Cenric studied the other man.“You didn’t know?”
Evred scratched the back of his neck.“Rowan may have mentioned it, but I must have forgotten.”
Brynn herself had almost choked when she heard the amount, but Cenric was generous.That was one reason she loved him so much.She could hardly be surprised when he promised his former concubine almost a decade’s worth in wages to start her new life.
Cenric still seemed confused.“You decided to marry a woman and didn’t even ask about her dowry?”
Evred glanced to Rowan again.“Forgive me, lord.I didn’t.”
The young man was smitten and the whole shire knew it.Evred had ridden from Olfirth’s farm to Rowan’s family home every week over the winter.Not even the cold and the snow had been able to keep him away for long.Men and matrons had teased him while girls had sighed in envy.
Evred was a good man.Brynn could admit she was biased, since the thane had saved her from drowning last autumn.All the same, Rowan was getting a husband who was respected and would make something of himself.Not to mention he adored her.Despite the uneasy nature of the truce between Rowan and Brynn, Brynn was happy for her.
Brynn had married the first time out of duty and the second time out of desperation.A miserable marriage wasn’t something she’d wish on anyone.
“Well, go to your bride.”Cenric gestured toward Rowan.“I can see that’s where you want to be.”
Evred didn’t need to be told twice.He bowed to Cenric as befitted an alderman and bounded away.
Cenric sighed.“The fool is marrying for love.”
Brynn tried not to laugh at that.“Unlike you, who married for wealth and power.”
“Exactly,” Cenric replied, kissing her temple.“The important things.”He slid his arm around her waist, pulling her against him.
Brynn and Cenric might have fallen in love, but that had not been the basis of their marriage.They’d both agreed to this match for practical reasons without ever meeting.Brynn was a highborn sorceress with her own hefty dowry and Cenric was a man of suitable rank in the farthest corner of the kingdom.
The remainder of Brynn’s own dowry had arrived in wagons shortly after the roads thawed.Though most of it remained Brynn’s personal property, there had been a large sum gifted to Cenric.King Aelgar had made good on his promises.
The household boys had dug a trench to store the chests of silver and precious stones.The bridal hoard now lay buried outside the garden of Cenric and Brynn’s longhouse.
Which brought Brynn back to thoughts of kings and their gifts.Kingship was also like a whirlpool—it tended to drag everyone nearby into its current.
Ovrek had sent them a ship bearing gifts of exotic silk, silver drinking cups, and the pelt of a massive bear.
The bear’s phalanges and claws were still attached to the fur, each one almost the length of Brynn’s hand.Allegedly, Ovrek had killed the bear himself last summer.
It was not unusual for Hróarr, Cenric’s Valdari cousin, to visit.Hróarr and his band of mercenaries often stopped in Ombra on their way up and down the Hyldish coast, between their homeland of Valdar and Kelethi where they worked as mercenaries.Besides them, Ombra saw the occasional trader, but most Valdari were more interested in taking things by force in raids.
Why the gifts from Ovrek?They seemed like the sort of favors meant to impress.According to Cenric, these kinds of gifts had not come before.
As a youth, Cenric had cut his teeth in the armies of Ovrek’s conquest.Ovrek had later given him the men to retake Cenric’s home of Ombra several years ago.
But Ovrek was no longer Cenric’s king.
Cenric now gave his allegiance to Aelgar, Brynn’s uncle.Aelgar received the annual tribute of pigs, cattle, wool, and grain from Ombra.Aelgar held Cenric’s oaths of fealty.
The gifts had troubled Brynn since their arrival last week.She knew next to nothing about what this Ovrek might want.Cenric and his cousin Hróarr were always happy to tell her about their mentor, but she didn’t know enough to judge for herself.All Brynn knew for certain was that Ovrek was a king and kings were dangerous.
Brynn’s own veins ran with the blood of at least two kings, more if one cared to look further back in her bloodline.Her entire life she had felt the chains of her lineage locked around her neck.Only recently had she broken free, marrying an upstart alderman as far away from the center of the kingdom as possible.
She’d escaped the plans of her mother and others to use her in their bids for power, at least for now.Perhaps it was paranoia, but Brynn felt as if she was being drawn into a new set of schemes.
“Is something wrong?”Cenric’s brow furrowed.
“No.”Brynn offered him a smile she didn’t feel.“I’ve just been thinking about Ovrek.”
“This again?”Cenric smoothed his thumb over her cheek.
