Speak up, boy. Who are your parents?’ Iain goes very still, and speaks quietly. ‘Maíl Coluim mac Lochlann, Laird of Galloway Forest. Of Castle Doon. Although I’m laird, now, technically.’ ‘No mother?’ says Michael. ‘We can’t take him if he’s a bastard, Sir Harry.’ ‘Perhaps the boy was born like Athena, right out of his father’s headache. But I doubt it,’ sighs Magnus. ‘Still, quite a sight, if he was.’ ‘I’m not a bastard,’ Iain growls. ‘My mother was French, and is not in your book.’
