Ovrek’s gaze fell on Brynn once again.“My son could have used a wife like you.”
Brynn might not have thought anything of it but for Tullia’s words to Cenric last night—Did you know he considered taking your wife for Tolvir?
Brynn couldn’t prove it, but in an instant, she was certain that Tullia had told the truth.
From the way Cenric inhaled sharply, he came to the same conclusion.
“Lord?”Brynn squeezed Cenric’s arm in warning.
Ovrek cocked one brow.
“There have been bad omens for serpents lately.”Brynn looked pointedly to the great corpse that lay on the sand, the creature whose likeness adorned the Valdari king’s banners.It was a risk, but she hoped Ovrek would catch her meaning without taking offense.“Do be careful.”
Ovrek threw back his head and laughed, one of the great belly laughs that seemed to be a staple of his personality.“You have a way with words, sorceress.”
Around them, the air seemed to shift.With the return of Ovrek’s laugh, the men seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Except for Cenric.His jaw clenched, pulling her closer.
“Let it go,” Brynn pleaded.
“The insult!”he hissed.
Brynn grabbed the collar of his tunic, pulling his head down so she could whisper in his ear.“If he mentions it again, I’ll deal with his men so you can fight him, but just this once, let it go.”
Cenric exhaled a long breath.He was still angry but let her have this one.
The king was too busy answering questions from his men to notice their conversation.They surrounded him, visible relief in having Ovrek among them once again.
Berdun led the way with several others, heading back toward Istra at a jog.The people needed to see Ovrek, to reassure themselves that he lived.Their whole group began to move onward toward the town.
Ovrek stopped abruptly, his back to her.“Lady Brynn?”
“Yes, lord?”
“You will look after Tullia?”Ovrek’s voice did not falter, but his entire spine remained rigid as he awaited an answer.
“Yes, lord,” Brynn promised.“I will look after her.”
“Good.”Ovrek marched away with his men and this time didn’t look back.
Instead of attending the Althing, they attended two funerals.It took the better part of a fortnight to see to the many preparations for the burial of three great ladies.
The head of Wulfwir was left on a rocky expanse of beach to be picked clean by seagulls and crabs.Once the flesh was gone, Hróarr wanted to mount it on the front of his ship to use in place of a wooden wolf’s head.
The cleaved head of Jormanthar was massive, even in half, and had been left where it fell.Once the creatures of the shallow water finished their work, Ovrek wanted to move it to the place of the Grandfather Yew.
The body of Jormanthar had been too large to move and had begun to stink.So, men had hacked it to pieces and dragged the pieces down the beach.There it had been rolled into the waves where it would be food for the creatures of the deep.
As much meat as there was, eating the flesh of the ancient monster was too much for even the pragmatic Valdari.
Brynn couldn’t have said why Ovrek trusted her, but he charged her with overseeing Tullia’s burial.Vana was tasked with tending Sifma and Gistrid.
Cenric and Hróarr had to move both Sifma and Tullia.Ovrek wouldn’t let them take the armor off, either, so Tullia was that much heavier.
Cenric showed Snapper Tullia’s corpse and the two of them spent an entire day with Kalen, searching the campground of the Althing.They returned with her missing bracer and helm in the late hours of the evening.Cenric told Brynn they’d been taken by a stripling youth who broke down crying and swore he hadn’t known whose corpse it was.
That was believable enough.It had been dark, and everything had been in chaos.
