“They did just fine without me last night,” Ovrek spat back.The bitterness in his voice unmistakable.
“Vana would ask your permission to search for Sifma’s body,” Brynn said.“She wishes to prepare your queen for burial.”
Sifma’s remains were somewhere in the smoking ruin of the hall.Vana hoped she would be recognizable by her jewelry, but after flying into a rage, Ovrek had not permitted anyone close enough to look.
“Vana?”Ovrek seemed to think hard to recall the name, but after a moment he relented.“Yes.Vana can look.”
“Thank you, lord.That will mean a great deal to her.”Brynn could see that Sifma had been dear to Vana, like a mother.As soon as she realized Hróarr was alive and they had won, she’d broken down in tears.
Ovrek hesitated.“She’ll have women help her?”
“She’ll need some of the men to help move the bodies, but yes.”
Ovrek’s shoulders rose, squaring.
“Cenric and Hróarr,” Brynn added quickly.“And perhaps your son?No one else.”
Ovrek was quiet for a moment.“That’s fine.But no one else.”
Brynn dared to venture closer.
Ovrek didn’t respond, allowing her to sit beside him on the edge of the small berm where the corpse had been dragged last night.
Tullia’s helm was missing, as was one of her bracers.The looters probably hadn’t realized it was her or even that it was a woman in the dark, but Ovrek had been incensed when he’d caught them.
He’d killed two of his own men without question.He had raved and roared like a madman, swinging his axe at anyone who came near his daughter’s body.
Brynn understood all too well.She’d found her sister’s corpse naked on the battlefield and knew what that meant.There was a reason she had never told anyone where her sister was buried.Better for Aelfwynn to lie in anonymity than to be violated further.
“I shouldn’t have named her Tullia.”Ovrek’s voice cracked.“Her namesake died young, too.It was unlucky.”The king didn’t say more, and Brynn didn’t press him.
She stared down at what remained of Tullia.
Bodies had a way of paling and shrinking in death.It was eerie.The form at their feet was Tullia and yet it wasn’t.
It appeared that a blade had gotten under Tullia’s armor and stabbed her inner thigh, probably a spear.She’d bled out but had kept fighting if the corpses around her were any indication.
Her two eunuchs lay not far off, covered in wounds.They too had sold their lives dearly.
“She fought well,” Brynn said softly.“She died well.”
Ovrek tilted his head back, looking to the sky.“She did.”
Brynn had felt an odd sense of kinship to the other woman.Even after Tullia had tried to kill her and Cenric, along with everyone in that hall, Brynn couldn’t rejoice over the woman’s death.Tullia was so familiar.She had been so much like Aelfwynn.
But Brynn couldn’t picture Aelfwynn locking her inside a burning hall as Tullia had done to her younger brother.
“She will be buried in the armor.”Ovrek spoke the words like a decree.“No one takes it off.”
“We can arrange that, lord.”The war gear was exquisite, even in its battle worn state.Brynn couldn’t even begin to imagine how much it would have cost, but that wasn’t important to Ovrek now.
“We’ll bury her eunuchs with her.”Ovrek gestured toward their corpses.“They should attend her in the next life, I think.”
“I’m sure she’d like that.”As to what the men would have wanted for themselves, Brynn would never know.They would be buried as grave goods for their mistress by people who likely didn’t even know their names.
“I will bury Gistrid with Sifma,” Ovrek continued.“It seems fitting.”
Brynn had no comment.She inhaled and exhaled carefully.The morning breeze had carried away most of the smoke, but her lungs were still sore.She might find it difficult to breathe for some time.
