“I know you think it was probably just a gesture of goodwill.”Brynn swallowed.“But what if he wants something in return?”
“If there is, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.”Cenric sighed.“Ovrek never waits for long.But Morgi has sent me no foretelling of misfortune, so we are left to wait.”
Cenric’s patron, the goddess of nightmares and foretellings, sent him warnings in his dreams of tragedies and misfortunes.Morgi had saved his life, and Brynn’s life, with her warnings in the past.But just because Morgi remained silent did not mean there was no danger.
All the same, Cenric was right.There was nothing they could do tonight or until Ovrek revealed his intentions.They could hardly muster their thanes over gifts.
Anxiety gnawed at Brynn.Should she send word to her uncle?But no, she didn’t want to make it sound like her husband was accepting bribes from foreign kings.
Brynn did her best to quash her fears.“We should pay our respects to our host.”
“As you say.”Cenric folded her hand into his.“It will be fine, love.”
Brynn passionately hoped so.
Cenric headed toward where their host sat at the head of his table, tugging Brynn along.They took their place at the mostly empty table, near Olfirth’s right hand.
“Alderman.”Olfirth raised his horn of mead to Cenric, though the older thane didn’t rise.
Cenric had the look of an alderman these days.He seemed to stand taller now than when Brynn had first met him.He moved more like a leader, more confident of his power.
“Olfirth.”Cenric gave an answering nod.
“Lady Brynn.”It might have been her imagination, but Olfirth’s tone seemed to soften when he spoke to her.
Brynn inclined her head in turn.
Olfirth had helped free her after her abduction by her mother last autumn.But before Brynn had arrived in this far northern land as Cenric’s new wife, there had been years of hostilities between the two men.
Their alliance was still new, but it seemed that some of the ice that had settled over their cold impasse was broken.Cenric was proud and often impulsive, but he was teachable.
As Brynn settled on the bench beside Cenric, he pulled her against him, his arm tightening around her waist.
“That dowry was quite generous of you,” Olfirth grunted to Cenric.“Five hundred pennings.”
Cenric cleared his throat.Under the light it was hard to tell, but Brynn thought her husband might have blushed.“I wish Rowan well.”He shot a glance to Brynn as he said it.
Brynn offered a small smile in response.She tried not to be jealous, though the feeling rose up every so often.When Brynn had learned that Rowan was marrying Evred and leaving their village, she had poured out an entire pitcher of milk in thanks to Eponine.
Rowan had run Cenric’s household for a year or so while she had been his concubine.Though Brynn still didn’t know all the details of that relationship—nor did she want to—she gathered that Rowan was a good woman, just not good for Cenric.
“Evred is a fine thane.”Olfirth peered past them to where the young man in question had returned to his bride.“A fine warrior.”
Cenric bobbed his head once.“That he is.”
“You can never have too many men like him this close to Valdar,” Olfirth grumbled.“No offense, lord.”
Cenric made a dismissive gesture.“No, it’s true.”
Cenric was half Valdari.His mother had been from the far northern islands, the daughter of a rich farmer.Cenric, as the youngest of three sons, had been sent to foster with his Valdari uncle as a boy.
He’d been raised to be a warrior in his uncle’s household, but fate had other plans.His father and brothers had met early ends in the war of succession in Hylden.
That meant that Cenric had become alderman, but after a lifetime away and fighting for the first king of Valdar, many were suspicious of him.They feared he might be here to take Hylden for Valdar or lead an invasion force.
Marrying a sorceress had helped with those rumors.Cenric was now tied to the royal line from the south, and everyone knew the sorceresses had supported Aelgar.
It might be a coincidence, but why was the king of Valdar, Cenric’s former lord, sending bribes the summer after Cenric had married into the bloodline of the Hyldish kings?
