“Oh, God, poor Basha,” Allie said with disgust at the thought of being expected to look over a bunch of detached heads. It sounded like a horror story to her. Although she supposed it was no worse than having to look them over with the bodies lying nearby. Still . . . Shaking her head to remove the images now playing through her mind, she said, “Fine. Thank you for telling me the truth. Now finish telling me about your efforts to get a castle.”

“I will always tell you the truth,” Magnus assured her solemnly, and then took a sip of water before saying, “Successful as we were, it was not long before I had the coin I needed to build my castle, but I needed to be granted land to put it on. Fortunately, the Battle of Agincourt was one of the last contracts I took.”

“Oh, I know about that one,” Allie said, excited to recognize a part of his history. “The Battle of Agincourt happened in 1415.”

Magnus smiled and nodded. “Yes. The history books recorded a great deal of that endeavor. What they did not record was that an attempt was made on Henry’s life the night before the Battle of Agincourt.”

“Really?” Allie asked with interest, and then demanded, “Tell me.”

Magnus chuckled, but complied. “One of the mercenaries was actually a French spy. He had traveled with us, eaten with us, and even fought at our side. He had everyone fooled.”

“Except you,” she guessed. “You must have read his mind and realized his intent.”

“I did,” he acknowledged.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God. You knew and didn’t say anything. You just bided your time and waited until he made his attempt and then stepped in to save the king at the last minute.”

Magnus grinned. “You know me so well already.”

Allie shook her head at the claim. “And I imagine the king was so grateful he granted you land.”

“And a title and even coin,” he assured her. “He was most grateful.”

“Oh, my God, Magnus,” she said on a laugh. “I can’t decide if that was incredibly brilliant or somewhat evil.”

“What was evil about it?” he asked, looking offended. “I did save his life. I earned that land. Certainly more than if I had just controlled Henry and made him give me the land and title of baron. And if I had not been there, the assassin probably would have succeeded. Everyone liked the man. No one suspected him of a thing. Even me until I read his thoughts.”

“All right, it wasn’t evil. Just a brilliant use of the situation,” Allie decided.

Magnus grunted, but still looked out of sorts about the evil bit. In fact, he reminded her of Liam when the boy got sulky.

Biting her lip to keep from laughing, she quickly put the remaining food back on the tray, set it on the dresser, and then climbed back on the bed and crawled to sit sideways in his lap.