting it to be quickly refilled, but the barman was looking over towards the door. Someone had walked in. Merrick immediately felt on edge. As much as he hated to admit it, when he was outside the palace grounds he didn’t feel safe. It was dangerous being here, but he needed some respite. Just a little time away from the duty and the obligations. What harm could it do?
Well, it could get you stabbed in the fucking back by some assassin from the Guild, if you’re not careful.
Slowly he turned, half expecting to see some knife-wielding Guild bruiser coming at him with murderous intent. What approached across the tavern was nowhere near as ugly, but no less threatening.
Kaira stared at him as she approached. Her brow was furrowed, her eyes accusing. Merrick had seen that look before and knew it was no good thing to be on the other end of it, but he’d had enough wine not to care. He just offered her a weak smile as she walked to the bar.
‘Drink?’ he said, waggling his goblet as though teasing a dog with a bone.
Kaira slapped the goblet from his hand. It clanked off the bar, splattering the wood with dregs and causing the barman to take a step back.
‘Are you out of your mind?’ she said.
Funny you should ask — I’ve been wondering the same thing for days now.
‘Oh, calm down, will you. Take a load off.’ He gestured to a stool nearby.
‘Take a load off? Are you insane? We have a sacred duty. The queen trusts us, and here you are drunk. Will you never learn?’
Merrick rounded on her. What right did she have to come in here and bark at him like he was some child? He’d had enough of being told what to do.
‘Fuck you, and your fucking queen. I’ve had just about-’
She cuffed him round the head. Not hard enough to do any serious harm, but enough to knock him off the stool and send him reeling.
‘What the fu-’
She cuffed him again, this time with the other hand and he slid the opposite way. He felt himself getting angry now. The red mist descending, and the wine he’d drunk didn’t help any.
Kaira tried again, but this time he lifted an arm and blocked her, staggering away and righting himself.
‘What are you doing, woman?’
‘I’m trying to knock some sense into you.’
‘Sense? I’ve eaten shit for weeks. Done my duty. Paid for my sins and now my father turns up out of the blue and it’s like I’m nobody. You have no idea-’
‘I have every idea. You’re feeling sorry for yourself. The world is against you. We could be killed at any second and for no reward. I understand the notion of responsibility is a new one for you. I get that seeing your father again is difficult. But there are more important things at stake here than your feelings.’
‘Fuck off! What the fuck do you know?’ he screamed. ‘You know nothing about me or my father or fucking anything.’
She came at him again. He blocked the first blow but she hit him with the second. It slammed him back against the bar, his rib cracking against the wood. It only made the anger within him burn more brightly.
Merrick struck out. He’d never hit a woman before, but then Kaira was hardly your typical woman. She was a warrior born. He’d already seen her cut through half a dozen men like wheat. Merrick was sure as shit she could take a punch.
Unfortunately she took it better than he expected.
The blow hit her cheek, turning her head for an instant. Then she hit back. This time when she struck him Merrick could feel the weight behind it, the intent. He’d rattled her and no mistake. So maybe she was human after all. And maybe she could even be beaten.
Merrick went for her. He’d had enough wine to make this seem almost sensible, but not too much to make him a stumbling fool.
He put his head down, bowling into her and knocking her back. There was a scrape of the table legs on wooden boards and a chair fell over. Then she grabbed him and flung him aside. He smashed into more furniture, its clatter echoing through the empty tavern as he went sprawling.
As he scrambled to his feet he saw her coming at him, eyes like a wolf after its prey. He picked up a chair and threw it at her head. She deflected it with her arm but it put her briefly off balance, and then Merrick struck.
What he lacked in brawn he more than made up for in cunning. He’d been in enough bar fights to know there was no place for honour. And if you couldn’t win by foul means, there was no one going to make it bloody fair.
He took her around the hips, powering through with his legs and lifting her off the ground. They both slammed to the floor with him on top and he immediately tried a punch to her face. Kaira’s arms came up quick to block the blow, then her legs. She wrapped them around his neck, impossibly fast. It was as if he was watching all this happen to someone else only he was the one taking the beating.
Merrick managed a pathetic throttled sound as she squeezed his throat shut with her powerful legs. Panic hit him then as he realised he’d lost his edge. This was all he needed — to be beaten up by a woman in a bar … again.
As she squeezed tighter, his vision closed in. He desperately patted her thigh in submission, and she loosened her grip, letting him free. He scrambled away, raising his arms. ‘All right! All right, I give in. You’re right; I’m stuck here feeling sorry for myself when I should be carrying out my … duty.’ The word almost stuck in his throat.
Kaira breathed hard as she stood staring at him. There was no less loathing in her expression but at least she wasn’t trying to pummel him into the floorboards anymore.
‘It’s as simple as that, is it?’ she said. ‘Just an apology and a smile and everything’s forgiven?’
Merrick rose to his feet, dusting off his britches. ‘What more do you want? That’s all I’ve got. Take it or leave it.’
‘I want you to commit. Either that or leave — run away. You cannot go on giving yourself to this task half-heartedly. Sooner or later it will get someone killed.’
He wanted to argue that point, but part of him knew she was right. The longer he wallowed in self-pity, the more chance there was that the worst would happen. What was he even doing here drinking himself into a stupor, just when he thought he’d left all that behind him?
Maybe his father was right, after all. Maybe Merrick had spent his time hating the man for his scorn, when his father had been right about what Merrick was all along.